Homemade Christmas

[ThrottleJockey]

I really hate the commercialization of the holiday so we typically give home made gifts to the few people we give to. I make my own meat rubs and have three amazing sauces that people love and are always begging for. I keep my recipes secret and don't even have them written down. This year we decided to give a "BBQ pack" with a jar of rub and a jar of each of the three sauces. I sanded and painted the jar lids as they are all recycled jelly jars and such. I acid etch glass and will etch the "labels" onto the jars. Today my daughters and I made big batches of my sauces and a big batch of rub. My first sauce is a pepper sauce, VERY hot and spicy but aside from that, a typical BBQ type sauce. After that one became a hit I needed a BBQ sauce that was unique but not hot so I developed an apple based sauce that we call "ApplQ" and it goes on nearly everything my wife eats My third nearly famous sauce is a szechuan BBQ sauce that we really enjoy, it uses my pepper sauce as a base and is sort of a variation of it....Anyways, that's what we're giving our loved ones this year so we won't have to hear pleas for sauce until after our annual pig roast in June. Maybe people will get the hint and return the empty etched jars for a refill next year Maybe some day if I ever get to open up a BBQ pit restaurant, you'll be able to find my sauces on a store shelf.

 

[partyfowl]

I love this idea!! This is my 4th or 5th year of giving a homemade Christmas. For this years theme I'm doing a "cocktail" basket. This summer I cashed in on our tomato crop and canned Bloody Mary mix in fancy jars from Italy. The baskets will also have a jar of my pickled asparagus,beans and peppers. Along with a bottle of vodka (Obvisously not homemade. Yet. ) and a pack of vintage looking cocktail napkins.
Like Throttlejockey, I'm really hoping people will return my fancy, not cheap, jars. However, I've haven't haven't had the best luck with that in the past so maybe a clever saying on the gift tag would help? If not, it was a was gift after all .

 

[Beekissed]

I did something like this a couple of years back. Gave one of my free ranged, all naturally raised meaties, a small loaf of homemade bread, hot pepper butter, a doz. eggs, a jar of raw honey, beeswax candles all in a basket.

 

[Marianne]

This is great!
One year I gave homemade Irish Creme in fancy bottles. Another year I made different flavored powdered coffee creamers to give to my coffee loving friends. I save cute little jars when I get them for this.

I gave minature quilts one year, but I had to start them in June.

We don't exchange gifts anymore, just give the grandson some cash (he's a teenager, so he kind of likes that idea). I always liked the homemade gift idea.

 

[so lucky]

I really hate the commercialization of the holiday so we typically give home made gifts to the few people we give to. I make my own meat rubs and have three amazing sauces that people love and are always begging for. I keep my recipes secret and don't even have them written down. This year we decided to give a "BBQ pack" with a jar of rub and a jar of each of the three sauces. I sanded and painted the jar lids as they are all recycled jelly jars and such. I acid etch glass and will etch the "labels" onto the jars. Today my daughters and I made big batches of my sauces and a big batch of rub. My first sauce is a pepper sauce, VERY hot and spicy but aside from that, a typical BBQ type sauce. After that one became a hit I needed a BBQ sauce that was unique but not hot so I developed an apple based sauce that we call "ApplQ" and it goes on nearly everything my wife eats My third nearly famous sauce is a szechuan BBQ sauce that we really enjoy, it uses my pepper sauce as a base and is sort of a variation of it....Anyways, that's what we're giving our loved ones this year so we won't have to hear pleas for sauce until after our annual pig roast in June. Maybe people will get the hint and return the empty etched jars for a refill next year Maybe some day if I ever get to open up a BBQ pit restaurant, you'll be able to find my sauces on a store shelf.

