Homemade Cookbooks for Christmas Gifts

I wanted to do something special for the young girls in our family that just set up their own homes. Since money is tight I decided to make cookbooks. The idea came to mind when I remembered the phone calls I have received during the year about various foods we had prepared and the girls wanting to know what to put in it and how to make it.

We had an early Christmas exchange and the cookbooks were a big hit. They were pleased that they had the recipes at their fingertips.

Here is how I created an inexpensive but greatly appreciated gift.

The materials I used:

Three ring binder (I chose shiny colorful metallic binders)

Computer Paper (white and colored)

Hole punch (I already had)

I typed up our favorite family recipes and ran them off on our computer. Since I was making 3, I ran off three copies and set them aside.

Then I looked up other recipes on the Internet. I typed in Easy Recipes in the search box and there were a wealth of sites to explore. A couple of the sites were meals.com and allrecipes.com and recipesource.com, all had simple recipes that would be not take a lot of preparation time and the ingredients were things the girls would have in their cabinets.

I ran off approximately 30 recipes for each cookbook. These included appetizers, main dishes, side dishes and desserts. I included dips and no bake dishes they could use for school functions and potlucks.

Putting Them Together:

Since I had only a one hole punch, I took a blank piece of computer paper and made a hole guide. I lined up the guide with the holes in the binder and cut the holes where they would be needed. There are three ring hole punches available but I couldn't see purchasing one for just this one time use.

Next I used the color paper to make dividers for the different dish categories. I typed out the title and added a clipart picture. After these were run off I lined up the hole guide and punched the holes.

I took the recipes I had run off and punched the holes in these also. Then I arranged the dishes according to their categories. Lining them up from appetizers to desserts. Each divided by a different color of paper. After they were arranged in the books I added extra pages so the girls could write down other recipes they found in the future.

On the front of each cookbook I added the recipient's name to add a personal touch.

All three of these gifts I made in one night. The pages had the Internet source on the bottom so the girls can look at them as reference for future recipes as there were too many to run off.

While searching for the recipes I tried to take into account their likes and dislikes plus dishes that would fit their lifestyles. The possibilities of personalizing the cookbooks were endless but this year I kept it simple.

Their appreciation for the gifts was priceless. Something I felt was a cheap gift turned into a great gift to add to as they were already talking of making the dishes and how they wanted to add their own favorite recipes in the future. They let me know it was a terrific gift idea.