Heavenly Homemakers

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Family Christmas Drink Recipes

December 18, 2022 by Laura 1 Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Needs some Christmas drink recipes your family can enjoy? Here are our favorites!

I could sip on hot drinks all day long. I start my day with coffee, make herbal tea mid-morning, have coffee again in the afternoon, then more tea in the evening… (and yes, I drink water all day too). ;)

There’s just something so cozy and comforting about hot drinks. When I ever have a chance to sit and visit with someone, sipping on a hot drink makes it 100% better – I’m not sure why? Am I the only one?

At Christmastime, these drinks taste even better. I give credit to the beauty of the Christmas lights I’m looking at while sipping drinks. :)

Here are our favorite Family Christmas Drink Recipes

  1. The Best Hot Cocoa
  2. Chocolate Mint Soother
  3. Warm Pumpkin Custard Drink
  4. Warm Vanilla Soother
  5. Warm Chocolate Soother
  6. Hot Vanilla Milk
  7. White Hot Chocolate
  8. Crockpot Cranberry Apple Cider
  9. Homemade Healthier Eggnog
  10. Christmas Juice Punch

More ideas!

  • Make this Peppermint Whipped Cream for your coffee or hot cocoa.
  • Pick up some special tea varieties at Trader Joe’s or another favorite store. Enjoy these while you visit with family or friends.
  • Sip your favorite drinks in holiday mugs. They taste better this way. ;)
  • Put this Healthier Hot Chocolate Mix together to make Hot Chocolate quickly.
  • Make any of the above “Soother” recipes to drink at breakfast-time. They fill your children and warm them up before starting a school day.

 

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Last Minute Homemade Gift Ideas

December 14, 2022 by Laura Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Do you need some last-minute homemade gift ideas? I bet you can make most of these with items you already have around your house!

If you’re hoping to save money by making homemade gifts, we have some great ideas for you! These ideas are lovely yet simple. I’d enjoy receiving any one of these gifts!

Last Minute Homemade Gift Ideas

1. Instant Oatmeal in a Jar

This gift might sound silly, but having Homemade Instant Oatmeal on hand saves time and makes for a delicious breakfast or snack for someone who is busy. Make this gluten-free if needed. Get the directions here.

Homemade Instant Oatmeal in a Jar Gift Idea

2. Non-Toxic Bubble Bath

This can be made for pennies and personalized for your special recipient. Simply find a fun bottle or container and mix this up in just a few minutes. So much fun!

Homemade Bubble Bath for Pennies

3. No-Sew Rice Heating Pads

These are fun to make and incredibly easy. Find socks that your recipient will enjoy and put these together quickly.

No-Sew Rice Heating Pads

4. Homemade Seasoned Salt with Recipe Cards

This Seasoned Salt is simple and fun and makes a great small gift or stocking stuffer. Get the recipe and cards here.

Homemade Seasoned Salt Shaker Gift

5. Easy Fabric Bracelets

I think I could sit with my 7-year old and make these all day long. Make these for little nieces, or consider putting together a little craft kit with all the supplies for these to give as a gift to a young child who enjoys simple crafts.

Quick and Easy Fabric Bracelets

6. Stir-and-Pour Bread Mix in a Jar

This is a fun gift to put together! If you like, gift it along with a new bread pan. Or simply give the mix to someone as-is.

Stir-and-Pour Bread Mix Gift Jar with Free Printable Gift Tags

7. Christmas Potpourri Pouch

These smell amazing and are fun to put together. Get the “recipe” here.

Make a Christmas Potpourri Pouch for $1.75 Per Gift

8. Hot Chocolate Mix

This is very easy to mix together and makes a very nice, yet inexpensive gift. Get the recipe here!


9. Recipe Card Holders

How adorable are these? Make them for super cheap and obviously, they are very easy! Here’s how to make these recipe card holders.

10. Quick Bread

Make any Quick Bread recipe, wrap it up, tie a ribbon around it and give it as a gift. EVERYONE loves homemade goodies for gifts!

Here are our favorite Quick Bread Recipes:

  • Applesauce Bread
  • Chocolate Chocolate Chip Bread
  • Lemon Bread
  • Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bread
  • Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
  • Strawberry Bread
  • Zucchini Carrot Bread
  • Whole Wheat and Honey Zucchini Bread
  • Banana Bread
  • Chocolate Zucchini Bread

11. Cookies and Other Treats

Put any of these treats together in fun gift packaging and you’ve created a gift everyone will love!

