Hello everyone, I know its a bit early, but I am trying to plan ahead as to better enjoy the holiday season this year. I was hoping you all might have some good ideas for homemade gifts! Thanks!

Personally, I love to buy the christmas tins from the dollar store and fill them with my homemade fudge. Everyone loves it! It surprises me how many people can't make fudge or just don't so when they get it, they are very pleased!

Homemade Peanut Brittle or Homemade Sugared Pecans

Yep, I have gotten orders for christmas already for 6 cookie bouquets, and 5 -1lb boxes of fudge. With the fudge I bought treat boxes from Michaels that I will line with a piece of parchment paper then tissue paper for decoration. On the outside of the box I have a matching bow. Hope this helps.

BTW- this is off the topic sort of but would anyone know of a tool that I could use to "score/cut" the fudge in clean cuts besides just using a knife?

Princess3-I pour my fudge into a aluminum foil lined and greased pan. I wait for it to set, then pull it out onto the counter and cut it with my extra large Pampered Chef pizza cutter. It works like a champ-cuts really clean and really quick.

We do baskets and will do them again this year. We do a lot of canning (pickles, chow chow, pickles eggs, hot green tomatoes, jellies and preserves). We normally put the baskets together depending on the person. My mom likes grape jelly so we do it with a mini loaf of homemade bread, sweet pickles, and then add the sweets (fudge, cookies and petite fours). I have a friend that we do a salsa and chip basket and add in a candy I make that is crushed oreos with almonds mixed in chocolate to make candies for her husband. He loves it.

I buy those Christmas tins at walmart, too. I fill them with either sugared pecans/almonds or choc cov pretzels on the bottom, pecan triangles (like pecan pie-but finger food) pumpkin bars and truffles in the center. My kids teachers love me!

mgdqueen- wow! I had never thought of that. That would be a great way to cut them. Now I need to purchase a small scale. I think my fudge yields 3 lbs a batch so cut into 3rds for 1 lb batches! I still would like a scale for accuracy! Thanks for the tip!

I do goodie baskets for people for Christmas. A couple of years ago, I bought some plastic Christmas containers at Walmart that were on clearance following Christmas. I also have some cellophane, ribbons, and crinkle paper that I can use for my goodies.

As far as the goodies go, I always like to try out new things each year. I try to do a variety of different things. I also make sure that not everything is the same, for example, I try to make sure not everything has chocolate in it, or peanut butter, and so forth. That way it changes things up. I usually do different types of cookies, fudge, and so forth.

Here's a question I've asked before and I'll ask it again. When you're giving goodies out to people, what do you think is better, making a larger variety of different goodies but only giving smaller servings per person (2-3 pieces) or make fewer different items but give each person more servings of each (4-5 pieces)?

I prefer to give out larger variety and smaller portions. I think it looks really nice to have to many different varieties of goodies on a tray or in a basket.

Princess3-no problem! I use that pizza cutter for just about everything! If you are getting a scale-don't waste your money on a little one. Spend once on a larger scale that will measure several pounds. You will probably use it more in the future and will not have to buy two! It's also great for weighing ingredients for breads or cakes...and more accurate than measuring cups.

Great thread!!! I bake lots and lots of Christmas cookies. I give some of those away, but all of our friends want me to give them fudge. They all like the chocolate fudge but their favorite is peanutbutter fudge. This past year I made these great chocolate covered peanuts that you cook in the crock pot and then I used a cookie scoop to make little mounds. A few years back I baked mini loaves of flavored bread to give away. I like giving away homemade gifts to our friends and family. One thing that I do for my MIL is to make her favorite cookie dough, I scoop it in to individual cookies balls, then freeze them . Once frozen I put them in a ziploc bag that has instructions on how to bake. That way she can bake a few at a time and she can have fresh cookies for several months.


Oh....and thanks for the pizza cutter idea for cutting fudge. I can't wait to try it.

For my parents and in-laws I always give out goodie baskets. I did a tea themed basket with a good quality loose leaf tea, some cookies, and a pretty tea strainer. I also did a coffee baskets. I use cloth napkins to line the baskets, that way everything is useful.

Ohara- I like the idea that you said about the chocolate covered peanuts in the crock pot are you willing to let me in on the recipe/techinque?

Also thanks for the pizza cutter idea on the fudge. What a great idea.

I want to do this for Christmas also, and I may be cheap but anyone who has a child who was on formula... my goodness all the cans...... well I saved mine (the bigger ones) because I thought I could do something with them I have washed them all and pulled off the label and I will decorate them later, but I plan on filling them up with Christmas goodies I think one of the more popular things with my friends and family is pretzel sticks dipped in chocolate with sprinkles or nuts dropped on them

Happy Baking

morphis1208....as soon as I find my recipe I will pm you with it.

wow i never thought of all these things. great thread. i did think about giving away cakes but so hard to ship if you need to. i need to get looking for some recipes to make these different things and see how they come out. anyone got any recipes they can share i would really appreciate it.

Oh, sorry , dont know how to use the quote box yet.

I'll sometimes give homemade gift certificates for decorated cakes to be used within the up coming year.

I make homemade beer and wine for the holidays and give that to the beer and wine drinkers I know. For this Halloween I have pumpkin beer to brew for a party.

Also, I'll get the large canning jars and layer my "cowboy cookie" recipe in it and attach the directions for making and baking and give that to the cookie/chocolate lovers. I also make a hot chocolate and a hot spiced tea mix in the clear canning jars too as gifts.

mommykicksbutt wrote

What a great idea. Thanks for sharing

Jennifer

I would like to have that recipe too for the chocolate covered peanuts YUMMY!

Another idea for a homemade gift is to do a "night at the movies" package. I've seen these at our local popcorn supplier and they are really neat. Basically they take a basket (they also use plastic containers in the shape of a popcorn box) and put in there 2 20oz bottles of pop, 2 candies (usually a king size Kit Kat and a long licorice rope), some packs of microwave popcorn, and a gift card to Blockbuster. If you want to do something like this, all you would need to do is fill a basket with the person's favorite pop and candy, including some microwave popcorn or fresh popcorn, and either a gift certificate to a local video store or even a DVD. This would look very fancy and depending on all the things you put in it, it could be done fairly inexpensively.

Another idea would be to do a few different types of popcorn. You could do a regular popcorn, a cheesy popcorn, carmel popcorn, and/or popcorn drizzled with some chocolate.

Here is a link to the recipe for the peanut candy:

http://www.recipezaar.com/18955

I made it last year and it was a big hit!!

Cindy

cindy6250 thank you for the link to that recipe it sounds delish and i cant wait to try it. 2 questions though.

can i find german chocolate bars in my regular grocery?

what is white almod bark? and can i find that also in the regular grocery?

Yes, the german chocolate bars are with the baking chocolate. The white almond bark is similar to white chocolate and is also found on the baking isle with the chocolate. Hope this helps.

That recipe makes a lot of candy. I think you will really like it.

Cindy

Thank you cindy, i cant wait to get started. only i have to wait a few months