Last Minute Holiday Gift Ideas

Caroling Kit

First up is a Caroling Kit. Start with a copy of all of your favorite Christmas songs on card stock, add a bag of hot chocolate, and some lights (I found these 2 for a dollar at Dollartree). Throw in some candy canes and you have a bag o’ fun! To deliver, take your family and sing at the door! The tag could say “We WISSSHHH you a Merry Christmas!”

Hot Chocolate

Next, get a can of good hot chocolate, like Stephens, and pair it with some marshmallows or chocolate dipped pretzel sticks. The card could say “Wishing You Warm Chocolatey Christmas Wishes!”

Fortune Cookies

One of my favorite gifts I put together (if I do say so myself) was a good sized Chinese take out box with fortune cookies in it. Both items I found at a restaurant supply grocery store called Cash & Carry. The boxes are reasonably priced (they come in a pack of 25) and the cookies come in a large bag for around 5 bucks! Can’t beat that! The tag read “It is our good fortune to have you as friends! Merry Christmas!”

Whatever you do, make it thoughful, fun, and easy! With a splash of colorful ribbon and a sweet card you will, no doubt, hit a home run! That is what I like to do! Good luck and Merry Christmas!

What are some of your best neighbor/friend gifts you have whipped together?

Photo courtesy of Flickr.

Susan lives in Boise, Idaho, and is a self-taught artist and a jack of many artsy trades. She is married to a professional artist and has two great teenagers. She has her hand in a lot of pots. She in very involved in her community and fundraising for her kids’ choirs. She loves friends, family, movies, pj’s, laughing, and ART! She just started her own blog: visit  susansspinningplates@wordpress.com

As I was looking through my board, I questioned why I always wait until December to give out neighbor gifts. Wouldn’t Thanksgiving be the perfect time to start?

So this year, we are making a few neighbor gifts in November to get into the giving spirit a bit earlier.

We identified a few families who really mean a lot to us and that we want to thank for being a part of our lives. We found this fun recipe in Family Fun Magazine and spent the afternoon baking, talking all the while about who we would deliver the treats to, why they were important to us, and why we were grateful to have them in our lives.

Making them was a whole family affair. The kids cut them out, using an awesome Wilton leaf cookie cutter I found on sale at Michael’s.

Next, they buttered the edges.

Then, they added a variety of fillings, including cut up Reese’s peanut butter cups, Nutella, and strawberry jam with cream cheese.

The end result was both delicious and an awesome way to help my kids learn about gratitude while having fun in the kitchen.

How do you help your kids get in the giving spirit? What do you do during the month of Thanksgiving to help them have an attitude of gratitude?

Ever since I was little my favorite gift to give during the holidays has been homemade treats. I would obsessively collect recipes and ideas for things I wanted to make for our annual treat plates, boxes or bags to take around to family, friends and neighbors. The treats were always well appreciated and I felt like I was really putting my heart and soul into giving my loved ones something from the heart.

Enter a husband, full time job, and three small children later and needless to say, the budget and time commitment available to me to bake several different kinds of treats has decreased considerably. I have still wanted to make something really special to give as a gift though and for the last several years the answer has been in sharing packages of homemade hot cocoa or hot chocolate mix and really good homemade marshmallows.

In recent years it seems that gourmet flavored versions have been all the rage, and I couldn’t resist working on a new concoction to give as gifts to friends and family this holiday season.  Since I often find my incredible love of chocolate competing with my love of really good salted caramel, I thought the best variation to work on would be one that could combine the best of both flavors.

However you decide to package a gift of hot chocolate mix and marshmallows—whether in cute jars with ribbons, cellophane bags or cute tins—your lucky loved ones are going to be so happy when they taste a sweet, slightly salty cup of chocolate with that deep hint of caramel flavor.  Add the homemade marshmallows which melt so ooey-gooey and your gift will be a guaranteed favorite this year.

Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate Mix Recipe

Original Recipe by Holly at PheMOMenon
(Makes 2 1/2 pounds of mix – enough for 8 half-pint jars)

Caramel Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 tablespoons pure vanilla

Instructions

1. Line a large baking sheet with parchment or foil, set aside.
2. Place the sugar in a large heavy pan or large skillet, nonstick if possible.
3. Melt the sugar without stirring over medium heat.
4. Once the sugar starts to melt, swirl the pan a bit to melt the sugar melt and not burn.  It will be a deep amber color.
5. Remove the pan from the heat and add the vanilla carefully.
6. Whisk the mixture until the caramel is smooth again.
7. Immediately and quickly pour the caramel onto the lined baking sheet and allow it to spread without touching.  Set aside and let the caramel harden—1 hour at least.

When you are ready to make the mix, use the back of a large spoon to tap the caramel several times into small broken pieces, small enough to fit into the tube of a large food processor.  Turn the processor on, and while running, feed the caramel pieces into the tube so the processor pulverizes the caramel into a fine powder.  Keep adding a few pieces at a time until it is all powder (there will be a cloud of caramel dust in the bowl and floating up out of the tube).  Once it is done processing, turn it off and follow the steps below to make the mix.

Chocolate Mix Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups good quality Dutch cocoa powder
• 3 tablespoons fleur de sel or good sea salt
• 1 cup dry milk powder
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 10 oz good quality bittersweet chocolate or chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Add all the ingredients, except the chocolate, to the food processor.
2. Put the lid back on and process the mixture until smooth.
3. Add the chocolate to the bowl and allow turn the processor back on.
4. Let it run until the chocolate has been ground into a fine powder mixed with everything else.

Store airtight and in a cool, dry place.

If giving as a gift, a half-pint size canning jar will fit about 5 ounces of mix.  This recipe makes 2 1/2 lbs of mix (40 ounces), so enough for 8 jars. Make sure to include the mixing directions below with your gift. If you make the jars as described above, a half-pint jar will have enough for 4 servings in it.

Mixing Directions

To mix the drink, add 3 tablespoons of mix to 1 cup of hot milk. Stir or whisk well. Serve with homemade marshmallows or top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings or sprinkles.

Homemade Vanilla Marshmallows

(Makes about 50 marshmallows)

Ingredients

• 4 packets of Knox gelatin
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 cup light corn syrup – divided
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ (powdered) sugar

Instructions

1. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan, preferably with straight sides.
2. Line the pan with a large piece of parchment as a sling so the edges extend over the 13-inch side and lightly grease the parchment.
3. Set aside.
4. In a small microwave-safe bowl, sprinkle the gelatin powder over the cold water, stir, and set aside to let the gelatin bloom.
5. In a saucepan gently stir the sugar together with 1/2 cup of the corn syrup and 1/2 cup of water.  Try not to splash the ingredients around.
6. Heat the sugar mixture over medium-high heat and use a candy thermometer to watch the temperature.
7. Bring the sugar mixture to a low boil and cook it to the soft ball stage or about 235 degrees on the thermometer. Do not worry about stirring the mixture, just gently swirl the mixture occasionally to help it melt. It will be completely clear and melted when done, and should not caramelize or change color.  This only takes about 5 minutes.
8. Meanwhile, place the other 1/2 cup corn syrup in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Gently heat the gelatin mixture in the microwave just enough to melt it all and make it liquid enough to pour – about 30 seconds on high should do it.
9. When the gelatin is melted, turn the mixer on low speed and slowly pour the gelatin into the corn syrup while the mixer is still running.
10. Once the sugar syrup is ready, slowly pour the syrup into the mixing bowl while it is still running on low speed. Try to keep the stream to the sides of the bowl and not in the whisk area so that it doesn’t send your sugar syrup flying up the sides of the bowl instead of down into the gelatin mixture.
11. When all the sugar mixture is added, turn the mixer to medium-high speed and beat the mixture for 5 minutes – it will be white and very fluffy.
12. Add the vanilla and salt, then turn the speed up on the mixer to high and beat 1 minute more.
13. Work quickly and pour the marshmallow mixture into the prepared 9×13 pan and use a rubber or offset spatula to spread the marshmallow mixture as evenly as possible in the pan.
14. Using a sifter or fine-mesh strainer, sift a little bit of the confectioners’ sugar over the marshmallows layer.
15. Set the pan aside for at least six hours to let the marshmallows set up before cutting.
16. When you are ready to cut the marshmallows, have a clean cutting surface ready and use the parchment sling in the pan to lift the marshmallow out in one big rectangle.
17. Use a sharp knife or pizza cutter to cut the marshmallow into squares or rectangles the size you want.  To get about 50 marshmallows, cut the large rectangle into approximately 1-inch rows, then cut the rows into 1-inch squares.
18. Toss the marshmallows, a few at a time into a bowl with the remaining sifted confectioners’ sugar to coat the outside and keep them from sticking together.

