As I’ve mentioned before, this year is being dubbed “The Year of the Homemade Gift” in our house. I’m doing my best to make thoughtful gifts, cupcakes and yummy goodies as gifts, and even more so as I think about Christmas.br /br /img id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5226754303168036898″ style=”DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”" src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_PoXHVGzLUGI/SIkpWKCTQCI/AAAAAAAAAfw/yiXq7fr_8aU/s320/giftmix100×93.jpg” border=”0″ /br /Gifts in a jar are fun layered gifts that include all of the dry ingredients for any number of baked goods, and some people even do soups, spa jars, etc. I’m sure you’ve seen them before, and if you Google “a href=”http://www.google.com/search?q=gifts+in+a+jaramp;rls=com.microsoft:en-usamp;ie=UTF-8amp;oe=UTF-8amp;startIndex=amp;startPage=1″gifts in a jar/a”, you will find more options than you can imagine, but here are a few of the ones that have caught my eye for this year:br /br /emFrom a href=”http://organizedchristmas.com/”Organized Christmas/a:/embr /a href=”http://organizedchristmas.com/recipe-blizzard-bites-in-a-jar”Blizzard Bites Snack Mix in a Jar/abr /a href=”http://organizedchristmas.com/recipe-sand-art-brownies”Sand Art Brownies/abr /a href=”http://organizedchristmas.com/MM-cookies-gift-jar”Mamp;M Cookies/abr /br /emSoup Mixes:/embr /a href=”http://www.allfreecrafts.com/giftinajar/soup-mixes.shtml”Chicken Noodle Soup and/or Minestrone/a from a href=”http://www.allfreecrafts.com/”All Free Crafts/abr /a href=”http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Country-Soup-in-a-Jar/Detail.aspx”Country Soup in a Jar/a from a href=”http://allrecipes.com/”AllRecipes/abr /br /br /img id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5226746299410756722″ style=”DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center” alt=”" src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_PoXHVGzLUGI/SIkiERt3NHI/AAAAAAAAAfo/EgI3B0dRhHE/s320/ornament-ball-holiday-mugs-1.jpg” border=”0″ / p align=”center”emspan style=”font-size:78%;”Picture from Collections Etc., /spana href=”http://www.collectionsetc.com/Item81138.aspx?WT.mc_id=3CZZZ5″span style=”font-size:78%;”Ornament Mugs/span/a/em/pbr /Another version of this that I’ve done before is to use cellophane gift bags and make a yummy a href=”http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Cinnamon-Hot-Chocolate-Mix”cinnamon hot chocolate mix/a (compete with marshmallows on top, of course). I then put the bags in individual mugs and include other treats in a basket as well. A cute idea to pair with this is a a href=”http://fun.familyeducation.com/christmas/hanukkah/29570.html”chocolate-dipped spoon/a (look a href=”http://www.gourmetchocolate.com/categories/products/HandDippedSpoons.aspx”here/a for more ideas on how to decorate your spoons). br /br /Of course, you could go with a href=”http://www.momsbudget.com/drinkmix/peppermintchocolate.htm”a peppermint hot chocolate mix/a and include a href=”http://www.candyscountrycooking.net/desserts/candy/chocolate_covered_candy_canes.htm”chocolate-covered candy canes/a with them instead.br /br /br /I’m sure that you could make these ideas work with virtually any recipe. The key is just to remember to include instructions for completing the recipe on the gift tag with each jar/mug!br /br /Do you have any favorite gift-in-a-jar recipes?br /br /br /a href=”http://www.mylivesignature.com/” target=”_blank”img style=”BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none” src=”http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54486/128/0E4A8EA9D2A4A002FC32D3D163051882.png” //abr /br /––––-–––––-––––––––-–––––––-––––-––––––-–-––––––-–––-–-–––br /span style=”font-size:85%;”Join us this month for a href=”http://mythreedoodles.blogspot.com/search/label/Christmas%20in%20July”Christmas in July/a. We’ll be talking crafts, preschool activities, baked goods and handmade gifts all month long!/span /p