Inexpensive Country Christmas Candy Jars for Gifts

Last year for Christmas, I had to come up with almost 20 gifts for my husband to give his coworkers. Every year I like to do handmade gifts to add a special, personal touch and to save some money. Gifts for coworkers and friends can certainly add up! If you're looking for an inexpensive, semi handmade gift idea, try making my Country Christmas Candy Gift Jars!

Here is a list of everything you'll need:

Pint or quart sized glass mason jars (1 for each gift recipient)
Lots of christmas themed individually wrapped hard candy or chocolates
Christmas themed fabric
Colored ribbon or raffia
Gift tags

You can find mason jars in grocery stores or craft stores. Around Christmas time most stores will have these for sale. To get them even cheaper, you can use a coupon found in most craft store circulars. Mason jars have a homemade, country look to them and will work perfect for Christmas. These are usually sold by the box with a dozen inside and come in pints or quart sizes. I used quarts because I had a lot of candy to fill them up with. The pint sizes would be cheaper to make since they use less candy and are generally cheaper than the quart size.

When you have all your materials together, fill up all the jars with candy. You can buy Christmas candy at dollar stores or even cheaper with coupons at grocery stores. Make sure to purchase individually wrapped candies or chocolate so the candy stays nice and clean inside the jars. Before you can put the lid of the mason jar on, you'll need to cut out your fabric.

Using Christmas themed fabric really adds charm to the candy jars. To add them to the top of your jars, you need to cut out a large circle that will fit over the lid and hang out under the rim. I used pinking shears because I had them, but you can also use regular scissors. If the fabric frays, that's a good thing! Now you can take your fabric circles and lay it over the top of the lid, then place the rim part of the fabric and screw on. You might have to adjust your fabric a little so it's even on all sides.

This last part is optional, but if you have the materials and would like to add a gift tag, it's a nice touch. Gift tags are usually very cheap and come in lots of Christmas patterns and colors! I decided to make my own with a large circle diecut puncher that I got half off with a coupon at my local craft store. I took Christmas colored card stock and cut out all my tags. Then I took a smaller standard sized hole punch and made a hole in each one. You'll want to fill out all your gift tags and string them from some colored ribbon. Raffia would look even better to add to the country look but it's more expensive than ordinary ribbon.

Voila! Now you have some very nice gifts to give to your friends, neighbors, relatives or coworkers! It only took a little bit of time and money!