The Green Room

"From now on, we're only buying gifts that are made in America! Preferably by a person."


This is the declaration my husband the scientist recently made. This is not only the requirement for the gifts we give, but he is adamant that it is also mandatory for the gifts we receive. Good luck, Mom!

He recognized that this might be a bit more expensive, but feels it's worth it to try to support individuals in their small businesses. I guess he decided it's time to put his money where his mouth is! And as always, when my husband gets fired up about something, I enthusiastically am supporting him!

(Even though it sounds hard, what with CHRISTMAS coming up! And no, I'm not just skipping over Thanksgiving. The thing is, not only is Christmas 32 days away, but my husband's birthday is 11 days away. So this requirement is in place for both his birthday and Christmas gifts! Sheesh - and I thought having them both in the same month was hard! Then again, he usually tells me not to spend money on him and all he wants is for me to get good grades/finish my PhD, so maybe this year I'll just take him up on it! But I digress.)

Luckily my husband is more than willing to help in this endeavor. He's already ordered gifts from some people in Wyoming of all places, and so two of our brothers are covered. That leaves us with two other brothers, two sister-in-laws, two dads, and grandparents. And of course, my husband the scientist. I'm not really worried about finding something for my mom - she's easy. I haven't traded gifts with friends in a long time, so I can also breathe easy on that count. (Of course, they'd be the ones who'd most appreciate a homemade craft!)

I would like to support individuals in their small business ventures, but don't know where to start! I'd like to buy local, but where do I find these people? (And why must their goods be so expensive?) I have a few ideas, but need help. So here's my proposal. I'll throw some ideas out there, if you will, too. Deal? Please?

Below are some gifts that I've given/received recently that fit the criteria. Please note that I'm not one of those popular bloggers who gets free stuff to promote these things.

• Ride in a 2-seater airplane. This was a Father's Day gift for my dad, who always said that if he won the lottery he would learn how to fly. It was especially neat because he was able to fly over all his fields (he's a farmer) and take pictures, which I loved! (I'm hoping to post them at some point.) It also helped that the pilot was a local good ol' boy, so my dad had a good time chatting with him. It was a bit expensive (one of my brothers went in on the cost with me), but this gift definitely had the wow factor!
• Personalized cake pan. I just got this for my mother's birthday. When I called the number, the cake pan lady herself answered and was quite sweet: thecakepanlady.com
• Road IDs. I mentioned Road ID before, but I'm mentioning it again because they just sent me an email for 15% if you order by November 30. Coupon code is pcHelpElves9. They're a really nice family-owned company, and you can't go wrong with a gift that helps keep a loved one safe.
• Books. I for one am a book lover, so I'm going to add this to the list. I'm not sure where most books are actually manufactured, so I'm just crossing my fingers that it's not a sweatshop somewhere.
• Anything on Etsy. I have become obsessed with this site in the last 2 weeks or so - since my husband's declaration was made! While it's a bit intimidating, I started with the gift guides and then started thinking of other things I'd like to look into and searched for them ("modest clothes" "Nancy Drew" "random-thing-your-brother-is-into").
• Anything homemade. That's a no-brainer, but that's as far as I've gotten in that category.