Celebrating with a Unique Gift

Our month of birthday posts continues with a super idea from Jill of Scary Mommy. Hers is one of the blogs I've been reading longest, and she always has great ideas and stories to make me laugh.

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Happy Birthday to the Chef
Originally published May 2009

Since last year, every birthday boy or girl we’ve celebrated with received either an Arts & Crafts Bucket or Bath Time Bucket. I love making them, but they’ve now made the party circuit and I wanted to come up with a new staple gift that’s economical, unique and fun…

I present you with my Little Chef Bucket. I still had left over buckets, but when I run out I’ll use a bright mixing bowl instead. I filled them with a mini rolling pin, measuring cups and spoons, a box of sprinkles ($1.99-2.99 from Michael’s) and dollar store cookie cutters (10 for a dollar.)

I also made up a few recipe cards with kid-friendly recipes and a label that can easily be personalized. {If anyone wants to snag this idea, you can find them here, here, here and here.} I printed them on card stock and trimmed and mounted them to be more durable. Then I wrapped it up with shrink wrap, a bow and another cookie cutter.

I really wanted to include a cotton chef’s hat, but was trying to keep it around $15. When I want to spend a little bit more, I’ll put a kid’s apron at the bottom. Ikea has some great kids cooking stuff too, so next time I’m there I’ll stock up. I’m dying to make this into a gingerbread version for the holidays. You think May too early to start those?