Creative Christmas Gift Ideas

Hi S.-

I am making little christmas 'hand towels'...hand embroidered with either a stocking, christmas tree, star or holly. I am 'wrapping' them around loaves of bread...either pumpkin or banana bread...

I am working on the towels right now! (**taking a mamapedia break from time to time!)

best luck!
michele/cat

I have 5 teachers (this includes bus driver) and 10 daycare ladies to get gifts for....so I bought cute little bags from ABC distributing and I am making peppermint bark and filling the bag with it as their gifts.

In the past we've made truffles, tamales, and other assorted baked goods. This year, we are filling sets of 4 semi-fancy glass canisters with grains/legumes--arborio rice, lentils, israeli couscous, and dried pinto beans. We're going to attach a recipe to each canister for that grain/legume, and give a set to each family. Decorative, useful, educational, and YUMMY!

wow, I'm glad you posted this. My husband is a newly-minted elem. principal & I just realized: ACK! We will have to do/get something! I'm not much of an entertainer. OH NOOOOOO

In the past, when he was asst principal elsewhere, I made homemade zucchini bread for all the staff/teachers/cleaning people (church school). So, I might do something like that.

I also made beaded/pearl bracelets for the ladies one year. Can't remember what I got the few guys.

Hmmmmmmmmmm.....

for my youngest son's teachers, I just make candy, and put an assortment in one of those cute baggies, and send it off with a note. It is hard to afford too much, when there are so many teachers. I think the teachers just really like the thought, and appreciate any token.

I made no-sew fleece blankets for all my grandkids this year, I personalized them with patterns and colors of their liking. Then as i was thinking about a gift for one of my granddaughter's birthday (yesterday) I decided to make her several no-sew fleece scarves, two in patterns that will be in her Christmas blanket. They were so easy and inexpensive to make i thought, "Why not make these for my friends?"

So I went back to Joann's last Saturday and bought several different 1/4 yards of fleece and have been whipping them out while I watch a TV show here and there. My favorite is a pastel pattern that resembles a tie-dye except that the colors run in lines not circles. It was also the least expensive, $.75 for the quarter yard (I didn't spend more than $1.98 for any of them) and I got an additional 10% off my entire purchase : )

Another idea would be something I saw on Frugal Girls site a few months ago. Buy two inexpensive plates, an 8" and a 10" and a glass candlestick. You can get the plates at dollar stores, or Target, etc., and the candlesticks at dollar stores. Glue the candlestick in the center of the plates with the larger plate on the bottom to make a serving dish and give your homemade cookies on this, wrap in red cellophane. A tad over $3 a gift.

And I like your recipe book idea!

I'm planning to make all my Christmas cards this year. I'm making an insert for our Christmas picture on the front. I have all the supplies so I can get started this weekend.

My answer would be Biscotti. It's easy to make, numerous recipes/flavors to change up the variety, relatively healthy (if made with olive oil), and most people LOVE it. I made about 6 different kinds last year and gave that to teachers etc. They loved having a healthy snack to have with their cup of coffee or tea.

Another year I made fresh salsa. I don't "can" it as that changes the texture and flavor. I just noted on the lable that it needed to be refrigerated and to use within 2 weeks. I spiced it up more for the guys and everyone loved it as well. I used 1/2 pint jars.

Another year we made necklaces/ornaments out of the wing paperclips, a bead and ribbon. They looked like angels. They were so cute and everyone loved them.

This year I'm making fresh carmel apple cakes for everyone. I bought a mini bundt pan and will be able to bake 6 at a time. (I only need 24 gifts this year!) I'll keep the carmel sauce separate in a small container for them to add when they are ready to eat.

I saw another cute idea that I'm still looking into is a mulling spice orange. It is a hollowed out orange rind filled with brown sugar. It has whole spices arranged on top to look like reinder. The one I saw had whole allspice, cloves and nutmeg and a redhot for the nose. You could also incorporate a cinnamon stick. Each one is big enough to season 1-2 quarts of either cider or apple juice. Hope that these ideas help.

