Hosting a party in my home is always a joyous time. Anytime our home is opened for a party or other get-together it’s nice to send folks home with a little something if I can. Time and resources were in short supply for me, so I made some simple gifts. It was just enough to let folks know that we love them and we were thinking of them.
The menu this year was a little simpler for me because we asked folks to bring a salad or a dessert. They like to help out and feel awkward if there’s nothing they have to bring. So this was an easy way for them to have something to do. We smoked a pork shoulder and two turkey breasts for the meat. Yum! Here’s our recipe. Crockpot Baked Beans were a favorite. Bread Machine Crescent Rolls and Holiday Punch finished off the menu.
The kids’ goodie bags were made with simple white paper bags colored with sharpies to make a snowman. I turned the cheese sticks into snowmen, too, but I didn’t want to leave them inside the bag. They needed to go on the outside for everyone to see. Of course the inside was filled with candy leftover from the Harvest party and a small bag of White Christmas Popcorn. So that was fun. Simple. Easy. And the kids loved it!
Adults like to get a treat too, so I made three of them. :o) Chocolate Chip Cookies are something I can make in my sleep, so I made a double batch of those. Snack-sized baggies held two cookies each.
Then the White Christmas Popcorn was another easy treat to make while shooing my family away from the kitchen! Each adult got one quart-sized baggie of the popcorn. To make them a little extra special, I made labels for the bags using my computer and some leftover scrapbooking paper. I just folded the paper over the top of the baggies and stapled them. Easy and so cute!
The third gift took me a bit longer to prepare, but a day’s worth of work was more than worth it for our beloved church family. This was my favorite of the gifts! Click here for the pattern I used. I didn’t have any stabilizer, so I used dryer sheets. It worked fine and the bookmarks smelled like April Fresh! 
I’ve got my ear to the ground for ideas for next year. It is truly
“more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35).
Leave a Reply