How to enter the Homemade holiday gifts project contest!

Winners for the 2006 Holiday Gift Contest have been posted here.

Enter the 2007 Homemade Holidays Contest here!

Ok, I'm a super cheapskate. I won't pay for parking, full-price movie showings, or anything I can routinely find in a dumpster. Even the act of shopping fills me with hate. As a kid, the worst thing in the world was stepping into a department store with my parents; they could have punished me with shopping trips. I'd be tired, angry, hungry, sore, and bored all rolled into a tantrum ready to erupt. Today, I'm not much better: my tantrums have evolved into anti-consumerism diatribes.

Some stores, however, leave me feeling rejuvenated. Well-built tools, quality raw materials, or even weird bits of broken gadgetry provide the means, inspiration, and building blocks for an infinite number of creative projects.

Around the holidays, this presents a certain dilemma. Not everyone on my gift list is excited to receive tools and raw materials -- they need a finished product. So, I buy the silk swatches, LEDs, and sustainably-grown Chechen hardwood myself, and use them to make presents for my friends and family (and I save the lecture on why shopping for consumer products exhausts both me and the environment).

Grandma gets a digital picture viewer customized for her, Christy gets an LED light box and Escher print, the cousins get Marshmallow guns, and so on.

The number of great Instructables documenting homemade gifts tells me I'm not alone. Just a few:
Cheap 'n Easy Digital Picture Frame
Duct Tape Handbag
LED Popsicle Stick Picture Frame
Make a 100 page Notebook
photo cube - frameless, cheap and easy!
Save $200 in 2 minutes and have the world’s best writing pen (the standard Instructables team welcome gift)
Telephone Handset Microphone,
Walnut & Chocolate Covered Homemade Marshmallows,
and of course, the gift you just can't seem to give away fast enough,
A Free Yacht.

So, save Grandma another baffling discussion on the links between the Christmas card industry, the WTO, and the Illuminati, and instead make her and everyone else something nice and share how you did it with us.

First Prize
We'll give the three best Instructables documenting holiday gifts your choice of one of these really cool tools:
Cuisinart 7c food processor
Dremel 400-6/90 400 Series XPR Rotary Tool Kit
Fluke 115 True-RMS Multimeter
Singer 1525 sewing machine
(yes, I know, buying these undoubtedly fills the coffers of the Christmas-Industrial complex, but nice tools will let you make even better presents!)

Second Prize
Five projects will win Leatherman juice S2 pocket knives laser-engraved with the Instructables logo and your username, real name, email address, or whatever you want. Laser-engraving is our way to make a homemade present for you!

Second Prize prime!
Five projects will win Make Magazine Thomas J. Glover Pocket References Guides! These things are handy!

Third Prize
10 projects will win your choice of a water bottle or a flashlight laser-engraved with the Instructables logo and your moniker.

Honorable mention
15 Projects will be selected for honorable mention and will win an Instructables patch to sew onto your bag, jacket, or wherever.

Any project that documents a homemade gift and is added to the Homemade gifts group is eligible. Bonus points for introduction steps that clearly summarize the project and explain why your gift is perfect for the person receiving it. Instructables that show gift projects for kids to make are similarly eligible. All entries must be published and entered in the Homemade gifts group by end of the day January 1st, 2007.

Step 1 Contest Overview

How do I enter the Homemade Holiday Gifts Project Contest?
Any project related to Thanksgiving posted publicly and entered in the Homemade Gifts group on the Instructables website during the month of December 2006 will be automatically entered in the Homade Holiday Gifts Project Contest. If you have questions about specific project ideas, post them as comments and we will respond publicly. Users who wish to post a project and not be considered for the contest will be given the opportunity to decline any award they might win.

How to Win
All contest entries will be judged for merit. Projects will be evaluated for at least the following:

• instruction quality, including:
• completeness (photos and text for all important steps)
• clear, concise text description including a properly summarized introduction with the motivation for doing the project and the rationale for why the project make an excellent gift.
• clear photographs (2+ megapixel preferred), use macro mode for close up shots
• use of photo-notes where appropriate
• list of parts and tools required (if appropriate)
• safety notes (if appropriate)
• usefulness
• originality
• technical merit

See: Tips for Project Authors

Projects not written in English will be considered at the discretion of the judges.

