Cheap and Easy Neighbor Gifts for the Procrastinator

Okay, I admit it. I'm horrible at remembering neighbor gifts,especially since I haven't given them in over 3 years!

This means that once again I waited until the last minute to find something that was cheap, easy, and not so time consuming considering it was Christmas Eve by the time I put them together.

So, I bought some boxes of brownie mix (any cookie or cake mix works, too) and slapped a bow on top with a poem attached.

{I like the idea of giving out gifts such as mixes beause 1. I don't like baking things for other people in my house. I'm really clean when I bake, but I do have a German Shepherd and I don't ever want to be "that neighbor who gave you cookies with a dog hair in them"...EW!.}

There are all sorts of cute poems on Pinterest or other blogs that you can find out there, but at about 3am I woke up and had this one in my head (I must have been having a Dr. Suess type dream...)

It reads:

"The holidays as usual were busy and crazy.

Not a second to spare to sit and be lazy.

In the hustle and bustle, your gift needed making.

Up in the pantry it sat ready for baking.

Eek!

The calendar read the 24th and I had meant to make it back on the 4th!

...and with Christmas tomorrow, my stress is sky high,

so, I'm leaving it at your front door while running right by.

But we hope you will still enjoy making your own treat.

We're sure it will still taste mighty darn sweet!

And we beg for forgiveness for not managing our time.

As well as for making up this silly little rhyme!

With love from the Farkles (who have ADD).

Hopefully next year, a tad earlier we will be!

Merry Christmas!!

Jen, Studly, Diva and Destructo Farkle"

A tad cheesy, but you can always adapt it to fit your family!

Gift Idea for A Dance Teacher

(or any other adult who works with children on a regular basis for that matter...)

If you know me, or read my blogs, you probably know that Diva is a dancer. She's been competitively dancing since she was 8 and dances at an incredible dance studio with girls that are very down to earth and all very sweet to each other (well, as sweet as girls can get). We are very happy there.

Anyway, one of the best things about the studio is her teachers. They are amazing and I love all of them. I consider them friends, so of course they were on my Christmas list this year and in my quest to try to be more creative, I wanted to come up with ideas that were unique which is never easy and I was pretty stuck on what to do.

However, the perfect gift idea for one of her teachers finally hit me last night, as I was in the shower (where I always get my greatest ideas, as Diva would attest to). What is even more awesome-sauce is that it was free! I already had everything I needed, so I got to work.

10 minutes later, I had something made out of this:

Read on for the details.