We have a big family and I am not just talking about my immediate family. Even though I am an only child I grew up with lots of cousins who felt like siblings because we were so close. Most of them local to me so when birthday’s come around we get together to celebrate. This can get costly and since we are on a budget I try to look for a bargain. My cousin’s son (my 2nd cousin) recently had a birthday. He is in his early 20’s. I had no clue what to get him for his birthday. I did not want to seem like a cheapskate so I went with two gifts; one homemade and one store bought (gift card). He is a junk food junky so I wanted to make him something to put some goodies in. But what?
It hit me as I was cooking dinner one night and I had just finished up using an organic jar of tomato sauce which made my wheels turn. If I could take the labels off of it and clean it really well it just might work for a cool goodie container! So I washed the jar in hot water and soap until all the tomato sauce was cleaned out. I set it in a bowl of water overnight so that the label would be moist and come off easily. The next morning I used a razor blade and scraped the moistened label and sticky residue off.
Since the glass jar still had a bit of tomato sauce smell in it I placed the jar and lid in the dishwasher and washed it. After drying it well it was time to decorate the jar. I used black acrylic paint and painted the lid which covered up the name brand of the tomato sauce. Once the paint dried I used duct tape and cut out a circle design for the middle of the lid and then I also wrapped the sides of the lid with the duct tape. Finally, when I was done decorating the jar I placed mini cookies in the container and closed the lid.
What was really neat was the jar already had MASON embossed on it which was perfect for my cousin because his name is Mason! Mason enjoyed his treat container gift and his gift card! The next time you are wondering what to give someone as a gift, look around your home and get creative!
Here are some other great ideas for homemade gifts:
What homemade gifts have you made lately?
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I love doing things like this. It saves space and saves resourced. Plus, it looks cool. My kids would love the fire.
We’ve done something similar with a vinyl cutter. We cut out a shape and apply it, then spray paint the jar. Then we remove the vinyl and have a clear image of a logo/etc.!
Oh what a cute idea!! I never thought about using a jar for treats like this but now /I cannot wait to try it.
This is such a great idea!! I always save TP rolls, paper towel rolls, egg cartons and drink mix containers and drop them off at a daycare/pre-school on my way to the gym.
What a great idea for a gift! And it’s so easy to make it at home!
This is great! I struggle with sticky labels so sometimes I just ignore it but I do recycle jars.
I love using jars for this reason as well. I use mine to store dried goods in my pantry instead of leaving things in boxes.