One way to save a bit of money and look fancy in the process is to make your own chocolate and candy gifts. We have a whole mess of holiday recipes on the CandyUSA site, and Susan shared her favorite and even gave a recipe for her signature peppermint bark. But first, how can we take some homemade stuff and make it look nice enough to be a gift for someone?
Find decorative tins to put gifts in.
Usually a tin holds only one or two homemade items. Especially if you are making something with a strong flavor or scent, like Susan’s peppermint bark or else your own concoction of bacony chocolatey goodness, it’s best to separate the sweets you make. Refer to our tips for storing candy when you package your goodies. Put the cand in a tin, along with some colored tissue paper and you have a nice gift.
Make your own gift baskets.
This can be a fun way of incorporating your homemade candy treats with something else, possibly a commercial product from the store. For example, if I were Susan and wanted to give Carl (that’s me) a holiday gift, I would put some of the peppermint bark in a gift basket with a package of Trung Nguyen coffee or maybe Luzianne coffee with chicory. Either way – I’m not picky. Include a fun holiday mug and a chocolate bar for extra sweetness and voila – your own gift basket. Wrap it in cellophane and you have a nice-looking homemade, custom made gift for less than it would cost to order a gift basket.
These supplies – baskets, tins, tissue, cellophane – can all be found at your local craft supply store.
What would you want in your gift basket if Susan were making you one?
Candy Gift Basket by Sifu Renka.
3:58 pm on December 4th, 2009
Hey – wait a second. What about my gift? If you made me a gift basket, I would want some chocolate covered salted caramels with a tin of great hot chocolate and some gourmet marshmallows.