Holiday spending....
Well, I am doing my very first "house party". I have never been to one nor participated in one before.
I do not know exactly what to expect...
I have done 2 craft shows..
I was a vendor at Dicken's Universe Literary conference at UCSC..
and I have done a couple of impromptu trunk shows for close buddies.
I have sold a whopping one item on Etsy.
This one I am doing because I was flattered.
I made a t-shirt for my lovely sister and one of her clients commented on it.
The client has a party featuring her friends who are crafters and through my sis, she asked If I'd like to be involved.
Pretty flattering. All she asks is 15% in trade for what I sell that day.
Good for me and good for her too.. There are several of us and if we do well, she will have a big bunch of presents for covering shopping responsibilities for the Holidays. She is expecting 70 people. That is quite a crowd.
I like this idea. When I was a very small kid we had no money. My mom was a single parent for a couple years and she made us dolls and bought us a book apiece for Christmas. All other presents came from the grandparents. Her family got home baked goodies. When she married my thoroughly fantastic step-father when I was 8, financially things were not so tight. She still wanted to do handmade Christmas.. which was fine by us. My mom makes excellent stuff.
After a while she became more political.
She became involved in a group called Beyond War. They were committed to starting a community dialog about the dangers of the nuclear arsenal. One of the statistics that she learned during that time was that the United States economy was based on two main components: The War Machine... and Christmas.
Mom said.." Well there is only one part of that I want to participate in."
I think that year my sister and I got a stereo from Santa...amongst a pile of goodies that dwarfed the tree.
I drove one boy friend crazy when I insisted that I would only shop for the holidays at small independent retailers because I knew half a year's money is often earned in 2 months for them. (He was dying to go to Macy's.) My mom really made the point that dollars are votes for what you believe in.. And she was Pro Santa and Anti bomb. I still am a huge "mainstreet not the mall" fan even despite working as a mall doll for the last 6 years. I love a cute boutique (Picture today: boxes going to Angelina's cute boutique..), and independent bookstore, a craft fair and this year I will have a handmade Christmas myself... and help the economy.. by shopping in all those places and on Etsy. And hopefully selling some stuff to other people of like mind. I love the idea of some one getting something I made as a gift.
Now.. what do you believe in?
Will you put you money where your heart is?
