Making Gifts

[cloudscudding]

x-post Fb/LJOne of my friends was writing about her knitting things for Christmas. Another friend was writing about her experiments in brewing what I can only hope/dread might be Christmas presents

Comments

[wiredferret]

A quincienera would involve a level of photography much like a wedding. Some families spend that way, too. Girl gets a beautiful pink dress, a "last doll", dances, grandma kisses.

[cloudscudding]

Ah. That helps--thanks.

[mrissa]

One year I was well enough to make a bunch of candies to send to friends at Christmas. I was amazed at how many people registered this as a present, and then startled again to realize that I had effectively decided that handmade things made by other people are lovely presents and handmade things made by me don't count.

[cloudscudding]

Interesting disconnect. And yes, they absolutely count!

[karenthology]

I think you photograph a quince very much like a wedding -- there's a lot of quince videography down in my area, and the shots we get for quinces are very wedding-like.

I would say: Figure out what they want, figure your hourly rate, and then try to estimate how long it's going to take to shoot, edit, and deliver the product, and that's your quote. I think you're going to be great at this!

[cloudscudding]

Ah. That helps. And yeah--seems about as fancy. How very interesting.

[green_truth]

You cook. That can actually be a really lovely gift, though it gets more difficult as people get farther away. I am planning on doing a ton of small artisan breads for people this year, definitely for all my work gifts, but perhaps for others as well. There are things like custom spice blends and what not, that would ship better. I was going to try to make up a giant batch of from scratch thai curry paste (which is so much more amazing not from the store) which freezes well and is so spicy that a few days in shipping (especially cold times of the year) should be alright. I ended up going other routes though. I think that the photo thing is cool also, though. You do take nice photographs.

[cloudscudding]

Hmm, baking is the traditional food gift, and I don't really bake much. There was an intriguing pie-in-a-jar gift recipe that I thought I might try, mind you....

[birdfigment]

Ooh, I got some awesome red pepper jelly with parmesan biscotti one year as a gift from a friend. I have the recipes if you want them.

[birdfigment]

I would enjoy doing pysanky with you sometime, if you wanted. People think getting those eggs is pretty cool, regardless of season.

Do you have an electric kistka? I only have old-style ones and I covet my mother's electric one.

[nemoren]

Agreed. I heart those eggs. There's (was?) a guy at Wet Paint who did a demo every spring.

[cloudscudding]

Huh. I suppose they are also vaguely decorative ornaments not necessarily limited to one season. Hmm.

Ooo! Psanky party! I haven't done that in a while. Actually, that sounds like a fun thing to do midwinter. Have added a tentative reminder to my calendar.

[cloudscudding]

That would be fun. Hmm. Might need to buy new supplies--it's been a while. I know where mine are--I guess if the dyes are a different color, nobody would know!

Nope, I also just have the old wood-and-tin ones.

And I guess they could be just generally ornamental, not season-specific.

Neat! Psanky-making, cookies, and mulled wine for a winter activity?