Over the past year I’ve become a bit of a jar hoarder. I love utility, I love simple, jars are both of these things. I’ve used them for storing excess house paint (much easier than paint cans), collecting office odds and ends, and last year I used them for Christmas gifts.

That’s right, it’s time to start talking about gifts in a jar. Ahh, don’t those words go nicely together?

Giving gifts in a jar makes me breathe easier over the holidays because I know:

1. I’m giving a personalized gift, even though I don’t have a lot of time to be crafty.
2. The ingredients can be purchased from the grocery store, allowing me to bypass the busy shopping malls.
3. It’s frugal.
4. The possibilities are endless.
5. They make great gifts for teachers, coaches, coworkers, friends, and family.

Here’s what I gave in jars last year.

CRACK

Yep, you’re reading it right, crack in a jar. But if you’re giving this to an elderly relative, you might want to rename it something like “salty caramel toffee bites.”

“Crack” is a candy made with Saltines, homemade caramel, chocolate chips, and Heath bar.  The recipe (and name) came to me courtesy of Jason from Live Real Now. It’s easy to make, addictively yummy, and fits perfectly in a jar. You can’t go wrong with this one. Really, you can’t…unless you eat it all first. That is one of the hazards with crack.

HOT CHOCOLATE MIX

Another easy and universal one:

• 3 cups powdered milk
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 3/4 cup sugar
• dash of salt

Powdered milk is generally chunky, so I blended all the dry ingredients together in a blender first before adding them to quart size jars.

POPCORN SPICES

This was something I experimented with last year using recipes I’d swiped from Weight Watchers.

I purchased a pack of discounted baby food from Amazon for $4.00, discarded the baby mush contents, stripped off the labels and used the jars for my popcorn spices.

I also bought bulk spices from Amazon thinking it would help with the cost, but it turned out I didn’t need that much. One year later and I’m still using them up. Better to go with the regular sized spices if you need to buy new ones for this gift.

Southwestern Popcorn Spice: (amount per one baby food jar)

• 8 tsp chili powder
• 4 tsp ground cumin
• 4 tsp paprika
• 4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp garlic powder

Cinnamon Popcorn Spice: (amount per one baby food jar)

• 1/2 c powdered sugar
• 4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp allspice

Last year I decorated my jars with spray primer and chalk pens.  For the baby food jars I made a reusable template out of painters tape so I could spray the primer on in the shape of a square. For the larger jars I got lazy and just sprayed the primer on directly. It looked kind of goofy.

It wasn’t until after I went through this exercise that I realized the chalk pen can write directly onto the glass, so I’ll be skipping the primer this year.

I used this brand of chalk pen, purchased from Hobby Lobby.

The final touches were the homemade gift tags tied on with regular household string.

Though I had to purchase new jars last year, I’ve been saving up pasta jars all year long in preparation for this year. Now I get to decide what I’m going to put in them.

For more jar gift inspiration, check out these resources:

• Nikibone gifts in a jar recipes
• Squawkfox: 12 Gift in a Jar Ideas (food & non-food)
• Recipe Goldmine gifts in a jar recipes
• Bath Snowballs in a jar by Martha Stewart
• Bath Fizzies in a jar by Martha Stewart

Have you used the gifts in a jar trick? Do you have any other good ideas for easy and fun gifts for the holidays?