A Handmade Christmas: Make a Snowman Hot Chocolate Jar Gift

Looking for an adorable and budget-friendly gift idea? These snowman hot chocolate jars are easy to make, and fun to give. They also make a wonderful craft to do with your kids this holiday season! Let me show you how to make them.

This post was first published in 2012 and has since been updated.

My adorable daughter has been loving our crafty days lately – she almost expects a daily craft time now, which I think is the cutest thing in the universe!

Yesterday during “quiet time” we whipped up these easy hot chocolate snowman jar gifts that I think will make cute handmade gifts for our neighbors this year. They’re unique and practical – filled with hot chocolate mix, peppermints and marshmallows that a whole family could enjoy.

I found the inspiration for this project on Pinterest. I saw this image last year and thought it was such a fun way to recycle some baby food jars. You could also use small mason jars or small upcycled jam jars for this DIY.

This fun Holiday craft took us less than an hour. I did the hot gluing and ribbon tying, but my 3 year old did the rest! We’ve made two so far. After we made the first one, my daughter was indignant: “He needs a SISTER!” So, we had to make a girl snow-woman.

How to Make Snowman Hot Chocolate Jars

Materials:

• empty & clean small baby food jars or small 8 oz mason jars like these with lids (3 per snowman)
• hot cocoa mix
• peppermint candy
• mini marshmallows
• scraps of colourful ribbon and brown or black felt
• black permanent Sharpie marker or black acrylic paint and a small paint brush
• buttons (optional)
• hot glue gun
• scissors

Directions:

1. Fill one jar with hot chocolate mix, one with peppermints and one with mini marshmallows. This is a fun job for a kid! Put the lids on the jars.
2. Hot glue the bottom of the peppermint jar to the top of the hot chocolate mix lid, and the bottom of the marshmallow jar to the top of the peppermint jar lid.
3. Tie a ribbon(s) around the “neck” of the snowman to make a scarf.
4. If you want to, make a hat for his head out of felt pieces (with scissors, cut a circle slightly bigger than the jar lid, and top it with a rectangle of felt rolled into a cylinder and glued together) – glue a ribbon around the hat for a hat band (as pictured).
5. Draw a snowman face on the top jar with a permanent marker or acrylic paint and paint brush.
6. Optional: add three small buttons to the front of the middle jar with hot glue.

I hope you have fun making these hot cocoa snowmen! Let me know if you’ll try this simple craft in the comments below. Happy DIYing!