Now and Later Cookies - A Housewarming Gift

Our cousin Claire just closed on her first house. It is such a cute place and I am so unbelievable excited for her. This past Saturday she moved all her stuff in. Joe went earlier in the day to do the heavy lifting, and JJ and I stopped by in the afternoon to bring some treats and I wanted to bring her a housewarming gift.

I saw a lot of pins in December showcasing frozen cookie dough as a gift. I love the idea because I feel like everyone gets a ton of cookies, but because they get so many a lot go to waste. And lets be honest, I am a cookie lover, but after a week straight of gorging myself on them, I have had enough. The idea is to provide the dough so the recipient can make a fresh batch when all the holiday craziness is over. See example here:

Source: Marci Coombs

I also saw this one:

Source: Write.Click.Scrapbook.

that combined the dough with a cookie scoop. That made me think of using this idea as a housewarming gift and provide the cookie baking supplies. I knew Claire didn't have any cookie sheets so the idea seemed perfect. I also decided to actually bake some of the cookies to provide a snack to the people there, and give a taste of what she can expect when she bakes them up herself.

I bought a couple cookie sheets, an oven mitt, spatula, and a couple freezerware containers while I was at the food store. Once I had the dough made, I froze a little more than half into individual cookies so she can bake just a couple at a time if she wants. Then I packaged it all up, and added a little tag with baking instructions.

The Results:
I think she really liked it. I know all the helpers enjoyed the fresh cookies. Also I didn't realize when I bought it but she also really needed that oven mitt - she didn't have one yet. Honestly though I am not sure if the dough will ever see the inside of the oven - its tempting to eat it right from the freezer!

Things to Consider:
I wish I had thought of this idea a little earlier so I could have sought out some cuter packaging. I love those little tubs I see from some of the pins. A cuter label would have been nice too but I was trying to cram it all in during JJ's nap. I think I will definitely make some of these for Christmas this year as a cute and inexpensive gift.

Looking for another housewarming gift idea? See Shannon's gift basket from last summer here.

Housewarming Gift

A friend of mine recently bought her first place. She just moved in 2 weeks ago and I went to go check it out the other night. And of course I wanted to bring a little something when I went. I decided to forgo the usual bottle of wine because I figured that's what everyone else who visits will bring her. So I turned to this pin for inspiration.  

Martha Stewart

This housewarming gift is from Martha Stewart. Unfortunately, Martha’s site does not list what items are in the bucket.  I decided to just use the pin as a general inspiration and do my own thing. I went to Target and tried to think of things that you can always use when you first move to a new place but can never find packed away in your boxes.

Here’s what I bought:

• 2 pack of Flashlights – (in Boston we’ve been losing power quite often with the blazing heat so these may come in handy!)
• Batteries – always useful!
• Scissors
• Extension Cord– a must in a new place
• Candle
• Gorilla Glue- not exactly sure what that is but I liked the sound of it
• Basket – I decided to do a basket instead of the bucket I think she’ll get more use out of it.

I used some Styrofoam in the bottom of the basket and covered it with tissue paper to lift the candle up a bit and give it a bit of dimension.

I think if I was to make this gift again; I would include a hammer and/or some picture hanging supplies. The possibilities are really endless with what you can put in here.

I think it came out cute. Just a simple little “congratulations on your new home” gift.

Update: Need another housewarming gift idea? Check out these "Now & Later Cookies."