College Students! discussion

With Christmas coming up soon, I was wondering what others were thinking of doing for Christmas presents! I think it's fun to share that kind of stuff, and maybe your idea will spawn another idea for someone else!

The biggest labor of love I'm working on this Christmas is a 15' long scarf (from Dr. Who) for my fiance. Some of the other things I'll be doing are photo collages, photo boxes (boxes that, when opened, the sides fall down to reveal pictures), a sketch book caddy, pamper me stuff (like bath milk, scrubs, and what not), tie-dye crayons, a 'book' bag ( a bag that's made from a gutted, old hard cover book [it took me so long to find one I was willing to use]), and plenty of treats like biscotti, chocolates, caramels, salt water taffy, brownies... all kinds of things!

What about you?

Wow, you're busy!

I only have a couple of gifts figured out. One of them is for one of my friends, she collects playing cards. Both of us were in a show recently that took place in the south in 1913, so the confederate flag was used in the show. I managed to find playing cards with flag on the back of them. :)

The other gift is a lot more expensive, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it. I found out that my dad has wanted a... crap, can't remember what he called it but basically it's the bass speaker (like a subwoofer) for the surround sound system in our house. He's wanted one since he bought the sound system.... 20 years ago. Apparently my mom wouldn't let him get one. So that's what I want to get for him.

That's awesome... banned goodies for dad... and the playing cards have a memory with them!

My sisters and their daughters come over to my house and we make Christmas candy for around 40 families/friends. I am sure I have complained lovingly talked of this before.
Other than that, I don’t really have plans for presents. I do always buy everyone a book to go with their presents, so that is probably the only given. 

I am hoping to find time to make a few random crafts to go with my store-bought gifts. I have learned how to make pretty roses from soda cans and plan to give one to all my friends if I can find the time to make them all what with all the projects and exams I have coming up. I also want to make personalized felt gift bags to put their presents in. I spend hours looking at instructables and finding adorable gift ideas, I just wish I also had the extra time to make them!

I don't know if I'll be buying much this year because I am broke. Some of my friends and family members enjoy reading so I wanted to get some book art for them by John Clark. I would just put them in a frame and wrap them. I wish I had enough money to get custom made ones.

I am super impressed by all of the people who make things for Christmas! I would love to have the time to do this, but I'd also love the ability to do this sort of thing! I am utterly lacking in creative abilities. In lieu of this, I am kind of patching together a list. My mom is getting Harry Potter Deathly Hallows, Part Two, which she will probably wind up getting when I go home for Thanksgiving. My papa will be getting the new Bill O'Reilly book about Lincoln's assassination (I'm not really happy about it, but I know he'll like it and I don't think O'Reilly can get too partisan in a history book [at least, I hope not]). I'm getting my dad a couple of books about baseball. Zach gave me a list of things he'd like, but I haven't bought any yet. Same goes for his family. I have zero ideas for my grandma and uncle. And that's all of the people I buy presents for.

I decided to make hats for a few of my friends. Books for all of my younger cousins. (I'm the youngest of the grandkids, so all my cousins are having kids.) We have a pretty big age range, by the time Christmas is here we'll have kids from less than a month old to almost 13 years. It'll take some browsing at B&N and the used book store by my house to find all the books I need. (I'm proud to say that I've provided 75% of my cousin's home libraries. What else should they expect from their English Major cousin?)

I'm completely stumped as to what to get my mom though. She is so hard to shop for! I buy stuff and she never uses it. (If she had bought it, she'd use it. She's just weird about gifts.) The only gifts that have been a success over the years was the nook I got her and she kinda still likes the Christmas snow globe I gave her that I had engraved.

So... if anyone has an idea for a gift, I'd love to hear it. :)

I was thinking of doing magazine subscriptions for the kids instead of books this year. I have an 11 year old girl, 9 year old boy, 7 year old boy and 4 year old girl. I found a Barbie Magazine for the 4 year old, and although I would rather some actual reading was thinking of one of those teenie-bopper mags for the 11 year old, but the boys are harder. Any ideas?

How about a Sports Magazine? Or a Gaming Magazine?

I did see a Sports Illustrated for kids. There is also something called Boys life for 8-14 year olds. I just haven't had any experience with either of them. I would rather stay away from a gaming magazine. As it is now, the older one would rather the company of his DS than anyone or anything else, so that would just add to the problem.

Tami wrote: "I was thinking of doing magazine subscriptions for the kids instead of books this year. I have an 11 year old girl, 9 year old boy, 7 year old boy and 4 year old girl. I found a Barbie Magazine for..."

For the 11 year old girl, what about American Girl? I loved that magazine when I was younger, and if I could afford this year I would have gotten my younger sisters (11) and my cousin (10) a subscription. What do the boys like?

As much as I love Christmas, it's quite a pain to shop for over 40 friends :/
I think for most of my casual girlfriends, what I'll do is buy some small glittery boxes, and stuff them with candy, earrings, nailpolish, all those girly things. And stick a huge bow on the top.
I've also thought about making small crafty gifts for the class of first-graders I work with. Except this is my first year with them, so I'm not sure what 5-year-olds like.
I haven't even started on shopping for my close friends. What would you get those people who already have everything?

The 9 year old likes x-games (snow boarding, dirt bikes, etc) and hates school. That really bothers me, so I try to find books that for him to read of things he likes, so I am trying to find a magazine he would like.
The 7 year old loves everything. Yes, I mean everything, oh except we found he doesn't like canned spinach. He will try any food, loves playing any game/sport, is the only 7 year old that has always chosen to go to church and school if he had the preference (elected to go to summer school these last 2 years) and loves going to any type of performance, musical, plays, movies, etc. You would think he would be easy to find something for. I am leaning towards the National Geographic for kids, but not sure.

