Getugete: Merry Christmas in a Jar

Hi Everyone! I am excited to be here on Design Dazzle today.

My name is Kiki...

Yes, that is my head shot today because in real life I actually look like this:

On a normal day, you can find me cleaning, driving, running around and chasing after my 3 little kiddos while currently 36 weeks pregnant! Yep, that's right..just 4 weeks to go and I will have 4 little kiddos to care for and love! In my "spare time" you can find me at my blog:

Kiki Creates is a place I like to share all my crazy ideas in the form of projects, tutorials and free printables. I also have contributors who write on Fashion/Makeup, Cooking, Photography and Fitness/Health!

So you have to know...I LOVE CHRISTMAS. I love all the magic, the smells, the sights..I love that everyone seems to have a smile on their face, that serving someone is a normal occurrence and that I get to think of meaningful gifts for my loved ones. I LOVE IT ALL!

This year may be a little crazy though. With baby #4 making his appearance somewhere in the first part of December, I know the month will go faster than I can imagine, so having EASY, QUICK, and THOUGHTFUL gifts will be to my advantage this year.

Today, my idea is for neighbor gifts...or gifts for those around you, who you want to wish a Merry Christmas to, but you have a lot of them, so you need to make big quantities and fast!

I love receiving recipes in a jar! I love I can dump them out, add a few ingredients and have something yummy in a matter of minutes. SO let's talk about putting a few together!

There are many sizes and shapes for jars..you can get them as fancy or not as you wish, and by buying them in bulk, you can save a lot of money! Do you have a favorite recipe to use in jars? Make sure you leave a comment with the recipe or a link to it, so we can all try it out! Here are a few sites you can find recipes at to suit your taste:

Soup

Mixes in a Jar

At the end of this post, I will put a link to pick up these tags for free! All you have to worry about is printing and cutting. I love having a little cuteness to make it even more personal!

Using the free tags, you can create a lot of different tags. The cocoa tags can be embellished with the added elements on the free download. On this one (left picture), I cut 3 little slits on the tag and added some wire to make it look like steam..and added a few more with snowflakes to make it wintery! The tea bag tag is attached with bakers twine. The tag on the right is simply cut out and wrapped with bakers twine to be put directly on your jar! So simple.

This has to be one of my favorite parts! There are so many ways to package up jars...or you can leave them plain and add a tag and be done super fast.

This recipe in a jar is a hot cocoa mix in one jar and a jar of marshmallows in the other..directions for the recipient are found on the back of the tag (included in the download).

The hot chocolate can be made like this:

Hot Chocolate in a Jar via Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

6 1/2 cups powdered milk

1 (5 ounce) package non-instant chocolate pudding mix

1 cup powdered chocolate drink mix

1/2 cup powdered non-dairy creamer

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions

In a large bowl, combine powdered milk, chocolate pudding mix, chocolate drink mix powder, creamer, confectioners' sugar, and cocoa. Divide the mixture between two 1 quart jars. Seal, and decorate as desired. These can be stored in a dry area for up to 3 months.

Awhile ago I saw this image and knew I had to try it out.

image chewing the cud via rue magazine

The package I put together, I used a sweet, soft scarf from Target to wrap it in (a fun way to add a little winterizing to your hot cocoa mix!). Using the technique shown above I wrapped it, and then because I had enough material left over, I tied a bow at the top. Love how soft and warm this one turned out!

To save a little money and to have the opportunity to use ANY fabric. I used a 20" x20" napkin to wrap these two in. Any fabric can be used for this..so imagine the possibilities with this one!

And here is a simple recipe in a jar with a tag tied right to it. Still beautiful, still homey, still fun! I love this idea as you can make it as elaborate as you would like..think adding cups to the hot cocoa mix, a mixing spoon with cookies or a ladle with soup, etc.

To download these tags, go HERE.