Botanic Bleu: Quick, EASY Caramel Apple Gift Bag

Thursday, November 3, 2016

Quick, EASY Caramel Apple Gift Bag

With November comes celebrating holidays with friends and families. Are you having guests for Thanksgiving or Christmas? Many of us are, and one thing that always is a nice surprise for a guest is a welcome-to-our-home gift.

With all the cleaning, buying groceries, cooking special treats, and gift buying for Christmas, our schedules do not have many spare moments for extras. A quick, easy guest welcome gift is a caramel apple gift bag which can be assembled super fast using apples and ready-made caramel sauce from the grocery store.

How easy is this welcome gift? Check off the ways.

#1...

No added stops for shopping. When doing regular grocery shopping, just add the supplies needed to your grocery basket. At least five of the seven needed materials are sold in grocery stores.

Raffia may not be in your grocery, but look in the seasonal section. You may find it. If your store has none, then order it online to avoid making an extra shopping stop/trip.

Materials

two apples of your choice (two different colors make a prettier gift bag)
ready-made caramel sauce (couldn't be any easier)
wide-mouth 8-ounce canning jar with lid
clear wrapping paper (look in gift wrap section of your grocery store)
raffia in red and green
gift tag (optional, but another special touch that says welcome)
an extra set of hands (to hold the clear plastic wrap around the caramel and apples while you tie the raffia into a bow)

#2...

Open the ready-made caramel sauce and transfer 4 to 6 ounces to the wide-mouth canning jar. The wide mouth makes it super easy for your guest to dip apple slices into the caramel sauce. Standard size jars of ready-made caramel hold about 12 ounces of caramel sauce. Enough for 2-3 canning jars for dipping. Large box stores have bigger jars of caramel sauce if you are having a large gathering and need to make several of these fast and easy gift bags.

#3...

Cut off a large section of clear wrapping paper. Select 3-4 pieces of red raffia and 3-4 pieces of green raffia for each gift bag you are making. Combine the red and green raffia pieces for each bag and lay aside where you can easily reach them. Place the jar of caramel sauce in the center of the plastic wrap.

#4...

Place a green apple such as Granny Smith on top of the canning jar of caramel sauce.

#5...

Add a red apple to the top of the green apple and pull the plastic wrap around the stacked apples and caramel jar.

#6...

Have a helper hold the clear wrap together while you use the red and green mixed raffia to tie a bow to hold the bag together.

#7...

The finished bags make a festive arrangement with a basket of apples for a kitchen island or buffet display during a meal. Then guests can take a caramel apple gift bag home as a party favor.

#8...

For overnight guests, place the caramel apple gift bag and a knife for slicing the apples in a small basket in the guest bedroom. Remember to include plenty of napkins. The caramel-dipped apples are a tasty night time treat or the guests can take the caramel apple gift bag with them when they go home.

By putting the caramel sauce in a jar for dipping instead of coating the apples with caramel sauce, your guests can choose whether or not to eat the caramel sauce. For people on a diet, they can still have an apple for a treat and not break their diet.

We're never too old to enjoy a special surprise gift even when it is a quick, easy welcoming gift.

*****

We are also never too old to love to win a give away. See Fall French Sunflowers for directions about how to win a pillow cover of your choice from Elliott-Heath Designs. The give away ends at 6:00 a.m. (CST) on November 6, 2016, and one lucky winner will be selected at random.