Gift giving season is approaching fast, so here are some ideas for affordable homemade gifts to spread cheer this year!
Homemade lemon curds are a great cheap, thoughtful and foolproof gift to give this holiday season. One batch will make about 5 jars, and therefore can be great if you have a lot of gifts to give out! The best part is, the ingredients are things you probably already have in your pantry. I suggest putting it in a small jar and tying a ribbon around it for wrapping.
Recipe:
Whisk together 6 egg yolks, and 1 cup granulated sugar together in a small bowl.
Add in ⅔ cup of lemon juice to the yolks, and whisk together.
Then add the zest of two lemons and let sit for five minutes to develop the flavor.
Add to a pot at low heat, and stir consistently so the eggs do not cook. You want the custard to thicken to the pound so it does not bleed off your spoon. Should take about five-ten minutes.
Turn off the heat, and add ½ cup of room temperature butter. Sur the butter until fully incorporated.
Run the curd through a mesh strainer to get any clumps out (cooked egg pieces, and lemon zest).
Then let it chill in the fridge for about two hours until thick and delicious!
Knitted headbands are an easy beginner project that are both impressive and trendy. Everybody loves a little accessory that can go with any outfit. This project would take an intermediate/ beginner knitter about one to two hours. This is also a great first knitting project for anyone who wants to begin knitting. For more advanced knitters, you can be creative with different colors!
Pattern:
This is a straight needle pattern, using just knit stitch. You can use any needle size depending on how chunky you want it; I used 4.5 mm needles.
Cast on 16 stitches onto your straight needles. This will be the thickness of the headband.
Knit 108 rows of knit stitch until your desired length.
Cast the two sides off together using a bind off.
That’s it!
Need a gift for a coffee lover? Well you can easily make your own coffee syrups to snaz up their coffees this season! This is a great last minute gift, only taking about 10 minutes of kitchen time to make! This three ingredient gift is super easy, cheap and creative! Enjoy thinking of festive flavors!
For this recipe, I made a vanilla syrup but feel free to add other flavors and extracts such as peppermint syrup, gingerbread syrup, pumpkin syrup, lavender syrup and so much more!
Recipe:
Add ½ cup water, ½ cup granulated sugar. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally until sugar is completely dissolved. The liquid should be clear. Then remove from heat.
Stir in ½ tablespoon of vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract and stir until combined.
Lastly just store in the fridge to enjoy for up to two weeks!
This Vanilla syrup is perfect to go in your lattes this winter!
Lastly, a homemade Sugar Scrub is the perfect winter gift, as the weather gets dryer. This is the perfect customizable gift that is super easy and quick to pull together. You can play around with different essential oils, scents, and more! For this recipe, I did a gingerbread sugar scrub to match the holiday season!
(Alexis Jacobs )
Recipe:
In a bowl, combine ¼ cup sugar, 2 tablespoons salt, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tsp ground ginger, 1 tbsp vanilla extract or any essential oils and 6-8 tablespoons of melted coconut oil that has cooled for a minute.
Stir till combined and package in a container with a lid! (not to be eaten)
