Thinking of making your own holiday gifts this year but haven’t started yet? It’s still not too late. Here are a few Mason Jar ideas that are easy to throw together:
Drink Recipes in a Mason Jar – I did this a few years ago for some colleagues of mine and they turned out nicely. There are a few recipes out there, like a hot cider recipe or chai tea recipe from Squawkfox (see below for more ideas from her), but here is the mocha recipe that I used:
- 1 cup Cocoa (I purchased unsweetened)
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1/2 cup Powdered non dairy creamer
- 1/4 cup Instant Coffee
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
- Mini chocolate chips as a topping (I added this to the existing recipe)
You can layer this recipe (but that makes it harder for the gift recipient to use) or mix the spices and top it off with the chocolate chips like I did.
Ready to make desserts – this can include a brownie mix, muffin, or cookie mix. The baker has to add the egg, milk, and vanilla to most of these recipes, but the dry goods are all contained within the jar. Again, Squawkfox has a few great recipes on her site.
These dessert mason jar gifts can also be tailored to the receiver. For instance, if someone on the list is gluten-intolerant, finding gluten-free recipes aren’t too difficult. Here’s one that would work in a mason jar from the Gluten Free Goddess:
Inside the mason jar:
- 1 cup sorghum flour
- 3/4 cup potato starch (not potato flour)
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
- Rounded 1/2 cup vegan dark chocolate chips (I’d layer these on top of the jar’s ingredients with a wax divider to separate out the chips which are added last)
These items would need to be added to the recipe:
3/4 cup expeller-pressed organic canola oil
2 large organic free-range eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon bourbon vanilla extract
Homemade candles – for those that really like the DIY gifts and have the time, make candles within your mason jars. The nice thing about mason jars is that they come in different sizes, even an 8-ounce size (which looks like it’s been squished) offering you different candle heights. eHow has directions on how to make candles at home with minimal ingredients.
I’ll be throwing together some of these gift ideas within the next week. Oh, how I procrastinate when it comes to the holidays!
How are your gifts coming along?
8 Comments
I love the idea of ready made desserts, will have to do this!
@Michelle – I like this idea, too. I think I’ll be making some of these dessert gifts myself this year.
Just last night my wife had all these jars out, epsom salts and oil stuff. She was mixing up homemade bath salts for people. SHe put these bows on top and wrote somethign on the bottle. She was pretty proud. 🙂
@TB – They do make great gifts and they are easy to whip together. I love mason jars!
Cool! I love that look. My sister made us some adult beverages one year in mason jars. They were fun to share, tasted great, and didn’t cost her a bunch of money. She probably spent less money on us that year than anyone and it’s the gift I remember most. Hope that doesn’t make me an alcoholic!
I love mason jars. We use them for everything and have used them for gifts. This drink recipe looks really good. I am going to have to try it out.
I love homemade gifts, both making and receiving. My favorite holiday gifts are homemade cookies and treats.
@Barbara – I think mine are too!