March was chosen as National Craft Month back in the 1990s. The Craft & Hobby Association established it to reintroduce people to crafts. Take time this month to try new hobbies and crafts with your mom. Even your senior care provider may want to join in the fun.
What Are the Most Popular Crafts?
In 2017, the Association for Creative Industries polled around 10,000 crafters to learn more about their crafting habits. The top ten hobbies and crafts given in the responses were:
- Children’s Crafts
- Edible Arts (Cakes/Cupcakes and Candy Making)
- Flower Arranging
- Jewelry Making/Beads
- Knitting/Crocheting
- Needle Arts
- Painting/Drawing
- Paper Crafts
- Sewing/Fabrics (Quilting, Clothing Design)
- Wood Crafts
Some of these involve several hobbies in one. For example, your mom may decide to grow flowers in her garden and use them to try flower arranging. She might want to make clothing and use the fabric scraps to create quilts.
These are popular crafts, but others are trending. Upcycling started trending in the pandemic and remains popular. It involves finding broken or older furniture that’s being given away and giving it a new life.
Take an old military trunk, and paint it with indoor/outdoor paint. Once that’s dried, secure felt pads to the bottom and use self-adhesive vinyl flooring tiles on the top. You’ve created a coffee table that withstands spilled drinks and has plenty of storage inside.
Supplies You Need to Get Started
Some crafts and hobbies take more supplies than others. Consider this before you begin. If you have a limited budget, you may need to forgo a hobby until you have enough money for the necessary supplies.
For example, cupcake art is a rewarding, tasty hobby, but you’ll need piping bags and tips. You’re going to need the ingredients to make cupcakes and any decorations like candies, flowers, melting chocolate, candy molds, and more.
For basic cupcakes, you won’t need too much. Muffin tins and muffin liners are essentials. If you’re planning to make artistic cupcakes that look like animals or objects, you’ll need to add cake dowels to support stacked items, silk flowers, modeling chocolate, fondant, etc.
You might want to start with a less expensive hobby. Go to a dollar store and purchase some needles and thread. You probably already have sharp scissors at home. Cut up clothing you were planning to throw out. Sew fabric squares together to create pillow cases, small pet quilts, and sofa covers.
Hire Caregivers to Ensure You Can Spend Time Doing Fun Activities Together
Spend as much time as you can with your mom, and do more than clean up and cook meals. Make sure some of the time you spend together is packed with fun activities. With so many crafts and hobbies to explore, ask your mom what she’d like to try first.
While you have fun trying something new, senior home care aides can clean her home and help her with meals. Enjoy spending quality time together. Call a senior home care specialist to learn more.
If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring Senior Care in Portland, OR, please contact the caring staff at Integrity In-Home Care. Call today (503) 660-3755
Sources:
https://craftindustryalliance.org/craft-industry-growing-in-dollars-scope/