  1. Homemade Peppernuts
  2. Christmas Spice Cookies
  3. Frosted Christmas Cookie Cut-Outs
  4. Reindeer Cuties
  5. Chocolate Snowballs
  6. Super Soft Chocolate Cookies

Remember! Club Members have access to this fantastic Gift Basket Ideas printable pack. It shares wonderful and inexpensive ideas for so many great gift baskets you can put together. Club Members, access yours on the Printables Page. Not a member? Join us here!

 

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Christmas Party Snack Recipes

December 11, 2022 by Laura Leave a Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Need some Christmas party snack recipes and ideas? I have a list for you (and no, they aren’t all chip dips, which I realize is shocking). :)

The truth you probably already know about me: I love chip dips of all kinds. A party isn’t a party without chips and dip. So I’ll start the list of my favorite dip recipes. Then we’ll move into other fun ideas for recipes you can make to share at a party!

All of these recipes work well to make and take to a party. They are a hit with a crowd and easy to put together!

Ooooh, and some of my dip recipes we serve with vegetables. I can eat all kinds of veggies when you give me a dip to go with it. :)

Christmas Party Snack Recipes and Ideas

  • Hot Spinach and Artichoke Dip
  • Cream Cheese Salsa Dip
  • Ranch Taco Chip Dip
  • Spicy Chicken Cheese Dip
  • Easy White Queso – My Current Favorite!
  • Simple Bean and Cheese Salsa Dip
  • Bacon Ranch Chip Dip
  • French Onion Dip
  • Healthier Cheese Dip 
  • Bacon Tomato Dip
  • Black Bean Salsa
  • Easy Veggie Dip
  • Nacho Cheese Pretzel Dip
  • Easy Guacamole
  • Easy Cheesy Bean Dip
  • Hamburber Sauerkraut Dip
  • Cream Cheese Fruit Dip
  • Creamy Chocolate Fruit Dip
  • Creamy Italian Veggie Dip
  • Easy Veggie Dip
  • Cranberry Nut Trail Mix
  • Whole Wheat Graham Crackers (cut them out with holiday-shaped cookie cutters)
  • Christmas Spice Cookies
  • Homemade Peppernuts
  • Chocolate Snowballs
  • Lemon Melt-Away Cookies
  • Almond Melt-Away Cookies
  • Orange Melt-Away Cookies
  • Lime Melt-Away Cookies
  • Chocolate Fudge Cookies
  • Super Soft Chocolate Cookies
  • Easy Cheese Popcorn
  • Sweet and Salty Almonds or Pecans
  • White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn
  • Caramel Popcorn

Here’s another fun idea: Set up a Decorate your Own Cookie Station!

Want another idea? Put together this set of tasty Popcorn Flavor Shakers. Make a bunch of popcorn and set it out with the flavor options!

What are your favorite snacks to take to a party?

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Christmas Dessert Ideas

December 7, 2022 by Laura 1 Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

You probably have traditional desserts you make on the big day. But if you’d like some new Christmas dessert ideas, I have a list for you!

Christmas Dessert Ideas

Many of these desserts can be put together in just a few minutes! Several can be made ahead of time and frozen until you need them. Lots are perfect to deliver to co-workers or neighbors. Enjoy working your way through these recipes!

  1. Homemade Peppernuts
  2. Christmas Spice Cookies
  3. Frosted Christmas Cookie Cut-Outs
  4. Reindeer Cuties
  5. Chocolate Snowballs
  6. Cranberry Orange Scones
  7. Dark Chocolate Peppermint Mousse
  8. Death By Chocolate
  9. Gingerbread Men
  10. Hot Chocolate Souffle
  11. Lemon Pound Cake
  12. Mini Apple Pies
  13. Mint Oreos
  14. Lemon Pound Cake
  15. Mini Apple Pies
  16. Mint Oreos
  17. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cake
  18. Peppermint Patties
  19. Pumpkin Pecan Pie Squares
  20. Reindeer Brownies
  21. Red(less) Velvet Cake
  22. Salted Caramel Apple Crisp
  23. White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn
  24. Chocolate Fudge Pie
  25. Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie
  26. Chocolate Cheesecake Pie
  27. Vanilla, Chocolate, or Butterscotch Cream Pie (Use any of these pudding recipes to fill your pie crust.)
  28. Peanut Butter Cream Pie (I highly recommend that you make this pudding recipe and then pour it into a Chocolate Pie Crust if you have time to make a crust from scratch.)
  29. Pumpkin Pie
  30. Apple Pie
  31. Honey Pecan Pie
  32. Chocolate Cheesecake Dessert
  33. Brownie Sundae Bar
  34. Butterscotch Bars
  35. Caramel Apple Dip
  36. Caramel Brownies
  37. Peanut Butter Chocolate Star Treats
  38. Pumpkin Bars

What are your favorite desserts to enjoy at Christmastime?

