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DIY Russian Tea Mason Jar Gift with Photo Gift Tag

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*This Russian Tea Mix post was brought to you in partnership with Walgreens & Mom Spark Media. Thoughts are my own.*

One recipe that stands out from my early teen years is Russian Tea Mix, also known as friendship tea. My mom used to make it every winter and I fell in love with the citrus flavors and warmth it offered on a cold night. When I thought about creating a recipe in a jar, my mind went back to this memory. It is super easy to make and looks great in a mason jar no matter which size is used.  I decorated my jars and even added a photo gift tag for that extra personal touch for this homemade holiday gift.

Get all the ingredients needed to make a Russian tea mix, also known as friendship tea. Create a mason jar gift with this orange tea mix which makes a great homemade holiday gift this season!I knew putting the mix together was going to be the extra easy part. It is literally just measuring out a few ingredients and stirring them together. This is a great recipe for kids to help or do entirely themselves. Homemade gifts that kids can make like this friendship tea or these chocolate dipped candy canes always makes gift giving more fun for them!

Russian Tea Mix Ingredients

Russian tea requires just a few key ingredients including orange flavored drink mix. We’ve always used Tang  and I can’t imagine what it would taste like without it. You’ll also need a dry lemonade drink mix that is already sweetened like Country Time Lemonade and unsweetened tea in powder from Lipton. Add a bit of sugar, cinnamon and cloves and you’ve got a delicious drink to enjoy any time! Just add a couple of spoonfuls to some boiling water.

Get all the ingredients needed to make a Russian tea mix, also known as friendship tea. Create a mason jar gift with this orange tea mix which makes a great homemade holiday gift this season!

4.91 from 11 votes
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Russian Tea Mix

Course Drink
Author Unknown

Ingredients

  • 2 cups orange-flavored drink mix Tang
  • 1 cup lemonade-flavored drink mix
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup instant unsweetened tea powder
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon cloves

Instructions

  1. In a large bowl, stir together all ingredients. (Let ingredients settle for best flavor.)
  2. To serve, add 2 to 4 teaspoons to a mug. Add boiling water and stir.

It doesn’t get easier than that.

How to Make a Mason Jar Gift

I picked up some supplies from my local craft store. Because of the flavors of the tea, I thought cinnamon sticks were a great fit for the outside and of course they smell divine. To dress up the jars, I found fun clear scrapbook stickers which attached easily to the outside.

Get all the ingredients needed to make a Russian tea mix, also known as friendship tea. Create a mason jar gift with this orange tea mix which makes a great homemade holiday gift this season!

I wanted to make our jars very personalized, so I put in an order online for the Walgreens Photo Center just down the street.  I wasn’t sure exactly what size I would need so I ordered some wallet prints that were $.99 for a sheet of four and created a few collage prints in different sizes so I would have some choices. The collage prints are only $.39 for a 4″x6″ sheet so they were actually the cheapest route but in the end I used the wallet size for my tag. What works best for you will depend upon the picture you choose and how many pictures you add into the collage. My pictures had a lot of background included so they were more flexible than a close up shot would be in this case.  Ultimately the wallet size ended up being perfect with a little trimming and I loved the collages so much I didn’t want to cut them if I didn’t need to.

Get all the ingredients needed to make a Russian tea mix, also known as friendship tea. Create a mason jar gift with this orange tea mix which makes a great homemade holiday gift this season!

It took me no time at all. My Walgreens offered same day pick up and in my case, was done in an hour. I used a coupon code I found right on Walgreens which gave me 50% off with a $10 order or more so I added in some prints. This was very affordable! (Note: If your pictures were professionally done, be sure to have a copy of your photographer’s print release. I had to fill out a form and provide a copy in order to obtain my pictures.)

DIY Russian Tea Mason Jar Gift with Decorated Lid

For the tops of my jars, I cut some burlap garland and tied them off with some ribbon. I inserted a cinnamon stick in the knot and added a few wire berries. They were very easy to attach, especially since my ribbon has holes.

Get all the ingredients needed to make a Russian tea mix, also known as friendship tea. Create a mason jar gift with this orange tea mix which makes a great homemade holiday gift this season!

Using my wavy crafting scissors and some double-sided tape, I trimmed my photo to fit and attached to my gift tags. I embellished them a bit at the edges and attached them to my ribbon with decorative pins.  I played around with different layouts, and the possibilities are endless.  The back of the gift tag was the perfect place to include the simple instructions for the Russian tea.
Get all the ingredients needed to make a Russian tea mix, also known as friendship tea. Create a mason jar gift with this orange tea mix which makes a great homemade holiday gift this season!

This was a super easy project and is great for gift giving this holiday season. I plan to keep these jars on hand for hostess or teacher gifts. And I’m definitely going to be making some more photo gift tags for presents with the leftover wallets. They were surprisingly easy and really make gifts stand out! Hope you love this Russian Tea Mix gift idea that is perfect for the holidays.

Get all the ingredients needed to make a Russian tea mix, also known as friendship tea. Create a mason jar gift with this orange tea mix which makes a great homemade holiday gift this season!
Get all the ingredients needed to make a Russian tea mix, also known as friendship tea. Create a mason jar gift with this orange tea mix which makes a great homemade holiday gift this season!

 

38 Comments

  1. you made these look great. I think this would be fun to do with my daughter this year. I will keep this is mind! very different from what other ppl do here and i think they would like it

  2. Thanks for sharing this recipe. I pinned it. It sound delicious & I’m wondering how it is that I’ve never had Russian tea?????????

  3. 5 stars
    WOW these look like they should be in a store to buy! The gift tags give it that personal touch! Love the burlap! I’m a huge tea drinker so I would definatly try this recipe too.

  4. Pingback: 50 Gifts in a Jar
  5. To some people when they smell gingerbread or peppermint, it takes them to the holidays. For me, its the smell of russian tea. I am 58 years old and have drinking it since I was a small child every winter!!!!

  6. I grew up drinking Russian tea and loved it. My family has made the Russian Tea mix for many years. I made some a couple years ago and my kids did not like it 🙁 more for me right. 🙂 I love the decorated mason jar idea.

  7. Wow!! This was a recipe that’s been a staple in my house since I was young – something my Great Grandma used to make. I don’t feel like Xmas until I’ve had my first cup of the season. Here in Canada, you can’t find instant tea crystals anymore, so I started using iced tea crystals instead and eliminated the added sugar, and it tastes exactly the same. I’ve given this as a gift at Xmas many times over the years!

      1. This recipe makes 5 1/2 cups of drink mix. So it really depends upon how big of jars you want to use. The mason jars featured are a pint (16 oz) which is 2 cups of the drink mix. If you used half pint jars you would get approximately 11 jars if you doubled the batch of this mix but you can probably stretch that to 12 if you don’t mind them not being quite full. Or try 2 1/2 batches and keep some for yourself. 🙂 Hope that helps!

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