Project Contest Prizes:
First Prize
Three projects will win your choice of one of the following:
Cuisinart 7c food processor
Dremel 400-6/90 400 Series XPR Rotary Tool Kit
Fluke 115 True-RMS Multimeter
Singer 1525 sewing machine

Second Prize
Five projects will win Leatherman juice S2 pocket knives laser engraved with the Instructables logo and text of your specification.

Third Prize
10 projects will win your choice of a water bottle or a flashlight laser engraved with the Instructables logo and text of your specification.

Honorable Mention
15 Instructables patches

May I submit multiple entries?
Yes. You may submit as many entries as you want. Each project posted to the Instructables website during December 2006 that is related to Homemade Holiday Gift giving is a separate eligible entry in the contest. Entries may also be split into multiple Instructables Projects when appropriate.

Who is eligible for the contest?
The Contest is open anyone who is 18 years or older as of their date of entry, regardless of your place of residence. (see notes in contest rules for foreign entrants).

Comments

[technick29]

Contest Winners on Make:
Link

[constructer of the odd]

when does it end?

[ewilhelm]

"All entries must be published and entered in the Homemade gifts group by end of the day January 1st, 2007."

[Kiteman]

OK, it's ended, but the suspense is killing me - when do we find out the winners?

[ewilhelm]

Jan. 15.

[lilo]

Oh lordie...that's just cruel!

[canida]

I'm compiling the data as fast as I can! See my fingers, all bloody stumps from too much typing? Definitely cruel. Anyway, results will be up on Monday.

[theRIAA]

12 days!?! ahhh

[technick29]

1 more...

[whoops there it went]

can I please get a late entry form???? please?

[canida]

Sorry, but the judges have all turned in their responses (as of last night) otherwise I'd totally add your truck-mounted toilet. Maybe it will be the perfect application for a future contest. Wilderness survival tools contest, anyone?

[TrumpetNeel]

(salivates thinking of dremel tools)

[Tetranitrate]

I'm drooling over that Dremmel.

[constructer of the odd]

how do i add my project?

[ewilhelm]

Go to the group page and click "join this group." Then, go to your Instructable and click "add this Instructable to a group" under the left sidebar.

[constructer of the odd]

thx

[BobbyMike]

This is great. It's strange, but this is the first time I've actually wanted to win 2nd prize, I already have a cuisinart, dremel, multimeter and sewing machine.

On a related note, ToolmongerToolmonger is in the midst of giving away 25 Ridgid circular saws! I won the 2nd one, Ridgid already delivered it and it's sweet. Head over and post a comment and win one! If you like tools you'll probably like their site.

[zachninme]

I have a question, does it have to be gift-related, or can it be just general Holiday themed?
I have a project I am writing and I wanted to know if I could enter it in :-)
Its a automatic tree water-er.

[ewilhelm]

I'm going to make a guess that what you're making would make a great gift for someone.

[zachninme]

Good point :-P

[Kiteman]

OK, I've joined the group, now how do I enter my air-horn? (Yes, I know I'm being dim).

http://www.instructables.com/id/E0QEYGEUJIEV2Z50E5/

[ewilhelm]

Looking at your Instructable, check out the left sidebar. Under groups, click "add this Instructable to a group."

[Kiteman]

Ah-ha, I knew I was being dim; join the group first, then add the instructable.

>doh<

[Hungry_Myst]

Sweet, I could really use a Dermel. Honestly tough, getting one of those Leatherman’s would be awesome!

I love the T-shirt I got a while back and I’ve been kicking myself for not entering the last few contests, but this is almost too good to pass up. Hummm, I just need a project…

[Tool Using Animal]

I've wanted a flashlight laser ever since i read "Ringworld". Can it be used to battle angry hominids?

[ewilhelm]

Just for you I've added some hyphens.

[ewilhelm]

Make just gave us pocket references to give away as prizes!

[zachninme]

Also, for the group description, you should make it shorter, it really stretches the page :-)

[fungus amungus]

Oh man, a sewing machine? That would kick ass. I just broke a bit of my sweat pants today (don't ask) and could use that.

[zachninme]

Awesome! The laser engraving in itself it just a great way to make something cheap great! And 33 winners!?! That is awesome! 66 Entries for Halloween contest, so this should have many winners!