Store the marshmallows in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Holly blogs at PheMOMenon and Sweet & Simple about the adventures of life with two wild little boys and one very sweet baby girl with Down syndrome. She is also married to a professional skydiver. This all makes for an interesting life at their house. So, in an attempt to keep what sanity motherhood and marriage have left her with, she is trying to conquer her world, one recipe at a time. It’s cheaper than therapy, and much more tasty!  She is also the creator of The Hive – the blog forum for food bloggers in Utah.

How often have you opened a kid’s party invitation and the host parent has requested No Gifts Please?  It’s happening more and more these days and it often leaves the guests’ parents in an awkward position.  If you don’t bring a gift and do as you are asked, often you arrive to the others all having brought a gift anyway!

Alternatives to Requesting No Gifts at Kids’ Birthday Parties

To relieve the awkwardness of this situation for your guests, use one of these creative ideas as an alternative to requesting No Gifts:

1. Host a book exchange and organize it in a few different ways:
   • Guests bring a wrapped gift and everyone takes one home.
   • Some open the books on the spot; others wait until the kids have gone home.
2. Give your child an experience rather than a party. If you allow friends to be invited, let the experience be the celebration, not the stuff.
3. Hold an inexpensive gift exchange (under $10) so that every child receives a gift.
4. Request art supplies and donate them to a shelter.
5. Hobbit Practice – Better to Give than to Receive! Each child receives a gift, although they do not bring one.
6. Request a donation to a great organization like http://www.heifer.org/.
7. Contact a charity that is a favorite and ask for a Wish List, i.e. a list of stuff the organization really needs. As an example, the humane society may need leashes, collars, toys, etc. Request guests bring these items in lieu of birthday gifts to donate and make the wishes come true!
8. Whatever donations are brought to the party for a favorite charity, have the birthday child deliver the donations to his chosen charity.

This is a great round-up of ideas that are alternatives to traditional party gifts.  Also, keep in mind if you are concerned about the amount people will spend on a party gift for your child, it is appropriate to write in your invitation, Gifts under $__ would be appreciated.  Putting a price limit guideline on the invitation can help to keep gift-giving budget friendly.

Happy Gifting ─ or not!

Then, enter for a chance to win one of three amazing prizes from Kodak this week, providing you with the latest and greatest ways to capture all of your Mother’s Day Kodak moments.

In this giveaway, everybody wins with an offer to get two Picture Movie DVDs for the price of one!

Picture Movie DVDs combine your favorite photos with a meaningful song and are created directly on a KODAK Kiosk in just minutes. You can find a Kodak Kiosk at a nearby Target or CVS (and these other retailers), and instead of spending the regular $15.00, this Mother’s Day you can make two for the price of one. Now you can make one for mom, grandma or even yourself!

Entry Requirements

Please do the following three things to enter for a chance to win and leave a separate comment for each:

1. Visit http://www.kodak.com/go/honoryourmom, check out the Picture Movie DVD process and downloadable coupon and leave a comment here, sharing who and what you’d make your DVD about.
   XXXX
2. Follow @KodakCB on Twitter.
   XXX
3. Post these messages on Twitter and leave comments here with a link to your tweets:

GIVEAWAY! Enter 2 win a @KodakCB digi camera or digi pic frame right in time 4 Mother’s Day  http://bit.ly/9JnAI5 #gno PLS RT

XXXX

Click http://bit.ly/9BYo7m 2 dwnload coupon 4 buy 1 get 1 FREE @kodak pic movie DVD in time 4 Mother’s Day PLS RT #gno #kodakbogo

Extra Entries

The following four entries are completely optional and will earn you one extra entry each. Leave a separate comment on this post for each completed entry.

