It was nice to see there are alot of other mamas out there looking to simplify the gift giving part of xmas. My question is, for those of you that bake or make things as gifts, what do you make? I would love some specific ideas for both baked items and simple crafts that are inexpensive to give.

I am planning on doing most of my shopping at the Goodwill this year but would like some ideas for teachers, coaches, neighbors etc.

Thanks in advance!

when we started simplifyng, those were the very first gifts to "go".

coaches, teachers, neighbors, all got a well deserved card and that was it :)

We have done cookies, candies, and breads. One year we did mixes in jars (cookies and brownies). This year I am doing pancake molds I got for less than two dollars a piece on clearance (Santa hats) and homemade pancake mixes. I'm thinking of making bags from unbleached muslin to put it in.

I have been buying baskets and coffee mugs at garage sales (I just scored 4 baskets for .50 this week!). I will be giving the mugs I bought (I think I may have spent $1.50 on 3) with some tea ($2 a box from the co-op--probably 2 boxes to fill all three mugs with tea bags) for birthday presents in November and December, so 1.83 per person for 3 gifts!!!

I can't count all the useless knickknacks my mom has gotten over the years as a teacher. Hope that doesn't sound heartless - it's the thought that counts. But teachers can get rather inundated.

Although not without cost, a gift cert to the bookstore is so nice for a teacher or coach.

Baked goods are great but my mom is diabetic. So many people are these days that I don't think candy is a good gift anymore.

A handpainted coffee mug (done at one of those painted pottery places) is a nice and useful gift and personal. Have your child paint it and put their name and the year on it.

I gave Katie's preschool teacher a bath basket - melt and pour soaps, bath tea and bath salt (baking soda, dead sea salt, and epsom salts scented with essential oils), and a little flaxseed and lavender eye pillow and she LOVED it! :) I made everything and I got a cool box for it at Big Lots for 50 cents.

The tea basket sounds like a great idea.

I do Kahlua, chocolate covered dried fruit and nuts, white chocolate dipped Oreos (these are deadly... I swore I would not do them this year, but I feel myself giving in already. lol) Macaroons, drop cookies, chocolate dipped mint leaves, and chocolate rose leaf pressings.

Those are past ones... this year each of the grandparents are getting a plate with the kids hand prints on them, and the a framed photo. It has been a LONG time since I gave photos (Like 2 1/2 years... Cyan was 8 months last time I gave photos away) people are starting to complain. lol...

Love Val

Almost all of our gifts are homemade by means of either sewing, crafting or baking. This year what I am doing is making three different sized goody baskets and then making a list of each person I want to present a gift to and what size basket they will get.

Some of the items in my baskets include:

Homemade apple cinnamon pancake syrup and scratch pancake mix (mix will be in a small cloth bag with a wooden spoon tied to it).

Homemade grape and apple cinnamon jelly

Cookie mixes in bags like the pancake mixes I am making

Homemade candy including: peanut butter and coconut bon bons, choc. covered peanuts, choc. covered pretzels, and maybe carmel corn if I have time

Home canned pizza sauce

Hand crafted felt snowman ornaments

Some people will also be getting melt and pour soaps that the boys have made as well as framed pics that the boys made.

I can also attest to the fact that teachers get to many knick knack type items (dh even got a pink plastic doll toilet from one of his special needs students last year). Gift cert. to a bookstore, coffee shop, or office supply store are awesome teacher gifts.

I love to do baked goods baskets for DH's coworkers. Last year I made buckeyes (peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate), sugar cookies, white chocolate peppermint bark, chocolate covered pretzles, and usually a tin or mug with chex mix in it. I buy baskets at thrift stores or yard sales as well as tins and mugs. I usually decorate them with candy canes:) I enjoy it and it's really relaxing for me to do these when the season gets too stressful!

I've also done mexican wedding cake cookies, chocolate chip cookies, peanutbutter cookies, anything that sounds good that year lol.

j

Great ideas! Don and I were talking about this thread last night and he said that I should make the plates with the kids and then put the goodies on them, so the grandparents don't see the plate until they eat the goodies. :) I thought it was a great idea. We need to start soon, but I am really happy about finding something low cost that I can do for them. Last year they got cards.

You all are very inspiring!

Love Val

Ooh, what a cute idea, Don! :)

I took dig photos at the party, printed them up and stuck them in an album I had been carting around for years (a cute, artsy little thing).

That was the teacher gift.

Val,
How do you do choc. dipped mint leaves? I have mint growing in my front yard! Do you dry the leaves?
I gotta know!

i want that pancake sypru recipe from bobbie jo, too!!

Thesse ideas all sound great. How do you do the chocolate covered pretzels and chocolate dipped oreos?

Thanks!

I used to dip my pretzels one at a time and then I realized that it was just to much of a PITA so I looked for an alternative method.

I now buy the small snyder's brand square pretzels (they are Hydrogenated free). I spread a half a bag on wax paper so they are in a single layer and very close together. I then melt choc. chips with a wee bit of paraffin wax (this helps it harden and is non toxic) and when it is melted I dip a spoon in it and drizzle it over the pretzels (it is actually more like splatter painting). I do this with milk choc. first and then put a little white choc. on them for contrast.

I will post the syrup recipe later.

The white chocolate dipped Oreos are really simple. I have a pan of hot melted white chocolate on the stove in a double broiler... I dip the Oreos in until about half is covered... then I put them on wax paper and sprinkle the dipped side with red, green, or silver sprinkles. They look really festive with the black, white, green contrast.

The mint leaves are fresh... I paint them on one side with a large kids paint brush (I make sure it is never used for paint... lol...) Because they are fresh you want to make sure they are in the fridge until you put them in boxes or the liquid in them will start mold spores. It is best to do these last. The rose leaves are a little easier, because you paint them on, put them in the fridge overnight (I bet Bobbi Jo's par wax mix would be faster) and then the next morning you peal the chocolate leaf inprints off, I did a few last year with white chocolate left over from the Oreos dribbled over them. They are a BEAUTIFUL addition to the top of the chocolate box. (My mom made these and white chocolate roses for my wedding cake, which was chocolate and cream cheese cake... it was lovely!)

Once you get into melted chocolate they are really endless... my mom makes rum cream ones that are deadly! She still will not tell me how she does them. lol... (I think it has something to do with painting the mold and putting that in the fridge before she fills them. I know that is how she does the filled cherry ones.)

I already have some new ideas for this year.

I am gonna have to try those pretzels! They sound great!

Love Val