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Homemade Christmas Gifts

homemade christmas gifts

I wanted to share with you some quick and easy Homemade Christmas Gift Ideas just in case you are anything like me and have really good intentions and poor overall follow through when it comes to giving neighbors, teachers, friends or family meaningful gifts.

handmade gift ideas christmas

I am a horrendous baker so I can’t just whip up a few dozen cookies, wrap them up pretty and give them away.   It is a serious detriment. It usually plays out something like this:

  1. Emily gets a couple of good ideas on homemade Christmas gifts to make.  Things that will really knock the receivers socks off.  She gets really excited about finally making it happen this year.
  2. The ideas Emily comes up with are somewhat complex, time consuming to make, or outside of her abilities (i.e.. baking or embroidery).
  3. Emily musters up the courage to face her homemade christmas gift past failures and is determined to overcome.
  4. Just days before Christmas, Emily finds a little time after the kids go to bed to throw something together.
  5. It doesn’t turn out well,  never gets completed, or in the saga of baked goods – they come out flat and/or taste atrocious.

It is the same story almost every year.  It’s sad.  I lump that failure into my unsent christmas cards – good intentions that were never realized – and call it a year.

But I got smart this year.  I decided to go the no bake route and create some simple & edible homemade Christmas gifts for our neighbors and friends.  And they turned out SO GOOD.  Next time I will spend a little more time on beautiful packaging as it was somewhat of an afterthought.

But seriously, I made Christmas treats and they were good enough to give out this time!

At this point you should really be rejoicing for me.  If you are not cut from the same cloth as me, you are probably saying to yourself  “I don’t get it.  You just follow the recipe and it’s fine.”  I assure you this is not the case.  Cookies especially seem to have it out for me.  I have fought against it my whole adult life.  I’m leaving my baked good dreams behind.

It’s liberating!

I made three different things:

  • Peppermint Bark Popcorn in a Mason Jar
  • Peppermint & Marshmallow Hot Cocoa Mix in a Mini Mason Jar
  • Peppermint Chocolate Marshmallow Pops

Peppermint Bark Popcorn

homemade christmas gifts
peppermint bark popcornIngredients:

  • 16 C popped popcorn* (fresh, or about 2 bags non-buttered microwave popcorn)
  • 3 bars of white bakers chocolate
  • 1 6 ounce box candy canes – crushed with a rolling pin
  • 1/4 teaspoon peppermint oil (optional)
  • 1 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips

Directions:

Air pop the popcorn.  Lay popped corn out on large sheet pans lined with parchment paper.  Melt the white chocolate and stir in peppermint oil(optional).  Drizzle it evenly onto the popcorn.  Toss it around a bit to get a nice coating.  Top with crushed candy canes and drizzle with melted chocolate. *This will make 4 quart size Mason Jars worth.

homemade christmas gifts

Peppermint & Marshmallow Hot Cocoa Mix Recipe:

homemade christmas giftshomemade christmas giftsThis recipe is what you will need for 1 Mini Mason Jar.

  • 8 Tablespoons of Starbucks Hot Cocoa Mix or your own favorite Hot Cocoa Mix
  • 2 Tablespoons of Crushed Candy Cane – for our family and friends that are sensitive to food coloring I used dye free candy canes
  • Top off with Mini Marshmallows – I used these natural ones

* Make sure to include a tag with directions to mix the entire jar with 4 cups of  hot milk

Peppermint Chocolate Marshmallow Pops

homemade christmas gift ideas
Ingredients:

Directions: Melt chocolate.  Insert lollipop sticks in marshmallows and dip them in the melted chocolate three quarters of the way up.  Dip the chocolatey marshmallows in a bowl of crushed candy canes.  Line them up on parchment paper and let them dry. homemade christmas gifts homemade christmas gifts homemade christmas gifts
homemade christmas gifts

It melts me every time a friend or neighbor blesses us with something they’ve made.   I hope this gives you some great ideas for a few EASY homemade Christmas gifts you can make for your neighbors or friends in a snap. IT’S NOT TOO LATE! Now, even us non-bakers can get in on the goodie giving action with our head held high!

Emily Eck Home Sweet Road

By Emily Oak

I am a Mother, a Lover, a Traveler, Entrepreneur and Blogger. I crave adventure, appreciate good leather, find old weathered wood beautiful, prefer french pressed coffee, and feel alive running in the rain (albeit at a snails pace)! I believe in living passionately, loving extravagantly, taking risks, forgiving often, and living for the audience of One. I am an introvert but you wouldn’t know that if you met me. I LOVE people.

1,364 replies on “Homemade Christmas Gifts”

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