Simple Creativity

I am in amazement at the number of weddings I will be attending in the upcoming 6 months. A few of my friends recently got engaged and are planning on a short engagement and others have been engaged for longer, but they all decided for a summer/fall 2o10 wedding. The current count is 6 weddings (4 of which are in August!). Oh dolly, we will be busy and broke - wedding presents and hotels are not cheap. So with this information on my mind, I am brainstorming like crazy for gifts I can give these couples that I can make beforehand. I the past I have given personalized stationary and crocheted afghans. There is no way I am making 6 afghans - with my luck I would end up with carpel tunnel! Personalized stationary is a possibility and I am playing with the idea of a cookbook or a collection of recipes.

My favorite cookbook is the America's Test Kitchen Cookbook. My parents received it as a gift when I was in junior high and I have ever since been in love with its never fail recipes. I then received it as a gift when I was pregnant. It holds pretty much all of the main East Coast and Midwestern fares. Recently though, I have been trying to expand my cooking skills and spend a lot of time searching Rachael Ray and The Pioneer Woman's websites for new recipes.

I will give it some more thought, maybe a homemade gift in combination with a giftcard. I like the sound of that. I will keep posted on what I end up doing, the first wedding is in late June.