Gifts: jam making

[Jasminty]

Hi I am fairly new to this and wanted your opinion on if I can make jam for my family for christmas. Give them the jars and ask when finished if I can have them back so I can make more for next time.

They're quite expensive. I know I could look cheap asking for them back but ..... what do think would it be so bad?

I really wouldn't ask for them back.

Errr no, I wouldn't ask for them back and think it was strange if somebody asked for an empty jam jar back, to presumably fill up again for the next year?!

Personally I wouldn't ask for them back as would consider it part of the gift. I think if you can't afford to not have them back, it would be less cringe to ask people for empty jam jars in the run up to Christmas, if they have any, and sterilize and use those. You can always decorate with nice ribbon and labels, etc.

Yes, it would be so bad.

But I'd be pissed off to be given jam instead of a real present anyway.

Let's be honest. 99% of those crafty/home-made type of things are more about the fun the giver had in making them, rather than what the recipient might actually like as a hobby.

I don't think you can ask for the jars back. The pressure! Buy cheap jars or save jars from other things.

Yes you can't ask for it back. There's loads of places you can get these jars at a reasonable price?

I don't really think you can really ask for them back. Is it because you're concerned about the environment? Would they not re-use them or recycle?

Can't you buy store jam and reuse those jars?
Much cheaper than buying the actual jars!

Saucy Jack - how about home made sloe gin? ;)

Jam costs a couple of quid to buy. I think you can give jam to your family but not as their only gift.

I would rather not be given the gift, than be asked for half of it back.

What saucyjack said plus the homemade stuff I've received has sometimes been questionable by the time we have opened it when jars have been sterilised to use again, the lids. It's like asking for the gift bag back isn't it?

We buy economy jam/marmalade and 2 meters of checked fabric....jars are about 24p each (if we buy marmalade it doubles up as a glaze on the x,as cakes! Or we just chuck it) and fabric is £1.50 and you get about 20 small squares...clean the jars and remove label, sterilise them, add the jam, cut a square and use string to tie round the neck...job done for dead cheap

Definitely don't ask for them back.

Personally I'd rather not have a gift at all if it was jam, as it ends up lurking in my cupboard until I throw it out . I know that's awful, but we don't tend to eat a lot of jam in our house anyway and the homemade stuff seems to go off quite quickly IME. If you have a family of jam lovers that's totally different of course! How about something else homemade? I've made fudge for people a few times and it's so easy and I always get loads of compliments on it. You can make all sorts of different flavours and decorate. I've heard honeycomb is a good one too though I've never actually made it.

God no don't ask for them back! That will look really cheap on your part, it would be like asking for a gift bag back!

No. Asking for them back would look really cheap when you can get Kilner jam jars in wilkos for £3.
I would rather not have a gift than have a gift with strings attached

I wouldnt ask for them to give the jars back. I bought a box of 24 or so from amazon for last christmas and made some marmelade and mustard and gave it as a present. Everyone liked it so will be making some more this year.
I got offered the jars back too in the end but I would have never gone round asking for them as they are part of the gift.

I don't think you can ask for the jars back, but like others, I've bought value jam in the past just for the jars. I love homemade presents, much better than spending too much on something I might not really like. Also, jam and other foods get used up and don't clutter the house up for years on end.

I've made jam for the dc teachers as end of year gifts. The dc picked the strawberries, so I hoped it would be a nice personal gift, along with a handwritten note.

OP, you can buy glass jars relatively cheaply online? Here are some being sold for about 70p each on Amazon.

I realise that if you make jam it may seem like a good gift but it's fairly mediocre from a recipients point of view and if I have to clean out the jar and return then it's not a gift it's a pain in the arse. I'd rather you didn't bother to be honest!

I'd be happy to give a jar back if asked, but then I hate the idea of the jars going to landfill.

I have relatives who would give me the jars back, but others I wouldn't bother asking.

So once you've asked for the jars back, you will fill them up and give them again as gifts? So for the foreseeable future, your gift to your family every year will be....some jam? Are they very keen on jam, or maybe there is some other reason that you think they will like this?

Ask yourself honestly how much you'd like it if you got a jar of jam every year as your christmas gift. Unless this is part of some agreed christmas tradition, where you each make a small token gift for each other.

Also, price-wise, once you've bought the fruit, jars and sugar, it would usually be cheaper to just buy commercially produced jam, so it's not really saving you money. Following the end of rationing, jam is not exactly a luxurious or special item. If you have access to large amounts of soft fruit, then maybe you could do something a bit more imaginative than jam with it?

Don't think there are many jam-makers here! If I give someone jam I've made, I always ask for the jar back when I've finished. Mind you, I've never given it as Christmas presents. Maybe you could say 'Please let me have the jar back when you've finished, as they are reusable'?