Creative Holiday Shopping for Creative Change

Crafty Gift Alternatives to Mass-Marketed Goods

By Tiger Kandel & Heather M. Schloss

Whether you are a crafter or painter or writer or just happen to love someone who is, or perhaps you are a fan of creative endeavors and the arts but do not consider yourself to be a "creative person" I am writing this article to propose a challenge to you. While considering your Christmas gift list, before making a final purchase, please take a few moments to ask yourself a few simple questions:

• "Who will benefit from my purchase?"
• "Who might be harmed by my purchase?"
• "What message will this gift send to its recipient?"

and lets not forget for us creative types —

• "How ultimately creative am I being by purchasing this gift at all?"

You will find that if you buy a gift made locally and by hand (for me that is in the USA, for you it may be another land), that the answers will be easy. If on the other hand, it is a mass market item, produced far from home by hardworking people living on much fewer dollars and freedoms and choices than yourself and passed through multiple mitts of middle men, the answers will be far more difficult to interpret and perhaps even more so to live with. At least this has been my experience, and now with any luck I pass it on to you.

If the answers are as I expect they will be, please don't fret. For it is not my intention to be depressing, but rather to illustrate that there is in fact a solution and a cure, and at the very heart of it is the thing we all love so dearly: CREATIVITY! Let your affinity for art and your craziness for crafts carry over into your lifestyle and your spending. Let this be the year when your shopping becomes more creative too!

Create a new tradition while creating an opportunity for change. Decide to do your holiday shopping at the local craft markets instead of the department stores. Choose to be original by choosing a one-of-a-kind locally grown or handmade gift for everyone on your list. Discover how free and easy you feel once you make this choice, but remember the fun has only just begun!

Walk through the craft shows and see how pleasant they are compared to the elbowing and shoving at the chain stores (and the lines are shorter too). Explore the outdoor aisles lined with breezy booths adorned with wondrous, scented items and interesting ideas come to life. Follow the sights and the textures to fascinating fabrics and colorful clothing, brilliantly bound books that parents will prize, beautiful batiks, quaint quilts, scintillating sculptures, simple soy candles, jazzy jewelry, neat knits, fantastic fabric dolls to make grandma giggle, silly sock puppets children will cherish, unusual utensils and pretty pottery for picky people; delights for students and teachers, friends and coworkers, husbands and wives, dogs and kids and neighbors alike.

Take the time to talk with the artists and the designers. Discover what inspired a particular item and what it means to its creator. Buy a gift with a story attached. Buy a toy that is also art. Show your loved ones how much they mean to you by giving them gifts as unique as they are.

But remember, the benefits don't stop there. Being creative and different with your dollar will make a difference in all our lives. By skipping the Targets and the Kohls, skipping the pitfalls (and the guilt), avoiding the shoddy construction and questionable origins, you help keep your neighbors employed and your local economy strong, and most importantly, you keep art alive and send a message of creativity and simple caring to your loved ones and yourself.

If you are unable to get to a craft show in person, there a number of websites that cater to the crafter and handmade craft fan. Among these are Etsy and Artfire. They allow you to communicate with the artists and buy according to craft item and geographical region. For the online shopper these sites are great alternative to mass market goods. •

© 2010 Tiger Kandel & Heather Schloss. All rights reserved.

11/7/10