Handmade gifts rich with care
By Sarah Chadwick
Special to the Kansan
Instead of wandering around crowded shopping malls looking for the perfect holiday gift again this year, there's an alternative: Unique, handmade gifts everything from photo albums to potpourri sachets made especially for the holidays.
Photo albums and scrapbooks are popular choices among many students.
"I made a scrapbook for my boyfriend of all the things we've done together," said Amy Larkin, Overland Park sophomore. "I put in movie stubs, pictures, games. I did a section on holidays we spent together and how we spent them and wrote letters for the front and the back."
Larkin said that photo albums and scrapbooks, as gifts, were more personalized and from the heart.
Maleia Rome, Hays junior, suggested wrapping cloth around a photo album and gluing it to the inside for a more personalized album.
"Take anything, pearls, ribbon, flowers — anything at all — to decorate the album," she said.
Small, wooden letters and symbols, such as fraternity or sorority letters, are also a
way to personalize such an item.
Summer Brown, Overland Park freshman, received a photo album from a friend as a gift.
"My friend bought a photo album and every three pages she had a collage, not of pictures, but out of magazines with things that describe me," she said.
Brown said that homemade gifts made her feel like someone cared.
"They didn't just spend five minutes grabbing something from the store," she said. "Time counts more than money."
Brown said that she also made presents for her family and friends for holidays.
Photo Illustration by Steve Puppe/ KANSAN
"A great idea is beads for your friends," Brown said. "You can make them earrings or necklaces. It's basically something that everyone can do. And it's pretty cheap, too."
Brown also suggested making audio tapes with songs that remind the recipient of times spent together. This is also a popular gift idea for couples.
Chad Milam, Olathe sophomore, agreed.
Milam said that his girlfriend made a tape of all the songs that reminded the couple of each other.
"It took her a long time," Milam said. "It meant a lot to her doing it, and me getting it."
Some students avoid the holiday shopping crowds by making gifts for their friends and relatives. Such items can be personalized and fun to give.
Milam said he was not one to make homemade gifts, but he suggested a fun way of presenting the gift.
"Buy a gift then write little love clues like a scavenger hunt for them to find the gift," Milam said.
For the writers out there, Rome has an idea for a creative gift.
"I have written a poem and put it on old paper and burnt the edges, then put it into an old, rustic frame," she said.
An idea that does not require hot glue, writing or sewing is to put together a video tape of shows, monologues or videos that the recipient would enjoy.
"I have a friend that lives in Wichita that loves the Golden Girls," Rome said. She doesn't get them there, so I'm recording them all for her for Christmas."
Amy Goldberg, Leawood freshman, plans to make gifts for her boyfriend for Christmas.
"I'm going to make aftershave with my aroma therapy kit," Goldberg said.
She also said she had several ideas for what to make friends.
"You could make potpourri sachets. Just buy fabric and potpourri and sew it together," Goldberg said.
She also suggested buying beads with the letters of the alphabet and making key chains or necklaces, or making candles from kits.
"I like giving homemade gifts because it just makes you feel more special and unique; it's more personal," Goldberg said.
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843-1551 Open 7 days
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Love Garden Sounds
December 5,1996 The Hill
Holiday On The Hill
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