One of the social activities that our church sponsored was Make It and Take It Night. 

A variety of crafts that were suitable to give as gifts were set up in our church basement.  We could go to any of the stations and make the project that was available.

One of my favorites was the Ivory Snow Flakes candle holder.  There was a time when Ivory Snow came in a box.  It was either flakes or little granules of soap.

We would fill a bowl with Ivory Snow, add water and use a mixer to whip it into a paste.  Then we would apply the paste to the outside of a clean glass jar.  Eventually the jar would look like it was snow covered.  Once that part of the process was complete, we could add sequins or glitter to the paste.  After the paste was dry-you had a candle holder that was ready for use.

This is the one make it and take it project that I always look forward to doing.  I loved Ivory Snow as a child.  It was a mild detergent that smelled really good.  It was my bubble bath mixture for a long time.

Participating in Make It and Take It Night was a way for our elders to teach us about how to approach gift giving.  We were taught that we could create something that would make the receiver feel good.  Which was the emphasis around the holiday.

I didn't realize until years later that this was also a way for people who did not have a lot of money for presents, to have a way to create presents.  None of the crafts were long term projects.  It was fun to sit down and create something while talking with friends or listening to Christmas music.