This year, instead of joining in the orgy of department store consumerism, grab some friends and spend a few hours making your holiday gifts. It’s a multitasker’s dream: In one afternoon you can catch up on gossip, pick up a new hobby and scratch a few names off your shopping list.
You may not be ready to give “Queer Eye’s” Ted Allen any serious competition, but with a little help from the Chopping Block Cooking School you can make some pretty sweet presents. At the school’s newly opened Lincoln Square location, you can learn to make holiday candies such as peppermint bark, peanut brittle or chocolate truffles (10 a.m. or 7 p.m. Wed. $50) or sign up for the hands-on Bake ‘n’ Take Holiday Cookies class (6:30 p.m. Wed.-Thurs. and 10 a.m. Sat. $75). 4747 N. Lincoln Ave. 773-472-6700.
Make your own necklace, bracelet or earrings in less than 30 minutes after a free lesson from the folks at Get A Bead On It in Lakeview. What will take longer is picking your design and materials. Select semiprecious glass, crystal, freshwater pearls or sterling silver and craft your own line of accessories. You only have to pay for the materials. A finished piece usually runs $20 to $50. 3248 N. Sheffield Ave. 773-296-9249.
If Monica Lewinsky can do it, why can’t you? Try your hand at designing a handbag at 1154 Lill Studio in Lincoln Park. Select a style from about 17 bags or five accessories (including makeup bags, a wallet and a coin purse), then choose the fabric from a regularly replenished stock of unique florals, solids, stripes or prints. The best part: All you have to do is make the design choices–custom-ordered bags are hand made for you. But get there soon if you want your presents made in time for the holidays. Expect to spend anywhere from $24 to $150. 2523 N. Halsted St. 773-477-5455.
At River North’s Paper Source you can learn to bind your own handmade journal or construct your own pop-up story book. At the Simply Books workshop (6-9 p.m. Wed.) you’ll learn to construct eight different types of books using standard-size papers. At the Pop-Up Accordion class (6-9 p.m. Dec. 11) you’ll learn to make five different types of pop-up cutouts to fit within an accordion-bound miniature storybook. The fees ($45-$50) include materials, and you take your completed projects home with you at the end of the night. 232 W. Chicago Ave. 312-337-0798.
Can’t afford to buy your friends a genuine Chihuly? For a low-key introduction to the art of glass blowing, make a 30-minute appointment for an Experience Glass class at Chicago Hot Glass in Garfield Park (10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tues. through Dec. 21. $45). In this short session at the city’s only glass-blowing studio accessible to the public, you can create a paperweight, flower or small cup. If you’re feeling ambitious, try the two-day Beginning Glass workshop (1-6 p.m. Sat.-Sun. $300), which gives a more in-depth overview and sends you home with two or three of your own creations. 250 N. Central Park Ave. 773-394-3252.
