DIY: Neighborhood Gifts

We had an absolute blast this weekend.  In the wake of Friday's tragedy, all I wanted to do is be with E.  I wanted to make memories, start traditions, just be a family.  So that's exactly what we did.  I've always wanted to do something nice for my neighbors and the people in our lives that help us out but never got organized enough to do it...until this year.

My original intention was to bake cookies for everyone but I quickly realized that was going to result in me having to back at least 6 dozen cookies and that scared me a little but Friday night E and I tried it.  We made about 2 dozen sugar cookies but weren't entirely happy with the end result so we scrapped it and when to plan B.  But we made a lot of memories along the way.

My mom gave me some of her favorite recipes as my St. Nick gift and one of those was for Hot Chocolate.  This gave me an idea, I'd make those cute jars of Hot Chocolate Mix and a little treat to go along with it. 

So Sunday afternoon, my sis and I ran to Michael's and the grocery store to get the supplies:

Wrapping and Storage:
1. 8 Tins
2. 12 Canning Jars
3. Ribbon

Hot Chocolate Mix:
1. 2 Bags of Mini Marshmallows (Peppermint and regular)
2. 1 Tub of Ovaltine
3. 26 Oz of Powdered Milk
4. 6 OZ of Creamer
5. 1 lb of Powdered Sugar
6. Cocoa to Taste

Pretzel/Rolo Turtles:
1. 1 lb Bag of mini pretzels
2. 3 bags of Rolos
3. 2 bags of Pecans

Then it was all hands on deck!

E has always loved helping  me "cooook" so he was thrilled with what we were about to do. Here are the step by step directions:

Make the Turtles First:

1. Preheat over to 350

2. Arrange as many pretzels as you can on a cookie sheet

3. Unwrap the Rolos and place one on each and every pretzel

4. Bake for 3 minutes (TOPS, watch them for the point when the chocolate starts to glisten)

5. Pull them out and place a pecan on each one.

6. Repeat with another cookie sheet.

7. Place in a cool place or Fridge to cool

Hot Chocolate:

1. Mix all the Hot Chocolate ingredients in a large bowl (I mean large!)

2. Make yourself a cup by mixing 1/3 cup of the mix into warm water or milk.  (This step is necessary to taste the mix.)

3. Add more chocolate if needed.

4. Use a funnel and measuring cup to evenly divide the mix into the jars.  (Ours ended up making 2 servings per jar and we filled 9 jars).

5. Place assortment of Peppermint and Regular marshmallows to fill the jar. (E loved this step.  Some of them might have been eaten along the way.)

6. Use the jar lid as a template and cut circles of paper to line the top of the jar.  We put the directions for how to use and a little greeting from us on each.

7. Use the Ribbon to finish it off with a little bow. 

Fill the tins:

1. Take the turtles from the fridge and place a dozen in each tin.  (Michael's had all their tins and tin paper liners 70% off!  I got all of them for $19)

The entire process, with help from my sister and "help" from E, took about 2 hours but we made gifts for 9 people.  I hope that everyone will appreciate the time and effort we put into them.  I'm hoping to make this a tradition with E and maybe we'll expand operations to ensure we have enough to take to work and share with more people. 

Either way, we loved it and we hope you will too!  If I've left any details out that you need, please let me know and I'll update it. 

Do you have any traditions with your kids?

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