Plan Ahead
Make Your List and Check It Twice
With such a fun, festive and aromatic time of year, try to avoid rushing or hurried attempts that create frustration and stress.
- Make certain that you are ready and prepared well in advance of your homemade Christmas gift project. Look over the recipe or instructions for all ingredients and supplies.
- Perhaps you can make some items and foods ahead--look for shortcuts such as freezing homemade goodies in advance.
- Gather family or friends to share and "bake and make" goodies and crafts together.Enjoy the time you put into making your gifts--light several candles in your kitchen or wherever you're crafting and play holiday music you like.
May these gifts from your kitchen give you and yours pleasure throughout the holiday season. Happy Holidays!
Party Guide
Unique Christmas Presents
- We could go on and on, but here are just a few other accessory gift ideas to help you create your own unique Christmas gifts and baskets.
- For the avid reader: Great book (perhaps one featuring fabulous food descriptions such as My Life in France or Julie & Julia), distinctive or personalized bookmark and a featured food item from the book.
- For the tea or coffee lover: Basket with selection of teas or coffees, pretty new cup or mug and homemade mini-loaves of various nut breads or cookies.
- For the pasta lover: Homemade pesto or tomato sauce, gourmet olive oil and selection of interesting pastas.
- For those who love to cook and entertain: Click here to order the Betty Crocker Christmas Cookbook or click here for a subscription to the Betty Crocker recipe magazine. You can also find them fun kitchen gadgets or Christmas bakeware by going to this site's Shop section.
Handmade Christmas Gift-Wrapping
From simple to elaborate, whimsical to the obvious, there are just reams and rolls of gift-wrapping possibilities.
- Begin by looking at what boxes, cans, bottles or other containers you can recycle. Foil, gift wrap, wallpaper, fabric and linen or paper napkins can easily cover the outside of a vegetable can; line the inside with colored plastic wrap. Or sponge paint or spray the containers with faux finishes before filling with goodies.
- If you are craft inclined, make sure to have a hot-glue gun handy, and then let your creativity lead the way. Ornaments, silk seasonal flowers or evergreens will stay put even when those package peekers wrestle through the hidden presents. Embellish boxes with buttons, old jewelry, coins or that odd collection of keys, nuts and bolts.
- Let kids get involved by wrapping gifts in plain white paper and then letting them color, sticker or stamp to their holiday heart's content. Or they can decorate the paper before the gift is wrapped.