subject: Fresh Ideas for Your Christmas Shopping [print this page] Fresh Ideas for Your Christmas Shopping
Choosing presents for family and friends can be a nightmare. For many of us the magic of visiting the high street at Christmas time, with the coloured lights reflecting on the rain-splashed pavements, the worthy characters with their collecting tins asking us to remember the less fortunate and the wonderful window displays glimpsed between the hurrying shoppers has worn off.
Our lists are long but we are short on ideas. And our feet ache as we rush from store to store. There is never enough time. Will the shop where we think we might find something for the brother-in-law still be open by the time we get there? This one is nearest but it seems that whatever we think we might buy there (a bottle of something again!) might be too heavy or fragile to carry with us as we negotiate the hoardes and find ourselves on the up escalator when we meant to go down. And is there a loo in this store? That fortifying cup of coffee is to blame!
The internet will do away with all that, we think, settling down in front of our PCs and Macs for a pleasant hour or two shopping online. But wait didn't I see that cheaper on another website? And whoa look at how much they are charging for postage and I only want one little thing from this site.
And there is still the question of what, for whom. The effect we always long for is that clever and perfect gift that we know they will just love. The thing we can't wait to give, not the that'll do" thing. Tempted to spend more to achieve that warm glow we are in danger of entering into the embarrassed "Oh you shouldn't have!" zone and the whole thing backfires because it just looks like we've thrown money we can't afford at the problem.
There is a solution. Yes there is.
Go online yes, but type "local craft fairs" into your search engine. Find the ones nearest to you and visit them. There you will be able to stroll in a leisurely fashion from stall to stall, looking at a huge array of wonderful things that you could never think of by yourself and that you wouldn't see in the shops. A wrought iron drink holder for the brother-in-law! A handmade apron in vintage fabric for Sue, a beautiful turned wood bowl for Margaret and Pete, a fiendishly difficult French solitaire game, with fabulous marbles on a lovely frame for the Stevensons, oh and look at that lovely little painting, Jenny would love that! And there will be jewellery, lots of handmade jewellery, in styles that would cost triple in the shops (if you could find it!). There will be something just right for all the ladies in your life. And if you ask very nicely the kind lady might even make something just for you.
Craft fairs offer everything that shopping used to. Everything under one roof, friendly stall holders and unique gifts that will hit the spot.
It's at the craft fairs where I will be doing my Christmas shopping this year, for handmade cards and for those extra little things to tuck into the children's stockings. This Christmas my friends and family are in for a treat!
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