DIY: Homemade Edible Christmas Gift Ideas!

Naturally, as someone who loves to cook and bake, I love sharing delicious homemade Christmas treats with our family and friends.

Each year I can be found baking away in the kitchen to Christmas songs whipping up batch after batch of shortbread or gingerbread cookies which are then left to cool before being wrapped up and shared with the people who make our life sweet. 

This year I wanted to share our favourite tips for making and presenting edible Christmas gifts so that you can share some with your family and friends this holiday season! 

So let me share our recipes and tips with you! >> 

What you'll need all depends on what you're planning to make - but here are My tips for preparing to make your own edible Christmas Gifts:

1. Decide what you're going to make
   Get your recipes, take a look at what ingredients you have and what you'll need to buy and get everything ready. The last thing you want to do is be all set to go and find that you don't have half of what you need to make your treats!
2. Decide how you're going to wrap/packages them
   You'll find lots of budget friendly options below as well as suggestions for wrapping/packing different types of treats. Decide how you're going to package everything up and buy everything you'll need to do that in advance so you're ready to go! 
3. Decide who you're sharing your treats with!
   That way you'll know how much you need to make! Make a list and check it twice ;) 

You'll find cute Christmas tins filled with cookies in just about any department store - but why not make your own cookies?! We love these Santa Tins from The Reject Shop which were just $2 (for the small tin) and $3 (for the larger tin) as they're great for cookies, truffles and delicate Christmas treats. 

Recipes which are perfect for these tins? These tins are great for any type of treat - but especially great for larger cookies or delicate items like chocolate truffles or decorated cookies as you can layer them.

Try our recipes for; 
- Healthier Ginger Cookies (also gluten free!)
- Healthier Chocolate Truffles (gluten free, so easy to make and absolutely delicious! Try placing each truffle in a mini cupcake case to stop them sticking together)
- Low Fat Gingerbread Men (also gluten free!)

Who are these tins good for? Anyone! Not only are they filled with delicious Christmas Treats - they can be filled with whatever your recipient desires after their done!

Ideas for using them after Christmas? If you don't want to keep your tin for Christmas next year, why not give it a makeover with some spray paint and chalkboard paint? That way you can have your own treat tin that will be perfect year round!

It's no secret that jars have been all the rage for the last couple of years - but they're also perfect for Christmas gifting! Not only can you make cute gifts in a jar using fun stocking stuffers (like The Reject Shop have done here) - you can also fill them with delicious Christmas Treats!

The Reject Shop have an awesome range of jars in all sorts of shapes and sizes - from bulk packs (which are perfect if you're making gifts for lots of people) to single jars, like the one you see below with our snowballs, (just $3!) there is something for just about every type of treat!

Recipes which are perfect for these jars? The Reject Shop have such a huge range of jars that you can really use them for any treat! My biggest tip is that you need to find a jar which has a mouth wide enough to easily fit your treats. If you have huge cookies, they'll never fit through the mouth of a small jar etc.

Try our recipes for; 
- Healthier Snowball Cookies (also gluten free!)

- Healthier Shortbread Cookies (also gluten free!)
- Gingerbread Granola (or our Honey Vanilla Granola!)

- Healthy Cut Out Cookies (also gluten free!)

How can I decorate them? I always love to tie my jars with a pretty ribbon and a gift tag explaining what's inside!

Keep it simple: For our snowball cookies and some of our shortbread cookies, I simply tied the jars with a ribbon and then attached a gift card when gifting them which listed the ingredients and allergy info.

Get scrappy: Your wrapping paper and ribbon off cuts don't have to go to waste! Try layering different wrapping papers and topping them with a piece of ribbon (I used a fun piece of green rickrack) for a simple but effective decoration!

I loveeeeee these Christmas Noodle Boxes from the Reject Shop - and at $2.50 for 4, they're perfect for gifting! Not only do they look cute, they're the perfect way to package up treats - especially ones you need to keep in the fridge as you can stack them even after they're wrapped!

Recipes which are perfect for these boxes? As I said, these boxes are especially great for treats you need to keep in the fridge (as they're so compact and stackable one wrapped and closed) but they're also a great way to put together a selection of different treats!

Try our recipes for; 
- Our Family's Favourite Rocky Road (gluten free and so easy to make and kid friendly!)

- Healthy Panforte (also gluten free and vegan!)
- White Chocolate Candy Cane Fudge (also gluten free)

How can I decorate them? As these boxes are super cute on their own, we keep it simple and just wrap the treats in cellophane (available at The Reject Shop for $2) which also keeps them from sticking to the box! 

But what else can you use? We have a big box of decorative bits and pieces which we put together each year around Christmas time to use when wrapping presents or packaging up treats and here's what we are loving this year; 

• Baker's Twine ($4 a reel)
  It seems to have been the year of bakers twine and mason jars so we are using lots in our Christmas wrapping. The Reject Shop have bakers twine in all sorts of colours - but I love the red and white one for Christmas. 
• Brown Paper Wrapping ($2 a roll)
  Katrina hates brown craft paper but I love it as it means you can get totally creative with your wrapping - and at just $2 for a big roll, it's a steal! 
• Ribbons Galore ($1-3 a roll)
  I love fabric ribbons and The Reject Shop have them in every kind of shape, colour and pattern you could think of!
• Gift Tags ($1-4 a set)
  Katrina loves traditional Christmas tags with cute graphics, whilst I love decorating my own. The Reject Shop have both plain craft paper/cardboard gift tags and Christmas gift tags so you can find whatever you need!
• Foil Ribbons ($2.50 for a ribbon and bow set)
  Whilst I love fabric ribbons, you can't curl them - so I always have some foil ribbon in my stash. This year The Reject Shop have ribbon and bow sets for $2.50 which make wrapping a breeze. If you want curly ends to your ribbon, try this technique!
• Cellophane
  Cellophane is a must have in your stash as it's perfect for wrapping treats and also using to wrap up hampers or gift baskets or hard to wrap items (or even wine bottles as there's a great range of colours and patterns!)

But now that we have shared all of our recipes and wrapping ideas, here are our tips for making creating your own edible gifts simple and stress free! 

1. Be organised
   Make a plan of action - that way you'll know exactly what you're doing and when you're doing it and you won't be running around like a headless chook!
2. Make some things in advance!
   All of our cookie recipes can be made in advance! Simply make and shape the dough (or whatever you're making), freeze the dough on sheets of baking paper until solid and then place in a zip lock bag on your baking paper (we usually fold the baking paper and wrap them in rows). Then all you have to do is defrost your cookies before you're planning on baking them and they're ready to bake! You can also freeze our Chocolate Truffles prior to rolling them in your toppings and then just defrost them slightly and roll them in your toppings before gifting! 
3. Think about how long things will last and how they need to be stored!
   Cookies will last for a few days at room temperature in an airtight container whilst chocolate truffles need to be kept refridgerated - be aware of how you need to store your treats and how you're going to give them. For example, you don't want to give chocolate truffles to a friend at a picnic on a hot sunny day because they'll never make it home in one piece! (Or actually... maybe you do... because then you just have to eat them fast, right?) 
4. Have some things ready for unexpected visitors!Things like Rocky Road, Paneforte or Fruit Cake will last for weeks in the fridge and are perfect for keeping as a last minute gift (when unexpected guests arrive!) and we usually have Noodle Boxes of Rocky Road in our fridge over Christmas for exactly that reason!

But tell me, what are your favourite edible gifts?

   

   

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