Homemade Easter Treats

The enforced stay at home regime that has just come into force lasts initially for three weeks, which takes us more or less right up to Easter. With so much time on our hands and with all non-essential shops ordered to close, it’s time to get creative with this year’s Easter gifts. With a little imagination and using things that we have to hand already or that are available at supermarkets when we go to do our essential shopping, we can create some Easter gifts that are every bit as good as store-bought alternatives.

Sweet jars to the rescue

If, like many people, you head to the supermarket for your weekly essentials shopping trip and find that there are no Easter eggs left in stock, it’s time to get creative and think outside the box as to how to produce some Easter gifts that the whole family will love. You might not be able to source traditional chocolate Easter eggs, but are there any other sweets or chocolates that are still in stock? If there are, buy a selection and then create your own ‘variety selections’, presenting an assortment of sweets or chocolates in sweet jars, one for each member of the family.

Whether you use traditional shaped sweet jars or just any glass jars that you have to hand, you can fill these in batches, as you can instantly see which jar is for which recipient because the contents are visible at all times. Making these gifts means that you can tailor each gift to the recipient - if one person doesn’t like coconut, for example, switch out the coconut-flavoured sweets and replace with something else.

If another recipient has a nut allergy or gluten intolerance, you can carefully select the contents to suit them. One word of caution. If you plan to reuse a jar for this purpose, make sure that it hasn’t been used for pickles or chutney, as the acid nature of those items means that the vinegary smell will linger, even after the most careful washing up and no-one will appreciate an oddly-smelling Easter gift!

Once you have filled your jars with a variety of sweets or chocolates, it’s time to decorate the jars and label them. You can stay minimal with just a ribbon and a simple label, or you can go all-out colourful and decorate your jar with ceramic pens, paints, fabric or anything you fancy, really. It just depends on how much time and effort you want to put into it, what age the recipients are, and what you have to hand at this time.

Whilst you might want to surprise your own children with their Easter gifts, decorating glass jars to fill and give as gifts to older family members and friends could be a great boredom-buster activity to occupy the kids for a day whilst they are at home during the current lockdown. Let their creativity run riot on the decoration of the jars and you are sure to end up with some unique homemade gifts that will charm the recipients when they get them.

Easter egg hunts

Using glass jars filled with mini eggs or sweets is a great way to have a traditional Easter egg hunt too. You might not be able to leave the house, but you can hide sweetie-filled jars around the house and garden to make the hunt as ‘egg-citing’ as possible. With the treats safely stored in glass jars, it won’t make any difference if it rains, and you won’t need to worry about the dog finding them before your children do!

Try hiding a few jars ‘in plain sight’ as well as in more concealed locations - just to see whether these end up being harder to find than the hidden ones!

Making your own treats

If you are in full self-isolation or you can’t find any sweet treats in the supermarket, there are still plenty of options left if you have a few baking supplies in the pantry. Why not make your own mini cookies, with chocolate chips or sprinkles on the top? Alternatively, if you are making gifts for adults, try making a batch of chocolate truffles, chocolate-coated raisins or butterscotch.

Make sure the pieces are small enough to be able to get out of your glass jars easily, though, as no-one will appreciate having to work to extract those tasty treats! Again, with a nice ribbon around the neck of the jar and a lovely decorative label, this kind of gift can look very special indeed - and it will be appreciated even more than normal in the current circumstances.

What are your plans for Easter gifts? Whether because of shortages at the supermarkets or because of a need to economise, now is the time to think of simple and inexpensive ways to give gifts and to save money. Send us some photos of your own ideas for Easter gifts - we’d love to share them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!