Win £200. Festive Fivers Competition 2008: The best Xmas pressies for under £5

simeon

These always go down a treat with my family - and are great for all ages.

Name of present? Boxes of home-made fudge

Do you make it or buy it? Make it

Total Cost? Flexible - but at most £3 per box

Details (the more the better)
Proper fudge is expensive to buy (often £1.50/100g), but making it is easy - you just need a big pan, a bit of patience and a strong mixing arm! Kids can help. There are various recipes around, including a good one here. Sugar is the key ingredient, and the main cost. I usually make a variety of types (chocolate, vanilla, raisin) to create mixed gift boxes.

Then you need to choose how to package the fudge. The simplest option is to put it in little polythene bags, adorned with ribbons. But it looks much classier to create attractive boxes of fudge, using gift boxes. I've bought these from Paperchase and Woolworths, and sometimes even re-used presentation boxes that other things have come in, or bought little storage boxes in the sales from home-type shops. Fill the boxes with your lovely fudge, using greaseproof paper or card to separate the layers.

The final touch is to create a description or label for the boxes. I usually do this on a computer, with a fancy font, and include a list of ingredients (no E numbers to worry about!). You can personalise it for each recipient. Print it on nice paper or card, then put inside the lid of each box, or as a tag on the outside, secured with ribbon.

A variant on this theme is to also home-make other simple sweets - such as marzipan-stuffed dates, chocolate truffles, and peppermint creams - and include them in the boxes too. But the fudge is always the favourite!

MissCreant

• Name of present? Biscuit Bundles
• Do you make it or buy it? Make it
• Total Cost? Flexible depnding on amount, the more you make, the cheaper they are
• Details (the more the better) :

I have a very large family and several older Aunties. I never had much money at all last year and was struggling with ideas as to what I should buy them.

I decided to make my own little shortcake biscuits, I got various Christmas shape cutters and made the biscuits, dipping half of each biscuit in chocolate.

I also got some cheap lace from a charity shop and after washing, wrapped a small bundle of biscuits inside a square of the material, tying each with a nice Christmas bow and some Holly.

All my relatives were delighted with the effort and said how tasty and expensive looking they were.

I will definately be doing this again this year.

nicki2610

Name of present? Photo Calendar

Do you make it or buy it? Make it/Buy it

Total Cost? £1

Details (the more the better) I know someone has already put about a photo calendar but i have just done one of these for my mother in law and it only cost me £1. I alread had photos of my kids and i bought the calendar set from a £1 shop near to me. It comes complete with the photo paper aswell so if you dont already have photos then you can just print them from your computer directly on to the paper.

mags14

Buy lottery tickets with the number 25 12 20 08 and two other numbers to represent Christmas Day. You could buy two or three with different combinations as long as you have 25 12 20 08 in the numbers. People love the idea that they may win!

annaredbrook

This may well cost the full fiver, but it is well worth it - grans, grandads, dads, mums, aunties, grownup kids will all love it and appreciate the thought. Buy a scrapbook (I bought two lovely ones in TK Max for £3 each, also The Works has good ones). Collect together photos and mementoes and make up the scrapbook (you don't have to buy all those expensive page decorations - use old birthday & Christmas cards, pieces of left-over wrapping paper etc. You can theme it, ie holidays over the years, anniversaries, birthdays, Christmases or whatever you like. It will be a present to treasure for ever

:T

mrarnul

Name: Box of love
Make or buy?: Make
Total cost: £0-£3ish
Details: Get a box, either cardboard, gift box etc. Doesn't matter what size or type, just depends on how much love you want to give. Wrap it (use shiny foil to keep costs down!) and use a tag or write on it: "Contains love for you", or similar. Also works for birthdays and Valentines day, but not in the same year...

Helen_Hannah

Name: Poti pourii (Ok so I can't spell) that smelly stuff.
Make or Buy: Make of course!
Total cost: around £3 to £5 depending on you
Details: Take the kids to the woods, collect some pine cones, nuts and berries, maybe some rosehips etc. Take them home and dry in the airing cupboard. You can then peel an orange carelfully when next eating one and cut the peel finley and dry that in the airingcupboard. You could even slice an orange and pop the slices in the oven at around 100oc or less for a few hours, whole satsumas work well too, if you make a small slice in them not quite to the middle in several places. When all your bits are dried pop them in a bowl, so you can see what they look like. We found some old pine cones in the loft which had been sprayed gold and added them, but you could spray your own, but the paint will be around £4 alone. You then pop all the bits in a plastic bag with a seal on it and add some Orris root powder, which you can get on ebay. Check out the vendors as the price is hugley diffrent, from around £1 upwards. You will only need a couple of teaspoons of it. You then add your favorite christmas smelling essential oils. I used some really cheep ones from the £1 shop, got two for £1. Had to use more than if it was the real stuff, but the real stuff is much more expensive so it didn't matter. Pop the sealed bag in a cool dry spot to mellow for a few weeks. You can then wrap it in a pretty bag, or pop it in a bowl or box to present on Christmas day. My kids made it, age 8 and 3 and really enjoyed the whole process, they now have gifts waiting for the grandparents etc made for just a few pence.
Helen :beer:

Badger_Lady

• Name of present? A gift from grateful chickens
  
• Make it or buy it? Both
• Total Cost? About £5 per gift
  
• Details (the more the better)?
  

1. Rescue three hens from a battery farm - they retail at 50p each
2. Feed them (£7.50 for a month's supply layers mash)
3. Keep the eggs and make jars of pickled eggs, maynnaise, lemon curd...
4. Print a photo of your hens in their new home, and write their story on the back, saying that they're so happy to be rescued they've produced lovely eggs to make this Christmas gift.
5. Wrap and send

kerik4

Name of Present: keepsake box

Make it/Buy it : Both

Total cost : £1.50

Details: Hobbycraft do a selection of tough cardboard boxes which are a variety of shapes, ready to decorate. The small ones range from 99p to £1.50, suitable sizes for jewellery etc. We bought 2 - 1 square with cut-out bits in the lid and 1 with pretty embossed sides. DD decorated with paint left over from various crafty sets, Christmas stickers and gold leaves saved from last year's crackers. Now she has 2 lovely gifts for her gran and a friend!
:j

www.hobbycraft.co.uk - stores nationwide.

The_keekes

Name of Present: recycled jewellery
Make it/Buy it : make it
Total cost : 75p
My daughter has been making necklaces out of old odd buttons,like the spares you always get with new clothes or cutting buttons off old clothes before you send to charity shop etc. You thread the buttons on to a piece of cording available from art or haberdashery shops and hey presto you have a fabulous very trendy necklace for under a pound. Use lots of different sizes and coloured buttons to get the best effect.
I wear mine all the time and am always being asked where did I get it from?
P.S. you don't need any special equipment for this either so have a go:rotfl: