Approaching the holidays without overspending requires us to reflect on the love and joy our family members share with one another. The emphasis should be on creating memories and not focusing on material things.

Doing that requires making sure that the whole family is on board with the idea before the shopping begins. Remind family and friends about the “reason for the season” and suggest homemade, gift giving.

According to Lee Duguay at Craft-Mania in Auburn, putting effort and thought into a homemade treasure can be much more rewarding than running to the mall and buying the first thing you see.

“In these days of text messaging and electronic greeting cards, people really enjoy receiving gifts that you have made with your own hands,” he said.

“Craft-Mania has a lot of items that you might not think about in a craft store,” he added. “We carry decorating supplies, boxes, and tins for creative packaging.”

Homemade gift ideas:

Masterpieces for grandparents are always treasured gifts. Your child can do most of the work by using paints, crayons or markers depending on their age. Purchase a nice frame with matting and create a work of art fit for hanging on the wall. It always beats being hung on the refrigerator with a magnet and can be changed when the next holiday comes around.

What child doesn’t love to use their imagination? A sock puppet theater can easily be made for hours and hours of play. Depending on your skills, the theater can be made from a large cardboard box or three pieces of MDO or matboard.

Check online for dozens of decorating ideas, including gluing sparkly gems around the stage to appear like lights. For the puppets, you can use miniature dolls or stuffed animals. Better yet, wrap a package of socks and add wiggly eyes, hair, and accessories to let the child create their own puppets, making for more hours of fun.

Contact family members – the older the better. Ask for family-favorite recipes and a cherished memory that goes along with it. Grab your computer and put together a cookbook, including photos of the person submitting the recipe. If you aren’t crafty with the computer, you can put handwritten recipes in a recipe box with memories on the back.

The gift of time. You may have close friends or relatives with two children and a hectic schedule. A night alone may be quite a luxury that they can’t afford. Throw in a DVD of their favorite movie or create a DVD with family photos for them to watch. Add homemade fudge, popcorn, and hot cocoa. Most importantly, throw in a gift 

certificate to take their children for the evening or overnight.

Food is always a cherished gift, but it doesn’t have to be a simple box of candy or a tin with cookies. Be creative. If making cookies, throw in a rolling pin, cookie cutters, and recipe on a bow. For candy giving, fill the gift box with molds, melting chocolates, and wrappers or fill the candy in something the person can use, like a decorative bowl or flower vase. If giving homemade preserves, add items to go along with them. For example, if you make jam, add elegant crackers or biscuits and a fancy knife for spreading.

Memory jar. An elderly relative or friend will enjoy this gift every day of the year. Pass out recipe cards and request that everyone write their favorite memories of that person. Try to gather 365 cards and fold them in half. Decorate a large jar and fill it with the cards and instructions to open one per day.

Winter warmth. Throw 3 peppermint sticks, 1 cup of powdered sugar, 1 cup of non-dairy cream, and 3 / 4 cup of unsweetened cocoa in a blender. Grind to a powder and place in a decorative jar or tin. Gift wrap with a snow-themed mug, personalized calendar, or book and fuzzy socks.

According to Duguay, homemade gifts can be as much fun to make as they are to give. Some of his favorite memories have come from homemade gifts and will be cherished for a lifetime.

“As a child, my whole family would get together and each would make a Christmas ornament every year,” he smiled. “I still hang some of these ornaments made almost 40 years ago on my tree.”