I'm a little addicted to pinterest.com. Some great ideas there! I too have done the glass plate glued to a candlestick topped with cookies and wrapped. It's a cute cheap gift. I like your recipe book idea!

Ohhh so many things so little space. I have several things I do make every year and if I do not boy am I in trouble. We make bath bombs/fizzies every year. Different scents and I make a party out of it. I invite several friends different ones every year. We make this all afternoon and then divide them up and everyone goes home with gifts. kids, moms whoever they are easy. I also do soap and bath salt. All these things are very easy and the kids can do them also, esp. the bath salts. I do peppermint bath salt at Christmas. My other big one is a stack of homemade cards. I think I get invited to one party every year because of them being my white elephant gift (because I am always asked if that is what I am bringing LOL).. I have made soup in a jar and people loved that... all the dried ingredients and the recipe. Have made specialty breads, cookies, the fleece blankets for two... those were a hit as 2 could wrap up in them. I have made gift baskets with items from the dollar stores. Like a movie basket with popcorn, soda in old fashioned glass bottles and a gift card to rent a movie. I have used my bath bombs, soap, salt and a hand towel as one. We have made ornaments, Calendars, scrapbooks and who knows what else this is all I can think of at the time. I like your recipe book idea and all the ideas I saw here... have fun

Yes, it's hard to buy for all, but it's so nice to receive something "homemade". My sister made me a recipe book for Mother's Day and I love it! On top of each recipe she placed a picture of one of her 4 children. In the beggining she wrote the poem "A recipe for a Great Aunt"
2 cups of love, etc..... = A Great Aunt. Love it, love it, love it! And it's one of a kind for me.
Also, other great recipes are roaste Cinammon Nuts, I do pecans. The other is the mix of holiday M&M's, pretzels and chocolate. I haven't done this one, but my old neighbor would and I looked forward to it every year.
Just google it, I know it comes up under different names. One is called "White Trash" (because it's mixed together with white chocolate.
Anyway, good luck to you.....

For your cookbook you might consider going on line and using Snapfish or Shutterfly to do it. You can do text only books or you can do part text and part picture. Depending upon how crafty you wanted to get you could even include some pictures of some of the recipes, or include pics of your family, that would be cute too. You can make a custom cover and use a picture on that too, even if it was just a picture of bowls, cups, measuring spoons, etc. it would be really cute!

For my kids' teachers (I have 7 this year!) I was going to do some baking. I also found cute holiday tissue packs in the dollar section at Target. I also found some cute pens at Hallmark that I'm going to throw in together.

Last year (and I'm hoping they have them again!) I bought adorable mini loaf pans in Christmas tree shapes, each was only $1, I poured eggnog muffin batter in each and baked them. There were other shapes too, even the traditional loaf pan but it was ceramic. It was a cute homemade gift that they could eat and then use the dish later for nuts, candies, etc.

I also made a killer batch of cinnamon sugar butter last year and then I separated it into individual ziplock bowls (small ones), decorated the top with a cute sticker and gave it to neighbors. You can add some muffins, breads, scones or whatever to it and it's a cute package.

Starbucks Via (the little one serving freeze dried stuff) is also one of my staples to put in little gift bags with baked goods. You could make a muffin and do a pouch of hot chocolate or a Via and it's a cute gift. I just get clear cellophane bags and make everything look cute inside one of those!

what about doing a cookie mix layered in a mason jar with the recipe on how to finish attatched? I think if you google it you can find recipes that will fill the jar perfectly. You can even tie a wooden spoon or spatula onto the jar with a pretty ribbon.

Chocolate covered pretzels... You can cover the small twists in white/chocolate and then the large sticks dip in chocolate, then drizzle w caramel and finally roll in chopped up m&m's and mini choc chips (or candies of your choice) Yummy!!!

You can make your own version of cake balls like @ Starbucks, or Lemon Loaf, or Cherry Chocolate bread like @ Panera.