Well, Christmas is finally upon us! I try to avoid thinking about Christmas until the first of December, then after an initial spurt of Christmas spirit my enthusiasm seems to plateau, until I realise that Christmas has all but arrived and I still have so much to do - that's when fantastic gift ideas are simplified, or put off for another time. Sometimes (shock horror!) I even resort to buying gifts...
Fortunately this year I have a bountiful pantry overflowing with jars of jam, dried herbs, preserved lemons, cordials, infused brandies and limoncello. In fact, I have done such a good job of preserving this year's surplus crops that I am going to be eating it well into next year!
I've already given away several hampers stuffed full of delightful delicacies made with love and carefully packaged by me. Homemade goods (I think) will always look marvellous and be well received; however, you can make them look extra-specially-spectacular by putting some thought into the packaging. There are endless supplies of beautiful paper, pretty bags, boxes, ribbons, jars and so on and so forth readily available. The following is a showcase of some of the gifts I have given, or plan to give this Christmas.
Lemon Cordial
Bottle from Provincial Living
Red and white paper straws available in small boxes from Cake (or purchase in bulk online from Send a toy )
Santa decoration from Finland
Cake
Homemade poppy seed cake with chocolate ganache (recipe from the December issue of Feast magazine)
Vintage plate from The Mill Market, Daylesford, Geelong and Ballarat
Pressed for time? You could easily buy a pretty plate and arrange bought cakes, pastries or biscuits on it. Wrap them up in cellaphane with a pretty bow, and anyone would be delighted by your thoughtful gift.
Dried Herbs
Cellaphane bags from That Bargain Place, Daylesford ($1.95 pack of 40)
Stickers from Kikki.K
I dried these herbs in my dehydrator and removed the stems before packaging them.
Lemon Marmalade
Wrapping paper and elastic from my own private stash
Tags from Kikki.K
Olives
Material from Funky Fabrix
Label from Kikki.K
Tea
Brown paper bag from Send a Toy
Label from Kikki.K
Have a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
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merrilyn
Apricot tarts - delicious (gone)
Biscuits - delicious (also gone!)
Lemon cordial - the nicest we have ever tried (gone too)
Shower cap - hanging beautifully in the bathroom (thank goodness I can't eat that!!)