December 4, 2009

the gift that will warm their hearts

I don’t know about you, but Christmas for me has gotten a bit…stressful. It seems so many of us, myself included, are finding it hard to justify high price tag gifts this year with such a strain on our pocketbooks. In fact, most of my friends and family have implemented a “Let’s just give ornaments this year” approach, which I am thankful for, and really do love in all honesty. I get a thrill out of re-opening ornaments every year, when I can spend a few minutes to remember who each ornament was from, when and why they gave it, etc. It’s special. And every year, I intend to actually write out a list of each of those special ornaments, detailing who they were from, but I have yet to do that. This year. Really. I will. (I hope.) I know one day, I’ll have so many that I won’t be able to remember. And what if something were to happen to me in the mean time? How would Seven know which things I treasured the most? Which ones reminded me of my happiest days? I think I owe him that. I really want him to know, so that one day they can be his treasures.

But that being said, there are a few people you feel the need to actually give a gift to, be it your child’s teacher, a special aunt, your hairdresser or mailman. And lots of money isn’t exactly what you might have had in mind. Solution? These jars.

Although they are little bit time consuming to make, they really are worth the effort. And your end product is a special gift from YOU. Someday after the holidays, the recipient will be sitting at home after dinner, maybe even watching it snow, and feel the urge to make a cup of the delicious hot cocoa you gave them. Or one Saturday, they’ll whip up a batch of your famous chocolate chip cookies. And they’ll think about you. Isn’t that the spirit of giving?

I was recently contacted by the folks at Domino and C&H Sugar, and they asked me to make a little something from their website . They were even kind enough to help me out with some of the expense with a $20 gift card (nice, huh?). After perusing their site, I knew these Gift Jars were what I wanted to make. I love the way each layer looks against the other (and if you must know, it does make me a little sad to think about them all getting mixed up later). Typically these jars are made using canning jars, but I had a few suction lidded jars that I thought might look nice. With a few squares of Holiday fabric and a couple of $1 Walmart ornaments, I was able to make both of these gifts for under $15 total. Obviously the more you make, the lower the cost ratio goes, but if you are making 4 of the same recipe, you could easily keep the cost down to $5-$7 each.

I decided to make my own Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe for one jar, and the C&H recipe for Hot Cocoa. I added some marshmallows and chocolate chips to it to make it extra yummy, so I hope the person who gets it loves it!