Cool ideas! You guys are so creative!
I LOVE Tang,.....we were never allowed to drink it as kids (my mom was strict about weird things)....we were only allowed regular OJ. I loved going to friends' houses who had it!
I love it for cold winter days/nights. I don't really mind the Tang either, except for the sugar. I've had the recipe for nearly 40 years, and I drag it out and make a batch every winter.
teko - keep working on that dear man - he might get tired of hearing it and buy you that printer......... LOL
That does sound good, thankyou! My printer isnt working so I gotta write it down. uggh.. Maaybeee someone will get me a printer for christmas! R U listening dear? lol, he said no.
I'm gonna try this for sure! I'm okay with tang. Brings up memories of my youth as I always spent summers as a kid with my grandparents and they made me drink tang every morning. anyway, thanks for the recipe!!
I don't drink Tang either, except in this recipe; if you can find a powdered orange drink mix to replace it, let me know........ sorry, I originally said "nutmeg" - it's cloves, instead, which are very good for you, by the way. Maybe the health advantages of the cinnamon and cloves will outweigh the Tang...... LOL
Here goes:
1 pkg lemonade mix
1 cup Tang
1 tsp cinnamon
1.5 cup sugar
1/4 cup instant tea
1/4 tsp cloves
Mix ingredients well; store in air tight jar. Use approximately 1 tbsp mix per teacup of hot water (more for larger mugs, or to taste).
Yeah Barb, how about a little early christmas present to all us here on CE! Give it up! lol
I'd ike the recipe--- as in 'how much' of eac part Barb!
Yes, the tea sounds good.
I drink a lot of tea. I think Jane Austen got me into it :). I like the spicy teas. Tang, I am not too sure about...haven't drank that since 1962, I believe.
But the other ingredients look good.
Are you talking about the tea? Recipe for free.........
Yum. That sounds really good.
I have a recipe for a spiced tea mix that uses instant tea, powdered lemonade, tang, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg. One year I mixed up a batch of that and put it in jars, along with the recipe in case anyone wanted to make it. You use a couple spoonfuls, with hot water for each of tea. It's a great cold weather drink.
Mini loaves of pumpkin, cranberry walnut or banana bread usually go over well, too.
Since I do wood burning, I'm working on some ornaments, as well.
Also, books make great gifts. There are a lot of places to buy them second hand and as long as they are clean and in good condition, there is no reason to buy new.
I give books of particular interest to the individual. Bird books to fellow birders, Sci fi to my weirdo neighbor (talk about the pot calling the kettle..lol) and so on. My kids got me a Kindle so I am in the process of gifting and donating hundreds of books as I replace my favorites electronically.
Of course a book that you can hold and turn the pages of, inhale its mustiness and that has special meaning can never be replaced electronically. There will always be some books sitting on my shelves.
Also herb plants in nice pots are nice and easy. One year I made a bunch of sweet little terrariums.
My daughter likes to take her girls to those pottery places where you do the glazing yourself and give the finished products as presents.
The girls love doing them and they are one-of-a-kind gifts.
Back to the photo ideas, don't forget that you can also take photos of your kid's art work to display as well as 'straight' shots.
Love the photo calendar too. We did one of those for our parents one year, my mom LOVED it!!! Photo gifts are one of those easy, but very special gifts, and with all of the programs out there now, a lot of times, you can do it yourself.
Walgreens.com has a great selection of photo gifts at reasonable prices...from mugs, to puzzles, blankets, really cool stuff. I've bought photo gifts from there many times!
Oh, I love the calenders with the pictures. One year when on a tight budget (ha, ONE year?)-- I got a shadow box at a craft store. This is basically a frame that you can put things in and hang. I love that scrap booking aisle and I found great paper and decorations and took pictures of my boys with my husband from our vast collection of them (I'm the parent paparazzi type) and made something for my husband to hang with a father theme inside the shadow box. He loves it and we made a second one for him to have at his office at work and he has one in his 'man cave' at home.
GREAT ideas. You guys are so creative! LOVE the dry erase board idea, how cool!
Definitely keep the ideas coming. It's nice to be able to save a little, but still give something nice, useful, and thoughtful!
Speaking of calenders. We had one made for my mother years ago, it portrayed photos of all the families as the months of the year and we had all the birthdays, anniversaries and the like put on it for her as she was always trying to remember dates because our family was so large. After she passed, I kept that calender for myself. Now I know everyones birthdays and such and have added to it as the families have grown.
Although I've been scrapping for weeks, attempting to come up with good reuse gifts from garage sales and thrift stores, I love the ideas presented here.
I usually make cards for everyone or sometimes calendars.
Photoshop has made it super easy to do.
Hilarious! I love that! What a great way to deal with a situation like that, lol. Very good sm.
Even though I don't do Christmas, I live it vicariously through others. Love the lights, trees and ornaments. I have made some bird ornaments that ppl liked.
I sometimes do small bird paintings and put them in little antique frames from the thrift store.
It really is the thought that matters.
Last year I gave the guy in the parking garage of the medical building of the Dr. office I vist, some home baked cookies.
Poor guy is stuck underground all day breathing in those fumes. He is always quite grumpy but he broke into the biggest grin when I gave him the cookies, acted like I gave him the hope diamond! Being remembered is the best thing ever.
I like to do Christmas ornaments. I do this for my clients. They are fairly inexpensive and you can get unique ones. Down here you can get blow fish, frogs, shells, santa in a speedo, just about anything you can think of. I just wrap it up, with a card and stick a candy cane on it. Its small, but its the thought that counts.
Im loving these ideas, keep em coming. I liked the one with the hot chocolate in the tea cup.
I have a mug with obamas birth certificate on it that I am giving to my little republican tea party nephew! Its called a gag gift. Im sure he will
Ha. Well, I'm one of the younger ladies in my family (aunts, cousins, sister, all older than me) and years ago they would have a cookie exchange. I was just sharpening my domestic skills at the time and felt honored to be included in this tradition. I didn't realize how competitive it was. Lordy, it was like the olympics of cookie making. Each person would try to top the other and they took it all VERY seriously. They'd each make several different kinds. Hm.
So, I got out cookbooks and came up with my shopping list. After spending way more money that I probably should of to get all the ingedients, I set to work. Within about 5 minutes, I was sweaty, frustrated, the kitchen was a disaster and I'd burned out my electric mixer.
So, I packaged up a bag for each lady in the cookie exchange the ingredients for the cookies and a copy of the recipe and brought that instead.
My family still makes fun of me to this day. But personally, I think I was the SMART one in the bunch!
I like that! I have 2 people who would enjoy and find that useful. The trick is the right decorative objects-that could be very fun.
Good idea teko. You could make up a hot chocolate one with hot choc. mix, choc. chips and then mini marshmallows. Put in a frosting pastry bag and tie off. Then place it in a new mug for your lucky recipient.
I like that w/ the dry ingredients in a mason jar! Good one.
No baking this year. I did that last year and nibbled as I baked, ended up nearly comatose for a few days!
Food seems to be the least expensive and most versatile of gifts to make though..