Welcome to my final homemade Christmas gift ideas post! Today we are wrapping up the lovely gifts that came out of our kitchens, so they’re ready to give to family and friends. This is actually the fun part for me. I get to play with tissue paper and tie pretty bows. Call me crazy, but I really do love to wrap gifts.
Homemade Christmas Gift Ideas
Here is what I have for my gift bags:
- English Muffin Bread (click to get the bread tags)
- Vanilla Sugar
- Peanut Butter Blossom Cookies
- Chocolate Christmas Tree Pretzels
About the pretzel molds…I picked the mold up in JoAnn one day because I thought it looked like a fun and easy thing to do. Well…it was fun, but not exactly easy. I did get the hang of it on my second try so let me give you a few pointers!
- After you melt your chocolate, use a spoon to drizzle it into the mold. Follow the directions on the package but be careful not to fill each tree very full before you put the pretzel in.
- Put the mold on a cookie sheet so you can carry it easily to your freezer or garage. My garage is freezing so I just put the tray out there for a few minutes. The chocolate hardened nicely.
- Place the pretzels almost to the top of the tree. They will fall out if you place them much lower.
- To get a clean outline, use a wet paper towel wrapped around your finger to clean the overflow chocolate off the mold. This worked really well and was fast.
- I used semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of milk chocolate. Just melt about 3/4 cup of the chips in the microwave. The mold has 6 trees so in no time you can have a dozen of these ready to go.
To put the gifts together, I gathered white tissue paper, gift bags, gift tags, ribbon and these little wreaths to use as a tie-on. I listed sources at the end but you can find these things (or something similar) at any craft or discount store. Start by placing the tissue paper in the bag and just add your gifts. Tie a bow to close the bag handles. Add the tag and tie-on.
Sources and Shopping Links:
- Large cellophane bags (English Muffin Bread)
- Medium cellophane bags (cookies)
- Narrow cellophane bags (pretzels)
- Shaker bottles
- Wilton Christmas Tree Pretzel Mold
- Vanilla Beans
- Oblong brown kraft bags
- Mini wreaths (similar)
- Watercolor Christmas Tags
- Gingham Christmas Tags
If you feel like you’re running out of time, but still want to give homemade gifts, just make the English Muffin Bread and pair it with Cinnamon Sugar. The shaker bottles can be found at craft stores and the link above is for a Prime listing with 2-day shipping. Or just make the cookies and add beautiful packaging. The point is not necessarily what you are giving…it’s that you made it yourself.
{To make cinnamon sugar just mix 1 or 2 tablespoons of ground cinnamon with 1 cup sugar.}
I’ll be back on Sunday with my final decor post of the year…my 2016 Christmas Tour. I’ll see you then…
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