Christmas & Fabric Gift Bags

Less than a week until Christmas. Oh my. I look around the house and there is little signs of the upcoming holiday. So, this week, the kids are making decorations as well as some little gifts. They are doing great with the homeschooling. Grandson is loving his new school materials and Little Miss is enjoying the materials that she is using. She was surprised to notice that she has earned 2 badges in her Little Keeper's program. We won't have them until after the holidays, so I am thinking of saving them until the next time Daddy is home and then making a special event out of it by us taking her to dinner at her favorite place "Growls", which is pronounced Golden Corral by the rest of us. For those who don't know, Golden Corral is an all you can eat buffet. If given a vote, Little Miss will choose her "Growls" every time!

I have been busy in the evenings working on gifts. Mainly finishing up smaller projects. It is such fun to be able to make the gifts, with a house full of people, and no one know what you are doing. Requires a few late nights sometimes, but it is worth it.

I still have to finish making stockings and Little Miss' doll. If I can, I will sew up a few fabric gift bags to use instead of paper gift wrap. I am considering making a batch of the fabric gift bags later after the holidays to have a supply for during the year. I hate the idea of spending so much for paper wrap. With the fabric gift bags, I can make them to use with Joe and the kids. Once used, they can be saved for another time. If giving the gift to someone outside your home, the bag can be reused by them or they can fill it with a potpourri to make a nice scented bag to display in their home.

If you do much sewing, you know that there is often fabric left over. Sometimes, you have pretty fabric from an article of clothing that is out-grown in size. The fabric can be repurposed into the gift bags. The bags can be made of an assortment of sizes to fit nearly any wrapping need. I love the ones that are about lunch bag size. Those would get used more often than any other. A few bags made slightly larger would round out the set. If you need to stiffen up the bag bottom, place a piece of poster board or cover a portion of a cereal box cut to size into the bag bottom. Coordinating ribbon makes a nice closure.

In being conservative in the spending not only of our finances but in the natural resources the Lord has blessed us with, fabric gift bags just makes sense to me.