Low impact, sustainable, homemade, artisan…our approach to gift giving has changed significantly over the years! These days we hardly ever set foot in a shopping mall during the festive season, choosing instead to make presents at home, or to source them through opshops (thrift stores) or reuse centres.
Here are some of our gifts for Christmas 2020 (warning: spoiler alert)…
As always, we started with chocolate. Monkey Girl and I had a fun afternoon chocolatiering, then wrapping our creations in rescued boxes, foodsafe paper liners and raffia ribbon (all from Reverse Garbage). I still need to whip up a couple more batches to go with the cookies that I’ll be baking next week…
Pete made a batch of his fabulous apricot jam from a large bag of fruit that we were given at the Addi Road Food Pantry…
Trays and trays of apricots were headed for landfill because they were blemished and ripe! We bottled the jam in jars leftover from The Wedding in February…
‘Tis the season for beeswax wraps and we’ve had a production line going. These ones were made from an unused Ikea doona cover that Bryan gave me before he went back to Singapore. I recently saw tiny (28cm/11″ square) beeswax wraps for sale at Harris Farm for $40 for a set of three. By contrast, our humungous wraps are 60-74cm long x 46cm wide (that’s about 24-29″ x 18″). And they cost me less than $2 each to make…
A chance find at The Sewing Basket in West Ryde led to the coolest beeswax wraps ever…
I turned a thrifted sheer curtain (it was new but I washed it anyway) into two outdoor food protectors, one for me, and one for my hostess-with-the-mostest neighbour Faye…
A couple of vintage Chinese painting books picked up at The Bower in Marrickville were the perfect gift for my daughter-in-law…
…and this little book of cocktails was just $3 secondhand. The illustrations are frame-worthy!
Lovely embroidery artist Han Cao has become a friend over 2020, and her art has brought me a great deal of joy during this difficult year. Here’s an earlier post I wrote about her work. I’ve been buying her postcard packs to use as gifts and last night I gave this card to our old friend John, because it looks exactly like he did in 1983 (the bloke in the middle, not one of the horses)…
A pile of unfinished quilt squares that I bought from The Sewing Basket Balmain earlier in the year became five useful bags…
Small Man and I adore a bit of trivia, so I grabbed these boxes from The Bower for just $2 each. They’re a little after dinner fun as we wind down towards the end of the year. These didn’t come with a board which is completely fine – we just take turns quizzing each other – although they were made in 1984, so some of the answers are no longer correct!
It’s been a while, but this year I picked up tools again to make angels from my stash of vintage Swarovski crystals. They’re the perfect small gift…
This secondhand baby Groot planter was picked up for $5 at the Inner West Garage Sale Trail a few weeks ago. We sent it home with the Big Kids, completely with succulent…
Finally…I found the perfect gift for my young friend Grace (who’s now nine – can you believe it?) at Reverse Garbage…
Discarded by an art school, this stack of press-out paper dolls was just $2 (there were about 30 cards in the pile)…
The stencils for her clothing were just $1 each…
Bethany sent me a photo of her daughter’s creations this morning. I love Grace…
So that’s where we’re at with just over a week to go until Christmas!
I’ve baked a fruit cake and made a steamed pudding, so dessert on the big day is now sorted. We’re glazing half a free range ham for Christmas lunch, and because it’s the festive season, Pete is letting me serve it with tater tots (or potato gems, as we call them here). I can’t wait! Some last minute baking next week and we’ll be good to go.
How are your festive preparations going? It’s been such a strange year and we’ll all be celebrating in different ways – Australia is out of lockdown now (social distancing restrictions still apply) – but I know that a lot of our overseas friends are still very limited in terms of numbers of visitors permitted. I hope that whatever your current situation, you find a way to eke out a little peace, joy and headspace in the coming weeks! ♥
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Really inspired and inspirational ideas. I think more and more people are adopting less is more philosophy. It’s been a strange year. But for us it is festive season as is usual, about the essence of the occasion not stuff, and gift giving is in accord with our simpler life, similar to you. We’re eating our usual homemade fare, and my wildcard menu pick this year is Scotch Eggs… thanks to the consistent efforts of our 4 new chooks. But Tater Tots! a fun choice 😁
Love these ideas! We are so lucky in Australia now we can celebrate Christmas with our families. All presents and food organised except for some shortbread baking on a less humid day than we’ve had lately. Wishing you all a happy and safe festive season!
Such great gift ideas! It is so important to remember to stay sustainable during the holiday season :)
Jenna ♥
Stay in touch? Life of an Earth Muffin
these are all sustainable and very impressive gifts! Apricot jam? I’m on my way!!! And those cocktail pictures are so cool. Paper dolls…have always loved those. be well, have fun!
Lovely post. I’ve been gifting comestibles for ages, although usually from country craft, CWA, or family farms (rosellas in syrup, tapenades, locally produced cherry jams etc…) . The Lions & Oxfam bookstores and opshops yeilded a surprisingly tall pile of titles such as “Mistletoe Murder” “Death with eggnogg” etc for a sibling who shares my addiction to whodunnits and old books.
You have truly outdone yourself in the sustainable gifting category this year! If you ever want to visit Arizona please let me know.! All I ask is that you help me make bread….especially sourdough. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Love this! Ievery year I buy less and less and make more gifts. They feel more special that way. Great ideas here too
Can u pls share Pete’s apricot jam recipe, please?
Would u consider selling bees wraps, so hard to find decent sized ones, please
Sorry, we don’t sell our beeswax wraps but the tutorial is here:
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2020/01/11/homemade-beeswax-wraps-updated-tutorial-and-tips/
Pete’s apricot jam this time was made with powdered pectin as we didn’t have any homemade jars, but here’s one of his recipes from 2009:
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2009/07/04/provence-style-apricot-and-nectarine-jam/