In case you missed it, I organized a gift exchange this year between whoever felt so inclined to join! It was motivated by me lamenting a little that I had previously been a bit insulted when someone had made a crack at how “you can always count on Hailey to give you something homemade or second hand.” I hated that, because yes, its true, I do that, and I also think its an awesome thing. It left a bad taste in my mouth, especially when I was aching to make homemade gifts for most people this year. I blogged about it a bit and I received a handful of supportive comments saying homemade gifts are the BEST gifts. An idea I’d had for a while began to take shape, and people were into it! The homemade gift exchange was born into a group of people, many of whom didn’t know each other.
Altogether, our group was 23 people. There were a few guidelines and stipulations, and people had to agree to them before they could proceed. It sounds all official, but I had to make sure no one would end up giftless, so the biggest one was that people had to agree to a “consequence” if they didn’t end up making a gift. The “buyout” was a $25 visa gift card.
NO ONE bought out!!! I fully expected a couple of people to just get lost in the busyness and opt out last minute, but NO ONE did!!! I am SO happy with that!
Between the group, we had all kinds of gifts! We had a wreath, two paintings, a plant, a stuffie, cards, two different batches of salsa, a couple of signs, a journal, soaps, bath bombs, candles, jewelry, a macrame, mugs, crocheted bags and cloths, knitted mitts, decorations, candle holders, cup cozies, and aaaaall kinds of baking!!! MY GOODNESS!! I am SO happy with how it all went! I know some people felt like it was a bit of a scramble, and others were done way ahead of schedule. I was done very early, yet I’ll admit, I even delivered mine late :/ Booooo Hailey! Its ok, though. She got her gift 😉
I really enjoyed organizing this little thing, and I felt like many people enjoyed it along the way! I had a handful of people say they’d do it again, and I had many people tell me they were interested but didn’t feel equipped to do it this year. And I had some people say they liked it but might not do it again. All totally acceptable answers!
That being said, I hope we do another one next year 🙂