A brief history of the LoF goody

By Regina.

This is a picture of the 200 tote bags made out of donated t-shirts.

The infamous LoF Craft

Have you ever tried to make 200 of something?  When asked a question like this, you don’t really need to ponder, I guess.  It’s not something you forget.  Have you ever tried to make 175 of something, or hell, 75 of something?

Each year, with the help of amazing friends, the Love of Friends team creates a goody for all of our friends to take home at the end of the LoF celebration. We’ve hand painted pins and hand-crafted magnets (many of which still adorn my refrigerator).  We’ve hand-painted wine glasses while drinking wine.

This is a photo of the billion intricate [read: time intensive] desk calendars we made for LoF5.

And then, a few years ago, things got real. We got serious about the goody and decided to make 200 LoF tote bags using tee-shirts all donated by our friends.  Getting the tee-shirts ended up being the easiest thing about this project.

Last year we made 200 custom-made desk calendars*.

A few things (but not 200 of those things):

a) Clearly we love our friends a lot and want to make something that represents how special we think you all are.

b) just like with the soundtrack, I’m not entirely sure why we’ve thought it was a good idea to let me handle any part of assembling 200 of something–oft with many little parts that all have to go together in a specific way. This is not easy for my non-linear brain. 2012, I’m not in charge of assembling the goody.

c) I highly recommend trying to assemble 200 of something. You’ll learn a lot about yourself, and why Fordism  is a great moment in our American history: the creation of the assembly line, and a wonderful product that everyone is proud of, and can afford to purchase.  You’ll also have lots of excuses to have some friends over to help–often (it can take awhile to create 200 of something).

d) The 2012 goody is going to be amazing. I can’t wait to see your faces when you take home your little treasure.

*Though I love America and I see the value in assembly line creation, I always was so surprised when friends would get together to cut out the materials to make the tote bags or make the calendars that everyone immediately began to set up the assembly line.  I also sort of was like, why? That’s too efficient, it’s too business-like for our fun, crafty gathering.  And then I was in charge of the 2011 goody…and I threw away the little templates for January 2012 (which is why everyone had to draw in that month) and we ended up with too many pages for one month and not enough for others, and though I still say I’m not a fan of the assembly line approach, I see the beauty in such organizing, and I’m no longer in charge of executing the goody…so, that’s helpful for everyone’s sanity.