Bakerella, whose experiments with cake pops are legendary, recently posted a cute “Cowgirl Cookie” mix tutorial and even included downloadable labels for the jars. Her example is rather obnoxiously pink, but we can fix that.

She mentions in passing that you can vary the color for different holidays and suggests checking the seasonal candy aisle for appropriately-colored M&Ms. If you don’t want to wait that long, many candy retailers offer M&Ms in a wide variety of custom colors–Sweet Be’s and Candy Favorites were the first two that popped up in a search–and you can also order custom-printed M&Ms at My M&Ms (although, oddly, they don’t offer black).

The smooth jars she uses are available at many craft stores or from Amazon. For a vintage Halloween-type look, decorate the top with black-and-orange checked gingham fabric tied with raffia (you can tie a miniature broom to the front if you’re feeling ambitious). For something a little gothier, use a scrap of black lace or brocade and tie with black ribbon. Stick a plastic spider or two to the top with a dab of hot glue.

Play with label design in your favorite graphics program; I gothed up a sample set here (isn’t that spider lovely? There are more like it at Larval Bug), but you can use whatever clip art and fonts appeal to you. (One caution: Make sure the font you use for the instructions is fairly readable.)

I love this kind of assembly-line project, where you can knock off a bunch of them in a short time. You can turn out professional-looking results easily and cheaply, and they’d be an interesting wedding favor or last-minute hostess gift.