This Is SERIOUSLY The Best I Can Do At The Moment

I've been thinking about my Compacting Christmas and what all I can stuff in my gift boxes in a big way.
In that vein I've spent a fair amount of time trolling for handmade craft/gift ideas to stuff into them. And let me tell you I've found the holiday craft site of my dreams (thank you Marie!!). If you are remotely crafty (and I mean that as in funky cool crafts sort of way) you NEED to check out this fantastic craft blog. Scroll through the November archives for endless holiday craft ideas and tutorials. I've basically been living here. I've found so many amazing holiday craft ideas... if only I had time (and two free hands) to make some of them.

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Baby is out of her mind and getting a chance to sit down and type is very difficult. But I will try. I might have to leave off in the midst and return later.... just a little fyi.
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You may recall that instead of spending 50ish bucks per person on my list (not counting Mr F or the kids) I've decided to send out gift boxes (using the USPS flat rate boxes... which are free and they will drop at your door and cost about $9 to ship out) filled with homemade treats, ornaments painted by the kiddos, and pictures. My plan is to divide my list into 3 groups and start sending out the first group the first week in December, followed by the 2nd group the 2nd week...and so on. This breaks up the stress of getting things out and makes the baking and crafting more enjoyable. There are a couple of side benefits of this shipping schedule... we'll be making our Christmas cookies all through the season instead of in a rush the week before Christmas.... some we'll send and some we'll eat ourselves. And we're allowing the recipients to start enjoying the season earlier too. I'm also thinking that this will put a much bigger emphasis on giving rather than getting for the kids. We'll be giving for 3 solid weeks before they get to open anything. In the past I've done all the shopping and wrapping and the *giving* part of Christmas was probably not even noticed by the kids.

So right now I'm still brainstorming what we can fit into the box to ramp up it's enjoyment value without upping the cost much.
Here are my plans:
2 kinds of cookies
caramel popcorn
painted ornaments
pictures of kids (some framed)
small toys for little kids on the list (under $5)
Christmas music CD (copied or a mix... new idea!)
I might try and make something like THIS for some people

I'm still working on ideas... send yours along!

Also my Compacting Christmas idea for Mr F and I is to make wish lists ($200-300 each). Then the week after Christmas we will buy the things on the list (when they are on sale) and whatever is saved... will be saved. We'll exchange stocking on Christmas.





History buff alert (hello Katieo) Black Blizzard was fascinating and I'm headed off to the library to get THIS.