Installment 1: Gift Jars
Do you eat spaghetti sauce out of a jar? How about applesauce, pickles, olives, or peanut butter? You can use the empty jars (washed, of course!) as gift containers for all sorts of tasty homemade things: cookie mix, powdered drinks, granola, candy, Chex Mix or Puppy Chow (chocolate-covered Chex Mix).
[Source: Wise Bread, http://www.wisebread.com/start-stockpiling-now-four-cheap-christmas-gifts-to-make]
This website gives not only recipes, but ideas for decorating the jar. There are even PDFs of tags you can print.
And something less tasty, but still really sweet:
“I spent a few months contacting friends and family members and asked them to send me memories and old pictures of my grandfather. Then I wrote one memory (or printed one picture) on each of 365 business card sized pieces of cardstock. I folded each in half and secured it with a bit of tape, then placed them all in a big jar I decorated. Every morning for the next year, my grandfather would take out a paper, open it, and see what other people cherished in him. He loved it.” [Source: Get Rich Slowly, http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2008/11/13/a-do-it-yourself-christmas-34-great-gifts-you-can-make-yourself/ ]
Don't forget that not everyone has the time to be crafty... and places liek etsy.com and artfire.com have tons of awesome gifts in the green and handmade spirit that are original, beautifully made, and often pretty green and not to mention a way to reduce your carbon footprint by shopping locally, and further down the economic foodchain, where your money can bolster the economy frm the grass-roots up!
ReplyDeletethanks haptotrope! we'll try to mention that in the fourth and final installment!
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