In an effort to give teacher gifts this year that are more expensive and extremely time-consuming, I decided to make something. Gifts in jar seem to be all the rage – if Pinterest is any determination – so I settled on a hot chocolate recipe.
I ordered mason jars and holiday mugs on Amazon and got all the ingredients and wrapping stuff at Target. When all is said and done, I spent more on teacher gifts this year than I ever have in the past and managed to dirty no less than 18 dishes/silverware/measuring cups. But it was fun.
At one point Avery looked at me and said, “Is this hard for you?” because I kept spilling and dropping things. “Yes. I’m not very good in the kitchen,” I said. Her response? “Daddy is. He can do everything.” “He sure can…” I replied. I’m just going to leave it at that.
The instructions can be found here. A few weeks back AJ made the hot chocolate for my Pinterest Party so we could try it out. It was A-MA-ZING. Highly recommend.
I had Avery help me with the unwrapping and smashing of candy canes. We put them in a freezer bag and pounded them silly with a meat tenderizer.
While I was layering the ingredients in the jars, I set up Avery and Nolan to do a gingerbread house. I got three of the four walls up when SMASH! One of the pointy walls fell to the ground and broke into a million pieces.
Me: Oh no! I’m so sorry I ruined the gingerbread house!
Avery: It’s OK. You didn’t break my heart. You just broke my house.
So we decorated gingerbread WALLS. Behold the vision.
Related articles
- Making Teacher Gifts (outofsickdays.com)
- Pinterest Party (outofsickdays.wordpress.com)
- I Heart Target (outofsickdays.wordpress.com)



Your layered jars of peppermint cocoa are lovely! I bet it tastes just as good too!
It’s amazing! I’ve more than my fair share.
I swear that these DIY projects come out costing more then just buying the finished product..when all is said and done. But at least there is satisfaction. Gifts look good. oh, and I had all the gingerbread pieces layed out, wating to be put together…walked away for a few minutes and Drew had eaten the chimney.