So, a fellow groupie of "Homesteading Antiquity Journal", a FB group subscribe to asked what folks were doing for homemade items and local shopping to avoid Big Box stres this season so he could blog about it. I had sich a long response, I will add it here:
We are doing a "Made in America Christmas" here and as much as we have tried, it is very HARD, and we have had a few slip-ups, mostly for stocking stuffers. There is a made in USA website: www.madeinusa.org that I spent alot of time browsing and found some fun things.
There are a few toys my daughter wants but we will give "Made in USA" (I hope still) CASH for that. We have shopped locally at a gift shop that has a little antique barn out back and folks like us, can always use an old style crock or tool from there.
What we found: a short small crock perfect for my shorter kitchen tools($8), a tall glass jar w/ lid (like old pickling jar w/ wodden lid w/ handle), a wooden pipe stand w/ tobacco holder ($9), new local pottery :), sterling silver band to replace hubby's forever lost one($10) made by a guy here in town, a Wild Turkey flask ($7), and a llittle gem I lost a bet over....little stainless steel hinged thingeee( I thought was a tea bag squeezer but the hinge was the wrong way!!!)) that is actually a hinged lid for a milk or cream jar ($1) and I am not altogether sue what else. Inside, the store owner's daughter has a little AVON area and my son did get a few shower gels and lotions and body sprays ($2 ea) for his sister and I added a few things to the oorder for her.
We gave each kid a certain amount to buy for sibling and parent and at first, they grabbed little things I did not like (a turtle charm and some measuring spoons made by Ganz-same people that make Webkinz), a tiny stuffed doggie to put in my purse ( I think not)....so we directed them out to the little red antique barn and it was a joy to see my son look at and pick up all the "old" things and try to figure out what they did. That was worth it all!!! Rob and I were there the previous day scoping out the shop since we hadn't been there is a long time. He got a coffee and all totaled, I think we spent $125-150. We got thanked profusely for coming in!!
We bought a used bike for Robi (that is suporting a gal who needs to raise $ for cancer surgery)and guitar for Mallory from our friend's teenage daughteer that is no longer interested. We have not been to Wal-Mart, Target, Costco, etc to shop as we would have to travel 90 mi one way to do so. We have doone quite a bit online at some of my faves like Duluth Trading and Leman's non-electric and my hubby still has a request for his 4895 gunpowder standby which he can always use!!! We have gone to our local discount store (Pamida) which is a regional store but they do have ties to Shopko, but at least we stayed here for that.
Aunties and Uncles know what we are attempting and have sent Wii games-- some that are actually made here but other things will be of their choosing. I plan to make some jewelry and maybe give some of our honey as gifts, so the homemade factor is also part of avoiding the import trap.
So, we did pretty well overall, or at least we think so. We are getting our tree today, just down the road!! Don't ask me where the lights were made that we are decorating with because we all know the answer to that...well, I think this will go as my next blog but feel free to share/use it as you like...Happy Shopping trails!
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