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

How I’m Planning Christmas for Our 14 This Year

December 4, 2022 by Laura 1 Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

I’m planning Christmas for our tribe and I thought it would be fun to process “out loud” while I work out details!

You know I love to go all out at Christmastime. But how I used to do Christmas when there were only six of us does not work now that there are 14 of us.

I’m looking for ways to have a lot of fun without spending as much money this year also. Here’s how I’m hoping to get away with spending very little out of pocket this year.

How I’ve been saving/earning “free” money for Christmas this year

  • I’ve spent time earning Swagbucks during the past few months and made my way up to $100 free dollars in gift cards! I decided to redeem them all to use at Sam’s, so now I have $100+ to use for gifts there!
  • I got a “check” from Costco as part of their cash-back program. I plan to redeem that for free gifts.
  • I’ve been saving the cashback that we earn from our Discover card and I can use that at Amazon for gifts.

Meanwhile, I’ve found some great deals here and there and have been buying and tucking away stocking stuffers for a few weeks.

How I’m Planning Christmas for Our 14 This Year

  1. I’m looking into games that our entire family can play (which is a challenge since our kids are ages 1-25!) This Saran Wrap Ball Game is perfect though.
  2. I’m putting together these Christ-Centered Christmas gifts for our entire family, which will be the main part of our Christmas day.
  3. I’m focusing on consumable gifts again so that we don’t pile more STUFF into our house. :) Here are ideas for consumable gifts (not just food!).
  4. We’ll plan a day after Christmas to enjoy with “just the grown-ups.” So much of our life is focused on the little ones, which is exactly as it needs to be. But two years ago we started a tradition of hiring sitters for all the littles for an entire afternoon and evening. We bigs all head to our church fellowship hall where we eat and play games for hours together. It is much needed and so much fun!

What about the FOOD?!

You might remember that our traditional Christmas dinner for the past several years has been Lasagna. I’m changing that this year because 1 out of 14 of us refuses to eat lasagna. NEVER do I ever cater to one person’s pickiness on a regular day. But this Christmas I’ve decided to. Why? Because our Christmas meal is supposed to be special, and if my daughter can’t possibly put lasagna into her mouth and it causes a fight at mealtime? No thanks. Not on Christmas. (This is my gift to me.)

So we’re having a Nacho Bar. Everyone can fix their bowl or plate the way they like and everyone wins. Plus, by the time we’re hungry enough to eat Christmas dinner after a big breakfast, it’ll probably be time to pull out games anyway. So we can munch on nachos and play games in the afternoon. It’s perfect!

What about that big breakfast? I’ll make an Easy Breakfast Casserole ahead of time and bake it while we dig into gifts that morning. I’ll serve it with fresh fruit and one or two of the following (I haven’t decided yet!):

  • Orange Poppyseed Muffins
  • Applesauce Bread
  • Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins
  • Chocolate Chocolate Chip Bread
  • Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies
  • Cream Cheese Pumpkin Muffins
  • Easy Chocolate Cheesecake Muffins
  • Easy Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Muffins
  • Easy Banana Cheesecake Muffins
  • Easy Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins
  • Eggnog Muffins
  • Honey Cinnamon Muffins
  • Monkey Bread
  • Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
  • Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
  • Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls

Here are a lot of great Make-Ahead Christmas Breakfast Ideas to look through!

Christmas Make-Ahead Breakfast Ideas

Do you have fun Christmas traditions or some that you’re starting this year? I’d love to hear!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Holiday Gift Guide 2022

November 25, 2022 by Laura 1 Comment

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

I’ve done a little searching and have found several great items I want to recommend in this year’s Holiday Gift Guide! It’s short and sweet, and I snuck in some recipes too! (Plus some realllllly good deals.) ;)

Holiday Gift Guide 2022

Obviously, everyone needs these cookbooks. :)

I discounted these for a limited time so you can order as many as you need for yourself and your loved ones! Simple Real Food Recipes is just $10.95 right now and High Five Recipes is only $9.95. Get them for teachers, aunts, sisters, brothers, uncles, friends, plus teen and adult children…. :)

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Gifts for Kids

Everything on this page is less than $20, and they are worth much more than $20. The items change frequently, so check it out and take advantage of these great toy deals!

