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OTTUMWA, IOWA -- Buying holiday gifts for friends and family can get expensive and most of us have felt the financial strain it can take on us.

However, there are ways to keep your wallet from feeling too light this holiday season.

South Ottumwa Hy-Vee Dietician Heather Ware stopped by the station Monday to show us some easy and inexpensive homemade gifts to give for the holidays.

And all you need are a few ingredients that you may already have in your pantry and some glass jars. And it’s a fun activity for the kids.

“This one is a modified ‘Cookies for Santa’ recipe, helping Santa out a little this year, using half whole wheat flour in this recipe. They still bake up, look just the same and they’re super cute in the jar. You can decorate them any way. These are both the same recipe just put in the jar differently,” said Ware.

COOKIES FOR SANTA MIX DIRECTIONS:

1. Use a 1 quart glass jar
2. Layer the following ingredients:
1 1/3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 cup cooking oats
¾ cup M&M’s
¾ semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
1-3 – ½ cup chopped pecans
      3. Put the lid on the jar
      4. Attach the Cookies for Santa label on the front of the jar
      5. Attach the Cookies for Santa label on the back of the jar.