1. Follow @momitforward on Twitter.
2. Follow Mom It Forward on Facebook at http://facebook.com/momitforward.
3. Become a Friend of Mom It Forward’s Google Friend Connect (see box in right sidebar).
4. Subscribe to the Mom It Forward RSS feed (click on orange heart at the bottom left on the homepage).

Terms and Conditions

No purchase necessary to enter. Giveaway ends at midnight ET Wednesday, May 2, 2010. See all terms and conditions here.

TodaysMama and Provo Craft are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter, I’m sharing this meme with you. Did I mention this giveaway features $3,800 in prizes? For those of you that know me, you know I’m not exaggerating, because if I were, I’d exaggerate using an odd number. LOL!

Click here to check out the ginormous amount of goods.

To enter to win them, all you need to do is the following three things:

1. Answer the questions in this meme on your blog.
2. Make sure to post links back to TodaysMama.com and Provo Craft (using this link: http://bit.ly/4ikY3c ).
3. Tag your friends!

Create a Wishlist!

1. What 5 items are top on your holiday wish list?

• A piano
• A trip to India
• Maid service (even one a month would be heavenly!)
• A trip to New York City (I would love to get this gift early, so I can go this December!)
• A new printer like my old one (where the sheets feed into the copier)

2. What is your favorite handmade gift you have received?

Do my grandma’s banana cookies count? Honestly… there is no better handmade gift than that!

3. What handmade gift have you always wanted to tackle?

I’d love to knit a hat as long as someone else could do the knitting for me!

4. What was the best Christmas gift you received as a child?

Holly Hobby Easy Bake Oven… hands down the best gift evah!

5. What items are top on your kids wish list this year?

• My 6YO wants an electric guitar.
• My 8YO wants us to get a piano. He’s willing to forego toys for it!

6. What is your favorite holiday food?

Where to begin?

• Reindeer cookies
• My MIL’s sugar cookies
• Saurkraut
• My mom’s prime rib roast
• Caramel Apple Spice from Starbuck’s
• Hot chocolate
• Veggie trays (especially if I got to chop the veggies)
• Olives (especially when eaten off my finger tips… tell me you did that as a kid too!)

7. What will you be hand-crafting for the holidays?
Thankfully, nada (unless making reindeer cookies as neighbor gifts counts)!

8. What is your favorite holiday movie?
All of them! I love holiday movies!!! If I had to choose just one, I would probably say How The Grinch Stole Christmas, especially the part when his heart pops out of his chest!

9. Favorite holiday song?
I can’t choose just one:

• Oh Come All Ye Faithful
• We Three Kings/Star of Wonder by BNL & Sarah McLaughlin
• Bring the Torch, Jeanette Isabella
• That one by the Osmond’s that @troypattee dies for (can’t remember the name… not Puppy Love though!)

10. Favorite holiday pastime?
Giving!

Tag! You’re It!

Now, it’s tag time! I’d love to see answers to these questions from all of you, but since the task is to tag some of you and since tagging all of you would mean the rest of you would have no one to tag, here we go!

• Amy from Mom Spark
• Niri from Mommy Niri
• Robyn from Pensieve Robin
• Melissa from Isly
• Carissa from Good and Crazy People
• Angie from 7 Clown Circus
• Elizabeth from Parenting Pink
• Kim from Crafty Mama of 4
• Holly from June Cleaver Nirvana
• Jenny from Jenny on the Spot

Prize

Three lucky winners will receive the following prizes in this PBS KIDS gift pack (retail value $100 each):

• Electric Company Backpack on wheels
• PBS Kids baseball hat
• Curious George plush
• PBS Kids T-shirt
• Steve Songs CD
• Music from Dinosaur Train
• Sesame Street Playground (Songs and videos from Around the World)
• Martha Speaks book
• Super Why book
• PBS Kids Color Foil book
• Super Why Hidden Word Puzzle
• PBS Kids USB port
• Sid The Science Kid Toy Microphone
• PBS Parents photo envelop

Entry Requirements

To enter for a chance to win, you are required to do the following three things. Make sure to leave a comment here linking to each one:

