In addition to buying local, such as Farmer Markets and mom-and-pop stores, people are also wanting to use their limited "spending/gift-giving" money on more meaningful/useful gifts - many handmade!
Sewing gifts, such as aprons, pillows, purses, etc, are being made from leftover fabric or with sentimental items such as curtains, napkins, handkerchiefs, favorite skirts or shirts, etc, and are becoming quite popular...just look at all the books and magazines that are out there showing how to make items from old clothes and linens.
Also becoming more popular for gift giving are things like completed family trees, scrapbooks and photo albums.
Passing along a family history, stories, photos, and other mementos is a great way to spend quality time together recalling our favorite memories with our family.
Homemade and personal gifts do not always take more time to make than it does to go shopping, nor will it necessarily cost more...in fact, it could cost less!
As we get older, we don't need nor want any more knick-knacks, but a restored photo or a collage of our favorite photos is an affordable, welcome and treasured gift!
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