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Gifts In A Jar Homemade Gift Ideas

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This post may contain affiliate links.

Gifts in a Jar are a fun way to give presents! These gift ideas are perfect for the holidays. Jars for artists, bakers, crafters, and more.

5 unique gifts in a jar.

This post is sponsored by Ball. All opinions are 100% mine.

I’ve been making gifts in a jar for two years now. It all started with my Everything In A Jar blog post, where I filled mason jars with items around a certain theme. There was Energy In A Jar, Pampering In A Jar, and Refreshment In A Jar. Since that time, I’ve shared mason jar gifts for different seasons and occasions.

This holiday season, I’ve teamed up with Ball® as part of 25 Days of Making & Giving, to share even more gift in a jar ideas! These homemade gifts can be given for any occasion to almost anyone in your life but are especially fun to make at Christmas.

5 Gifts In A Jar

Loves to bake gift in a jar.

Loves To Bake Gift In A Jar

The first 3 jars are full of items that have to do with an activity that the gift recipient loves to do, so they are called “Loves To ….”. Loves To Bake is the first jar, and it is filled with small items that the recipient could use when baking. It can be given with a cookbook, recipes, and a dish towel.

Baking supplies mason jar gift.

This jar has mini cookie cutters, measuring spoons, cupcake liners, mini silicone pinch bowls, a mini whisk, and a mini cheese grater. I found these items at World Market.

Carefully fit all of the items into a  Ball brand 1 Quart (32-oz.) Wide Mouth Jar, put washi tape around the lid and add a tag with baker’s twine. You can print the labels here: Loves To Bake Labels

Loves to craft mason jar gift.

Loves To Craft Gift In A Jar

The second jar is called Loves To Craft and is for the crafter in your life. This could be for a young girl who loves to be creative but could also be given to a friend or a teacher.

Craft supplies gift in a jar.

This jar contains an ink pad, a chalk marker, clips, glitter tape, mini envelopes with cards, a tape runner, chalkboard gift tags, letter stamps, and silver embellishments. All of these items are from Target or Michaels and cost $1.50 or less.

I used a  Ball brand 1 Quart (32 oz.) Wide Mouth Jar. Add some washi tape to the lid and attach a label with the baker’s twine. You can print the labels here: Loves To Craft Labels

Loves to draw gift in a jar.

Loves To Draw Gift In A Jar

The third jar is called Loves To Draw and will be going to my son. He is in elementary school, and he has a talent for drawing. He has been wanting Copic markers for a long time now, but I wanted to wait until he was old enough to appreciate them.

The jar is a place where he can store the markers and easily access them. As you can see from the faint markings on the blue and red markers, he just HAD to try them out before I could even get the photos taken.

Copic markers and art supplies.

I purchased packages of skin tone Copic markers, perfect primaries Copic markers, Prismacolor colored pencils, and Pigma Micron marker pens from Michaels using 50% off coupons which made them a much better deal.

Colored pencils in a mason jar.

The Prismacolor colored pencils were too long for the jar. Since they are high quality and pretty expensive, I didn’t want to sharpen them down so that they would fit into the jar. Instead, I made a wire cover using wire mesh. 

This was my first time using these Ball brand Wide Mouth 1 ½-pt Jars, and I love them. They are a little taller and more narrow than the 1-quart jars. I wrapped a piece of baker’s twine around the jar and added a Loves To Draw tag. You can print the labels here: Loves To Draw Labels

Cleans up well mason jar.

Cleans Up Well

I’ve made several jars containing skin care products for women. There was the original Pampering In A Jar which had store-bought products in it. Then, I made a Spa In A Jar, Pedicure In A Jar, and most recently, Peppermint Pampering In A Jar with skincare items that I mixed up.

I’ve always wondered about making a mason jar for the guys but wasn’t sure if that would be something a guy would like. After posting Peppermint Pampering In A Jar, a few of you left me comments letting me know that you would like to make skin care products for guys and asking for a men’s gift in a jar. So, here it is! This jar is called Cleans Up Well.

Mens pampering gift in a jar supplies.

I used a Ball brand 1 Quart (32-oz.) Wide Mouth Jar and filled it with moisturizer, sugar scrub, Chap Stick, a razor, Kenneth Cole Reaction and Black cologne (mini bottles that are part of a Christmas gift set), C.O. Bigelow shaving cream, Gillette face scrub and a grooming set.