Look through these offers from ChristianBook.com! We love every Peaceable Kingdom game we’ve played and plan to add to our kids’ collection this year. I recommend searching for those and supporting this site!

 

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Stocking Stuffers

Yum Earth!! These candies are free from artificial food dyes, high fructose corn syrup, and these allergens:

What a fun treat to put in your kids’ stockings!! Get $10 off your first purchase of $20 or more! (Plus get free shipping if you spend $40.)

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We go through cases of applesauce pouches at our house. But these Brainiac snacks are a step above and would make a great stocking stuffer that your family would consider a great treat! Get free shipping on orders over $35, which makes this even better!

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Our friends at MadeOn skin care have been helping people fix their dry skin with their 3-ingredient Beesilk lotion bars for years. I LOVE using their products, and all of my kids do too. That’s why I put several lotion bars and lip balms in all my kids’ stockings. I’m going to buy them anyway, might as well use them as gifts, right?!

THIS LINK will get you $3.00 off the regular-sized lotion bar. Plus use the code: HH10 for an additional 10% off your entire order!

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Lilla Rose is a company I’ve loved for years. Their Flexi-Clips are gorgeous and practical, which makes them a perfect gift.

To learn more about the Flexi clip and determine your perfect size, click here: https://beautifullifebypaula.com/HHstart
If you already know your Flexi size, click here to shop! https://beautifullifebypaula.com/HHshop
Also THIS: Ladies are loving the new Flexi FLIPS, because the pin is reversible and you can get up to 3 sizes with just one clip. They include the SPORT as well, which is the super grip no slip hair clip. The newest Flips have attached reversible wood pins, which are beautiful.

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Gifts for Men

If you think men are harder to shop for, this page will prove you wrong by giving you really great ideas! These gifts are highly discounted also. I can find great gifts for all five of my men here!

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Two years ago, we surprised Matt with a Pellet Smoker. This thing is amazing and we use it all the time (even in the winter sometimes!). This makes a great gift for the entire family!

Gifts for the Coffee Lover

Look through all of these wonderful products from Barista Warrior for the coffee lovers in your life. They have lovely French Presses or beautiful Pour Over Kettles. Look around at their Black Friday deals here!

Brewpoint Coffee has some delicious selections of whole bean or ground coffee to choose from to go with your gift or to be a stand alone gift.

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Gifts for YOU

See more great Jane.com deals here. But to get you started, this adorable sweatshirt is only $8.99!


More gifts for women here. 

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Homemade Gifts

Click through these recipe links to make inexpensive and tasty gifts!

  • Candied Walnuts
  • Chocolate Peanut Clusters
  • Peppernuts
  • Cinnamon Sugar Pecans

I’ll continue to update this page as I find more great offers!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Christ-Centered Christmas ~ A Free Gift for You!

November 16, 2022 by Laura 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

This year, we are putting together Christmas gifts for our family to help us focus on who Jesus is. We wanted to share these ideas with you in case you’d like to borrow some or all of them! Free for you: Christ-Centered Christmas!

Our kids will each receive a special gift unique to their desires and needs under the tree. But before we dig into those, our family will be enjoying a special pile of gifts with a “Jesus Is…” focus.

This special gift pile will focus on these precious aspects of our Savior:

  1. Jesus is light
  2. Jesus is kind
  3. Jesus is giving
  4. Jesus gives peace
  5. Jesus brings joy
  6. Jesus offers forgiveness
  7. Jesus is healer
  8. Jesus is good
  9. Jesus is gentle
  10. Jesus is hope
  11. Jesus is love
  12. Jesus is here

Before we open each gift, we’ll read a prepared scripture card to help us focus on these aspects of Jesus.

Like this:

Jesus is Light

Scripture Focus: John 8:12

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

After reading this passage, we’ll present our kids with a gift. Inside? New socks and flashlights which represent “walking in the light.”

Here’s another example:

Jesus is Good

Scripture Focus: Psalm 34:8

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.

After reading this passage, the kids will open a gift that includes something tasty to enjoy together. I found this at Sam’s and it’s perfect. Everyone can pick their favorite little jar of jelly from this box!

Here’s another one…

Jesus is Joy

Scripture Focus: Philippians 2:1-2

If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.

