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Craft gifts are available just about everywhere, from small craft shops to large malls, to state fair craft booths.  You can buy them, you can make them yourself or you can give a craft kit and open up a whole new hobby for the people for whom you are buying.  There are specific “holiday” themed crafts such as wreaths for Christmas or Halloween, straw scarecrows and corn husk wreaths for Thanksgiving or more general crafts like birdhouses and dollhouses complete with miniature everything, which can also make great holiday gifts.

Ceramics is a relaxing hobby that allows for great creativity and personalization.  There is enough in the way of simple projects that even the beginner can put together a beautiful array of holiday gifts.  You can start from scratch using poured pieces (green ware); cleaning, painting, firing, glazing and firing again or you can buy pieces that are already cleaned and fired (bisque) paint and glaze them.  There are an almost infinite number of different pieces to choose from.  You can make statues, candy dishes, lamps or chess sets.  You are really only limited by your imagination.  Children love painting on bisque (much easier for a child to work with as it isn’t as easily broken as green ware) Check your local phone book for ceramic shops to find the ones that offer lessons and in no time you’ll be making gifts people will cherish.  You can find Santas and pumpkins, turkey platters and figurines of Uncle Sam. You can put together a base topped with several figurines and make it into a night-light or dresser lamp.   In fact you can find something for just about any holiday as well as for other gifting like showers and birthdays or anniversaries.

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All of us have heard at one time or another seller or buyer beware – but in this case, the saying now becomes gifter beware. Many of us give with the best of intentions, but never realize that the gifts we are about to give are truly nightmares – or worse – in disguise. No one ever means to make such a mistake, but these do occur and we are here to help you avoid these mishaps. The following are the six worst gift ideas ever to cross our paths.

The first and biggest of the six worst gift ideas ever to give is the item that tries to give a subtle hint for what you consider a needed change in this person’s life. We think this is a polite way of doing it, but all in all we cause more pain and trouble than it is worth. Some examples of these types of gifts are things like books for losing weight, an audio book on helping someone with their memory, or even a book on finding the right guy or girl. For the recipient, all they experience is you calling them fat, stupid, and unable to meet good people for relationships. The gift causes pain and depression – the opposite of the intention you had for it.

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