Homemade Gifts. AIBU or is he?

[WonderLime]

This evening, whilst stuck under a sleeping baby, I’ve spend the evening browsing Pinterest. I’ve seen some great home made gift ideas and I was feeling really inspired.

DP comes home and I tell him about my idea to make a homemade gift for my Secret Santa present this year, as I think I can do something really cool with a limited budget (I’d been thinking bath bombs and sugar scrubs as they look easy).

DP says that ‘no one appreciates home made gifts unless they are really, really good - and anyway, it will end up costing you more’.

I’d told him just today how I’d been feeling quite low and fed up being on maternity leave, so it was nice to feel excited about something. However now I feel disheartened and don’t see the point anymore.

AIBU thinking about making home made gifts, or was his response unreasonable?

[ohtheholidays]

One year my DH and our 2DD's made me some homemade cinnamon sugar scrub for the bath and it was lovely,honestly out of all of the gifts I was bought it was one of the nicest things I had and I used it all of the time.

I think homemade gifs can be really special,one year I made some Homemade sweets for my Great Nieces and Newphews and they loved them.

[donquixotedelamancha]

"was his response unreasonable?" Yes.

How dare he give you his honest opinion. He's supposed to blindly say that anything you suggest is 'nice'. Doesn't he know that the way comedians describe relationships is how it's supposed to be? LTB :-)

Sorry you are feeling down, OP. Home with baby is a lot harder than people think. Personally I'd go with cake or gin.

[BabyLionCub]

I'd love that Christmas potpourri

[PricillaQueenOfTheDesert]

I hate homemade gifts. I remember a comic saying something along the lines of “have this jar of jam I made, it’s in a jar that used to contain real jam”
They come across as cheap and nasty.
Sorry if that’s not what you want to hear, but you asked.

[PeiPeiPing]

YANBU. If you want to do the homemade gift then do it.

Why decide to NOT do something because HE says?

Fuck that. Do it.

[PinkPanther27]

I would love something homemade, shows that a lot of thought has gone into it and often motivates me to be more crafty 🙂

[Chrys2017]

There seems to be a lot of people here with "germ issues" who therefore bin any edible homemade gifts from friends. I assume none of these people ever dine in restaurants then, or eat any kind of prepackaged food (either that or they are blissfully unaware of what goes on in some restaurant kitchens!).

Incidentally germs keep your immune system healthy.

[PinkPanther27]

@holyknight I want to take up needle felting but got really confused with all the supply websites. Where would you recommend buying supplies from please?

[CantSleepClownsWillEatMe]

True enough [Chrys] but I'm sure we all have our irrational little foibles. Besides, there's germs and then there's GERMS. You'd need a strong stomach to eat a hm gift from my aforementioned relative (or even a slice of toast). Some people really do have poor hygiene standards!

[jellyspoons]

Really hope it isn't too late to pick sloes! Homemade sloe gin with berries picked by my toddler seemed to go down very well indeed with the nursery keyworkers!

In fact one had to admit to me that she'd polished off nearly the whole bottle in one go before her husband pointed out it is the same strength as normal gin....

[Seeingadistance]

There are lots of crochet tutorials on Youtube, which make it much easier to learn as you can watch, and pause if need be, and watch again till you get the hang of it.

Be careful though as UK and US crochet terms are different, so you need to be aware of which is which. Eg, a UK double crochet is a US single crochet.

Scarves would be good to start with, and make lovely gifts. You can buy self-striping yarn in different colour combinations, so you get a colourful scarf from one single ball of yarn.

If you're on Face Book then look for Bella Coco - Crochet Club. Video tutorials and lots of help for beginners from those with more experience.

[CotswoldStrife]

I've started crocheting this year, I love it. I go to classes but you could try youtube for videos - it is easier to watch and I found it handy to have someone to count my stitches when I got lost! Def start crafting for yourself!

I would like the coffee syrup style gift, but I did get some sloe gin once that remained in the cupboard as it was undrinkable

[MountainDweller]

I think the gingerbread syrup looks lovely, I’d be very happy to get that as a gift (but as I won’t I might make some myself). I also think that type of thing might be less likely to be binned by germaphobes as the sugar is a preservative and it’s been well boiled.

I really want to try making a salted caramel sauce s well, could be an option?

