Christmas gifts

‘Tis The Seasoning: DIY Christmas Spice Gifts

December 11, 2019 by Katie Jones Leave a Comment

DIY Christmas spice gifts are some the best homemade Christmas gifts you can give to your friends and neighbors. When you make DIY spice blends for Christmas gifts, you’re giving the gift of deliciousness–and adding a little extra spice to the season! Here are some DIY spice gift ideas you’ll love to give.

‘Tis The Seasoning: DIY Christmas Spice Gifts

DIY spice blends are easy to make and easy to give, and you might find yourself the most popular neighbor on the block after you do this! They’re perfect for those who prefer not to hand out so many sweets, but still want to give the gift of good taste. To give DIY spice blends, you should have the following items:

Small jars to package your spices. This set of 30 3.5 ounce jars with hinged lids is only a dollar a jar {and free shipping!} at Amazon.
Ribbon or kitchen twine to decorate the spice jars.
Gift tags to label your spices and provide suggestions for using them.
All the spices you’ll need to make your desired blends.

DIY Spice Blends Recipe Ideas

If you have a mortar and pestle, it’s extra fun to take the time to grind your own spices. But if not, save time by blending spices that are already ground. For each recipe, increase amounts as needed for bulk gifting.

Garlic & Rosemary Rub

This is delicious on grilled meats! Combine all ingredients and pulse in a food processor.

4 tablespoons sea salt
2 tablespoons granulated garlic
2 tablespoons dried rosemary leaves
1 tablespoon cracked black pepper

Homemade Southwest Seasoning

2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
3 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 teaspoons black pepper

Sweet Blend For Baking

4 tablespoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons powdered ginger
1 tablespoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cardamom or anise

Herb Blend

4 tablespoons ground thyme
4 tablespoons dried rosemary
1 tablespoon sage
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons black pepper
1 teaspoon sea salt {omit for a no-salt blend}

Any of these DIY Christmas spice blends are sure to be a hit with your friends and neighbors this holiday season! For non-edible gifts, check out these ideas.

Non-Edible Neighbor Christmas Gifts They’ll Love

November 13, 2019 by Katie Jones Leave a Comment

Today I’m helping you to solve the yearly problem of what to get the neighbors for Christmas. Every year it’s a struggle, and it’s a fact that not everyone wants food or treats that they don’t need. So let’s look at some non-edible neighbor Christmas gifts your neighbors will love. These ideas are unique and easy, so you can get them done and get on with all the other things you need to do before Christmas comes!

Non-Edible Neighbor Christmas Gifts

Host a Craft Night

One of the more unique non-edible neighbor Christmas gift ideas I’ve seen is to kill two birds with one stone and host a craft night for your neighbors. Everyone gets together, shares some delicious treats, and then you make a craft together that everyone gets to take home. Best idea ever, right? You can also try making your own snow globes.

I love these adorable Christmas trees made with felt, buttons, wood skewers and embroidery floss. A hot glue gun puts it all together quickly and easily!

Handmade Ornaments

There are tons of handmade ornament ideas out there that only look complicated. I know people who choose a theme every year, make some ornaments to fit, and deliver them to their neighbors. It’s a unique way of remembering your neighbors–and they’ll probably begin to anticipate next year’s ornament!

A Roll of Gift Wrap

One of my favorite non-edible neighbor Christmas gifts is the roll of gift wrap and bag of bows my neighbor drops off a few days before Christmas. I’ll admit to you that roll of gift wrap has saved me late on Christmas Eve more than once! This is a gift that might really be a lifesaver.

A Bag of Christmas Scents

Present your neighbors with another favorite non-edible Christmas gift–homemade potpourri! In a bag place an orange, a lemon, some whole cloves, cinnamon sticks and nutmeg or allspice. Include directions to slice the fruit, put everything in a saucepan and cover with water. All your neighbor needs to do is bring it to a simmer and enjoy hours of delicious scent as it permeates their home.

Burlap Sack Christmas Gift Ideas

October 3, 2018 by Katie Jones Leave a Comment

Now that we’ve gotten plaid instead of sad for Christmas, let’s add a little more rustic charm to your holiday season. The perfect way to add more rustic charm to your Christmas is with burlap sack Christmas gift ideas! Burlap adds its own rustic charm to anything. Take a look at these ways in which you can use burlap sack Christmas gift ideas this year.

Make your cash gifts infinitely more appealing by “wrapping” the money inside burlap sacks. Add a drawstring closure if you like, or dress it up just like the picture. It reminds me of Santa’s sack!

Use large burlap sacks {such as potato sacks} to present large gifts. This is especially helpful for gifts that are oddly shaped, too big for a traditional gift bag, or difficult to wrap. Burlap is forgiving and will take any embellishment you choose to add to it. Tags, ribbons, pinecones, and stencils are all fabulous ideas! For the kids, tie on some red, green and silver jingle bells to adorn the burlap gift wrap.

Make your burlap gift sacks look even more rustic by adding cute little patches like these. Another idea is to embroider or cross stitch right on your sacks. This can be done with the gift recipient’s name, or any other design you can come up with. The options for embellishing burlap sacks are only limited to your imagination.

Burlap sack Christmas gift ideas make great gifts for the neighbors. A burlap sack is a charming way to package treats for the neighbors! Fill your sacks with freshly baked cookies, caramel corn, or even red and green Hershey’s kisses. Tie with a festive Buffalo plaid ribbon and you’re done. Add a small twig of pine for that extra touch.

Sew up some burlap sacks that are tall enough to hold a bottle of sparkling cider. This is a burlap sack Christmas gift idea you can give to the hostesses of all the holiday parties you attend.

Have fun with these burlap sack Christmas gift ideas!