Holiday Gifts from the Kitchen

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.

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.