The gift we’ll give our kids after reading this scripture is a cooperative game. Perfect, right? (ChristianBook.com has a lot of Peaceable Kingdom cooperative games to choose from!)

For the littles:

For the grown ups:

“Jesus Is” Gifts for All Ages

As you can see from the above examples, all of these gift ideas work for family members of any age. We all need socks, we all love games, and we all enjoy tasty treats. This has been so much fun to put together!

More where that came from!

We put all 12 Christ-Centered Gift Ideas with Scripture Focus into an easy-to-use printable book! (And we’re giving it to you for free right now!)

Christ-Centered Christmas includes gift ideas for each aspect of Jesus, plus scripture cards you can print to use with each gift. This entire collection is free for everyone, just let us know which email address to send it to!

Sign up here to receive this gift!

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Share with your friends!

We’d love to spread the word about this free resource and we need your help. Tell your friends about Christ-Centered Christmas by sharing this link —> http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/christ-centered-christmas-a-free-gift-for-you <— on your favorite social media site. Then send us a screen shot ([email protected]) and we’ll give you this awesome eBook too:

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Get your free Christ-Centered Christmas gift ideas packet here.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Spiced Holiday Tea

December 19, 2021 by Tasha Hackett 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

Tasha made this Spiced Holiday Tea for us one day and we fell in love with it!

holiday spiced tea

Spiced Holiday Tea

by Tasha Hackett

Or as I like to call it the drinkable potpourri. I’ve been simmering water with lemon rinds and a cinnamon stick for the past month just to enjoy the smell, but why only use it for the smell when you can drink it, too?

This spiced tea was introduced to me the first time I went home for the Thanksgiving holiday with my then boyfriend. He’s now my husband, and I won’t claim this drink has brought us together because for some odd reason, he doesn’t like it. Which is completely fine with me and his mother, because that means more for us. My mother-in-law always has a pot of this drink simmering on the stove over the holidays.

Sweeten your spiced tea to taste!

 

I have stayed true to my mother-in-law’s recipe in all except the sugar content. The original recipe that she used calls for a full cup. But I’ve decreased it to 1/2 cup in year’s past and nobody noticed. This year I will add even less, but please don’t tell them!

To get started, first boil a full gallon of water in a large pot on the stove. Then turn the burner down and add the tea bags. Please never boil the tea! Follow the directions on the package of your tea to brew a full gallon—I use decaf so we can enjoy anytime of day and share with the kids without any caffeine messing up our sleep.

Once you’ve removed the tea bags, add in 5 cinnamon sticks, 10 whole cloves, and one of each limeade and orange juice concentrate. (Not straight lime juice, but the sweetened limeade in the freezer section with other fruit juices.) Basically you just used tea instead of water to mix the juice. You do not need to add extra water with the juice concentrates. Add in the sugar to taste, approximately 1/2 cup more or less. Wait to taste for sweetness until the juice concentrates are mixed in.

Let the holiday spiced tea simmer—but not boil—for at least an hour.

This tea is better tomorrow.Yum

After we’ve all enjoyed a cup, we store the rest in the fridge overnight, keeping the cloves and cinnamon sticks in the pitcher and the tea gets a stronger spiced flavor throughout the holiday weekend. We enjoy it cold or reheated. I can’t really tell you which is my favorite because I like it both ways!

What’s your favorite holiday drink?

Holiday Spiced Tea
 
Save Print
Prep time
15 mins
Cook time
1 hour
Total time
1 hour 15 mins
 
Author: Tasha
Ingredients
  • One gallon of tea brewed to instructions on tea package (regular or decaf)
  • Limeade concentrate
  • Orange juice concentrate
  • 5 cinnamon sticks
  • 10 cloves
  • ½ cup sugar (more or less to taste)
Instructions
  1. Brew the tea in a large pot on the stove.
  2. Once the tea bags are removed, add the rest of the ingredients.
  3. Simmer for a minimum of one hour, being careful not to boil.
  4. Enjoy warm or cold.
  5. Store leftovers in the fridge.
3.5.3251

Tasha HackettTasha Hackett is a friend of Laura and has officially been writing since she asked for a journal for her 10th birthday. Her first novel, a historical Christian romance, Bluebird on the Prairie was released just this year, 2021, and she looks forward to sharing many more of her stories with the world. For now, you can read more about her and her fiction from her website: www.TashaHackett.com. 

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Consumable Christmas Gifts – Not Just Food!

December 15, 2021 by Laura 2 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.

