Last Minute Homemade Gifts

Did you forget someone on your gift list? Have you found yourself in need of a last-minute present for a holiday party or a friend? Did that person you barely know (neighbor, new boyfriend, the lady at your gym) give you a gift and now you feel obligated to give one back?

You've got a couple of options. You can run to the stores or the mall and try to find something crazy quickly while everyone else in the world is madly rushing to find their last-minute presents. Or you can try out one of these fun ideas here!

• Mix CD - For someone you know well, Mix CDs are a fantastic and cheap way to show how much you care! They show personal thought and affection and add a touch of nostaglia without being impractical (mix tapes are lovely, but who has a tape deck these days?). You can throw in songs with personal meanings, songs that remind you of them, funny bits, etc. I've been given CDs that I've treasured for years.
  It's especially touching if you can add a song that you yourself have performed. It doesn't have to be recent; it could be your high school percussion ensemble's version of Michael Jackson's "Thriller." This shows a lot of thought. To finish it off, present the list of songs in an interesting way. You can use an interesting font or write it out on your best stationary.
  
  
• Personalized "Coupon" Book - This is an easy-peasy gift that presents the offer of services for the future. You can easily put this together by making a small paper book with a few sheets of paper folded into quarters, cutting the sheets apart, and then holding them together with a hair band or ribbon. On each sheet, write out an offer of valuable services to the recipient. I made one for my sister Karen as an example. My coupons in this book include babysitting for her daughter, a batch of cupcakes made in her favorite flavor, limeades from a beloved ice cream parlor, and a girl's only night out on the town. You can decorate it as fancy as you'd like with pens, markers, colored pencils, stickers or graphic art from your computer.
  This is also great for certificates: you can design a distinguished-looking certificate on your computer for even silly things such as, "One very silly dance presented at a time of your choice."
  
  
• Cookie-in-a-Jar - Take your favorite cookie recipe and print it out on a nice card. Then take the ingredients in that recipe and layer them one by one in a jar. Close up the jar when you've got all the ingredients in, decorate it prettily, and attach the printed recipe with some nice ribbon. Bam! You've got your Cookie-in-a-Jar present ready to give! This is great for when you have a lot of gifts to give to various people, such as all your friends from work or church. It's easy to set this up as an assembly line production, putting in one ingredient into several jars at once.
  
  
• Baked Goods! - Baked goods pretty much always get a good reception. I particularly encourage cupcakes because of how easy they are to make and throw together without a lot of time.
  Be sure you know your audience: Don't give your homemade sausage rolls to a vegetarian or gluten-filled cupcakes to someone allergic to wheat.
  
  One of my favorite recipes is a Cookies'n'Cream cupcake. I made these for a Northern Virginia Patch barbecue this last summer, and everyone loved them. They're a great hit with both adults and kids. This recipe makes a lot of cupcakes with very little work.
  
  Cookies'n'Cream Cupcakes
  (originally from "Cupcakes from the Cake Mix Doctor," by Anne Byrn)
  
  Ingredients:
  24 paper liners
  30 Oreos
  1 package plain white cake mix (18.25 ounces)
  1 cup sour cream
  1/2 cup vegetable oil
  3 large eggs
  1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
  1. Preheat the oven to 350. Line your cupcake pans with 24 paper liners.
  2. Take 12 Oreos and separate the tops and bottoms; put one wafer, with some icing on it, in the bottom of each paper liner. Take the remaining Oreos and crush them- either in a plastic bag, or between two pieces of wax paper.
  3. Combine the cake mix, sour cream, oil, eggs and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Mix well. Measure out a cup or two of the crushed Oreos at a time and fold them into the mixture. Leave some for garnish.
  4. Fill the paper liners with the mixture to about three-quarters of the way full.
  5. Bake the cupcakes for about 18-20 minutes, until they are lightly golden. Take them out of the oven to cool.
  6. You can make your own frosting at this point or use store bought - I've found that it's difficult for me to make frosting on my own without an electric mixer, so I tend to use store bought. Make sure the cupcakes are completely cool before you frost them, or else the frosting will melt everywhere. You can frost with a knife, or if you want to get fancy, put the frosting in a ziplock bag, cut off the tip, and use that for piping.
  7. Garnish with the rest of the crushed Oreos. Present with a flourish at your Christmas celebration.