It happens sometimes, that you either miscalculated on how many gifts to buy, cookies to make to gift your friends or you receive a last minute invitation and need a gift to give.

I advise you not to go into your sock drawer and pull out your slightly worn pair of Mona Lisa socks and think you can get away with wrapping them up and re-gifting them. Instead, go into your stash of odd sizes of watercolor paper and cut, fold or rip them into sketchbook pages (your choice of size) and quickly find a piece of colored paper card stock for the cover and make two holes, thread some twine or string thru them and tie a bow. If you happen to have a coil binding machine use that to bind your sketchbooks. Viola, you have ready made sketchbooks gifts. Tie them with a ribbon and perhaps put a stick a candy cane on them if you've got some and you are done. Now you are not going to the party empty handed. If you had a mom like mine, she may have advised you to never go to anyone's house empty handed....