In December, the last leaves have fluttered to the ground. While the majority of trees bare their limbs in the cold, celebrated evergreens are warmed with holiday lights. These bare limbs mirror students' threading pockets; the festive lights are a reminder of gifts that need to be bought for the approaching holiday.
Students first arrived at Tech with green in their pockets. It was the fruit of their labor after a summer's hard work at the going rate of a Lincoln and Washington an hour.
Yet with the change of seasons, leaves fall and school expenses pluck from the not so giving tree.
"I'm about out of money," said Melanie Dierks, senior in communication major."I eat and drink my money away."
During this drought of financial assets, holiday flashbacks occur. These flashbacks remind students of a time when it was acceptable to shamelessly give crappy gifts.
"I used to make stuff out of clay when I was a kid to give to people ... like bears and tigers and worms," said senior industrial design major, Dylan Tarrant.
Tarrant's childhood gifts are no different from other students'- it was the thought that counted.
Using retro ideas without retrograding into the cheesy gift genre can allow students to see Santa and his reindeer without seeing red in their checking accounts. Old school creations can be reformatted to more mature gift giving standards.
Tarrant broke his earlier clay-making mold by re-shaping his homemade gift ideas.
"Sometimes I make people cards or picture frames," Tarrant said. "When you make something for someone, it implies that you care enough to think of something they will like and then spend the time making it ... and time is a pretty valuable commodity these days ... and I'm usually broke ... "
Sarah King, senior studio art major, agrees with Tarrant regarding the thought-making process.
"Making a gift takes a lot more thought than someone going in and buying something anyone can get from the store," she said.
She re-tuned an old idea without skipping a beat.
"You can make a Christmas CD and create a play list of what different family members liked during that particular year. Then you can decorate a cover for it," King said.
Instead of leaving cookies out for Santa, why not rise to the baking occasion and throw a few cookies into the gift mix.
"I feel that when I bake, it's an expression of myself," said Kim Rupp, senior psychology major.
When in doubt, check MishMish out. This store is loaded with do-it-yourself gift ideas. MishMish sells an assortment of frames for various sized pictures and paintings for those wanting an original gift with a traditional feel.
"We have lots of paper, including handmade paper to make cards out of," said Kris Powers, graduate architecture student and MishMish employee.
One gift maker was already getting a start on his holiday shopping by buying paper for his project.
"I'm making journal-like books I learned how to make from a class I am taking this semester," said senior graphic design major Pete Inge. "It's more fun than buying a store-bought gift."
Powers then listed some gifts she had made in Christmas past.
"Last year I made soup, canned it in glass jars and labeled it. I have also given homemade blackberry liquor, which there is a recipe for. The only thing with that gift is you have to start planning a few months in advance because it takes awhile to make," she said. "Making gifts is sentimental, I do it every year for my family. They like it a lot more than things they wouldn't use," Powers said.
To holiday wrap this article - gifts made from the heart can be both affordable and functional. Add a bow and some gift-making cheer to the holidays.