Recipe Boxes 19

My husband and I are in the stage of our lives where we are invited to many weddings. Our children are planning their weddings and so are their friends. Our house has always been the gathering spot for the neighborhood children as well as the friends that our son and daughter made in college. As a result not only are we invited to the wedding, but also to the wedding showers. I was trying to think of an idea for a shower gift that would be unique as well as inexpensive, due to the number of weddings we had in a short period of time. My niece gave me a great idea one day because she called and asked for a recipe. I love to cook and feed people. As a result I am often asked for recipes. I decided that I would make recipe boxes filled with recipes that I have served over the years.



I decided that I would have a kitchen theme for the shower gifts. I created the recipe boxes by scanning my favorite recipes into the computer. This was great because they were hand written without me having to write each one. I then made copies and pasted the recipes onto index cards. I found several different recipe boxes that I liked. Most of them came with blank cards in them. One of the recipe boxes I purchased had a great idea in it. On the sample recipe card it had a list of side dishes and wines that would complement the recipe on the card. I showed this to my daughter and she agreed that this was a difficult part of cooking for her, knowing what to serve together. I added cards to each box that included menu ideas as well as table decorating ideas.



The first bridal shower was given for twins that were getting married a week apart. They have always been close and had wanted a double ceremony; however one of the groom's families did not like the idea. I brought the two recipe boxes along with a set of hot pads and wooden spoons for each bride. My sister was at the shower and asked if she could get one of the recipe boxes. I also had several other requests. My idea of making a simple, inexpensive shower gift has developed into a small business for me. I custom make recipe boxes for people as well as selling some generic ones. It is a fun extra income stream.