It’s starting to get cold in my neck of the woods and throughout most of the country. As sad as I am to see summer fade away, I do look forward to the snow that winter will bring. But first, we need to get through the crazy-weather days of autumn! The best way I know to get through a chilly evening is to snuggle with a blanket and a hot cup of spiced cider.

Spiced cider is great for parties, too! If you’re having guests to your home in the next few months, why not welcome them immediately with the soothing smell of simmering spiced cider? It’s perfect for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or any winter get-together, indoors or out (fill a Thermos for that football game or when taking a drive to look at Christmas lights).

Whether you want to make your spiced cider by the mug-full or jug-full, I’ve got just the recipe for mulling spices. (Be sure to check out our handy worksheet later in this post that will help you with quantities for making lots of mixture at once!)

So that’s the basic recipe, but there’s so much you can do with this besides just keep it on hand for cold nights or parties. Jo and I make a huge batch of mulling spices up every year and fill pretty jars with it. We keep them on hand for:

• Lovely, inexpensive Christmas gifts for friends, neighbors, and co-workers for whom we want to get something but can’t afford spend a lot of money.
• Emergency gifts for when somebody drops by unexpectedly with a gift and you want to have something to give in return.
• Stocking stuffers for our aunts and grandmothers, who love to treat themselves with easy-to-make hot drinks.

These little jars are also great for specific occasions such as:

• Party favors for fall-themed bridal showers (like we did for our friend’s shower last year), weddings, or birthday parties.
• Christmas gifts for your children’s teachers.
• Housewarming gift (especially when tucked into a basket with a couple of mugs) for a new neighbor or friend.

If you want to make a big batch of this mixture to put into jars, here are some tips to help you with the process:

1. Find canning jars with lids or cute, plastic, holiday-themed jars or canisters. Make sure you know how much each one will hold, so you can make the right amount of mixture.
2. Use our handy Mulling Spice Calculation Worksheet to calculate just how much mixture to make. You enter the number of jars and the size of each into the worksheet, and it will tell you exactly how much of each ingredient to mix together to make enough mulling spices to fill all your jars.
3. For an extra decorative touch, cut a circle of fabric using pinking shears and put it over the top of the jar. Secure it in place with a rubber band and then tie a piece of ribbon around it to cover the rubber band and make it look pretty.
4. You’ll want to include instructions with your jars, so we’ve made a template to help you with that. Just download our Mulling Spice Tags Template and print it on the white side of a piece of colorful scrapbook paper. Then cut each tag out, fold in half, punch a hole in the corner, and tie to your ribbon. Using decorative paper will give your tag a nice outside, and the instructions will be neatly printed inside.