2008.12.25
A do-it-yourself Christmas
Merry Christmas! I hope your day is full of joy and merriment.
In the midst of much of the depressing retail news this holiday season, here's a good news story. With the rise of people making homemade gifts this year to save money, craft retailers, such as Michaels Stores and Jo-Ann Stores, are reporting sales increases, according to this New York Times story.
It seems that do-it-yourself Christmas gifting is a trend this year. Did you receive any homemade gifts today or this holiday season?
No homemade gifts, but fewer gifts overall as several friends and family members were laid off bewteen Thanksgiving and Christmas. We didn't buy nearly as much either, opting for smaller, more unique gifts rather than bigger-ticket or high-tech items. We also did buy a couple of gift cards, but to Wal-Mart and Lowes rather than smaller retailers. If our spending pattern was anything like that of other consumers, holiday sales numbers will be pretty bad, we spent about half what we used to, and most of our family spent less than half of their normal. However, I do think I'm going to take some cash and a gift card and redeem them for a new flat-panel computer monitor, my old CRT has been acting up since it got dropped during the move into our new house last December.
Comment by Other John — December 26, 2008 @ 8:54 am
For Christmas this year I made a " goodie box " for my family.It consist of cookies,banana muffins,brownies,etc.! I USED to spend about $ 150 each person !! About 10-12 family members.The retail business didn't get much out of me this year !! If anyone else did the same thing ,then they are really hurting !!
Comment by Cindy — December 30, 2008 @ 11:50 am
Hmm.. Maybe I should have read this column before making my comment in the story about retailers changing their return policies.
Comment by Ed S. — December 30, 2008 @ 1:06 pm