I made the moisturizer and scrub and purchased the other items at Walmart and Bath and Body Works. I took all of the items out of their original packaging, including the grooming tools, so that they would fit in the jar. I attached a label to the top of the jar rather than having one hang from the jar with baker’s twine. You can print the labels here: Cleans Up Well Labels

If you want to make the moisturizer and scrub, you can find the recipes here: Cleans Up Well Recipes

Blue Christmas without you.

Blue Christmas Without You

And finally, I have this beautiful “Blue Christmas Without You” jar. It is meant for those special people in your life who you will not be able to spend Christmas with this year.

If you are a follower of mine, you know that I love blues and especially the blue-green shades, so I am in love with the Ball brand Heritage Collection Pint Jars. I have a few of the vintage jars, and I think that it is really neat that Ball released these limited edition jars in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the first series of jars designed by the Ball brothers.

Blue Christmas supplies.

This jar is smaller than the other ones, so it is lighter to ship, but that means that it can’t hold as many things. I put fake snow on the bottom of the jar by gluing on sea salt, and I added a baker’s twine pom-pom. The jar has blue and white wintery items in it, like hot chocolate, flameless candles, Lindor truffles with snowmen, and 3 sparkling winter words that can be hung from a string.

But the best part of this jar is that tiny blue item in the front. It is an 8 GB flash drive for putting a holiday greeting. It can be loaded with videos of your family and warm holiday greetings. Get creative and make a visual Christmas card for the ones you love, and cram the wonderful surprise into a little flash drive. You can print the labels here: Blue Christmas Without You Labels

More Gift Ideas

About Tonia Larson

Hi! I’m Tonia, the owner and recipe creator at The Gunny Sack, where I’ve shared easy recipes for busy people for 14+ years! My family-friendly meals, easy side dishes, and delicious desserts include mouthwatering photos, dynamic videos, and step-by-step instructions to help you cook at home.

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  1. Tamara says

    LOVE the Blue without You jars for far-away relatives. Where did you find the sparkling winter words? I love the look of those in the jars but am struggling with finding them anywhere. THANKS for the great ideas!

    Reply

    • Tonia says

      Hi Tamara,
      I found them at Walmart last year, but they probably have completely different items this year. They were with the Christmas tree ornaments. Best of luck!
      ~Tonia

      Reply

  4. Melisa says

    Okay, so two years ago I made homemade detergent and fabric softner and tied a silver antique spoon with twine to the soap mason jar. Then 4 years ago I purchase some old ball jars and inside I put pete moss an antique used post card and sealed it up for shelf decoration. I have one for myself and gave one to my mother in law. I loved both of them. I also did a sewing kit in baby jars and then made the top into a pin cushion which everyone loved(this could also be done in a ball jar). I took pictures but don’t know how to upload them on my post. The laundry soap was such a big hit that my neighbor made them and passed them out to everyone that she worked with in the factory she worked at 20 + jars!

    Reply

  5. Sandy says

    For the last several years my family members have received Ball canning jars with goodies in them, chex mix, seasoned crackers, peanut brittle( use the wide mouth adapter on the food saver to seal in freshness) canned pumpkin butter, so this year I will also be able to add a gift jar to the basket, thanks for the wonderful ideas.

    Reply

  8. Sherri Cramer says

    Please let your budding artist know that the Copic markers work best if you lay them down on their side since they have a marker at both ends. It keeps the ink even in both ends without letting one dry out. Thanks for all of the other great ideas! Love them!!!

    Reply

  9. Christina says

    This is awesome!! Thank you!! I love the “gift in a jar” ideas,but sometimes I’m a little uhm,over-enthusiastic, and can never make up my mind of WHAT or how many gifts! This helps in a big way!

    Reply

  11. Ella says

    Hi Tonia!
    I just wanted to say these are amazing!! I just made the craft one for one my friends and she loved it! It was the perfect gift idea 🙂 Thank you!

    Reply

  16. claire says

    I love the Loves to Draw and the Blue Christmas one as well. Since my family lives far away, I will be sending them these lovely and creative jars. In addition to the items you added, I can customize it by adding a little gift that is personalized for each person. Great idea….and hats off to you.

    Reply

  18. soojin says

    This is a really cool idea! Thanks for sharing, I definitely want to try some of these ideas. Do you have any ideas for wrapping these irregularly shaped jars though? I can’t think of how I would gift them, maybe a gift bag? I’m not sure what would look the best– any ideas?

    Reply

    • Tonia says

      I’ve always used a gift bag but you could wrap a few layers of tissue paper around them, gathering the ends over the top of the jar and tying it with ribbon. Or you could put the jar in a box and wrap the box.

      Reply