Give of yourself

A DIY guide to avoiding mall madness

By Juile Kelly

If you are filled with dread at the idea of venturing out into the mall-shopping horror show of maniacal consumers hopped up on Cinnabons and cappuccinos, fear not. Holiday shopping is not necessarily a nightmare. In this age of pre-made, no-assembly-required, gift-certificate-for-everything, no-time-for-anything, we implore you to think back to simpler time: childhood.

A popular theory as to the reason for the unusually high suicide rate around the holidays is that people remember the magic of the season from their childhoods, and grow depressed because they can't recapture the holiday spirit they had when they were young. Take a minute and think back. When you were a kid, there was always plenty of snow for making snowmen, you couldn't wait for the holiday displays to be put in store windows, and the best gifts you gave had nothing to do with rampant consumerism and everything to do with making them yourself for the people you cared about.

Homemade, personalized gifts. A concept whose time has returned. True, a certain anal-retentive WASP divorcee known to millions as Martha Stewart has given the homemade gift a bad rap. Her projects are so complicated that only Martha herself could ever complete them. Well, the other extreme is just as bad -- the frantic "any gift will do" shopping panic that leads you to the discount aisle at Walgreen's to decide between the dinosaur Chia Pet or the tired Whitman's Chocolate Sampler.

Enough. We're here to offer you a happy medium, some gift suggestions that demand a personal touch and allow you to have creative control. With a bit of time and effort, it's easy and relatively cheap to make some kick-ass holiday gifts. One of the simplest ways is to sign up for a class or workshop. Holiday classes usually run during the month of November, but there are still some workshops happening this month.

Get in touch with your inner child at the Highland Artist Group's holiday-craft and ornament-making classes, every Saturday and Sunday from noon to 2 p.m. and 3 to 5 p.m. during December. Remember the clothespin toy-soldier ornament you made that your Mom still insists on putting on the tree? Time to update the collection. For a $10 fee, owner Donna Vayo will show you how to transform two plain spheres into colorful, sparkly ornaments sure to become part of your family's holiday heirlooms. Bring your imagination and be prepared to get creative. Your creativity also helps out some community organizations -- $1 of the class fee will be donated to Boys and Girls Clubs of Worcester and/or the Seven Hills Foundation.

Call (508) 752-0303 for details.

Also in December, Sprout, a new florist on June Street in Worcester, is offering a class on making a candle-ring holiday centerpiece on Tuesday, December 12, at 7 p.m. A great gift for the hostess you never know what to give. Price of the class is $30, and includes all materials.

Sprout, 118A June St., Worcester, (508) 757-5300.

Jewelry is one gift that rarely disappoints. Still, as much as jewelry is a foolproof gift idea, there are still some things to consider. For instance, how many tiny gold heart-shaped pendants can one neck wear? It seems all mall-based stores offer the same types of jewelry for every major holiday. There is an alternative. August the First is a bead store that lets you design and create your own original jewelry. Beads and charms are available in every color, shape, size, and material imaginable, including bone, wood, plastic, ceramic, clay, glass, and metal. Prices range from two cents to $2.50 per bead, so you can set your own price and create a necklace that costs anywhere from $1 to $100. The staff is always on hand to help choose beads and to show you how to attach clasps and fasteners. Diamonds may be forever, but the fact that you were able to remember the color of your girlfriend's eyes and create earrings and a bracelet to match them will be enough to awe her until the next holiday.

August the First, 243 West Main Street, Northborough, (508) 393-0180. Open Tuesdays and Wednesdays from noon to 6 p.m., on Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and on Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Clayground is a place where creativity meets you halfway. A paint-your-own pottery studio, the Clayground offers more than a hundred unfinished pottery pieces just waiting for your artistic touch. No experience is necessary -- just a little imagination and some free time. How about decorating a chips-and-salsa serving plate with your roommate's famous killer margarita recipe? Or maybe a vase painted with your sister's favorite flowers? The Clayground presents pottery pieces in every price range, from a Christmas ornament for $5 to a three-section serving plate with a covered dip-bowl for $35. The $4 glaze/firing fee is charged only once no matter how many pieces you paint in one sitting, and the finished pieces are ready to be picked up in five to seven days.

The Clayground, 65 James Street, Worcester, (508) 755-7776. Open on Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., on Wednesday from noon to 8 p.m., on Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., on Friday from noon to 9 p.m., on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and on Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.

