I have also used their empty paint tins to package a Decorate Your Own Cookie Kit. I make sugar cookies in assorted shapes. Add a small packet of red hots labled “noses” and some of those small decorating icing tubes that are on sale at the holiday time. This is a great gift for working moms of little kids. They can just take out the stuff and the kiddies can start decorating.

We tend to give bread (banana nut, apple cinnamon, pumpkin, or zuchinni) to our neighbors and co-workers. I wrap these first in plastic wrap and then in plain brown craft paper. I finish this off with a raffia or twine bow and a label. For family, I will generally put together a basket (from yard sale of course) with the bread, a dishtowel, and some honey or apple butter.

Once in college when the budget didn’t run to specific holiday wraps, I used plain brown craft paper with twine. The gift cards (cut from manila folders like you use at the office) on one side had that lyric from the Sound of Music…”brown paper packages tied up with strings…” and on the other side I wrote that the recipient was *also* one of my favorite “things”. People seemed to get a kick out of it and it allowed me to create a “theme” and make a virtue out of a necessity.

I shared this gift idea earlier, but I’ll post it here again since it’s relevant. I’m giving my sister’s family a “Family Night” basket. I bought a BIG plastic popcorn bucket secondhand for 50 cents, so that’s my “basket”. Inside are popcorn (old-fashioned kind), seasonings (cheddar, ranch, sour cream ‘n onion – mostly “stolen” from my regular cooking supplies), some concession-style candy and a CD of A Christmas Carol (Dollar Tree).