Homemade gifts in a jar are a fun, frugal, and easy holiday gift to share with loved ones. Over the years I’ve made several homemade Christmas gifts in a jar for friends, family, and neighbors.

There are endless possibilities with what can be placed in a jar. Soup mixes are super for those who like savory ingredients. Jars containing layered mixes for cookies, muffins, and brownies are yummy for those with a sweet tooth. I’ve also given quality chocolates, bulk candy, and nuts in decorated jars. (For more inexpensive gifts, click Holiday Gifts: 10 Frugal and Homemade Gift Ideas.)

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Gifts in a jar are easy to make. Just take a glass jar (canning jars, mason jars, or even recycled mustard jars), layer with ingredients, and then top with a gift tag. Combine a bunch of jars together to make your own gift baskets. How’s that for a frugal gift idea? To help you get your jar-on this holiday season, I’ve created several free printable gift tags for download. You supply the homemade goodness.

Here are 8 frugal holiday gift ideas (and recipes) in a jar:

1. S’mores in a Jar

Kids love to help make and eat S’mores in a Jar. If you’re into seasonal gift recipes, find some marshmallow Peeps to match your holiday.

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Or get fun and use teddy bear graham crackers to line the jar for decoration.

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Ingredients:

Layer in a large wide mouthed 1 quart mason jar:

  • 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (one sleeve of crackers, crushed)
  • 1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows.
    • Or substitute with 8 Peeps and 1/2 cup miniature marshmallows for seasonal fun. Line the jar with Peeps facing out.
  • 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips or mini Hershey Kisses or M&M’s
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar

Printable Gift Tags:

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Download Printable Gift Tags: S’mores in a Jar (PDF)



2. Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies in a Jar

This recipe makes about 36 cookies.

Ingredients:

Layer in a large wide mouthed 1 quart mason jar:

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/4 cups rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup chopped nuts
  • 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Mix flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Pour mixture into a 1 quart (1 liter) mason jar and pack down. Mix oatmeal in a blender. Pack on top of flour in mason jar. Add white sugar and pack down. Add brown sugar and pack down. Layer chopped nuts on top of brown sugar. Finish layering jar with mini or regular chocolate chips.

Printable Gift Tags:

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Download Printable Gift Tags: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (PDF)



3. Ultimate Chocolate Brownie Mix in a Jar

This recipe makes one pan of chocolate brownies.

Ingredients:

Layer in a large wide mouthed 1 quart mason jar:

  • 1 cup all purpose unbleached flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 cups vanilla sugar
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • Any combination of: mini chocolate chips, mini M&M’s, junior mints, chocolate candy bar
  • 1/2 cup almonds

Layer ingredients in 1 quart mason jar. Tap gently on the counter after each layer before adding the next. Add additional mix-ins to fill any small gaps if necessary.

Printable Gift Tags:

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Download Printable Gift Tags: Chocolate Brownies (PDF)



4. Chocolate Chip Muffins in a Jar

This recipe makes a single batch of muffins.

Ingredients:

Layer in a large wide mouthed 1 quart mason jar:

  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 cup chocolate chips, or substitute raisins, dried cranberries, or nut.

Combine sugar, flour, salt, and baking powder. Place in quart mason jar. Add chocolate chips.

Printable Gift Tags:

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Download Printable Gift Tags: Chocolate Chip Muffins (PDF)



5. Chai Tea Mix in a Jar

This recipe makes 2, 6 ounce jars.

Ingredients:

Layer in 2, 6 ounce jars:

  • 1 1/4 cup nonfat dry milk powder
  • 1/4 cup black tea leaves
  • 12 cardamom pods
  • 4 2 inch pieces of cinnamon stick
  • 2 tsp dried lemon peel

Divide all ingredients and layer equally between 2, 6 ounce jars.

Printable Gift Tags:

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Download Printable Gift Tags: Chai Tea Mix in a Jar (PDF)



6. Chicken Noodle Soup in a Jar

This recipe makes a pot of soup.

Ingredients:

Layer in a 1/2 quart (2 cup) glass jar:

  • 1/4 cup of red lentils
  • 2 tbsp dried onion flakes
  • 1 1/2 tbsp chicken bouillon granules
  • 1/2 tsp dried dill weed or dill seed
  • 1/8 tsp each celery seed and garlic powder
  • 1 cup medium egg noodles
  • 1 bay leaf

In a 2 cup glass jar, layer from bottom in the order listed above.

Printable Gift Tags:

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Download Printable Gift Tags: Chicken Noodle Soup in a Jar (PDF)



7. Minestrone Soup in a Jar

This recipe makes a pot of soup.

Ingredients:

Layer in a 1/2 quart (2 cup) glass jar:

  • 1/4 cup red lentils
  • 1/4 cup green split peas
  • 1/4 cup barley
  • 1/3 cup beef bouillon powder
  • 2 tbsp parsley flakes
  • 3 tbsp onion flakes
  • 1/3 tsp thyme
  • 1/3 tsp pepper
  • 1 tsp basil
  • 1/4 cup macaroni

In a 2 cup glass jar, layer from bottom in the order listed above.

Printable Gift Tags:

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Download Printable Gift Tags: Minestrone Soup in a Jar (PDF)



8. Bulk Candy, Nuts, or Chocolate in a Jar

Choose your favorite bulk candy, nuts, or chocolates and layer in a glass jar of any size! Use any recycled glass jar to contain any amount of bulk candy confection! Once filled, decorate and add a pretty gift tag!

