Homemade gifts back in style ~ good for the budget, soul and sweet tooth

This holiday season, the office (my day job) has replaced the annual Secret Santa exchange with a homemade gift swap. The house-made booty can be food, crafts or any other good idea that comes to mind - and the item in question must be presented in a recycled shell of some kind (old gift wrap, tins, boxes, bags, etc.). Each week, all gifts will be assembled on a table for a drawing. All of us will pull a number from a hat, match the number to the gift (no swapping), and walk away with the delectable or decorative fruits of a coworker's labor.

While I generally seek out ways to reuse materials around the house in fun fashion (see: the egg-carton wreath, butterfly straws, and most recently "the tea tin turned candy dish," shown in this post), this four-week gift exchange is taking the creativity quotient to a new level for me as well as my colleagues.

And why not you, too? This season, go easy on your budget and spark green-tinted creativity in your soul by brainstorming how you can reduce, reuse and recycle to build remarkable gifts for those who will appreciate them. The process is likely to inspire you. And perhaps that inspiration will trickle into other areas of your life, giving you new eyes with which to admire this old world. A wonderful exercise as we close out 2009 and prepare to embrace 2010.