Ema, there is a simple craft with felt and a candy cane to make mice and I think 5 year olds would love it. Let me see if I can find an online tutorial and I will post it.

Here is one.

http://www.southernplate.com/2010/12/...

We made ours a little different. We did two pieces of felt for the bodies and glued around the edges leaving a spot for the tail. We also took some embroidery floss and stitched whiskers at the nose.

this one is more like what we did, but the instructions aren't as good.

http://familycrafts.about.com/od/tree...

Just reminded myself, I am making Christmas cards again this year and I know we all love to get fun mail, so if you would like me to mail you one, message me with your address.

Tami, my parents used to do that same mouse craft with their students all the time! Ah, fond memories.

I'm just curious, but does anyone else get really stressed about the number of people they're expected to buy for? I always buy stuff for my parents, my mom's parents, and my mom's brother. And this year, I obviously planned on buying my boyfriend something. Then he mentioned getting my parents something, which means getting his parents something. And a friend bought me a pretty nice birthday gift, so I'm pretty sure we're buying Christmas presents. That's a lot of money I don't have.

Lori wrote: "I'm just curious, but does anyone else get really stressed about the number of people they're expected to buy for? I always buy stuff for my parents, my mom's parents, and my mom's brother. And t..."

I wouldn't be surprised to see gray hairs sprouting up on my head from this problem.

One thing I am planning to do this year is giving cookie mixes in a jar to all those people who you feel like you need to give a gift to but not really. I also have a lot of friends and birthday presents are usually exchanged so I'd feel like they needed Christmas presents too but one couple organizes a white elephant party so it feels like there is a gift exchange without really having to buy a ton of gifts.
This year I am trying to make most of my presents, but other than a scarf made out of old t-shirts for my brother have no clue what to make. Any ideas?

Here is a site I found on pinterest that has some great hostess/thank you gifts.
http://talkcraftytome.com/2009/12/21/...

Love Pinterest for stuff like that!

Lori wrote: "I'm just curious, but does anyone else get really stressed about the number of people they're expected to buy for? I always buy stuff for my parents, my mom's parents, and my mom's brother. And t..."

I do... but I love giving gifts. It's makes me happy when I see them get excited about what I got them or made them. I also have a fairly large family, and it's expanding. My boyfriend's family already considers me family, so that means I added 6 more gifts for his immediate family. There's always the feeling that 'if I get them a present, this person will feel bad that they didn't get one, and if they get one...etc...' I actually haven't put any 'friends' on my list. At all.

I buy/make gifts for WAAAAAYYYYY too many people, but I love it. I understand the money crunch issue, especially this year. Not sure why things are so tight right now, but they are.
Those cookie/cake mixes in jars are wonderful ideas and can go to most everyone. Most people, especially grandparents and other relatives/friends you don't see often, are more interested in a visit than a present, so make a batch of cookies or brownies or something.

Lori, I suggest you and the boyfriend buy something for the parents together then put both your names on the tag. It will probably be better since you both know your own parents better, and therefore it would be easier to shop.

Our family does everyone, no drawing names. So I have 4 nieces/nephews, 6 siblings/in-laws and my mom. And yes, I go way overboard at Christmas. Have to rein it in this year.

I want to say that the presents from Zach for my parents have already been bought. Yeah, his family buys their presents crazy early. (No offense to anyone who does this; I'm just not used to people having their Christmas shopping done before my birthday, let alone before Thanksgiving)

Lori, when I was working my book store job we had a lady come in every year during our after Christmas sale. That was when she did her Christmas shopping for the following year.

Wow! That just blows my mind! I couldn't do that though. Partly because I'm so bad about wanting to give presents immediately instead of waiting.

She was... Eccentric, to say the least. Kinda like Mrs. Frizzle. When she came in for those " last minute things" ( ie, the special chocolates we sold, and they were for her) during the season she'd be wearing the loudest Christmas sweater possible. The type that literally lights up when you push a button. Complete with Christmas earrings and reindeer antlers on her head ( Which of course, had bells on them. :)

Oh, my! I bet her yard was very decorated too!

I took care of all of my gifts a few days ago. I like getting these things done in plenty of time, so I don't have to scramble to find stuff at the last minute. Especially since I've ordered almost all of it online, I want to make sure it's here on time. Not any literary gifts though, I'm the only one in my family who reads. I did get my sister some non-fiction and my brother-in-law a few comics.

I'm trying to figure out what to get my grandma and uncle. I've got everyone else's gifts either ordered or figured out. I feel bad because I think I'm going to wind up spending more on Zach's family's gifts than I am on my own family. In my family, it's understood that because I'm in grad school, they won't get really expensive gifts from me--my mom get the latest Harry Potter, the rest usually get a book that I think they'll like, or a coffee sampler from Starbucks. I told Zach I was getting his aunt some OSU themed pajama pants (at his recommendation). He asked about another gift (not in a mean way). I hadn't planned on getting anything else because I can't afford it and I don't think I should spend more on his family than on my own. Any thoughts?

Lori, DON'T feel pressured about the money spent. Just find something you think they would like for what you want to spend. They will understand, and if they don't, it really is their problem not yours. It is tuff, but hopefully it will work out okay for you!

Nikki, you need to kick my butt into gear. I just can't get into shopping this year. I hate shopping in general, but this year is so much worse. UGH!

Thanks Tami. I know you're right. And all it will take is a quick conversation with Zach about it. I know he'll understand. I have a feeling that one present will still be more than what his ex got them.

So far I have only gotten my sister and her bf a present. I got them the game "Rocksmith". It comes with a plug in for the XBox 360 which my sister's, bf Anthony already has . They both play guitar so I thought it would be a great gift.