Give us a list of what YOU are doing for Christmas

Beki

Hi all!

Don't know about anyone else but i'm getting really over-excited aout Christmas this year. I think it's partly due to the fact that money's limited and i'm doing a lot of handmade stuff which is going to have a lot of thought and effort put into them.

I thought it's be interesting to see what everyone's lists look like, for the special things they're going to do for people this year - hopefully it'l inpire us all and give each other even more ideas :beer:

Here's mine! :j

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Special Things To Do For People For Christmas

· Do an ADVENT BASKET for dd, ds, mum, dad, uncle and nan
· Do a ‘pot of gold’ for everyone for a boxing day surprise
· Do a ‘snowman soup’ for everyone for Christmas eve
· Do ‘reindeer food’ for everyone for Christmas eve
· Do awards for the children from father Christmas
· Bind the personalised books for the children
· Do a ‘mums survival kit’ bag for mum, 'w', MIL, 'H', 'f', 'a', 'a', and the 2 elves’-childrens' mums, and the one reindeer child's mum

· Journal jar and notepad etc for dd
· Sentiments jars
· Jar of sunshine
· Jar of rainbows
· Jar of Tottenham facts for OH from the kids
· Jar of interesting facts for nan – one for every year of her life (ie; 1921, 1922 etc)
· Home made chocolate fudge
· Home made peppermint/strawberry creams
· Ball of life
· Doggy biscuits for coco and bo
· Teabag card for nan & possibly 'g'?
· Retro sweets for 'h' & 's'
· Movie night in hamper for 'h' & 's'
· Harry potter sweetie hamper for 'R' and dd
· Do sister a baking hamper
· Do BIL an ‘all things hot’ hamper
· Do glasses for the dinner table with mini baileys and choc yazoo wrapped in tissue with label
· Do a treasure hunt from santa for the kids as a boxing day surprise
· Do a xmas eve hamper for nan, uncle, mum, dad, OH & me, and the kids

Looking forward to reading everyone else's (and hopefully nicking some ideas! - that's how i've made up most of my 'special' ideas - by copying people from the boards :rotfl: )

hels102

WOW you've got a great list there Beki
mines not as good as yours but here goes.

1. Xmas eve hamper to include fudge,biscuits,chutney,jam, a slice of xmas cake (made by me) a snowman soup and reindeer food for my Mum,Sis,Dad and OH

2. Xmas eve hamper for my DS Crammed full of stuff, 2 books, snowman soup, a lush bath bomb, a new torch,reindeer food, chocolate santa and loads more!

3. Snowman soup - For everyone in family and some friends and DS's Nursery Teachers

4. Pot of Gold - for Mum,Dad,Sis,And few other family members (Beki like your idea about using these for Boxing Day I might just do that)

5.Chocolate Hamper - Variety of Green and Blacks Chocolate and Thorntons for my mum - All done just need to cellophane

6. Chocolate Logs made with flannels for all family members

7. Beer Hamper for my Dad - Old ales,different types of nuts and olives

Beki

hels102 wrote: »

WOW you've got a great list there Beki
mines not as good as yours but here goes.

1. Xmas eve hamper to include fudge,biscuits,chutney,jam, a slice of xmas cake (made by me) a snowman soup and reindeer food for my Mum,Sis,Dad and OH

2. Xmas eve hamper for my DS Crammed full of stuff, 2 books, snowman soup, a lush bath bomb, a new torch,reindeer food, chocolate santa and loads more!

3. Snowman soup - For everyone in family and some friends and DS's Nursery Teachers

4. Pot of Gold - for Mum,Dad,Sis,And few other family members (Beki like your idea about using these for Boxing Day I might just do that)



5.Chocolate Hamper - Variety of Green and Blacks Chocolate and Thorntons for my mum - All done just need to cellophane



6. Chocolate Logs made with flannels for all family members

7. Beer Hamper for my Dad - Old ales,different types of nuts and olives

did you know that at certain tesco stores they're doing a deal where you buy 3 bars of g&b chocolate and you get the g&b cook book (worth £14.99) free?! :T

hels102

Hi Beki - Yes I did see that advertised on the Grabbit Board but I haven't been able to find a tesco near me that's participating in the promotion! I have e-mailed Green & Blacks to find out! Thanks though!

Horace

Well - a few hampers for my chums (some of which will be entirely made from freebies:j ) I shall spend some time with my family and my nights will be spent working in a soup kitchen

safesound

Beki wrote: »

· Home made peppermint/strawberry creams

What recipe are you using for the strawberry creams? I've looked all over tinternet and cant seem to find one for soft strawberry creams. I'd be very grateful if you could point me in the right direction.

Beki

There was a recipe on one of the other threads for peppermint creams, and i'm simply going to substitute the green colouring and peppermint flavouring for red food colouring and strawberry flavouring

Here it is, but i can't claim any credit for it!!! I simply c+p'd it into my word document to look back on!

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Yummy Home-made peppermint creams
12 tablespoons of icing sugar,
1 egg white,
green food colouring (optional),
peppermint flavouring and cooking chocolate.
Add to a bowl the icing sugar, egg white, 4 drops of peppermint flavouring and 12 drops of green food colouring. Mix well and kneed the mixture to form a smooth ball. If the mixture is a little too wet add more icing sugar.
Roll the ball into a large sausage and slice into individual sweets. Use your hands to shape the sweets and leave them on a chopping board to dry.
Melt the chocolate in a dish in the microwave, it will only need a minute or two. Don't over do it, it just needs enough time to melt. If you do not have a microwave, you may need an adult to help. Stand a mixing bowl inside a pan of boiling water on the hob, keep the water simmering. Don't let any water bubble over the side and into the chocolate because this spoils the chocolate. Be careful not to let the pan boil dry.
Dip each sweet into the chocolate half way, and leave it on some tinfoil until the chocolate sets.
pop them into your jars .......or
sometimes I put the sweets in greaseproof paper & paper napkins tied up with ribbon or tinsel

angie_baby

Ohhhh, i love christmas aswell :j :j

This year is the first time ive ever done something homemade, im only doing a couple of things though,

1.) Snowman Soups for the neighbours kids & DS friends at childminders. (cant wait for my cones to arrive!)

2.) Pots of Gold for work people

3.) Xmas Eve hamper for DS, PJ's, matching slippers and dressing gown.

Not alot so far, but im skint this year and really need to get back on the Debt Free Wanna Be board. Same as alot of people i suppose.

But i am so loking forward to this year for some reason But then again its the first time this year i will get a week off :j So that helps :rotfl:

safesound

Beki wrote: »

There was a recipe on one of the other threads for peppermint creams, and i'm simply going to substitute the green colouring and peppermint flavouring for red food colouring and strawberry flavouring

Here it is, but i can't claim any credit for it!!! I simply c+p'd it into my word document to look back on!

Thanks for that but uh... wont this end up a bit like Kendall mint cake? What I mean is wont the texture be brittle and grainy as apposed to soft and gooey (someone please tell me if they've already made this and I'm wrong as it would save me sooo much time/effort).
I was looking for something more along the lines of the filling from Frys Orange cream. I've found a recipe online that I'm pretty sure will work (sorry its in American measurements)
http://www.baking911.com/recipes/candy/fondant_centers.htm

Beki

Ooooh yeah you're probably right - whoops! :rotfl: Sorry! xx

doodlehumlucysmum

hello, great ideas i wish i started earlier.

can i just ask what snowman/reindeer etc soups are? they sound really cute but as i dont know what they are slightly crazy he he x

Also, those of your who are making hampers have you just saved freebies throughout the year?

thanks