Thankful Gifts To Share

I love to remember special people at Thanksgiving if I can pull of a little something extra. 

This is a short little post to share 2 of my favorite ideas.

My favorite gift to share with friends, family, pastors, teachers, etc., are these mini pumpkin loafs.  We made these last year and they turned out so yummy and cute with free printable tags.  You can get everything (recipe and tags) over at The Larson Lingo.

We added chocolate chips to a few of ours…yum:)
And we eventually found the mini loaf pans that came with plastic lids…Much easier and better presentation (than foil) for the cute tags!

My second favorite gift that we've given over the years is a Blessing Mix.  Organized Christmas has a fun recipe and printable poem that gives a description of each item in the mix as symbols of Thanksgiving.  It's been awhile since we made these so I think we'll make a few of this year! They are so simple, festive and sweet:)

+Enjoy+

Candle Gift Idea

Lenten Crucifix Candle

I thought I'd share this idea for making inexpensive Catholic candles.  They would make nice gifts for Easter, Mother's Day, May Day, Birthdays, etc.  My wheels started turning when I found this blue candle (below) at Target.  I loved the fleur de lis but unfortunately it is not in my budget to buy several of them for gifts that I have coming up.  I have been working on these Catholic candles (on and off) for about a month now.  I've enjoyed making one or two when I have a bit of time.

This was the Target candle:

I bought this blue candle and glass holder (below) at the Dollar Tree.  Then I added this Marian medal that I had on hand.  Even to buy them from your local Catholic bookstore or Autom, they only run from approximately .60-$1.00.  However, it can be expensive buying in bulk from Autom since you can't just buy 1 or 2.  I just bought a few of these at our local Catholic bookstore.

Marian, Birthday, or Mother's Day Candle

I keep liturgical colored ribbon on hand for these such projects.

Blue:  Mary

Purple:  Lent/Advent

White: Easter, purity

Green:  Ordinary time, certain saints

Red: Martyrs, Christmas, Holy Spirit, Divine Mercy

Gold: Lots of things!, Royalty

More Marian Candles

Votive candles with saint medals also make nice gifts.  You can buy votives at the dollar tree with the candles already in them.  If you wanted to get more use out of the votives, you could buy a plain glass votive and place a tea light inside.  I used wire cutters to trim the ring from the top of the medal, then used hot glue to secure them to the glass.  Finally, I used a tad-bit of hot glue to secure the back of the ribbon to the glass.

I made 2 different Divine Mercy votives, using red and blue ribbon for the Divine Mercy colors. The one below holds a tea light.

The next one (below) is St. Joseph.

For St. Patrick, I had a bit of shamrock ribbon left over...

I used this pretty floral ribbon for a votive Miraculous Medal...

~Easter Candles~

I had so much fun with these that I have more medals ordered and on the way!  It's nice to have these candles on hand for gift giving opportunities that sometimes find us unprepared.  They also make nice additions to prayer tables, home altars, etc.  

Happy Candle Making!