Holiday Shopping

Today I went out with the Hubby to pick up the last of our Christmas gifts for the family.  We made purchases in three stores and stopped off in a fourth, and that was it.  He kept asking me where else we needed to go and what else we needed to pick up, but I actually was done and done EARLY with the holiday shopping.  How did I pull that off this year?  By buying almost exclusively handmade.

Since I knew I was going to be buying mostly handmade this year, and I knew a lot of items were going to have to ship, I couldn't do any last minute shopping. No procrastinating.  So, I sat down early and tried to figure out what to get everyone on my list.

I will admit that it is helpful to have a handmade-friendly family.  My sisters sent me links to their etsy favorites lists. Hubby likes handmade soaps and we are both art lovers.  The kids have been wearing my handmade clothing since birth, so to them it is a treat to get something someone ELSE made, etc.  I did end up getting a few members non-handmade items and having them shipped, but I think my love of handmade at least helped ease the asking for something off of a site like etsy.  100% of my gifts to myself are handmade.  All of it is stuff I am excited about.  Money is really tight here, so the few things I could get, I made sure I got stuff I really wanted. 

I had  big wish lists, and a few additional items I asked for. One of my big wishlists: my etsy favorites list. Yes, it got me teased mercilessly (ok, I don't expect anyone to get it for me, but yes, I was serious when I said I would LOVE a mug of the month subscription!  I love mugs.  STOP LAUGHING AT ME!)

As an added bonus, by buying handmade, not only was I treaating myself to a wonderful handmade item, I was helping out a handmade seller to get some funds for their own holiday shopping.  It's like a double gift giving with every purchase! Sweet!

What did I buy, you ask?  Well, you'll just have to wait until after Chrsitmas to find out.  I will tell you a number of sellers from my reviews were featured in my shopping....