Handwritten Recipe Gifts: Family Recipe Card Keepsakes

Turn your family’s handwritten recipe cards into gifts they’ll treasure, from homemade recipe books and binders to printed tea towels, framed art and more. Easy ideas for Christmas!

I’m a crazy woman when it comes to family recipes.

In fact, they are one of the most precious sentimental collections I own.

I firmly believe that a family’s recipe collection is one of the ways a family’s story and history can be passed on from generation to generation.

Each recipe points to a person, place, and event where shared memories took place – most often around a kitchen table.

Here are some creative ways recipes can be used both as handwritten recipe gifts, and a way to preserve family memories.

5 Ways to turn Recipe Cards into Thoughtful Gifts

Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links for your shopping convenience.

Make your own recipe book

Many years ago, money was tight and Christmas was approaching. I wracked my brain to think of a creative, thoughtful gift idea I could give to both my and my husband’s family members.

I landed on the idea of making my own recipe book called “Recipes- A Collection of Family Favorites compiled by Rita Joy”.

In it were recipes from both sides of our families – our moms, grandmas, sisters, and sisters-in-law.

Included with each recipe was a 1 or 2 sentence description as to the recipe’s origin and a memory attached to it.

There weren’t any fancy full color pictures included – just a bit of black and white clip art for each section division.

I had it photocopied and spiral bound at our local Staples store.

And, ironically, when our boys grew up and left home, they each asked for a copy of one… (Thankfully, I had 3 extra printed and ready for them.;))

Have a cookbook publisher print off your favorite recipes

I’m not going to lie – printing my own cookbook was a LOT of work! Since then, I’ve discovered there are many online companies that will do all the hard work of printing recipe book gifts.

A few options are Blurb, Cookbook Publishers ,and Morris Cookbooks.

*Note: I haven’t had any cookbooks published through those companies, so I cannot speak first hand regarding their service.

Have handwritten recipe cards printed on dish towels

Here are some more additional ideas:

• Engrave a recipe on a cutting board. Mom’s handwriting on a wooden board makes a beautiful kitchen keepsake, and Etsy has lots of options.
• Make a recipe ornament. A handwritten recipe printed on a ceramic or wood ornament is perfect for Christmas.
• Give a recipe box with the family’s favourite cards. Copy a few treasured recipes onto pretty cards, tuck them in a box and add blank cards so the next generation can add their own.
• Digitize your family recipes. Scan them or snap photos and save them in a shared folder or a recipe app, so everyone in the family has a copy and the originals stay safe.

How to Display Family Recipe Cards

Family recipe cards are too special to keep tucked away in a box! Here are a few of my favourite ways to display them so you can enjoy them every day.

Frame a favourite recipe card

Framing a single recipe card is one of the simplest and sweetest ways to display it. Choose a recipe that means the most to you, maybe a holiday tradition or the one you remember being made over and over again. Place it in a pretty frame with a mat around it so the card really stands out. A shadow box frame works well too, and you can add a little vintage measuring spoon or cookie cutter beside the card.

Hang them on an antique window with mini clothespins

This one is close to my heart. At one point, I had an old antique window hanging in my kitchen. I strung a piece of jute across it and used little mini clothespins to hang up some of my old vintage recipe cards. I loved looking at them every day and seeing my grandmas’ handwriting. It was like having a little piece of them right there in the kitchen with me.

If you don’t have an old window, a string of twine across a wall or open shelf works just as well, and it’s easy to swap in different recipes for each season.

Create a recipe card gallery wall

If you have a whole collection of family recipes, group several frames together for a kitchen gallery wall. Mix different frame sizes and finishes for a collected, cozy look, or use matching frames for something a bit more polished. It’s a beautiful way to honour several generations of cooks at once.

Set one on a small easel

For a quick and easy option, prop a recipe card on a small easel and set it on your kitchen counter, open shelf or windowsill. You can change the recipe with the seasons: pumpkin pie in the fall, shortbread at Christmas and strawberry jam in the summer.

FAQ about Antique Recipe Cards

• How do I preserve old handwritten recipe cards? Store them in plastic sleeves away from heat and light, and make copies to use in the kitchen.
• What’s the best way to digitize old family recipes? Scan or photograph them, then save them in a shared folder or recipe app.
• What do I write in a family recipe book? A line or two about who the recipe came from and a memory. Your family will love reading all the memories. I also love it when my Grandma’s wrote whether they liked the recipe or not. The annotations are hilarious!

More Thoughtful Gift Ideas

• If you love giving gifts with meaning, you might enjoy these ideas too:
• Gifts for Empty Nesters: Thoughtful Ideas for Parents Who Have Everything: pampering treats, cozy comforts and sentimental gifts for the parents who are hardest to shop for.
• Christmas Cookie Traditions with Printable Gift Tags: bake, gift and cherish your favourite family cookie recipes, with free printable tags to tie on your cookie gifts.
• How to Decorate Jam Jars to Give as Gifts: pair a jar of homemade jam with a handwritten recipe card for a sweet gift from the kitchen.
• Homemade Meltaway Chocolates: a delicious homemade treat to make, gift and enjoy.
• Kitchen Gadgets Worth Investing In: handy tools that make great gifts for the cook in your life.
• Creative Secret Santa Gifts for Men (and Women!): fun ideas for gift exchanges at work, church or with family.
• Gifts for Someone Recovering from Surgery: practical ideas, plus printable daily encouragement notes.

Get a Free Winter Landscape Printable!

Sign up below to get a free winter landscape art print, plus instant access to my library of over 100 printables, perfect for cozy seasonal decor, gift tags and more!

And if you want to see more real life behind the scenes action, be sure to come join me on my @harbourbreeze Instagram Channel!