Breakfast Gift Basket {or Care Package}

Create an easy, real food breakfast gift basket (or care package) for a loved one or those in need with a few simple ingredients. Check out other easy gift ideas on the handmade gifts page!

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One of the ways I've been blessed in the past is through thoughtful gift baskets, not only for holiday gifts, but also as care packages during transitions or hard times (I loved the week of meals we received after bring home our newborn children!).

I was inspired to create this Breakfast Gift Basket (or care package, whatever you want to call it...) for our college daughter by two things: our month-long Handmade Gift Challenge (I'm sharing ideas for fun handmade gifts all month on the blog as well as through the email challenge- and creative baskets are always a win!) and the book, Gift It From Scratch, by my friend Kathie from Homespun Seasonal Living. She asked me if I would be interested in reading it and then make a care package inspired by the contents. It seemed a perfect combo.

Kathie's book is full of easy recipes that anyone would love to get - all made from scratch, but none taking a long time or skill. The best part, though, is all the gifting how-to's she gives for each recipe, which really gets your mind humming with ways to bless others - either those in need or as family holiday gift baskets.

In the end, I decided to create a real food breakfast basket care package for our college-age daughter who's living on campus. The house she lives in doesn't provide weekend breakfasts, and she'd complained about the fake syrup and not-so-real mixes and cereals that were available. Gotta reward wanting to eat healthy in our kids, right?

And though there are only two things I actually "made" in this basket, it still counts as a handmade gift in my book! Anything that you think about and put together with the recipient in mind counts, and if one or two things are handmade, it's bonus points.

Steps to Make a Real Food Breakfast Gift Basket

1. I started with a Gift it From Scratch recipe for Maple Walnut Bread, which is sweetened only with a bit of maple syrup. I replaced the flour with whole wheat pastry flour, made 5 extra mini loaves (the recipe was for 2 small loaves) and glazed the tops with pure maple syrup - they turned out wonderful! (Or you can use any healthy, low sugar quick bread you like.)

2. While the loaves are baking, mix up a pancake mix (I used a half batch of this Buttermilk Pancake Mix from BHG) and add it to a container like the half gallon canning jar with a zinc lid I used.

3. Print off the pancake directions, glue them inside a card and tie onto the jar with baker's twine. I also used the same twine to wrap a couple of the loaves in wax paper and added a label to one so our daughter would know what they were.

Doing these kind of 'pretty' things isn't required, but I find it fun to make it look great. Some type of labels are required, though you could easily do stickers and handwrite the labels, or something like that.

4. Round out the basket with a bottle of real maple syrup and fruit (I chose green apples, which are our daughter's favorite).

This was so easy to put together! The only things I had to buy were the apples and syrup, and even with the more expensive syrup ($7), the basket still came in under my general $10 goal. Sweet.

5. The only thing left to do is deliver it! Luckily, our daughter is going to school in our hometown, so it was easy to coordinate a drop-off. I wanted to surprise her, so I left it on her bed. She LOVED it - especially that it was cute.

If I needed to send a package like this through the mail, I'd definitely put the mix in a baggie, and wrap everything well before sending. I don't think the apples can be sent, though, so maybe I'd replace those with dried fruit. And to wrap as a holiday gift you can use a scrap fabric piece or the clear cellophane from craft stores.

This was so fun and I was glad to get another way to let our daughter know how special she is to us!

Do you give gifts from scratch? What are some of your popular gifts you've given?

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