Ideas for Christmas Gift Sets, Wrappings & Cookies

Gift Set Ideas

Here’s a list of some gift set ideas to create a custom gift for your loved one. :)

• I put some homemade hot chocolate mix in a mason jar and wrapped the top with Lion Brands new Faux Fur yarn.
• A wool soap & a bar of handmade soap that I purchased on Etsy.
• Their favorite candy.
• A special tea. {I got mine from Harney & Sons.}

Gift Boxes:

I used boxes that I have for shipping, but Target, Hobby Lobby, Walmart even the Dollar Store has a great selection of gift boxes.

If you’re in a pinch on Christmas Eve and you need a box… go to your pantry, cracker, cereal, mac & cheese boxes make great makeshift gift boxes. You can cut one edge and turn it inside out.

I used box sizes: 9″ x 5″ x 3″ & 9-1/2″ x 6″ x 2″

Gift Wrapping Ideas

I love wrapping Christmas gifts. It brings back happy memories helping my grandma top her gifts. Although her style is much different than mine. Her toppers were so extravagant, they were like gifts all on their own. She hand made her bows and the bigger the better. We spent lots of time hot gluing while swimming in piles of all things Hobby Lobby {that’s a verb, right?!} You know… glitter and garland and silk flowers. Her house even smelled like Hobby Lobby, if you’ve been you know what I’m talking about ;)

This year I wanted to keep it simple and wrap up some gifts using Kraft paper and some leftover yarn.

I really like the bulky gray bow using some leftover yarn, I used Lion Brands Wow yarn.

Headbands in a Mug:

My husband came up with the idea of putting the headbands in a mug, which I think is brilliant, but my opinion might be a little biased.

I thought I’d have a hard time finding one big enough, but low and behold our local Dollar General had 2 different styles that are huge!

They hold over 16 oz { :) } and they were only 2 dollars each.

You could wrap them with paper or plastic or put them in a box, but I think they look cute like this and set them out the night before Christmas.

Dried Oranges:

Dried oranges are all over Instagram and look beautiful in photos and they’re just as pretty in real life.

I cut my oranges about ¼” thick, or less, and patted them dry with paper towels until most of the moisture was gone.

I placed them directly on a cookie sheet, in hindsight some parchment paper would’ve been nice.

I thought it was going to take a couple of hours, but it took me 5-6 hours to dry them… and I turned them every 30 minutes, so it was a labor of love, but they look great.

I have a food dehydrator that I’ll try next time to see if they come out as nicely.

I like adding nature to gifts too!

I collected some sprigs of Spruce from a friends tree, Blue Spruce, Juniper, Cypress, Cedar or Fir would look great too. Whatever you have access to.

Cookies for Santa:

I’m embarrassed to say, but this was my first time making gingerbread cookies.

I always thought they were hard and time consuming.

Not in the least bit hard. They are a bit time consuming, but having fun and making memories is what it’s all about, right?! :)

Grab the Gingerbread cookie recipe from Ali at Gimme Some Oven.

You can make the dough early and leave it in the fridge overnight.

It does take a couple of hours to roll out, cut and bake the cookies.

They cool completely within 30 minutes, so the kids can start decorating while you’re baking.

I rolled the cold dough onto a piece of parchment paper, cut out the shapes about 2″ apart, but left them on the paper, removed the excess dough between the shapes and then baked it on the paper. So, I don’t have to move the uncooked gingerbread men… moving them is where everything went wrong :(

I also used 2 baking sheets with parchment paper so I could cut out cookies on one while the other set was baking.

I baked them for 10 minutes, but I don’t think I let them bake long enough because they weren’t crisp when they cooled like I think they should be. So you might want to test a few in your oven to get them to your desired crispness.

I hope these photos have provided some inspiration for creating a gift set and using up some leftover yarn to wrap your Christmas gifts. :)

You can find more ideas on my Christmas Wrapping Pinterest board!

Have a very Merry Christmas!

:) Jennifer