This year, I’m very focused on consumable Christmas gifts for our family. Let me explain why!

As most of you know, we had gotten to a point in life that we’d traded our gifts of toys and snuggly jammies for gifts like video and music equipment. I only kept a few toys around that I felt were worth saving for our future grandkids. AND THEN. Then God brought us more babies.

Woohoo and wow. The past two Christmases we have enjoyed building up our toy supply again. And not only that, for the first time ever, some of those toys are of the GIRLY variety.

Yeah, yeah, yeah – I know we shouldn’t put a gender label on toys for kids, but listen. My big boys never asked for a dollhouse for Christmas. Nor did they request baby dolls and lip gloss. Last year though, all of our little kids (both boys and girls) got a dollhouse. With a pink roof. The girls play lovingly with the dollhouse dolls and furniture. Meanwhile, the toddler boys strip the dollhouse dolls naked and send them sailing down the dollhouse staircase to see how far they’ll fly. Fun is had by all, so yes, dollhouses can be gender-neutral. But anyway…

This year, we don’t need many more toys.

As we’ve accumulated toys the past few years, we’ve also accumulated even more children. There are a lot of people living in our house – currently, ten to be exact. Lots of people take up lots of space, and so do their shoes, backpacks, clothes, and naked dollhouse dolls.

Also, our 7 and 6-year-olds struggle to share, put things away, and get mad when their “really important toy” that they leave out on the floor gets chewed on by a baby or hurled across the room by a toddler. I don’t want to give them more “stuff” that will ultimately create more conflict. So between that and the fact that – did I mention we have a lot of kids – this year, I’m very focused on:

Consumable Christmas Gifts

Am I only wrapping food and putting it under the tree this year? Nope! Not that kind of consumable. Though food and drinks definitely make great gifts and there will be some of that for sure!

As I’ve been planning for Christmas this year, I’ve been excited about how many items are really fun to open but can be used and not accumulated! Like craft projects. Office and school supplies. And yes, food and drinks.

DON’T TELL MY KIDS! But here’s what they’ll all be getting this year. It’s both fun and practical, and woohoo, not terribly expensive! Each person will get:

  • Something to Make
  • Something to Bake
  • Something to Do
  • Something to Chew
  • Something to Drink
  • Something with Ink
  • Something to Wear
  • Something to Share

Here are a few more details to help you understand what I’m planning:

  • Something to Make -craft kits and supplies for the littles plus the adult girls, kitchen/foodstuff for the guys
  • Something to Bake – fun muffin, cookie, or cake mixes (we almost never buy things like this so it will be a real treat for the kids!)
  • Something to Do – a book to read, a game to play, a puzzle to put together
  • Something to Chew – favorite snacks
  • Something to Drink – hot cocoa, coffee, Martinelli’s, tea
  • Something with Ink – new pens, markers, or sharpies
  • Something to Wear – anything from clothes to gloves to socks, depending on what they need
  • Something to Share – something they can use with the whole family (littles) or with friends at college and beyond (bigs)

There will be 14 of us at Christmas this year with Matt and me, all of our kids, plus the oldest two boys’ wives! I am having SO MUCH FUN putting all of these gifts together!!!

Tell me who you’re shopping for and what your gift plans are. This is so much fun!!!

Some more consumable gift ideas:

We go through cases of applesauce pouches at our house. But these Brainiac snacks are a step above and would make a great stocking stuffer that your family would consider a great treat! Get free shipping on orders over $35, which makes this even better!

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Our friends at MadeOn skin care have been helping people fix their dry skin with their 3-ingredient Beesilk lotion bars for years. I LOVE using their products, and all of my kids do too. That’s why I put several lotion bars and lip balms in all my kids’ stockings. I’m going to buy them anyway, might as well use them as gifts, right?!

THIS LINK will get you $3.00 off the regular-sized lotion bar. Plus use the code: HH10 for an additional 10% off your entire order!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Best Gifts: Teachers, Women, Men, Coaches, and Kids

December 5, 2021 by Laura 1 Comment

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Need ideas for the best gifts for all the people in your life? Here’s a list of lists!

Best Gifts: Teachers, Women, Men, Coaches, and Kids

This post is short and sweet. But boy does it pack a punch of ideas! Click on any of the links to get so many wonderful gift ideas!

  • Best Gifts for Teachers and Coaches
  • Best Gift Ideas for Men
  • Best Gifts for Women
  • Best Experience Gifts for Kids
  • Best Gifts of Books
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