After skimming through and seeing the thead about the gooseberry patch books I rememebered a booktitled 'gifts in a jar' or something along those lines that I think they published. They look so neat! plus I've seen 'kits' like these at honeybaked ham and country stores/restaurants and wonder how good they are? I've never tried them but they look so pretty layered in the mason jars with the cute little pasta shapes on top and all the neat colors!

anyone tried any of these or other 'gifts in a jar' that were successful??

I actually did bean soup in a jar this year to go in Christmas baskets. I used a "recipe" that was posted here on PBS, I'm not sure by who.

"A very cheap gift that people seem to like is "bean soup in a jar".  You get as many varieties of dried beans you want from the grocery store, I get the largest bag of each.  Mix them all together in a huge bowl, then measure two cups worth into mason jars.  Use scrap squares of material and ribbon to make  a pretty lid cover and attach this recipe to the jar: Soak beans overnight - pour off soak water - cover with fresh water - bring to boil - simmer an hour and a half - add chopped onion, diced tomatoes and chopped smoked sausage - simmer additional hour or so, until beans are tender and sausage is done."

I mixed up the dried beans, filled pint mason jars, put the lid on, cut circles out of fabric and used the band part of the lid to hold the fabric on. I printed out enough copies of the directions, cut them out with scrapbooking scissors, punched a hole and tied it to the jar with twine.

See pictures at this http://www.flickr.com/photos/mpmarus/

Here is a page with lots of "in a jar" ideas: http://www.recipegoldmine.com/foodgift/foodgift.html

Mary that sounds neat! I'll check out your links!

I make these all the time to go in all kinds of baskets. We own several rental properties and I make these as housewarming gifts for new  tenants. makes them feel special. I also do cookies and dinners in a jar. milkmaid