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Free Printable Gift Tags: blank template

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Download Printable Gift Tags: Blank Printable Gift Tags (PDF)



There you have it, holiday gifts in a jar. I hope this gives you some gift ideas for the holidays. All of these recipes are good last minute gift ideas as well. So get creative and see what you can come up with. Jar’s the limits!

Looking for more holiday gift ideas?

Got any great jar ideas? Perhaps stuffing a glass jar with a toy or another gift? Go ahead, share your jarring gift secrets!

Comments:

  1. Unspender December 2nd, 2008

    I’ve been toying with the idea of giving recipes-in-a-jar for a while so this will come in handy. Thanks! Now I want some soup…

  2. Seth December 2nd, 2008

    My wife started doing this last year. Everyone that received one loved it! I’m going to send her this way to check out your ideas, as they look delicious and beautifully presented. Thanks for including nice recipe tags as well!

    Seth
    http://fun-dad.blogspot.com

  3. Fox December 2nd, 2008

    @Unspender The soups look really pretty all layered in jars. Lentils look lovely.

    @Seth So happy you like the recipe tags. I boggled some brain cells trying to make them just right. :D

  4. Susy December 2nd, 2008

    Love it! I have 2 of those gift mixes in a jar cookbook. On year my sister and I got together and made tons of these to give out to everyone. They all loved them! I often make a patchwork soup in a jar mix (made with split peas, lentils & barley) and give as a quick soup recipe to be used with the holiday ham bone!

  5. Marcia December 2nd, 2008

    Thanks for these! I’d been trying to come up with some good, frugal Xmas ideas (for the family who doesn’t want anything), and these are GREAT!

  6. Vered - MomGrind December 2nd, 2008

    What a beautiful idea. And especially appropriate this year with the now-official recession.

  7. Robin December 2nd, 2008

    Wonderful. Thanks.

  8. Sagan December 2nd, 2008

    I love it!! Thanks for this.

  9. Lance December 2nd, 2008

    Geez, these look delicious - I don’t know if we could make them up, and then NOT make them right away! And, they do really look like great ideas, especially for that hard to buy for person…

  10. Beverly December 2nd, 2008

    There’s always the pros and cons to a recession but maybe we will all learn how to give the little things that are personal made by us this year. These gifts are wonderful ideas!

  11. MoneyMateKate December 2nd, 2008

    Thanks for including one for Chai Tea - very unusual, straddles both the “healthy” and “treat” realms, and I wouldn’t have thought that one up on my own!

  12. Kacie December 3rd, 2008

    These are fantastic! I would love to give or receive any of these.

    This year, I already have supplies needed to bake cookies and send them to people, but I’ll have to come back to this post next year and try some out!

  13. brooke December 3rd, 2008

    These are great! I did a printable calendar for everyone this year & last and it went over really well. The template I use is here http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=17956244

  14. Foodaholic December 3rd, 2008

    Great ideas! Definitely good on the wallet.

  15. Heather@TheGreenestDollar December 3rd, 2008

    Thanks for these great ideas! They look gorgeous and I’ll definitely be sending my readers to your site to check them out. The one on chai tea is definitely unique; I might have to make that one for myself!

    Thanks again for the wonderful gift ideas.

    Heather
    http://www.TheGreenestDollar.com

  16. Elizabeth December 3rd, 2008

    This year, for my friends with dogs, I will be making homemade dog treats and putting them in jars for gifts.

  17. jacks December 3rd, 2008

    hi, this is a silly question, but…
    when youre doing the ones with like the brownie or cookie mix…
    would it be hard for the person to take out of the jar the flour?
    i’m just a little bit confused, maybe someone could explain to me
    thanks :)

  18. bkd December 3rd, 2008

    These are really cool! I never thought of this.

    Just to let you know (it’s kind of a pet peeve): “chai” means “tea”, so when you say “chai tea” you’re essentially saying “tea tea”. It’s kind of funny, though.

    thanks for this! and I have a suggestion/question: for the jars with recipes, would we have the stuff already made and put in the jar, or would we have an ingredient?

  19. bkd-07 December 3rd, 2008

    These are really cool! I never thought of this.

    Just to let you know (it’s kind of a pet peeve): “chai” means “tea”, so when you say “chai tea” you’re essentially saying “tea tea”. It’s kind of funny, though.

  20. rjleaman December 4th, 2008

    Nice variety! I’ve always been a fan of gifts-in-a-jar but never strayed far beyond the soup and cookie realm. Muffins and brownies will nicely expand the gift-giving horizons… and I’m making a Chai mix for myself!

  21. Kellyg December 4th, 2008

    I honestly thought that cookies (and whatever) in a jar was outdated. But seeing that people like these gifts, I may consider doing them myself.

  22. rjleaman December 5th, 2008

    Kellyg, a thoughtful, useful, homemade gift of food is never “outdated” IMO! :-D

  23. FF December 8th, 2008

    This looks fantastic! A great little treat for the holidays is always wonderful. Great frugal ideas for gifts.

  24. Lisa December 8th, 2008

    Great ideas and thanks for the tags. Homemade gifts are always apprecitated.

  25. ConsciouslyFrugal December 8th, 2008

    I’m definitely going to link this post on my blog and will make some of your suggestions for gifts this year. So, so, sooooo cute! Thank you!

  26. Ben December 13th, 2008

    It’s an interesting idea, but won’t your friends feel like they’ve been shafted by you when they receive a jar full of cooking ingredients and a piece of paper?

    I think it is best to buy your friends booze for christmas.

  27. Cindy December 19th, 2008

    What a great website!!! Thanks so much for all the awesome recipe ideas. Also thank you for the recipe tags.

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