Gift Giving: DIY Mason Jar Cookie Recipes

My daughter is 4 years old and has been in daycare since she was a teeny tiny six-week old chubby infant (where has the time gone???) and every year I give her teacher's gifts for Valentine's Day, Teacher Appreciation week, and Christmas.  I think it's so important to show them that you appreciate everything that they do for your child every day.  It is a job that I know I would not be good at (lol) so I applaud them for their kindness, time, dedication, care and most importantly, patience!  I try to be creative each year and not give gift cards and such, so this is what I came up with last year. 


I simply used a piece of cardboard covered in paper for my base, added a candle, lotion, body wash and tied it all together with a loofah to make it complete.  Pretty and thoughtful gifts don't have to be expensive, you just have to be creative :).
 

So, recently I have been seeing a lot of the mason jar projects...brownies, candles, facial and body scrubs, and cookies!  As soon as I saw the mason jar cookie recipes, I knew this would be the perfect Christmas gift for Amaya teacher's this year.  It's simple, thoughtful, creative and something they can actually use during their holiday break.

I was able to score everything I needed (minus the ingredients of course) at Hobby Lobby for under $10 for 3 people (two teachers and the director).

 

1 quart smooth mason jar- $2.49 @ 50% off, so $1.24 each

1/2 yard of Christmas fabric- $8.99/yd @ 50% off, so $2.25

15ft gold ribbon- $2.99 @ 50% off, so $1.49

I have decided that I will do 3 different cookie mixes, Cowboy Cookie Mix, Oatmeal Raisin Cookie, and of course Chocolate Chip Cookie and I won't put names on them so they can pick whichever mix they prefer.  After arranging the mixes in the jars, I will cut the fabric in equal squares and use iron-on tape to clean up the edges and place the fabric on top of the lid.  I will type up the name, ingredients and directions for each cookie and use the ribbon to attach these directions to each cookie jar.  The end result will look similar to this....

I still have to get some ingredients and didn't want to complete them too early, so I will come back and update with pictures of the finished products.  But, I wanted to get this posted in case you were looking for an inexpensive, DIY, thoughtful gift to give during the holiday season.  These are perfect for Christmas, birthday's, a house warming gift (along with a cookie sheet, measuring cup and/or spoons :), and they can even be made into a miniature version for party or baby shower favors.  Give it a try!

UPDATE!!!

 As promised, here are my mason jar cookie recipes!! They were very easy to make and I really love how they came out.  I hope her teacher's love them as much as I do.

 All three of the mixes ready to go!

 Here are the labels I made.  The top label as you can see just says Merry Christmas and has her name of it, the second has the name of the cookie mix and a list of ingredients that are in the jar, and the last are the directions to mix and bake.

From top to bottom: 1) Oatmeal raisin, 2) Chocolate chip, 3) Cowboy cookie mix

*Also another tip, when placing the flour mixture in the bottom of the jar, I made a simple funnel out of a sheet of paper and used that to place it in the jar to prevent it from getting all over the jar.  Also make sure every layer is packed tightly and evenly before placing the next layer on top. *