How to cut the cost of Christmas Day?

lilian1977

fiscalfreckles wrote: »

Can you locate some holly near you? If there's a hedge or bush in the vicinity, a few sprigs of that in a wine glass with a bit of red ribbon is simple & festive as a table decoration.

Tracyburt - I just meant this that was mentioned earlier in the thread x

sarahf191979

Tesco's Had a Large Salmon Ready to cook from frozen in yesterday think it was £6.50 but would easy do everyone. (It was in the freezer section with the festive joints that are all on offer at the minute)

HTH

Juliepink26

Could do with some help of cutting christmas costs this year, have 27 guests at least for christmas day and around 20 on boxing day, would like to be really orginsied this year, got lots disney mini crackers for the childrens table from the woolworths closing down sale, I always like to have mini gifts for each person on the table, usually mintiure cholates for the ladies and mini whiskey for the men. Need to decide on colour theam, usually purpule and silver is my favorite but last year went all tradtional an to be honest I wasnt so keen, so back to silver and purpule this year!! Used to have candles on the table till one year a serveat went up in flames, not recomended!!!
Most of the food is done by the men, all the meat is cooked on a chrcoal spit out side, a whole lamb, pork and nibbles all greek food. Then we do tradtionaly turkey and trimmings on boxing day. But this year with all this credit crunch, need to save money in any way I can so all help apreachted..xxxx

MeNikki

For starters you could also prepare a few salads (eg potato salad, prawn salad, egg salad, tuna & sweetcorn, etc) then place them in nice looking dishes and serve with a selection of crackers or oven baked baguette.
You can also just boil a few eggs and cut in half, use the cooked egg yolks to make a little filling.

My family always used to do this, many of our guests would prepare their signature salad as my mum always prepared the main meal. But I always liked it as a kid as I could choose what I liked without being 'forced' to eat things I didn't want.

fiscalfreckles

tracyburt wrote: »

have I missed something? we have a holly bush in the garden so alternative ways of using it are always welcome

As long as it has some berries on it, you've got tons of almost free Xmas decs!

I put it in vases, small glasses etc all around the house. I cover the mantelpiece in sprigs of it too, with church candles dotted among it. Also I have a lovely wicker wreath base for the front door (got it from hobbycraft) into which I poke sprigs of fresh holly and tie on a few other sparkly bits & ribbon. I have carriage type lanterns outside the house and I tie bits to those with ribbon too.

If its there, use it! It lasts quite well though of course it will die eventually. But then you can replace it.

fiscalfreckles

Juliepink26 wrote: »

Could do with some help of cutting christmas costs this year, have 27 guests at least for christmas day and around 20 on boxing day, would like to be really orginsied this year, got lots disney mini crackers for the childrens table from the woolworths closing down sale, I always like to have mini gifts for each person on the table, usually mintiure cholates for the ladies and mini whiskey for the men. Need to decide on colour theam, usually purpule and silver is my favorite but last year went all tradtional an to be honest I wasnt so keen, so back to silver and purpule this year!! Used to have candles on the table till one year a serveat went up in flames, not recomended!!!
Most of the food is done by the men, all the meat is cooked on a chrcoal spit out side, a whole lamb, pork and nibbles all greek food. Then we do tradtionaly turkey and trimmings on boxing day. But this year with all this credit crunch, need to save money in any way I can so all help apreachted..xxxx

I find that the best MS thing about having lots of people over at Xmas is that they usually all bring a bottle!

EightiesChick_2

A really nice and easy soup recipe is Nigella Lawson's pea and pesto soup. Basically all you need are frozen peas, pesto (she says fresh but I reckon it would be fine with pesto from a jar) , spring onion, a lime and salt. Everyone we've tried it on has liked it including my friend's 2 yr old son so it works for kids too. Easy to do and just warm up when you need it, with some warm bread as people have said.

Recipe is:
Makes enough for 2 hearty bowls
750ml water
375g frozen peas
2 spring onions, trimmed but whole
1 tsp Maldon salt or ½ tsp table salt
½ tsp lime juice
4 x 15ml tbsp fresh pesto (from a tub, not a jar)
1 The quickest way to proceed is to fill a kettle first and put it on to boil. When it has boiled, measure the amount you need into a pan and put on the hob to come back to the boil.
2 Add the frozen peas, spring onions, salt and lime juice to the pan and let everything bubble together for 7 minutes.
3 Discard the spring onions and blitz the peas and their liquid with the pesto in a blender.

shelovestobuystuff

We usually do a choice of starters for everyone,tomato soup with croutons,prawn cocktail,pate and melba toast a bit of salad and cranberry sauce or brie filo parcels also with salad and cranberry sauce.If you want to do the same for everyone a bit of game terrine or smoked salmon is nice.
For table cloths I have in the past used bedding or a curtain as I didnt have a tablecloth big enough.Check out charity shops for anything in a nice rich fabric which would dress up the table.You could use a pair or velvet curtains to make a tablecloth and placemats.
A plain white cotton bed sheet looks really nice with gold accessories.
Make your own napkin rings with bits of rich wired ribbon stapled to form a ring or just a bit of satin or velvet ribbon or scrap fabric tied in a bow.
Poundland have started putting the xmas stuff out and they have big chargers in gold or red which will really look fab under plain crockery and you wont need placemats either.
For floral centrepiece chop a branch or two off a fir tree(the soft lower branches of layllandi are good for this) place fir cones,holly leaves and berry sprigs amongst the foliage and small sit candle jars amongst the branches.

kethry

re the holly: every year i do an arrangement on a couple of candle brackets i have up on the wall.. i get some oasis, cut to size (about the size of a mug), then get some holly from a bush near by and various other greenery or dried things, combined with a candle (which doesn't get lit, its just there as a centerpiece), perhaps a ribbon or a cone, i do a display.. i then hang a couple of ribbons from the candle sconce which christmas cards are stapled to. Last year i even managed to lay my hands on a very very long piece of ivy which was stretched between the two candle sconces - it looked very very attractive, even if i do say so myself. You could even use fairy lights this way i suppose, i might do that this year



Anyway, what i was going to say, you can also spray your holly leaves, and if you wanted to, you can write on the leaf (carefully, cos they're prickly) with a gold or silver pen to make place names. I usually do a couple other arrangements as well, just on a table or something nearby - its very easy to do, and can look amazingly effective, whatever you use, i've done this for a couple of years now.

HTH

keth
xx

jackomdj

I think this year DD & I are going to pick pine cones & spray them.

OH does a lovely pea soup which is basically peas, cream, salt & pepper. We usually have a small amount of this.

We are not very money saving with the main course as we buy a massive free range turkey (last year it was about £75!) but we use it for sandwiches late at night then turkey stew for a few days (I LOVE turkey stew!)

I do buy bits from now until Xmas to get good deals on all the extra's that we buy in, these all go away in a box so they don't get used.

My parents come & stay & usually arrive either Xmas eve or the day after boxing day & they always bring a big tin of chocolates - so we don't get any.

Nicky