A tried-and-true homemade gift is the mix tape (or mix CD in this age of fab-technology). The mix tape allows your creativity to shine through. With the advent of Napster, this gift idea is ridiculously easy (not to mention free) to put together. Set a mood, relive the decades, or just put together a slammin' all-night rave tape -- the possibilities are limitless. If you like to do things the old fashioned way, head down to Al-Bums, where you can find most any type of musical styling on CD, cassette, or vinyl. Prices for music run from two bucks for a used cassette to around eight bucks for a used CD. Prices for new releases run about the same as at other music stores, but don't be afraid to make the folks at Al-Bums an offer -- on a recent visit, the clerk offered to sell us three blank tapes for five bucks -- quite the bargain for a holiday budget.

Al-Bums, 149 Highland Street, Worcester, (508) 798-3657.

We know, you want to be original, but in the interest of time the pull of the Dark Side (a.k.a. the Mall) is calling. So here's a gift idea for a unique, personal present you can create in less time than it takes to find a parking space on Christmas Eve. Gather a dozen pictures of you and your buds from Spring Break last year (nothing X-rated) and head down to Kinko's. In 72 hours or less, you will have your very own "Calendar of Sin" where each month shows your roommate in yet another situation he or she has no memory of. All for $29.95. Can't scare up 12 pictures? Just pick the best of the bunch and opt for the "Year on a Page" laminated calendar where one picture is featured with the 12 months arranged below. The $6.95 price is better than anything you can find last minute you know where.

Kinko's, 77 Boston Turnpike (Route 9), Shrewsbury, (508) 756-1977.

Old habits die hard. We know there are those out there who will just not buy their presents until the very last minute. We suggest you at least personalize that Store 24 gift certificate you bought for Mom with homemade wrapping paper or a homemade holiday card. C.C. Lowell is the place to go for great wrapping ideas. In their newly expanded stationary section, they offer large hand-made sheets of paper in a vast array of colors and textures. Prices range from $2 to $18 a sheet. Or, for about $7, you can purchase a roll of "Paper To Go" -- two pre-packaged sheets of high-quality paper available in unusual textures and colors. Also in stock are packaged rolls of plain white or brown wrapping paper ($2 buys you 18 feet). Throw in a couple of metallic-ink pens (about $2 each) and presto -- instant decorative wrapping paper.

Give Hallmark a rest and use C.C. Lowell's smaller stationary paper for making personal holiday cards. Stationary is priced at 40 cents each for small sheets, or $1.49 for larger sheets, and comes in various colors and prints. Another option is "Photo Frame Cards" -- a card with a window on the front to insert your own photo. A box of 10 cards is $8.95 and is available in black or white.

C.C. Lowell, 258 Park Avenue, Worcester, (508) 757-7713

Urban legend
chocolate-chip cookies

It just wouldn't be the holidays without cookies. True, nowadays any supermarket offers all kinds of idiot-proof cookie-dough concoctions, but instead of relying on the Doughboy's prefab slice-n-bake method, try baking cookies from scratch. Too time consuming? Nah. We're here to make it easy for you. Here's a foolproof recipe that's sure to quell anyone's sugar jones. This recipe has reached urban-legend status as the Neiman-Marcus chocolate-chip cookie recipe for which a woman was charged $250, instead of the $2.50 she thought she was paying. Outraged at the inflated price, the woman sought revenge by publishing the recipe everywhere she could.

True story or not, it doesn't matter -- what matters is that these cookies are a cheap and fun gift idea for all your office co-workers. It's a big recipe, so if you get sick of making cookies, you can roll the remaining dough into a log then wrap and freeze it. When you are ready to return to the kitchen, just thaw, slice and bake. Easy, and your friends will appreciate what a great breakfast your cookies make on Christmas morning.

2 cups butter or margarine;

2 cups sugar;

2 cups brown sugar;

4 eggs;

4 cups flour;

5 cups blended oatmeal (blend, in a blender, by small amounts, until powdery);

1 teaspoon salt;

2 teaspoons baking soda;

2 teaspoons baking powder;

2 teaspoons vanilla;

3 cups chopped walnuts;

1 24-ounce bag of chocolate chips;

1 8-ounce milk-chocolate bar, grated.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Mix together the eggs and all the dry ingredients, then add the chocolate chips and grated chocolate bar. Form the dough into golf-ball sized balls, and place them two inches apart on un-greased cookie sheets. Bake for six minutes. Yield 100 to 115 cookies.