A few years ago, I was able to assemble my 27 neighbors’ Christmas gifts in 27 minutes. (I did not include the shopping time). Not only was I able to completely assemble these gifts in under half an hour, they only cost an average of $1.47 cents each! That is 27 gifts for $39.42!!
* Note (esp to my neighbors if they see this)- I really wanted to get my neighbors something nice. So, when I was in a thrift store and I saw these really nice candy dishes that I would like so I figured my neighbors would as well.
The dishes were not all the same but each one was a dish I’d be happy to own. So I just gave the bigger dishes to the families with the most kids.
This gift was an efficient use of money and time. Especially for a nice (some genuine crystal) dish, candy, a Christmas card, and a family photo as well!
Supplies
- Winco bulk candy on sale with a coupon. Average per dish cost about .40 cents in candy.
- Thrift stores’ candy dishes (some are genuine crystal) for .50 cents to $1.00 averaging .75 each. These candy dishes are also great and can be found here.
- Dollar Tree cellophane for $1.00 a roll (which wrapped 8) equaling .15 cents each. You can also find the cellophane here.
- Christmas cards – they were brand name, All American cards on clearance after Christmas for .03 cents each (and they are cute too!).
- Family photo printed at Costco for .13 cents each.
- Family newsletter using home printer (practically free).
- Ribbon from last Christmas (practically free).
How to assemble them quickly?
1. Quickly wash and dry dishes (5 minutes).
2. Line the dishes up and set out the candy (2 minutes).
3. Take a handful of each kind of candy in each hand and dropped them in the bowls. This went really fast (3 minutes).
4. Take Cellophane and scissors with ribbon and wrap the dishes (15 minutes).
5. Use scissors to curl the ribbon (2 minutes).
And you are done!
If you want to add a card with a family photo and newsletter it will add some additional time. Once I printed off my newsletter I was able to put the newsletter and photo in the cards in under 10 minutes.
Below is a dish for my friend who does not eat sugar so I used sugar-free Werther’s Original. I had a little of this nice ribbon left so I used it and I think it makes the gift look even better (I just didn’t have any on hand or I would have used it on all the others).
I hope this helps you save a little time and money this season!
Supply List
- Winco bulk candy on sale with a coupon. Average per dish cost about .40 cents in candy.
- Thrift stores’ candy dishes (some are genuine crystal) for .50 cents to $1.00 averaging .75 each. These candy dishes are also great and can be found here.
- Dollar Tree cellophane for $1.00 a roll (which wrapped 8) equaling .15 cents each. You can also find the cellophane here.
- Christmas cards – they were brand name, All American cards on clearance after Christmas for .03 cents each (and they are cute too!).
- Family photo printed at Costco for .13 cents each.
- Family newsletter using home printer (practically free).
- Ribbon from last Christmas (practically free).
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Great idea! SO, so much better than the million cookies I was looking at making this weekend. 🙂
Karen, your comment made me laugh! I’m very glad this idea may save you hours cooking cookies. I like to keep things as simple as possible (esp. in December). Good luck and just a side note, I did have to go to a few thrift stores to find all 27 dishes but perhaps you will find as many as you need at one to save you even more time. Or Clear plastic bowls (not quite as nice) would still work and be well received.
This is such a great idea. Yep the plastic bowls they sell at the $ store I think 6 come in a pack just to save time and everyone really likes the edible stuff anyways hehe. Thanks for this awesome idea.
Megan- Thanks I’m really glad you like it. Yes the plastic bowls would make this gift even cheaper! Agree, people love the edible stuff 🙂
Thank you! This looks so easy and inexpensive!
You are so brilliant! I am so going to do this for our annual block party this summer for take-away gifts!
md kennedy- thanks! I hope it makes your block party fun and less time consuming to prep for.
I love this idea! We usually make chocolate bark from Ina Garten’s recipe on the Food Network, and wrap on plates I get at yard sales. The recipe is super easy and quick.
Thanks! That is a great idea too!
You could probably find the candy dishes at the dollar store as well.
Thanks Carrie that’s a great idea! Yes if you don’t have a thrift store that sells them for cheap a dollar store would be great!
I love that you know your neighbors well enough to know who eats sugar and who doesn’t!!
Thanks 🙂 that is kind of you!
This is a fantastic idea!!! I bet Joann’s or Michael’s have glass dishes in bulk! I’m heading there tomorrow!!! Thanks.
Thanks Kelly!
One year I got Christmas mugs at garage sales and thrift shops. I made homemade candy and filled the mugs as little treats for people.
Great idea! I love it! You could also stuff it with hot coco mix/packets as another inexpensive way to do a neighbor treat. Thanks!
Fran
Fran, we do the same thing.
Homemade peanut brittle is our gift.
Such a great idea. Thank you for sharing.