Heather Arsenault, the About Soap Operas Guide and work-at-home mother of two, recently shared these homemade gift ideas for the holidays.

Full-sized picture of the homemade gift basket.

"These are Christmas baskets I'm making for my family members gifts this year.

I did 10 total baskets; five in the fabric you'll see in the picture and five in a red/gold plaid pattern.

The baskets were bought for $1 each at the Dollar Tree.

The recipes for the gifts in a jar were found on the internet. The jars were bought by the case at ACE hardware and vacuum sealed after being put together. The candy was bought at Sams and Costco and spread between all 10 baskets. I bought a big can of mixed nuts at Sams and divided into 10 packages and then vacuum sealed with my Foodsaver.

I'm going to guess that the whole project has ended up costing me about $20 a person...but that's just a guess because I ended up making 46 gift jars and the remaining six not used in the baskets have been wrapped in matching fabric and will be given to my children's teachers as gifts.

Ingredients:
Confetti Bean Soup Mix
Sand Art Brownie Mix
(both of the above found at Gifts in a Jar)
Toffee Coffee
Gourmet Hot Chocolate
(both found at: Busy Cooks: Make your own Mixes)

I actually started this project in early October so that the costs weren't prohibitive. I believe the jars cost between $7 and $8 a dozen depending on the size."

Full-sized picture of the homemade gift basket.

Heather's Candy Cane Centerpiece