Why buy handmade goods for Christmas?

It's the run up to Christmas, which means a couple of things:

1. Novelty Jumpers.  No I don't know either, and no I won't be wearing one;
2. Trying to slim down to get in to that gorgeous dress for the Christmas party.  Or at least thinking that you probably should try;
3. Eating all the chocolate thereby undoing any good work from 2 above.  Maybe try purchasing a novelty jumper to cover it up?
4. The gift dilemma

It's the same every year.  Start with good intentions, try to figure out what to buy, inevitably have nothing one week before Christmas and oh, I've run out of money too.

Sound familiar?

This year I plan to buy as many gifts as possible through local, handmade artisans.  The benefit of the internet is that local opens up a lot more possibilities.  If you're signed up to the Etsy newsletter you've probably seen their campaign to persuade people to buy handmade this year.  There's also Folksy, facebook selling pages and lots more independent websites.

This is now the busiest time of year, and I will be closing my order books the first week of December.  I will be offering customised and handmade earrings, bracelets, necklaces and cufflinks at RogueJewels

So why buy handmade?

One of the best things about it, is getting something that's absolutely right for you.  Or your recipient, if you're not just buying for yourself (but hey, why not buy yourself something special!).  You get to bounce ideas off of someone to create a one of a kind piece that is perfect for that special someone.  You get to take time, discussing your needs whilst sitting on your sofa, drinking a cup of tea and watching Corrie, rather than huffing and puffing round your local mall, queuing for HOURS waiting for a simple coffee, and then sitting in your car for a LIFETIME trying to get out of the car park at the same time as everyone else, after paying a fortune for parking.  Oh, and then finding you have to take your present back because cousin Laura already bought that present for Uncle Albert, leaving you with no idea of what to buy him and an intense urge to scream...

You also get a built in option of further gifts for the next year, or the year after.  Create a relationship with your artisan and they will be a friend for life, getting you little gifts last minute, maybe even throwing in a bit of gift wrapping free of charge.  You're supporting local economy, rather than huge conglomerate that bases itself somewhere else in the world to avoid paying tax.  You're walking lightly on the earth, creating one perfect design, rather than buying endless ephemera that will complement the 'not-quite-right' present with other 'not exactly I wanted but close enough' goods.

Finally, you get to know that this present will be perfect, simply because you've thought about it.  Because it hasn't arrived in a box from a high street retailer, wrapped in their standard paper, but is from someone who has put love in to that design, and bent over backwards for you.

So go on, why not buy handmade this Christmas?