DIY: Hot chocolate mixers

This morning I woke up in a crafty mood. I am on my long vacation so I have been scouring Pinterest, Tumblr, etc in my free time. I saw a board on Pinterest that featured homemade cookie jars and I thought the concept was pretty neat! This led me to purchasing some Mason jars to turn into a DIY Christmas gifts for coworkers. I looked for cookie recipes online but it just seemed like too much work! I figured I would have to try out the recipe first. That would consist of a lot of baking, shopping for ingredients, yada yada yada. I mean you wouldn’t want to give someone a recipe without knowing if the end product would be good, right? In the words of Sweet Brown, “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” LOL! So instead of all that hassle, I decided that I would turn the jars into hot chocolate mixers for the lovely people in my husband’s office. Don’t I sound like a good little wife LOL? Anyway it was so much fun so I thought I would share the project with you.

So here are the simple instructions that you can use to make these cute little mixers for party favors, Christmas gifts for coworkers, neighbors, friends, etc.

Supplies needed:

• Mason jars
• tissue Paper with fun designs
• stretchy craft string
• scissors
• gift tags
• hot chocolate mix
• marshmallows
• chocolate chips
• a little time and TLC

Step 1: Gather supplies and decide how you want to put the ingredients (hot chocolate mix, marshmallows, chocolate chips) in the jar.

Step 2: Once you decide on a pattern start layering your ingredients to create visual interest. I used an ice cream scoop to get cocoa into jar without creating a mess. Here is the design that I ended up deciding on for my jars.

P.S. I chose these three ingredients but there are a wide variety of ingredients you can use for your hot chocolate mixers like peppermint bark, mint leaves, etc.

Step 3: Cover the lids using your tissue paper, scissors, stretchy craft string and gift tags. I used this fun striped paper because it reminded me of candy canes.

First you need to cut the tissue paper into squares large enough to cover lids otherwise you will have a lot of wasted paper. Once you are done with that, place paper square over lid. Use stretchy craft string like a rubber band to affix paper to lid. After covering lid, add gift tags. You should get something like this.

Make sure to trim the paper so it doesn’t cover up your layers. Here is a front and back view of the jars.

Write instructions for preparation on the back of your gift tags. And that my friends is one of many inexpensive DIY gift ideas that you can make for your coworkers.

Final cost tally for this project:

• Mason jars from Hobby Lobby $0.89 (on sale 50% off) X 20
• Tissue Paper $1 (on sale 50% off)
•  String $1.50
• Gift tags $1  (on sale 50% off)
• Hot chocolate was $8
• Marshmallows $1.60 x 2 bags
• Chocolate chips $3.50

Total cost of this project: $36 for a DIY gift for 20 people

 I sent my hubby with a basket of these along with some Christmas cards this morning.

When he came home this afternoon, he told me how they raved about these little jars. A lot of them said that they appreciated homemade gifts more because they come from the heart and not just from the wallet.

Hope this gave you all a little inspiration. What DIY gifts have you created this year?