Handmade Gifts say that you Care, in a way that Store Bought Gifts Don’t

What makes  handmade gifts  better/ different to a High Street purchased product have you ever really thought about why you believe handmade gifts to be better than a store bought gift item because most people do think this , its almost kind of a natural assumption. There are certain  built in expectations that accompany handmade gifts or any made by hand item people don’t just  buy handmade gifts for merely handmades  sake there is a reason what is it ?
Handmade or handcrafted which ever term you prefer, says something to people. It means something. It invokes an idea some kind of imagery a definite expectation of better quality ,of time having been willingly spent, something not rushed into,thoughts  of goods   being lovingly and proudly created ,not hurriedly begrudgingly thrown together

So when  handmade gifts are given for Fathers Day what besides the actual  item is being given

check out "pages" other Handmade gifts for fathers day

When  I  buy handmade gifts or any handcrafted item, for Fathers Day or some other occasion I expect them to be handmade locally by some talented local artisan, whether I am on holiday in a foreign country or at a local craft fair I expect the handmade gifts that I buy to be handmade near by.

I remember once at a  Mexican market I bought several handmade gifts to take home, one was a lace scarf ,a gift for my mum, imagine my embarrassment and disappointment when wrapping  the  handmade gifts to send back to GB  discovering the gift I had chosen for mum bore a tiny label saying handmade in Taiwan.
Handmade gifts have to be handmade in the country that you are in for its full symbolism to be brought home , if you’re a visitor to a country you wish to take home a memento from that country, a keepsake of your trip not some foreign import, handmade gifts or not, you can get foreign imports at home.

If you are purchasing handmade gifts from the country you call home ,the products origin is equally important as in purchasing a locally handcrafted item it implies that you the purchaser are serving your country, fulfilling some patriotic duty in the purchase of this locally  produced item.
Of course, not all handmade gifts are created equal. Handmade in China doesn’t mean diddley squat it doesn’t carry any weight with anyone -not unless you want to be put in mind of slave labor sweat shops and exploitation.

Except for certain items like chocolate for example, where Belgian is usually understood to be the best stuff. Or French perfume is accepted to be the upper level as far as perfumes go, and only Canada knows how to make maple syrup. It’s not the authentic stuff if it’s made anywhere else. Handmade in at least one sense means home made, in the country you are currently in it’s a standard of excellence in some respect. But if your Fathers Day gift is a giant bar of chocolate you better make sure its Belgian.

So, your handmade gifts for fathers day are made in Canada, England, or the USA but what does that mean? Why should your dad care more about a locally made handmade gift than a locally acquired store bought item
Well, to answer this question is really to understand what “image” handmade gifts conjure in the mind of your recipient

I haven’t done much research beyond talking to family and friends so there are no definitive answers here. I think it’s probably a question everyone could answer in slightly different ways as of course it’s a personal question but when I asked my friends and family what they felt they were giving / getting apart from the actual  handmade gifts themselves when they gave or received  handmade gifts.

What do handmade gifts signify to you personally these by and large are the answers I got:-
1) Handmade goods have Snob value handcrafted goods are rare. Not something to be found on every High Street the length and breadth of the country. So buying/receiving handmade gifts gives me the opportunity to own (or give) something that only a few people have.

2) Handmade gifts are the product of creative passion, not market research. Handmade gifts are the product of artistic inspiration. It was designed by an inspired individual, not a design team. An idea was nurtured and developed and ultimately fashioned by its individual creator, hasn’t come off an assembly line of thousands

3) Handmade gifts are made with love. made with care and subjected to individual attention, not churned out by a machine. As a result it has character. There’s something of the crafts-person’s hands and ‘eye’ evident in each, slightly imperfect (and unique) edition.

4) Handmade gifts are different. They stand apart from common High Street goods. I certainly wouldn’t want “Pages from the Heart” to be mistaken for a mass produced item and it’s their tiny little imperfections that give them their uniqueness not just from the mass produced but from each other. I almost want to draw attention to little irregularities to make sure that they are noticed, because only then can one explain how special and individual the each piece really is.

5) A romantic notion of craftsmanship is associated with handmade gifts or any handcrafted item; quite often they are felt to be an antidote to consumerism and the mass produced world. Handcrafted goods evoke a certain imagery and sense of supporting an alternative to more factories, pollution billowing smoke stacks, concrete buildings, and nose to tail traffic jams, a returning to a culturally richer and more laid back time.

6) Implicitly to most people  for some reason handmade gifts are just worth more. And most  believe this without even consciously thinking about it , I have been trying to understand why. Certainly, its partly down to all of the above But, I think it’s actually more fundamental than that. It boils down to a subconscious belief that the work of a man or woman is intrinsically worth more than the produce of a machine or any industrial process, as the sole aim of industrial processes is to produce identical products of acceptable/mediocre quality at the lowest possible cost. We like to think that, whilst a handcrafter may also want to be efficient and turn a profit, theirs is a less stringent branding process, allowing for both individuality and creativity.

It’s Not surprising then that most people would prefer to recieve handmade gifts rather than store bought, after all what is the imagery that springs to mind when you think of chain store goods  plastic,disposable, low quality , little life expectancy, foreign made  ,everybody has one. People they say the gifts you give, not only reflect what you think of the recipient but the character of the gift giver too.  So what statement are you making about yourself , what sentiment are you trying to express about your friend or loved one , when you give them a cheap, plastic,poorly constructed throw away trinket made in some foreign sweatshop?
Perhaps I’m a little vain but I’d rather not think of myself as a plastic throw away person and I’d rather others didn’t see me in that light either particularly my dad Personally, I think I’ll choose only handmade gifts from now on for all gift giving occasions not just  fathers day.

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