Christmas is coming!

which, would also signal the end of another year. gosh. I want to ask where all that time has gone to but I know I spent most of it slogging away on ny work desk. in the same note, with Der being away in China for a week, me being heavily pregnant with the delivery date just weeks away, and having to juggle work (everyone is clearing leave except me) and caring for jerry.. I have been extremely tired. add the stress of prepping for the festive season and getting everyone’s present ready.. imma is very very sleep deprived so this blog is near its death I think.

 

and very ambitiously, I decided to make my own presents for my colleagues at work this Christmas..partly because there has been so much changes and so many people leaving.. I’m not sure if I’ll see the same faces after my maternity leave is over. have been keeping it under wraps for a while but since I distributed it today at work.. I can finally talk about the present!

 

the idea – office survival kit.
the idea isn’t new, I gave this out as a farewell present to my ex-colleagues the last time so its been a good 4 years since I last made one? I also improvised the items that is within the kit.

I spent many nights not sleeping, and working tirelessly at the dinner table, cluttering it with loads of scrapbooking materials to decorate the presents. I wish I had more time to make it for more people, but my body ached badly and I suffered severe backache and barely could walk properly for days for the long hours I put myself in the chair in my current heavyset stage.

 

each bottle is individually customized and personalized with the names the gift is meant for, and it contains the following items (basically stuff that you’ll need in times of need, but may not be available in the office…
– po chai pills (for the times when one is suffering from diarrhea)
– refresh eye drops vials (for the tired eyes)
– panadol (headaches or pain relief)
– plasters (cuts and injuries)
– nail clipper for the chipped nail
– toothpick/floss (i had those 2-in-1 versions from Watson’s)
– mobile charging cable (customized to the phones they carry, or a car charging adaptor if they do drive)
– safety pins (for burst seams or missing buttons or wardrobe malfunctions)

 

there were more items that I had wanted to include like sewing kits and all but I couldnt find appropriate ones that could fit into the bottles so I left it as it is. I also threw in a couple of candy canes to jazz up the festive mood.

 

I made a total of close of 40 bottles of them and was a little sad I couldnt find the time/energy to make more for the people who mattered. I really wanted to accommodate as many people as possible! for many days, I survived with just 3-4 hours sleep to churn the bottles out and I had ropped in the husbs, my mum and my brother to help prep the items before I could pack/decorate! each bottle takes an average of 25-45mins to put together (after all packing and prep work done) with all the cutting, sticking, pasting, decorating so you go do the math the amount of time needed. 

 

my only regret? I totally forgot to take a picture of all the bottles so i have nothing to show.. except these when my colleagues started instagramming their own bottles today after I left them on their desks.

and only one guy fb it..

I took a picture of the special one for a colleague who loves rilakkuma and sent her the image via whatsapp to wish her merry Christmas cos she left for holiday and won’t be back till next year. I just happened to have rilakkuma decorative tapes lying around my stash.

judging from the response I got, I think everyone most loved the idea except that I had to keep reminding them not to bring it home!

 

also special thanks to the husb who had stayed up on some days either to help or accompany me (while falling asleep on the sofa), helped me packed these bottles into a huge carton, drove me to work and carried them all the way to my work desk. its way too heavy that I even have difficulty pushing the box around on the floor so I really am v v thankful for him!

 

I hope I gave some of you inspiration if you are still struggling on what gifts to get! me? with those in the office settled, i still have a long list outstanding (no time to shop!) for my closer friends so I’m gonna attempt hitting the malls (or call it suicide) this weekend. wish me luck!