homemade teacher & hostess gift ideas (a bunch of our favorites)

'Tis the season. And this year, between my two children we have 39 gifts to make. That's if we didn't forget anyone, which is always my fear as the kids excitedly rattle off their teachers and coaches, and I scramble to write them all down... I know that many of you are in the same boat, so I thought a round-up of homemade gift ideas would be appreciated. I've tried to include a variety of price ranges and levels of simplicity in this list of my favorites. If you have other ideas that you'd like to share, I wholeheartedly encourage you to do so in the comment section. This is the sort of post I-- and many others-- will bookmark for future year's ideas as well. My plan to peruse this list with the kids tonight, then I'll shop for packaging tomorrow, and at some point this weekend, the kids and I will make one of these gifts en mass for all of the people who tirelessly brighten & enrich my children's lives.

Savory Gift Ideas

• Homemade Bean Soup Kits (these were a huge hit when we made them 2 years ago)
• Curried Lentil Soup in a Jar from Food Network
• Homemade Cheddar Crackers from Home Cooking in Montana
• Homemade Rosemary-Garlic Herb Rub from Kalyn's Kitchen
• Fennel Spice Rub from Food Network-Chiarello
• Spanish-Inspired Spice Rub from Eating Well
• Yemeni Spice Rub from Bon Appetit
• Tarragon Vinegar from Whole Foods
• Simple Homemade Mustard from Gourmet
• Homemade Country (Grainy) Mustard from Hunter Angler Gardener Cook
• Olive & Sun-Dried Tomato Relish from Vegetarian Times
• Homemade Harissa from the New York Times
• Preserved Lemons from Whole Foods
• A "gift certificate" for a homemade dinner delivered to the classroom or playing field. (Who wouldn't like a night off of cooking in the new year?!)

For packaging dried soup mixes, I like to put the beans in a clear jar and let the kids layer the various types (we tied the seasoning on to the lid in a separate cellophane bag). If making a spice rub or harissa, I would use a pretty, small glass jar. The Container Store has tons to choose from, and some hardware stores also stock these sorts of jars, so it might be worth checking to see if your local mom & pop store carries them.

Homemade Cookies

• Gingerbread Cookies
• Sugar Cookies
• Cardamom-Orange Cookies
• Molasses Crinkles
• Cinnamon-Chocolate Brownies with Chocolate Ganache
• Cranberry-Pistachio Biscotti
• Simple Coconut Macaroons

Cookies can be packaged in tins, cellophane bags or boxes. In addition to local kitchen shops, I find that The Container Store usually has a good selection of holiday packaging this time of year. Another way of getting kids involved in the project is to give them a plain tin and letting them decorate it with permanent markers if they're not into helping with the baking...

Candies, Hot Fudge, Cocoa Mix & More...

• Hot Cocoa Mix from Prep Ahead and Dine In
• Maple Hot Cocoa from not without salt
• Ginger Hot Cocoa Mix from One Hungry Mama
• Homemade Vanilla Extract and Vanilla Sugar from The Naptime Chef
• Another Homemade Vanilla recipe from The Dalai Mama (thank you Lauren for this link!)
• Eggnog Bread Pudding from Full Plate
• Vanilla Bean Caramels from Annie's Eats
• Spiced Dark Chocolate & Pumpkin Seed Bark with Sea Salt from The Parsley Thief (I was thinking that at Christmastime swapping the pumpkin seeds for almonds, pistachios or pecans and adding candied ginger might be delicious...)
• Peppermint Hot Fudge from The Naptime Chef
• Chocolate Truffles from Food Network (along with 49 other homemade gift ideas that sound super easy!)
• Homemade Granola from Full Plate (if you're looking for something more health-conscious)

See above for various packaging ideas, as I'd probably pop candies into a parchment-lined cardboard box, hot fudge into a medium-sized mason jar, and granola or hot cocoa mix into a cellophane bag or glass jar. The bread pudding can easily be baked in the sort of tin you pick up at your local supermarket, then wrapped in parchment with a bow to make it look pretty.

Other Homemade Gift Ideas Good for Little Hands

• Lemon Sugar Scrub from Count it all Joy
• Lavender Bath Salts from Whole Foods
• Homemade Bookmarks or ones made by slicing up a neat piece of your child's existing artwork, as my friend Bar is planning to do-- which I think is a really neat idea
• Wrapping "a box of fire logs individually in different paper and tagging each one with suggestions like... 'because it's family night', and because it's freezing out' and 'for our dinner guests'" as posted by Jennifer Wilcoxon on the Sunset Magazine FB page

Hopefully this list provides you with some inspiration. I can't wait to hear what you all made/are making for your teachers. Feel free to leave a comment here, or over on the full plate/meals in a snap facebook page...