Every time Easter occurs during the month of March, I found myself taken off guard. I expect Easter in April. March is for St, Patrick’s day. To place the two holidays near each other is just too much for my mommy brain to endure. I literally woke up this morning and realized that Easter is tomorrow. Though we don’t do anything big for either holiday, I at still like to have a little something  to surprise my son when he wakes up ( even if he is a teenager). He doesn’t get a basket any more so this year, I opted to make a quick and easy Easter gift jar to hold a few treats.

Supplies for the Easter Gift Jar

If you are concerned about not having everything shown in the picture above…don’t worry! The supplies needed and the tutorial itself are both quite flexible. I literally just used what I had on hand. Keep your supply choices simple. Note how I used a simple black and white polka dot print tissue paper. The candy you choose to fill your Easter gift jar with will be what gives it color. So don’t worry if the papers you have on hand are plain or not themed.

The most important item is the jar itself. Preferably, it should have a lid.I used an empty Nutella jar. Should you not have an empty jar in your home, locate a jar. Any jar. Then proceed to empty that jar out. If it has nutella or other food stuffs inside it, scrape it/pour it out and put the contents in a Tupperware dish. Spaghetti sauce jars work fine.However, I don’t recommend using pickle jars.The pickle smell will remain and may make anything you place in the jar smell like pickles ( which the recipient won’t care for too much unless they are weird and like pickled chocolates or pickled jelly beans. In which case, by all means, use the pickle jar). If the contents are dry goods, pour them into a zip loc bag. Wash your jar out and dry it. Then make a note to yourself to save and keep  a few empty jars around the house because, while this tutorial is mainly for Easter, you could replicate it for birthdays, Halloween and Christmas.

You will also need scissors, something to write with, a cereal box or other thin cardboard, tissue paper or gift wrap and some glue( hot glue or something that dries fast). Optional items include gel matte medium( though I wish I would have had Mod Podge) and small plastic animals.

 

Step One: Hide the Writing on the Lid

More often than not, the lid on your chosen jar will have some form of writing or a photo on it. You could spend the time priming and painting the lid. The downside to that would be having to wait for it to dry. In some cases, as with the lid on the Nutella jar I chose, the writing is raised. If you don’t want any of this to show through, you will need to cover the lid up (especially if you are using tissue paper). Place the lid on a piece of cardboard. Mine is from a cereal box ( although any paperboard style box will do). I hoard a few, cut down and flattened in my craft supplies. If you don’t have some hoarded, head to your cabinet and grab a cereal box. To make the box usable, remove the bag of cereal from the box and put it in your cabinet. You now have cardboard. Don’t feel bad about using the box.Most likely people in your house know what kind it is by sight and if not, they can have cereal surprise for breakfast on Monday.  Trace the lid onto the box and then cut it out.

 

 

Use a quick dry glue to adhere the cardboard circle onto the lid. I used zip dry, but you can use hot glue or whatever you have on hand.

 

Step Two: Cover the Lid

Put a little glue or adhesive on the lid, place it in the center of a piece of tissue paper or wrapping paper and trim the paper down to a small square. You want it just big enough to wrap around your lid but so so big that the lid will become bulky. If it starts feeling bulky, you can trim the paper down as you go. I used two sheets of tissue paper since the paper I chose was white and slightly see through. Two sheets was all that was needed to satisfactorily cover the lid.

 

 

Add a little adhesive or glue to the center of the lid, then fold one part of the paper inward. I switched to my tape runner to speed things up. I didn’t want to wait for liquid adhesive to dry and I didn’t want to use hot glue and burn my fingers. Either would still have worked fine. After folding a piece of paper inward, apply another bit of adhesive and then fold again. Try to gently tuck or mold the paper to conform to the lid size. If it becomes to bulky, you won’t be able to place the lid back onto the jar. However, should that happen, you can still use the gift jar. Just set the lid on top and tie it down with some ribbon. Make sure to advise the gift recipient not to grab the git jar by the lid.

The next two steps are optional. Completing them will be based on the amount of time you have or the supplies you have on hand.

 

Step Three: Paint the Lid with Gel Matte Medium

I was concerned that the tissue paper might be delicate and tear. I decided to cover the jar lid with gel matte medium. I think Mod Podge might have worked better but I didn’t have that on hand. Alternatively, I could have used some watered down school glue to achieve a similar effect. This step isn’t necessary. In fact, some wrapping papers would be stiff enough that you could easily skip this step. Also, if you are short on time, you may not want to worry with waiting for the lid to dry. Should you choose to cover it with a clear glue like substance, paint it in sections( top first, then sides, then inside) lest you inadvertently glue the lid down to the table.

 

Step 4: Decorate the Lid

I happened to have a few small plastic rabbits which I had picked up for craft projects. I glued one onto the lid. You could use any small plastic animal, a button, a large bead or just choose to leave the top of the jar plain. Alternatively, you could tie a bow with ribbon and add a small gift tag.

 

It’s Time to Fill Your Easter Gift Jar

Small Candy seems to be the best option for stuffing the jar. That being said, if you don’t have a lot of candy on hand, there is a simple solution. Carefully crumple small piece of wrapping paper or tissue paper  into loose balls and place ithem in the bottom of the jar, then fill with candy. To make it more interesting, do this in alternate layers. IE. one layer crumpled paper, a small bit of candy, another layer of crumpled paper, more candy, etc. until the jar is full.

 

The jars are quick and easy to make. If you have more time, you can make quite a few and give them out as party favors. Remember when I said you could do this for other holidays or birthdays? Just keep your eyes open for inexpensive plastic animals or themed party favors which might look good glued to the top of the lid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more Easter Inspiration, visit the MSE Easter Pinterest Board:

 

Follow My Scrapbook Evolution’s board Holidays- Easter on Pinterest.