Are you ready for Christmas. Oh, I know what you are saying – why is she talking about Christmas now in July? Well it’s never too early to plan what you are going to give for Christmas gifts – and if you start planning now – you won’t be scrambling at the last minute.

I’m sure you could go to stores and purchase items for each of your friends and family members – and get it all done – but what’s the fun in that? A little planning ahead of time, and you can save a lot of money and gas by not running around all over the place.

I would make a list – that can be updated and added to – maybe in a word document, or a notebook, and make sure that you keep this list handy – and someplace where you won’t lose it.

The first thing I would put on the list would be fabric gift bags. Why? Because no matter what you get as gifts, they have to be wrapped, and what better way than to either purchase or make gift bags that are recyclable. We, at Sandi’s T’s, sell fabric gift bags. You can see the variety of sizes and fabric available here.

Or you can make them yourself if you do any sewing. Use funky fabric, or floral fabric, or just about any other subject you can. Get your fabric while it’s on sale. Wal-Mart has their fabric on sale now that they are going to discontinue carrying it.

EBay is another good source for fabric that is on sale. Use the Internet to search for ‘fabric sales’, ‘sale fabric’, ‘discount fabric’, etc. Just watch out that you don’t get charged a lot of shipping – if it’s too much, you might want to check out your local fabric stores – only when you are in the area. Don’t make a special trip – remember you have several months yet – but by combining errands and trips you save on gas.

A little ribbon – I use about a yard added to the top of each gift bag – some you may have on hand or other find on sale as you do your errands. Again, don’t make a special trip.

If you are crafty, you might want to make some handmade items to use as gifts. Believe me, if you give me a gift that is handmade, I would appreciate it more than anything you could have bought for me. And you don’t need to go overboard. Remember it’s the thought that counts, not the number of gifts.

Does your friend like vintage items – try looking in thrift stores – you can run across all kinds of things that other people donate. Speaking of vintage items – I found a wonderful site today, Tuscan Rose. They have rubber stamps, book kits, and many other items that are just really cute. Gift tags too. Check them out. Remember handmade is good for your gifts.

Need gift tags and want to download them – look for sites on the Internet that have free down loadable gift tags. All you need to do, is have card stock on hand. Then no buying tags in Wal-Mart or anywhere else. We use http://www.freeprintablegifttags.net/ for ours. Again, a savings!

Check back soon, as we will have some more ideas for you – so you can be ready for Christmas.

Sandi