Heartfelt Gift Giving

Holiday gift giving doesn’t have to break your pocketbook. With all the commercialism this time of year, we can make someone’s day by giving a gift from the heart. Worried because you aren’t a master seamstress, artist, or knitist (ok, so knitist isn’t a word, I just got on a roll there for a second)? No need to be intimidated! Following are a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing:

For the avid cook, or someone who is always raving about the dishes you bring to the neighborhood potluck, a homemade cookbook would be perfect. Create your own recipe template, or download a free one HERE. Print them off, put them in sheet protectors and file them by category in a binder. You can decorate the outside of the binder by “modge podging” old recipe cards, food labels, or whatever strikes your fancy. You could also let your inner scrapbooker break out and get really involved with decorating the binder and pages. Midwest Living will also let you create your own online cookbook, even personalizing it with your own photos, and then let you download it into a PDF format.

For the “sweet tooth” on your Christmas list you can fill a basket with homemade breads, cookies and candies. A great way to store the cookies in the basket is in an old Pringles can, decorating the outside with contact paper. You could also try putting in a jar of homemade hot cocoa mix.

How many of us who work during the day, would love to come home to a supper that we can pull out of the freezer, pop right in the oven, and be confident that it is nutritious and homemade? Sound like Heaven? That’s what the recipient of a weeks worth of frozen home cooked meals would think, too.

All new moms wish they could find time to relax, but don’t always allow themselves the luxury. Try tempting them with these aromatic bath fizzies. (Citric Acid can be bought for $2-3 per pound.)

And of course, we always have the old standby that I myself still love getting. Gifts in a jar, can be a really quick and easy gift for teachers, neighbors, the mailman, etc. HERE are some really great recipes I found. I bet the Peaches and Cream bath salts smell as lovely as they look!

Others will appreciate the time and effort you put into their gift, and know that you were truly thinking of them.

Have more homemade gift ideas, you’d like to share? Leave a comment below!