1. Check out the http://pbskidsgo.org/lunchlab site and leave a comment here about your or your child’s favorite part of the site.
2. Comment on the PBS Kids Healthy Eating for the Holidays Whrrl story and leave a comment here, letting us know you did so.
3. Retweet and/or post the following two messages on Facebook and Twitter and comment here, linking to your update/post:

GIVEAWAY! Enter 4 chance 2 win $100 gift pack from #pbskids (3 Winners!). http://bit.ly/3PlZta PLS RT

Visit http://pbskidsgo.org/lunchlab 4 gr8 healthy eating/cooking w/kids tips just in time 4 holiday cooking/baking! #pbskids PLS RT

Extra Entries

You can earn up to two extra entries this week. Leave a comment for each one on this post!

1. Follow @pbsparents on Twitter.
2. Become a fan of the PBS Kids Facebook page.

The Fine Print

No purchase necessary to enter. Winners will be selected randomly through http://random.org. PBS and Mom It Forward employees are ineligible to participate. All entries received after Wednesday, November 18 at midnight PT will not be considered. Entries that do not follow all of the entry requirements will not be considered. Winners will be notified and will have 24 hours to confirm receipt of the e-mail. If they do not reply within 24 hours, another winner will be selected. Open to participants in the US and Canada 18 years and older. One entry per person.

Join us at the #gno Twitter party this Tuesday from 9-11 p.m. ET as we discuss creative holiday gift giving with our friends from Crayola. They, along with other amazing women in our community, will be sharing shopping tips and highlighting the latest and greatest from Crayola (like this project created with the new Glow Dome, left)—just in time for the holidays.

Also, join the #gno Whrrl story to share your holiday shopping tips! Click here to join, contribute to, or view.

What: Crayola is sponsoring this week’s #gno Twitter party (Click here to learn about #gno!)

When: Tuesday, November 10, 9-11 p.m. EST

Where: Click here to party with us on our custom Tweetgrid. (Use hashtags #gno and #crayola.)

Topic: Creative Gift Giving

Who: @carissarogers @cerisecheri @crayola @gograhamgo @jollymom @makeandtakes @noflashcards @skybluestacy

Party Favors: Click here to enter for a chance to win products from Crayola just in time for the holidays.


RSVP: Please leave your Twitter ID in the comments to follow and be followed (on Twitter, of course!) by other #gno gals. The best format is as follows: http://twitter.com/jylmomIF.

Gather some treats, download and print this special Ghost Door Hanger and you are ready to go. One side lets everyone know you have been booed, the other a fun poem and instructions about how to BOO!

You might also like this unique way to BOO with a decorated plastic pumpkin. “Am I a Cat or Jack Boo Pumpkin” makes a great way to BOO your friends.

Another idea is to make a special BOO! Cone .

If you are into paper crafts a BOO! Sign is a wonderful way to share some Halloween fun!

Let the “BOOING” begin!

Giveaway Prizes

Two lucky winners from this site will be selected to win a gift package, including the following:

• 50 business cards
• Business card holder
• Luggage tag
• Stainless-steel water bottle
• Tote bag

Entry Requirements

To enter to win, you are required to do the following two things:

1. Take this week’s SOS Challenge to Make Some “Me” Time by completing one of the post’s 10 suggestions or an idea of your own that fits within this week’s theme.
2. Leave a comment on that post.
3. Leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite “me” time activity. You must enter by Sunday, July 12 at midnight PDT, including your e-mail address.

Leave an additional comment for each of these extra entries (for a total of five extra entries):

• Join the Mom It Forward Friend Connect (in right sidebar).
• Join the Mom It Forward Flickr Group.
• Share a picture of your favorite “me” time activity on the Flickr group!
• Click here to join the Mom It Forward Facebook Page. (This is different than the group!)
• Post about this giveaway on Twitter and/or on your Facebook wall using the link http://www.designhergals.com in your tweet and/or update.

The Fine Print
No purchase necessary to enter. Winners will be selected randomly through http://random.org. Design-her Gals employees and Mom It Forward family members are ineligible to participate. All entries received after Sunday, July 12 at midnight PDT will not be considered. Entries that do not follow all of the entry requirements will not be considered.