Thrifty Homemade Hot Chocolate Christmas Gift

Hot chocolate holiday gifts are great small presents to have around for neighbors, co-workers, teachers and party hosts. If your pockets are lined with gold then you can easily pick up pre-fab hot chocolate gifts at just any store for around $10 each. If you are thrifty like me read on because I’m about to show you how to craft up some sweet homemade hot chocolate Christmas gifts that won’t cost you an arm or a leg but will look just as cute if not cuter than store bought.

The trick to making this thrifty homemade Christmas gift is buying the embellishments and mugs at the Dollar Store. When shopping for trimmings always keep in mind that you want at least 3 different embellishments in various sizes. I used a tiny bow, medium size snowflake and a candy cane.

The best advice I have is to not cheap out on the chocolate unless you like getting dirty looks from your friends, family, teachers and co-workers. I went for the Swiss Miss variety pack which sounds like I’m not following my own advice but hear me out:

A) I like Swiss Miss over everything else I’ve tried (even the expensive organic stuff).

B) Variety is fun in gifts.

C) 24 individual packs for $10 is a great deal.

I filled test tubes up with Ghirardelli white and dark chocolate chips, marshmallows and Swiss Miss: Milk, Dark, Mint, Vanilla and Caramel. 4 tubes (2 with different hot chocolate flavors) fit perfectly into a standard size mug. It starts looking expensive when you add  a little square of decorative tissue paper, a candy cane, snowflake ornament and a tiny bow.

I  chose classic white white mugs instead of cutesy Christmas mugs so that the recipients can use them year round. The glass test tubes (bought online for $.25 each) can be reused as bud vases or spice jars.

With a little bit of time and creativity I ended up spending only $3.50 per hot chocolate gift. Originally I budgeted for about 8 homemade Christmas gifts but because I saved so much money I was able to make 14. I can’t wait to start giving these little handmade goodies out.

Craft On.