Hot Cocoa and Popcorn Teacher Gifts with Printable

Sometimes the best gifts are simple things that you know the recipient will use and enjoy! The trick is in the packaging and presentation. People love the Valentine’s Snack Basket I made for my husband. Here are some ideas for easy gifts for teachers or neighbors comprised of snacks you know they will use and love. With a middle-schooler and two others in elementary school, we need a lot of teacher gifts, so I need gifts that won’t break the bank and are quick and easy to assemble. The contents of my pretty packages? Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate mix packages, Orville Redenbacher’s microwave popcorn, and can you guess what is hiding in the little gingerbread house? Slim Jim meat sticks!

This envelope of snack-y goodness is really easy to put together. I purchased all of my snacks at Target (look for coupons at the end of the post!) And also found some fun packaging materials there, as well.

(Oh Target, the mecca for Christmas distractions shopping. Did you see how cute and retro the Swiss Miss boxes are right now?)

These are all of the elements of the bags. The graft and gold envelopes are just the size to hold a sleeve of popcorn (but just one). I also tucked in a couple of packages of Swiss Miss and a candy cane. I love the design of these napkins from target and used them to embellish the bag (and wipe fingers after eating yummy movie theater style popcorn!). I tied it all up with bakers twine, and the thing that really ties it together is my printable tag which says. “Wishing you a WARM holiday season and a POPPIN’ New Year!”

Get it? WARM and POPPIN’, just like the snacks! I can crank out a half dozen Middle School teacher gifts just like that.

If  you want to take it up a notch (READ: be slightly less cheap), you could put the contents in a seasonal mug. I think I was able to get a couple of packages of popcorn in this one. It would also be fun to put it together in a popcorn box.

Just don’t forget my clever tag! (See below for printable options)

I bet there is someone on your list who is a jerky lover who can’t get enough of Slim Jim snack sticks! While I couldn’t think of any clever gift tags for the favorite snack–who really wants a “Slim Christmas”, right?–it dawned on me, that the packages these came in, were just the right shape to make a gingerbread house!

You have a couple of options here. You can either decorate the unopened box, or you can tear off the strip around the top to open the lid and add other goodies like candy inside so the snacks are sweet and savory. After making sure you have the desired contents, hot glue the “roof” back on the house and begin decorating.

I used the same gold favor bags from Target and opened it up to wrap around the box. I secured it in place with hot glue. I took one of the napkins (cut off some of the extra layers) and folded it in half to form the roof. I then took candy canes and other candy and hot glued them on to decorate. I couldn’t find something I loved for the door, so I cut up a decorative paper straw to make a seasonal green one.

And there you have a package of Christmas cuteness with a serious snack inside.

The boxes would also make a fun decorating activity for kids!

If you want to make your own fun snack gifts for the holidays, be sure and take advantage of these coupons valid at Target now.

• Save $3 when you buy 4 (FOUR) Orville 6-packs: http://cbi.as/9wop-
• Save $1 when you buy 5 (FIVE) Slim Jim Giant Twin Packs: http://cbi.as/1cgjf
• Save $1 off 4 (FOUR) Swiss Miss 8ct or larger: http://cbi.as/zxe90

And since it is a season of giving, I’m giving you my clever gift tags so you can copy the project entirely if you want to.

Click for PDF

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