Or jam? My friends and I give each other jams and chutneys if we’ve made a batch - I eat theirs and I’m 99% certain they eat mine!

Do people not have events where everyone brings a dish in the UK? I go to lots of dos like this and have never been ill as a result. Or if I go to a friends for coffee I might take homemade cake/biscuits. I trust my friends not to spit in the salad/cake!

[WonderLime]

I have often shared food with my colleagues. Last Christmas we had a fuddle made up of home cooked goods, so I’m pretty surprised that some people will bin homemade food products.

I think I’m going to preserve and give the syrups a go. I don’t really need anything for that, bar the jars. I don’t like syrups in my coffee, but DP does so I’m he’ll drink them f they don’t go quite as well as planned even if he is a miserable bastard.

I think I will also give the bath bombs a go. Thinking about it, I really love the face masks from Lush and I might get some nice ingredients that can be used in a bath bomb or scrub that could also be used in a face mask for me - so at least I can have some use of the ingredients if things don’t go to plan.

And I will look at some YouTube videos for crocheting. I’d love to crochet something for my DS.

Thanks for all the support. I’m feeling reinvigorated about getting crafting again.

[Holyknight]

I hope you really enjoy making them and I for one would love some jam/marmalade or chutney
Or some coffee or chocolate syrup to Add t a mug of milk.

[Holyknight]

*pinkpanther I get my needle felting stuff from Adelaide Walker. She is great for giving advice to beginners if you aren’t sure what you need/want and does really fast delivery. I love her yarns and her
Mixed packs of them too. You get quite a good amount for your money. I followed YouTube videos about the basic technique and made articles suitable for beginners.

[PyongyangKipperbang]

My "cheap" homemade Xmas did end up costing at least as much as a bought one. But the gifts were genuinely appreciated. My curmudgeonly BIL made a point of calling me to say how much he loved his gift and how much it meant to him. He hasnt done it before or since with shop bought gifts!

Sounds like "D"P is working on the theory of "I wouldnt like it therefore no one would like it". He is wrong.

Oh, top tip......dont put petals or glitter in bath bombs, they look lovely when wrapped but a complete PITA when it comes to emptying and cleaning the bath!

[FunderAnna]

I too am surprised by the amount of people who will bin home-made goods.

As pointed out above, the chicken breasts bought from the supermarket might look nice and clean in their polystyene and plastic packaging.

But if you had stepped inside the slaughterhouse

So might that 'healthy' packaged saiad.

In fact, bagging it up will have provided an ideal breeding ground for salmonella.

I think in terms of food preparation, the supermakets and manufacturers have conned us in a big way. It's the equivalent to the idea that formula milk was 'scientific' and 'modern' and 'good for baby'. Whereas breastfeeding was inherently unreliable and - let's be frank - a bit skanky.

I am not knowingly going to give any Mumsnetter a gift of any kind this Christmas. Frankly you mainly seem overpriviileged and ungrateful.

(I'll spend the money on a goat or a bicycle for a midwife instead.)

[FritzDonovan]

I once gave an edible secret santa gift, well thought out, gluten free too. Eagerly watched as recipient opened it...She looked positively disgusted . It was apparently not a good use of budget, being smaller that the buckets of cheap poor quality tosh most other ppl bought. I stuck to cheap tat after that.

[Want2bSupermum]

DH gave everyone home made pickles one year. They were apparently appreciated by many and cost £1 for the jar, £2 for the cucumber and the herbs/spices, vinegar and sugar cost about £1.

[CakesRUs]

I think he has a point OP. Could you find something on Pinterest that you could make for yourself or your home??

[FritzDonovan]

Homemade soap is a good one though. Dh knows someone at work who gives out slices of their own creation every so often and they're really nice.

[MyOtherProfile]

Crochet is a fabulous hobby to get into. It's easier to learn and looks better faster than knitting plus it's very portable and easy to pick up and put down. You'd be surprised how many people do it and how many local groups there are.
I also make gins, chutney and marmalade, cakes and I paint. I always make a hamper of home made gifts for family st Christmas.
However I would never give a home made gifts as a work secret Santa.

On another note I really do recommend going to a local baby group. Don't give up if the first one is not so friendly. I made so many really good friends who became a great support network through local baby groups. Baby massage is definitely a good one as you have a bit of a focus. Same with music groups.