Hot Cocoa Gift Jars

As the leaves begin to turn to their best colors, we crafters tend to turn our thoughts toward hand-crafted holiday gifts. As much as I get irked by the retail stores putting out Christmas merchandise before Halloween, I fully admit & accept that when it comes to crafting gifts, you've got to start early. Crafts take time, and the more people you have to gift to, the further in advance you have to get those creative gears churning!

Here's a gift I gave to several people last year: Hot Cocoa Gift Jars. These jars are really quick & easy to put together. If you've got kids, they might get a kick out of helping you with them--especially if rewarded with a cuppa cocoa afterwards. This mix is soooo tasty, too! I'm actually going to make some up tomorrow for me & the husband, even though it's going to be 80 degrees outside. It's that good.

The original instructions called for a cinnamon stick to top off the jars, but I'm a fan of the classic heap of marshmallows. So I opted for those instead, and used wide-mouth jars to make removing the marshmallows from the jar easier for my giftees.

I made up my labels using one of those Avery brand print-at-home packs from Walmart.

Not in the mood for making a half-gallon of hot cocoa at one shot? The recipe works well as single-servings, too. Just use 1/8 of everything in the instructions to make one cup of cocoa.

Enjoy!