Sara Noel of Frugal Village shares a reader’s suggestions about gifts in a jar for her newspaper column today. You can find the piece on page 3E of today’s print and e-editions of The Monroe Evening News or at Sara’s web site (go past the onion story, it’s there).

A snippet:

BAKING: Add cookie cutters, wooden spoon, oven mitt, pure vanilla, chocolate chips, frosting tub, sprinkles, etc. — Katie, Arizona

Now, keep in mind that glass jars can get very expensive. Katie says she saves, begs for and recycles glass jars.

You might want to consider purchasing plastic tubs such as those designed for leftovers – it won’t look as pretty, but they’ll be a lot cheaper when you buy them on sale.

And for some coffee mix gifts recently, I put the mix in a snack-sized zippy bag and then slid that bag into a pretty treat bag. I bought 20 treat bags for $1 last week at Crafts 2000 in Monroe.