What is Kwanzaa all about?

What is a good gift for Kwanzaa at work?

• I wanted to hand out something the first day of Kwanzaa, and wondered what would be universally appealing. I have a small budget. Also, if someone does not celebrate Kwanzaa is it ok ...show more

• Answer:

  I don't really know why a person who is not celebrating Kwanzaa needs to "show respect" since it is not a Holy day. In reality, it's much like Grandparents' Day or Children's Day. If you really want to give a present, though, it should be homemade. I like to give gifts that represent me and the person I'm giving it to. That way, they know they are unique to me and they also will easily remember that I am the one that gave them the gift. It's just a sharing thing which in this case really is what the holiday is about. An example: a friend of mine, an art teacher, decorated a wine glass for me. He painted the stem green, red, and black and glued a piece of paper with an African print around the glass part. He also put a cutout on the bottom of the very bottom that accented the African print and then tied a red bow. This seems to lose something in the translation but I did the same thing after he did this for me and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Each glass could cost as little as the cost of the glass at the dollar store, a small paint brush to brush the glue over the print on the glass, and the bottle of glue (also from the dollar store). Simply water down the glue (like making paper mache) and pick a nice print from an old magazine or wrapping paper. Another, less consuming alternative is sand art in black, red, and green or rocks in a pretty glass (also red, black, and green).