Simple Gifts: Russian Tea Mix

Homemade gifts in 30 minutes or less!

Our son Nick, whom we adopted at age five, remembers this drink from when he was a little boy in Russia. He taught us how to prepare it, and now we enjoy it every Sunday morning at breakfast. You don’t need to tell anyone how easy it is!

You Will Need:
• One box of Lipton instant ice tea mix flavored with sugar and lemon
• Small glass jars from Specialtybottle.com or Kerr canning jars available at your local grocery store
• Labels
• Text labels (optional)
• Tags (optional)
• Decorative paper
• Twine, string or ribbon

Repackage the ice tea mix in glass jars, screw lid on firmly. Add labels as desired. Cut decorative paper in circles, press and fold snugly over the tops of the jars and tie nice and tight with twine or string. They are ready to go!

To serve: In a teacup combine one heaping teaspoon of mix with piping hot water, stir and enjoy.

Guidelines for Simple Gifts:
• Plan ahead. Think about and decide what you want to do well in advance so you can do the shopping portion of the giftmaking along with other errands. Have all materials and ingredients on hand when it is time to make the gift.
• Packaging. Pretty packaging makes any gift special. Arm yourself with a supply of small boxes or cellophane bags and ribbon. We also recommend having your own personalized tags or labels on hand. Use generic wording so they can be used on a multitude of items. For example, mom’s tags and labels say “with love from Grammie.” With no reference to what the item is, they can be used on anything!
• It is not the item itself that is special; it is the idea that you think enough about a person to prepare something personally for them. Sometimes your gift doesn’t even have to be handmade; but hand-assembled. Follow this monthly series and you will see examples of both.

More Simple Gift Ideas…

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