I’ll be honest. When it comes to office related holiday celebrations, I am the ultimate Scrooge. I don’t like the idea of forcibly using time off to celebrate something with people with whom I may or may not wish to socialize. And, I hate the idea of office gift-exchanges at these parties. You know, the one where you purchase some small, dinky gift, usually for under $10, and you may or may not play a game to receive a gift. Ugh. None of that sounds like fun to me. If I am friends or friendly with my coworkers, then I will find time to spend with them; I don’t need some lame excuse for a celebration. I don’t want to purchase some trinky little gift to hand out, when I already make/give small gifts for the people I am friends with at work. And, I know it is only $10. . . But, what a waste! I deplore the idea of wasting $10 on some worthless little item that won’t even be liked/used by the person who receives it. That $10 could be used on my laundry, groceries, towards new shoes, new sheets, or even towards a real gift. I don’t want to waste it.

But, I do like to have a good attitude and none of the above is really conducive with ‘good attitude.’

So, here is my “Down and Dirty, Super Cheap, Easy and Fast to Make, Holiday Office Party Gift.”

The Dammit Doll.

A Dammit Doll is basically some doll-like creation that your co-worker can bang/destroy/abuse as he/she/ze sees fit. Everyone needs to torture something sometimes? Right?

Now, the point here is to spend as little money as possible. So, repurpose materials around your house. Use an old (clean) T-shirt etc. etc. etc. Do not go out and spend money on this creation.

You will need:

-Some kind of fabric (hello white felt from the scrap pile)

-Embroidery thread (but you know, you could even just write the stuff on in marker)

-Needle (only if you are not using marker)

-Cording (ribbon, lace, rope, shoelaces etc.)

-marker

-scissors

-something to stuff the doll with (polyfil, dried beans, rice, stuffing from an old pillow)

-plastic bag for presentation (cute container etc.)

-paper (if you want to make a cute tag etc.)

Step 1

Use the template below. Copy the dammit doll shape onto your fabric with marker.

Step 2

Use whatever color thread you choose (marker color if you are writing this on) and split stitch (I did a how-to on split stitch here, but you can click on the 'split stitch' hyperlink for another tutorial) around the body shape

Step 3

Use another color thread (or the same one) to split stitch the face on

Step 4

I used red to satin stitch a heart on my dammit doll. But, this is totally optional. If you do not know how/do not want to satin stitch, then you could just split stitch the shape of the heart.

Step 5

Draw an oval around the dammit doll

Step 6

Cut out the dammit doll along the oval shape. Place the cut out doll on top of another piece of fabric (can be the same color or not) and cut out a second oval

Step 7

Get your ribbon/cording/shoelace

Step 8

Sew your ribbon/cording/shoelace onto one edge of the dammit doll. No one will see these stitches, so it doesn’t matter what color they are, or how nice they look. The long part of the cording should be on the front of the doll

Step 9

Pin the doll and the second piece of oval together so that the front of the doll faces inward. Make sure all of your ribbon is on the inward side as well

Step 10

Stitch around the edges of the oval. Leave a small space un-stitched so you will be able to turn your doll right-side out

Step 11

Turn your doll right-side out

Step 12

Stuff your doll

Step 13

Sew the small hole in the side of the doll shut. Yay! You have a cute, complete, super-cheap, dammit doll

Step 14

Modify this poem to suit your tastes:

Whenever things don't go so well...
And you want to hit the wall and yell...
Here's a little dammit doll
That you can't do without.
Just grasp it firmly by the legs
And find a place to slam it
And as you whack the stuffing out
Yell, "DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT!"

Step 15

Put the dammit doll and poem in the plastic bag (container) and maybe make a little label. I sweetly asked food service for one of those clear plastic boxes. I also added pins for a "voodoo doll " effect.

Step 16

Done! A cute, sweet, thoughtful, and very cheap office party gift! Enjoy!

Latest posts by MsHinterland

• How To: Wear Red Lipstick - February 7th, 2009
• Gifting Giving and Wonderful Handmade Goodness - December 4th, 2008
• How To: Make A Cupcake Pincushion From A Bottlecap - November 26th, 2008
• How To: Make Your Unearned Femme Privilege Work For You At The Hardware Store - November 24th, 2008
• Insecurity Is Ugly - November 10th, 2008