Kicking Off The 2012 Holiday Gift Idea Guide

It's that time of year again - I'll be sharing my version of a Holiday Gift Idea Guide. I'll be including fun things that you can buy online from places like Etsy, and as always Mom Made ideas, as well as recipes to include in your holiday menus, homemade crafts, home made gift ideas, etc, and some giveaways too. As always, if you have an Etsy store and would like to be featured, just let me know!

I kind of hate kicking off holiday shopping this early, but we all know the early bird gets the worm on the sales, and homemade gifts take time to make! (Start stocking those mason jars and plastic containers for gifts!)

As usual, I would also like the hijack this post slightly, and remind everyone that many local food banks and other charities are in SERIOUS trouble. (Some of you may have seen my post yesterday mentioning that one of our local food banks was broken into!) If you can pick up one or two extra things with your coupons (or maybe use those coupons to pick up items your family doesn't usually use), this is the time to do it over the next few weeks. Charities need everything from gently used clothing (donating your children's outgrown clothing doesn't cost you anything) to leftover NEW diapers from that giant box your baby has now outgrown to toiletries for our troops overseas to animal shelters needing canned goods and used blankets or towels. Most of all, local food banks will desperately be in need of Thanksgiving dinner fixin's. Even if it's just an extra $1 box of stuffing, your donation will help someone else - please spread the holiday cheer this year.