Christmas shopping!

Ok, so I think for Christmas this year, my goal is going to be to buy all the gifts I get from small business/local business/etc. Lots of shopping on etsy, craft fairs, that kind of thing.

Does anyone have any suggestions for places to look online? It doesn't even have to be somewhere I can order from, but possibly to look for websites of small businesses, etc.?

Where are you all doing your Christmas shopping? Good gift ideas?

Christmas gift shopping is proving to be stressful this year. Well really, it's the thinking of ideas that is the problem. I always try to be cost-conscious on Christmas while also getting gifts that I think the recipient will really like and use. This can be hard, because I find that while a lot of homemade gifts are cute in theory (and on pintrest) the gift itself tends not to be utilized unless the giver is a particularly skilled craftsman. While it's true that it's the thought that counts, I really want my gifts to be appreciated both for the thought and for the actual gift.

Here's a list of some of my previous gifts (to maybe help spur some ideas because I know how tough it is to come up with new ones!):

• I took all of the old baby videos from my and my siblings childhood (that were on cassette) and converted them to DVD using a cassette to VHS converter and then DVD burning technology that allowed me to sit and watch the videos so that I could create chapter breaks in the DVD when the cassettes switched scenes. I then compiled my favorite moments into a music video created in a video editing software system. I burned the cute video to a final DVD that was given out to parents and grandparents. The parents also got the entirety of the raw converted footage. While it's not a gift that I suspect they use often, I think that they really really enjoyed the edited video and I know that they are happy to have those files updated/saved before they were to be so obsolete that there was no way to preserve them. It took ~ 20 hours, so it wasn't a quick project.
  
• I've done mason jar cookie and hot cocoa mixes for the extended family. I thought it would be a cute usable idea, but then I have a mason jar cookie mix that somebody gave me a while back and it's still sitting in my cabinet, so I'm not so sure anymore.
  
• I bought an autographable football for my sports-loving boyfriend and contacted the athletic department at my college. After a bit of correspondence, I was actually able to come in to get the football signed with a personalized note by the head football coach.
  
• I made my boyfriend a photo journal of the previous year for Christmas. I now steal it back every Christmas and add the next year to the journal since I know that he likes looking at the pictures/stories, but he doesn't have the motivation to keep up a journal himself. This one might be more for me than him, honestly!
  
• I did a dinner and a movie gift for the boyfriend. I bought him a copy of his favorite childhood movie on DVD and a candy bar and included a note for dinner and a movie on me. We went to a theater and I bought dinner as a nice little gift. Although I liked the idea, I probably wouldn't do this one again, because without a set-in-stone date it was almost a year later that I finally held true to my gift.
  
• I've also done things that were a bit less "thought/time intensive" such as creating a spa package for my sister, buying my boyfriend a solar-powered sports watch for his birthday, etc.
  
• As a "just because" gift, I took the boyfriend out to a pre-season football game. Tickets are way cheaper, but we still had a great time!
  

Future plans:

• couples massage for the boyfriend
• My mother has a slew of recipes that have been compiled over the years. They are all heaped and stuffed into a box. Some are written on paper scraps, some on notecards. Really there is no order. I have asked her to scan me her favorites under the guise of wanting to have some new recipes to try. Secretly, I plan to type out all of the scanned recipes and then create a hard-cover recipe book for her on shutterfly. I recently went to a national park and bought a gift at the gift store. In return, they gave me a free voucher for an 8x8 photobook, so it should work out perfectly!
• 36 "open when" letters for the boyfriend as a either a side-gift for birthday or Christmas or as a gift for valentine's day or anniversary. I haven't decided yet.

need more ideas! My dad and brother are notoriously difficult to shop for/think of ideas for.

This year I can actually afford to give half decent gifts, and I plan to.

Rick will be getting parts to piece together his own gaming PC, and probably another knife. Boy loves his knives.

Mother will be getting a massage or something similar. She's hard to shop for.

Brother will be getting Cards Against Humanity and a few booster sets.

Father... I'm not sure. Also difficult to shop for.

A few dog friends are getting gifts this year, because I can. Brace yourselves.

I actually finished Christmas shopping for the kids last night. I just need to find some stocking stuffers.

I'm clueless for my husband, but for the rest of the family we just typically order gift baskets to be delivered. We don't know if we'll actually see anyone for Christmas this year anyway. If we see the ones who live close, I might go for an assortment of nice teas or something.