Subtitle: When All Else Fails, Get Your Siblings Drunk!
You remember the extreme limitations imposed upon my family gift-giving this year, don’t you? After trying and failing at a few different ideas for my siblings and their SOs, our highly scientific thought process went something like this:
Without further ado, our Crafty Christmas:
To set the theme, I made booklets for each couple that were printed on cardstock, hole-punched, and tied with holiday ribbon. I forgot to take a photo of the finished products, but here are the jpgs. Read them vertically, and click for a larger version.
“Sugar” – Vanilla-infused vodka and homemade vanilla sugar
“Spice” – Jalapeno-infused vodka and a mini Zing Zang bloody mary mix
The spread at my sister’s house the next night, where the goodies were liberally sampled:
Being the Photoshop wannabe that I am, I had a blast making the cute labels (thank you DIY blogs with your endless inspiration and templates!). Admittedly, we went over the $20 limit (even before I shipped everything to NC… trying to get past security with four bottles of homemade booze in my purse wasn’t my idea of a good time on Christmas morning), but I think it’s the effort that counts, don’t you? With more advance planning, I know I could’ve found cheaper vodka bottles and vanilla beans, which were the big expenditures (thanks cheap booze that tastes great when flavored!). Here’s the breakdown:
Sugar and Spice Gift Box
Sugar jar: $1.25
Sugar: free from my pantry
Vanilla bean for sugar: $4.99
Two glass bottles for vodka: $9.00
Vodka for both flavors: $7.50
Vanilla bean for vodka: $4.99
Jalapeno for vodka: $.50
Mini Zing Zangs: free (we had these on hand, but they retail for about $5 each)
Printing/cardstock/labels: free
Final cost: $28.23
Crafty Christmas with boozy sibs: Priceless
PS: My sister promptly entered the One-Upsmanship Hall of Fame by opening up her booze box from us and then gifting a painting of our niece on canvas to my brother. I made labels and added things to stuff. Lisa painted Taylor in a beach scene, walking down to the ocean’s edge. Food for thought.
