Crafty Gift Giving for Guys

It's that time of year when we should start thinking about our holiday gift giving.  This is the first Christmas in more than a decade that I haven't worked in retail or as a waitress... so I feel like this is the first Christmas in more than a decade when I may actually enjoy the season - mind you, we did just buy a house and will be moving over the holidays, so I probably just killed that hope, but still... Santa's bringing me a house!  How cool is that?

But I digress - the topic at hand is holiday gifting - a difficult enough quest on a good day, but one which (at least in my case) seems to be made all the more difficult by the male family members on my list.  You see, it's easy to make something for my mother, mother-in-law, sisters-in-law, and two younger sisters - I seem to know exactly what they'll love - probably because it's something I would love too.  But my two brothers? My dad? My father-in-law? My three brothers-in-law? My husband?  Ugh.  Every year I struggle with what to make them - and it's made all the more difficult by the fact that of those 8 men, 6 of them also have birthdays in the winter - one each in November, December, January, and February, and two in March.  WTF.

Yes, I could go out and buy them all sweaters, or in the case of my brothers and hubby, video games... but it's just not the same.  There has always been a tradition of handmade gifts in my home - the best thing Santa ever brought me was a play kitchen built with scrap wood by my father in the basement (it still smelled of drying paint on Christmas morning) and a faux Cabbage Patch Doll (complete with her own wardrobe of handmade dresses and real yarn hair) hand sewn by my mother because the real thing couldn't be found in stores for love or money the year I was six.  Even now as an adult I enjoy the handmade gifts the most - a painting by my sister Elizabeth, a sculpture from my brother Mike, a handknit scarf and hat from my sister Emily, something cross-stitched by my husband Chris.  Gifts made by hand have so much more heart than those purchased in a big, box store. 

So what can we make the fellas in our life?

Well... there are lots of weelittlestitches patterns which would be well-received, I'm sure.  For my father it would have to be Monty Python & The Holy Grail

 
while my brothers would probably love Star Trek ,
 

 

Star Wars,

 
 and Ghostbusters


And in case you think this is just a blog post where I hawk my own goods, there are lots of non-weelittlestitches projects you could whip up for those wonderful men in your life too. 

I really like the Fightin' Words fingerless gloves for hubby, not because we fight a lot, but because I worry that his hands are cold at work...

A Justice League scarf for my comic-book lovin' best friend Jay,

Some hand-stitched leather goods for all three of my technologically savvy brothers-in-law,

I could whip up a big batch of Guinness BBQ Sauce for my rib-loving father-in-law,

And crochet an adorable Triceratops for my dinosaur-mad 3 year-old nephew.

You know... if I had the time.

Who are you crafting for this Christmas?

xox J.