Comments on: Confessions of a third-rate gift giver

By: Christy

Christy — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:56:16 +0000

They look sooo good!

By: Liv

Liv — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:35:41 +0000

those look AMAZINGLY delicious and simple. i am going to make them this weekend and stuff myself silly.

thanks for sharing!

By: The Espersen Family

The Espersen Family — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 23:21:10 +0000

I think these look yummy! I’ll have to make some for my hubby, I think he would really like them. Probably much better than the store bought suckers he got as a last minute thought this year!

By: Kirsty

Kirsty — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 04:17:01 +0000

Jane, can you stop posting any kind of yummy recipes until my diet’s done? Thanks.
What is it inherent in marriage vows that makes a wife suddenly responsible for procuring* her husband’s family’s presents? When we were dating, my husband lived in California. His family and I all lived in Australia. So for FOUR years (oh, and his whole life before that) he managed to procure cards, gifts, at least make phone calls to his parents and sisters on their birthdays. Now .. it’s up to me. The only person in this world he has to consider getting any kind of present for is me. And I talked to some friends at Christmas, and they even bought and wrapped their own presents …

OK, enough ranting. And I won’t even mention how much fun I have procuring presents … (but it’s the expectation/responsibility I don’t like).

And I’ve got a kid (2) who also eats nuts – she found the bag with her Dad’s diet-friendly natural almonds in it, and has been snacking on those when we haven’t been paying super-close attention to her.

*I was going to say buying, but not all gifts are bought.

By: kikibibi

kikibibi — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 21:03:17 +0000

What a coincidence Jane… my teenage boy eats like a 4yo girl! He’s much better about it now, but it was touch and go for a few years.

By: Sharla

Sharla — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:57:48 +0000

Gosh Jane, I’ve known about those for forever, what planet have you been living on? Just kidding, I actually saw them for the first time at Christmas and I’ve been wanting to try them so thanks for the recipe! They look delish! And you should do like I do, no gift giving, I just send cards and call it good. I can mail you some homemade cards if you want. Oh, and one more thing, I need you to read all the way through my Just in Case you were wondering post and leave a comment. I want you in on this one. Please? For me?

By: Jane

Jane — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:29:58 +0000

Suzy — Those Ritz-Reeces sound great. Dick likes PB even better than caramel, so he’d love those. Of course, I’d have to figure out the whole chocolate-dipping thing. At least the crackers shouldn’t crumble like my cake balls did.

Becky — Yes, I should just order online, and I do do that for some (thanks to my father-in-law for having a wish list!!). Usually I feel like I should send a package myself, with a card that I’ve had the kids write, etc, and also I’m cheap (er, frugal), so . . . hm. I’ll check out the Red Envelope thing. Thanks!

By: Becky

Becky — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 16:13:46 +0000

I have seen the same thing done with chocolate kisses and then an M&M on top, but the pecan/rollo version sounds tastier.

As for gift giving, why not order something on the Internet and have it shipped directly? One of my fav b-day presents ever was a gift certificate to Amazon–and I am sure my brother (giver of the gift certificate) bought it last minute. I love the gift items you can get on Red Envelope too–very classy.

By: Jane

Jane — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:47:27 +0000

Shea — yes, the ingredients can get pricey. I buy a big bag of pecans at Costco, and they last me a long time. I think this is also why my friend tried this with two pretzels instead of a pecan. That’s great too.

Kikibib — You gotta remember that my kids basically eat anything. My 4 yo eats like a teenage boy. (But I’m sure they’d like the m&m version even better. You know, if I were the kind of mom to give them *candy* on Valentine’s

By: kikibibi

kikibibi — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:30:12 +0000

Oh Jane you have me cracking up! Any chance you could move back East and we could be neighbors?
I am laughing my tail off at the thought of sending the ingredients to your MIL to assemble herself. Thank you, though, for this post, as it gives me a heads up not to forget my OWN MIL’s upcoming 70th! That would be a bad one to forget.
We make these puppies at Christmas time and OMG!!! they are so good. Instead of the pecan (seriously, what kid likes nuts?), we use red and green M&Ms. Oh so pretty! I think I’ll have to make up a batch for my kids for Valentines day, cuz that’s just the kind of mom I am. (except unwrapping all those Rolos is kind of a pain…)

By: Suzy

Suzy — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:29:56 +0000

Try this sometime – we got some for Christmas and were amazed when we found out what it was:

Make a Ritz Cracker Sandwich (peanut butter between two crackers) and dip the whole thing in chocolate. It makes an unbelievably good crunchy reeses-type treat, and looks impressive. I would have eaten 50 of them!

By: Maggie

Maggie — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 14:25:23 +0000

Hmm…I think I found our Valentine’s Day treat. Or maybe the “day after Valentine’s Day when I go to Target to ‘return stuff’ and just happen to amble by the half-price candy” treat. Thanks for not holding out.
BTW, Chex’s Muddy Buddies are just as good, although a bit more work to assemble. Very snarfable.

By: Meme

Meme — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 13:31:06 +0000

Sorry, I didn’t send the correct link in the above comment. The correct link is:
http://www.wearethatfamily.com/2008/10/diyp21-making-old-fashioned-silhouettes.html

I left out what turns out to be a very important “p”.

By: Meme

Meme — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 13:26:14 +0000

I confess that I am also a terrible, waituntilthelastpossiblemoment gift giver and I failed that test on how to send an appropriate gift to a family recipient (espeically my in-laws). And I happened to marry someone even worse than me in this department. But I have to say, my Christmas gifts to the grandparents this past year was my all time best. I know this because each one of them called me, crying tears of joy, telling me this was the best gift I had ever sent. I made easy silhouettes of the kids. Really. Me. All by myself. And they turned out great. I got the idea from here: http://www.wearethatfamily.com/2008/10/diy21-making-old-fashioned-silhouettes.html

In some ways they are better than candy.

And I know what you mean about sending treats to Idaho….I grew up there!

By: Charlotte

Charlotte — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 12:22:14 +0000

My mother in law just taught me about these over the Christmas holidays. And here I was wondering what to bring to book club tonight.

Also, I am a TERRIBLE gift giver. And I married a great one. Made out first few Christmases interesting. So I started keeping a list of ideas for my husband and kids and when they mention something (or I think of something) I write it down. I do better without the pressure.

By: Shea

Shea — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 06:18:13 +0000

My friend in Chicago introduced me to Rolo Turtles a few years ago. I could eat a million of them. My only problem is that they are kind of pricey to make, due to the pecans and Rolos.

By: b.

b. — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 03:30:44 +0000

Those looks really good!! I’ve never seen them before…thanks!

So, I have a really great Valentines Day treat that I learned when I was working at Shepherd’s Cake and Candy. But it’s not easy and not cheap….but really really amazing. Involving lots of chocolate.

By: lynn

lynn — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 02:55:09 +0000

Yum. I do not think eating 17 of these is unreasonable.

By: Tasha

Tasha — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 01:13:10 +0000

Ooooohhh… these look yummy! I’m going to have to try them!