Whilst the festive season is a joyful and exciting time of the year, it can also sometimes be stressful and expensive, especially when there are many you want to show your love and appreciation for by buying them a gift or two. The festive season also means a time for festive meals and treats and so, we think – what a great opportunity to combine gift-giving with food, by making some creative and edible treats as gifts!
Show loved ones just how special they are by creating them something from scratch. These edible gift ideas are personal, thoughtful, very cost-effective and super creative. Having the kids prepare and make them adds more sparkle and all those who receive will cherish the time and effort put into making them.
- Carrot cake bliss balls or lamington bites. Let’s start with some old favourite recipes. Once prepared, these look fantastic wrapped up in clear or red cellophane and tied with a festive bow. A great gift for teachers, work colleagues or a feature on any nibbles or dessert platter
- Christmas cookies or bliss balls in jar. Gifting a jar recipe provides the recipient with a fun activity to complete during the holiday season. You can personalise the gift by labelling it with the recipient’s name for example: ‘Annie’s Christmas Cookies,’ or ‘Annie’s homemade Xmas Treats,’ – this will show you’ve created this especially for them. To prepare, layer all the dried ingredients in a jar and attach a recipe card for the recipient to follow – all they need to do is add the wet ingredients! Decorate your jar with stickers, ribbon and festive bows. We found a great example from Sally’s Baking Addiction, see the recipe here Our favourite Foost recipes to give as jar recipe gifts are muesli cookies (with directions to add the mashed banana and oil before they bake) or chocolate balls (just add boiling water to these ones).
- For your Christmas work function or family dinner table, why not create a festive platter by arranging fruits and vegetables in the shape of a tree. Cherry tomatoes and grapes make great ‘baubles’ while sprigs of Rosemary are great for decorative effect. Add some cheese and crackers too if you wish. Don’t forget to add a star atop the tree! Check out our creation here or google “christmas tree platter” for more inspiration.
Having the kids involved
Handmade cards will add a very special touch to anyone’s Christmas and we’ve got a great idea for using vegetables to help create them
- To create a potato stamp, have an adult cut a peeled potato into a festive shape which protrudes from the rest of the potato- this could be a tree or a star, even a snowman if you’ve got handy cutting skills
- Dab the shape into a shallow dish of paint, ensuring there is not too much paint on the potato as this will cause it to slip when pressed onto the paper
- Gently press the stamp onto paper and leave to dry
- Once dry, write a festive slogan and fold the paper into a card shape, ready to feature your personalised holiday message
- Other vegetables which can be used to make create stamp shapes include celery and bok choy! – The kids could stamp the end (which you normally throw out) around in a circle to create a Christmas wreath, or use it to make a santa beard or roses.
Photo credit: https://www.casabambini.com.au/
Happy festive creating!