Have you looked into selling your sauces and meat rubs online? I'm not sure what legal hoops you have to jump through to sell a food product online, but many people are doing that. It might be much easier than trying to get shelf space at Bigmart. Good luck to you, either way.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

I really hate the commercialization of the holiday so we typically give home made gifts to the few people we give to. I make my own meat rubs and have three amazing sauces that people love and are always begging for. I keep my recipes secret and don't even have them written down. This year we decided to give a "BBQ pack" with a jar of rub and a jar of each of the three sauces. I sanded and painted the jar lids as they are all recycled jelly jars and such. I acid etch glass and will etch the "labels" onto the jars. Today my daughters and I made big batches of my sauces and a big batch of rub. My first sauce is a pepper sauce, VERY hot and spicy but aside from that, a typical BBQ type sauce. After that one became a hit I needed a BBQ sauce that was unique but not hot so I developed an apple based sauce that we call "ApplQ" and it goes on nearly everything my wife eats My third nearly famous sauce is a szechuan BBQ sauce that we really enjoy, it uses my pepper sauce as a base and is sort of a variation of it....Anyways, that's what we're giving our loved ones this year so we won't have to hear pleas for sauce until after our annual pig roast in June. Maybe people will get the hint and return the empty etched jars for a refill next year Maybe some day if I ever get to open up a BBQ pit restaurant, you'll be able to find my sauces on a store shelf.

Have you looked into selling your sauces and meat rubs online? I'm not sure what legal hoops you have to jump through to sell a food product online, but many people are doing that. It might be much easier than trying to get shelf space at Bigmart. Good luck to you, either way.

Actually, I have thought about it...for about 7 seconds once. I do not do paypal or any of the other "traditionally" available payment methods. There are also a LOT of those legal hoops and liability issues I don't want to deal with and I won't just ignore them the way most ppl do. One step at a time, we'll get the restaurant going some day and worry about marketing the sauces after that.

 

[Chantilly]

I really hate the commercialization of the holiday so we typically give home made gifts to the few people we give to. I make my own meat rubs and have three amazing sauces that people love and are always begging for. I keep my recipes secret and don't even have them written down. This year we decided to give a "BBQ pack" with a jar of rub and a jar of each of the three sauces. I sanded and painted the jar lids as they are all recycled jelly jars and such. I acid etch glass and will etch the "labels" onto the jars. Today my daughters and I made big batches of my sauces and a big batch of rub. My first sauce is a pepper sauce, VERY hot and spicy but aside from that, a typical BBQ type sauce. After that one became a hit I needed a BBQ sauce that was unique but not hot so I developed an apple based sauce that we call "ApplQ" and it goes on nearly everything my wife eats My third nearly famous sauce is a szechuan BBQ sauce that we really enjoy, it uses my pepper sauce as a base and is sort of a variation of it....Anyways, that's what we're giving our loved ones this year so we won't have to hear pleas for sauce until after our annual pig roast in June. Maybe people will get the hint and return the empty etched jars for a refill next year Maybe some day if I ever get to open up a BBQ pit restaurant, you'll be able to find my sauces on a store shelf.

I love this gift idea! Perhaps you'd get the jars back if you enclosed a tag that says, "Return these jars for a refill next year. " We've given snack mixes, homemade cheese spreads with crackers, fruit breads and cookies as gifts in previous years.

 

[moolie]

Sounds yummy!

We do this every year: 3-jar packs of jams, 3-jar packs of relish/chutney/antipasto, big jars of various types of pickles, "baking" in a jar (recipes where you just add the butter/eggs and bake up), various bbq rubs and sauces, "pasta kits" with jar of meat sauce and package of pasta, soup mixes in a jar, "dip kits" and "salad dressing kits" with spices pre-mixed so recipient can just use their own mayo and sour cream, home-sewn table linens like napkins/tablecloth/hot pads/tea towels with matching band sewn on, quilts (only done this twice as wedding presents for my brother and hubs' brother, a quilt is a huge amount of work), home made Christmas tree ornaments (decorated glass balls, "quilted" foam balls, air-dry clay ornaments, wooden ornaments, embroidered felt ornaments), hand painted plates and mugs, cat-tail dolls (look similar to corn-husk dolls but there are a few tricks to doing it--I also make cat-tail rope/cordage), hand-knitted socks/scarves/toques/mitts etc., hand-made jewelry (mostly beaded things, but I've done some wire things as well), home made evergreen wreaths, garden "kits" with seeds/peat pots/bag of soil--that's all I can think of off the top of my head, we've done all kinds of things over the years.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

I do it because I enjoy it, I doubt anyone receiving the stuff even has any idea the value. Even the monetary value of the spices far exceeds what they would get if I bought gifts...

 

[moolie]

I doubt anyone receiving the stuff even has any idea the value..

That's really sad. I'm perhaps fortunate in that my family truly appreciates the effort that goes into it, as well as the actual gifts.