Home Made Holiday Gifts

lemon juicelemon sqeeze

This year my local family/siblings decided to opt for homemade food gifts. I was all for it.  I was taking in all the lemons my friends could spare.

I’ve made sugar scrubs for everyone last year as well as for teachers this year. My skin gets so dry this time of year (ok all year, but more so now) and I figured others did too. Be sure to include recipes when ever making home made gifts.  I would insert another link to where I got my recipe but I can’t find it anywhere so I’ll write it out for you. I’m using an old origins lotion container but the ones I give away I get the wide mouth 8oz jars from either the grocery store or the fancy ones from Target. Below is enough for one 8oz jar.

  • bowl for mixing
  • a fork (I just use my fingers)
  • 1/2 lemon zest
  • 1/2 lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup coarse salt
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 3 tbs honey
  • 3 tbs coconut oil. (can be found in most stores now a days)

– Mix well and pour into jar, lid with tag. The catch to this awesome gift is, it needs to be stirred often. The honey and oil want to separate and come to the top. Every time I use it I stir it with my finger turning it from the bottom. I use the scrub on my legs before shaving, my arms, and anywhere else that seems super dry. Not my face, it could be used on the face, only use softer sugars and salts.

sugar scrub

I have recently acquired a food dehydrator ($3 yard sale) and am trying to preserve anything I can’t use up when it is in season. Over the summer I dried almost all my sweet basil.That is the best dried basil, over store bought. Mine smells of fresh basil as well is a brighter green than the brown frangrantless store bought stuff. I even dried up other herbs that friends were growing and had too much of. Bottle it up for as holiday gifts my sister said.

sweet basil

What made me think of drying so many different things was my husband in his office. He has no fridge to use and he worries about leaving food in his drawers. He asked for dried orange slices for tea. I made them, and lemon, golden lime (Calamondin), lime seeded slices for beverages as well as green onions, and Thai basil for his instant phở.

So when Christmas came I knew I could use all these as home made gifts. I spent several weeks drying lemons as well as two days juicing and canning lemons, lime and golden limes into juice. My siblings made pre bagged hot chocolate,  gingerbread granola with nuts, no bake chocolate covered peanut butter balls and chocolate covered toffee; then put them in jars from a department store. During the Holiday season there are tons of plain and decorated containers to give food gifts in.

Jar Christmas gifts

It was awesome. Our dad even got in on our home made gift band wagon and framed family history originals for each of us. Most of us got pictures of our great-great-great grandfather and family while they lived and ran a hotel in the Sequoia National Forest. The time spent on the gifts I revived as well as the creativity, felt better than another DVD.

 

The following two tabs change content below.
Rebecca is a seamstress and crafter who loves to create fun, unique and authentic items for her kids and others. She is a stay-at-home mom with two little ones. She and her husband are sci-fi and fantasy fans with a love for books like the Lord of the Rings and obscure movies like My neighbor Tortoro. Feel free to ask her a question or leave a comment.

Latest posts by Rebecca (see all)

About Rebecca

Rebecca is a seamstress and crafter who loves to create fun, unique and authentic items for her kids and others. She is a stay-at-home mom with two little ones. She and her husband are sci-fi and fantasy fans with a love for books like the Lord of the Rings and obscure movies like My neighbor Tortoro. Feel free to ask her a question or leave a comment.