Original Handmade Christmas Gift Ideas

Original Handmade Christmas Gift Ideas-Chocolate Christmas

It's that time of year again and you're looking for a way to save some money at Christmas time. One way to not only save money but make your Christmas gifts a bit more personal is to give out homemade Christmas gifts. Making gifts for family and friends can be very rewarding and will also make sure that you are giving an original gift that they have never received before. Read on to find out a few homemade Christmas gift ideas that should help you get started.

Chocolate Christmas

Gift Basket - Find a good size basket line it with colored tissue paper, red and green work well. Then make up a theme for the gift basket. If you are making this for a female then you can get some nice bath soaps and crystals. Add in a few scented candles and a nice bath towel or robe, add in a nice book and you have a great gift ready to go. If it's for a male then you can go with some wine glasses, and a nice bottle of wine, or some beer mugs and a six pack of their favorite beer. The point here is to find out what the person likes and just add that to your homemade Christmas gift basket.

Gift Jars - Making homemade Christmas gifts in a jar can be just a simple as the gift baskets. Find out what types of foods the person likes and place them in a nice jar. You can find them at any home good stores. There are especially good for someone that likes to cook. You can find all the ingredients of a favorite recipe and put them the jar. Make a nice label to put on the outside with the instructions on how to make it. This can be on a card tied to a string around the top. Use your creative side to figure out what to put inside your gift jar and it's sure to be a hit.

Personalized Recipe Book - On the same idea as the gift jar you can find some great recipes in magazines or on the internet and gather them all together for a nice personalized recipe book. Do they love chocolate? Then find a bunch of different chocolate recipes and print them out or make copies. Place them into some clear sheets that can be placed into a 3 ring binder and your done.

Photo Album - This can be a great gift for older children. Get out your photo albums and trace back their childhood through pictures. Start from infant to today. Not only with this be a keepsake for years to come but the time spent reminiscing while looking through will bring a smile to everyone's heart. This can also be a nice gift for a mother, grandmother, father or grandfather. Putting together a photo album of the children for them is always a terrific gift.

As you can see this is just a few of the homemade Christmas ideas that can make your next Christmas a very special day. The people you give these homemade gifts to will know that you really thought about them and came up with a unique idea just for them. Cost effective and fun to do. Don't run around the shopping mall trying to spend as much as you can to show how much you care this Christmas. Make some homemade gifts to really show them.

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Neighborhood Christmas Celebration - Those Neighborhood Parties Demand Original Gifts

Every year about this time, our neighborhood gets together to do a gift exchange, enjoy Santa Claus, and share some Christmas Goodies. But this year, we decided it should be different. Along with the usual celebration, goodies, and gifts, we decided to share our holiday festivities with others.

Cookie Exchanges:

Chocolate Christmas Cookies

We all brought our usual seven dozen cookies but we wrapped them in packages of six cookies each, plus a small gift for a child. We each took home seven packages of six cookies and the other seven packages of cookies we normally would have taken home went into the box of goodies we shipped to "others".

There were seven cookie exchanges in our neighborhood this year.

Stocking Stuffing Crafts Night:

Again, we each brought our usual number of gifts, plus one small gift for a child. Everyone brought seven stocking stuffers, plus four more. These could be anything. But most of us made our stocking stuffers. Things like winter crocheted or knitted caps, scarves, book covers, tote bags, or bookmarks were poplar. We filled up seven extra stockings!

Those seven extra stockings were put in our gifts for "others".

Santa Claus Night:

This was the most fun night of all. Besides our own children, we were asked to bring three extra children (no kidnapping allowed, but we could invite children who weren't privileged). Those extra cookies, stockings, and gifts collected at other events were used to give the extra children (and parents who were willing to come) gifts.

Santa had all the gifts to give out, and everyone received gifts from the bag.

Amazingly, we sang carols most of the evening, shared spiced cider and cookies, and celebrated around the Christmas tree, with friends, family, and some new folks I'd never met before. The true joy was watching children carry out a gift they hadn't expected to receive as if it was the most precious thing they'd ever received.

Neighborhood Christmas Celebration - Those Neighborhood Parties Demand Original Gifts

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Fannie May Chocolates - The History of an American Original

Fannie May Chocolates has had a long and somewhat tumultuous history, more indicative of the times than of their wonderfully rich brand of chocolates. Nearly a hundred years ago, H. Teller Archibald opened his now famous chocolate shop in Chicago, Illinois, intent on selling quality chocolates in the neighborhood. Over the next two-and-half decades, Archibald's dream grew to nearly 50 such stores, scattered conveniently around America. Fannie May was renowned for her gourmet chocolates and strong sense of commitment to excellence, a sense which would shortly lead to a temporary downfall.

With the arrival of World War II, many companies - not just chocolate companies - experienced an unprecedented shortage in the supplies they used to make their own specialty brands of chocolates, and so shifted their recipes temporarily to ingredients that were available. Archibald's company refused to do this, and paid the price by having to close their many retail stores much earlier in the day, when their original ingredients ran out. They simply refused to compromise quality, even to turn a profit. Sadly, the world doesn't often reward idealism, and the Fannie May floundered for a time.

Chocolate Christmas

Predictably, for such a candy company with a loyal base of customers, Fannie May returned to the scene in full force after the end of the War. A spirited campaign of chocolate-making vaulted off the return of their ingredients, and Fannie May introduced new chocolates that quickly became American favorites. The windfall from enabled them to buy a competitor-company (Fanny Farmer, no relation) in the early 1990s, and expand their operation.

Although Fannie May performed admirably for the half-century after World war II, their parent company - Archibald Candy Corporation - didn't do so well overall, and called it quits. This had the inevitable effect of bankrupting Fannie May, as well; although they would not be long without a capable suitor. Alpine Confections Corporation realized the utility of the history, profitability and customer base of Fannie May and bought the company shortly afterward, moving their base of operations to Ohio in the process, in the year 2004. This would not, however, be her final home.

Fannie May was always going to be worth something; particularly with the raves regarding her special Mint Meltaways, and two years after the move to Ohio, she was bought by the national conglomerate 1-800-Flowers.com, Inc for nearly 0 million, keeping the manufacture of her confectionary brands in Ohio, while allowing the headquarters to remain in her birthplace, Chicago Illinois. She has expanded her repertoire beyond chocolates and candy, and now delights her ever-growing fan base with gift baskets, gourmet foods other than chocolate (and, of course, as well as chocolate), and uniquely delicious trademark chocolate combinations.

Fannie May Chocolates - The History of an American Original

Fannie May chocolates is one of the most popular chocolates in America, with its long line of delectable milk chocolates and sweet combinations. Perfect for sharing with a friends or loved ones during the holidays, Chris fell in love with their mint-melt-aways when her husband introduced them to her. Whether as decorations for a Christmas tree or presents for Valentines Day, you simply can't go wrong with Fannie May.