New Thrifty Gifty - Organised for Christmas and all ocassions 2010- Santas Challenges

mary-op

Hello all :j

mum2one - well done with the argos shopping:T

Nicky - good luck..........hope all goes well :T Our lad fidgety as ever particularly as he had an interview for vocational college place............he got in thank goodness so after monday next week I'll have more time to get stuff done (hopefully). We have the 'hard to place' teenagers........used to have 3 but after OH's illness gone down to one and think we'll stick at that. OH now got chest infection - consultant said to watch out for it and get antibiotics so he's done that. He's ok but doesn't want it to get any worse.

cdsmiler -thanks for the link.........I'll have a look at that:T

Due to 'fidgety' lad all I got done today is the other patchwork border to the tea towel........still least its finished and can go upstairs in my 'stash' room out of the way. Now must consult list of ''stuff to do''..........keep seeing things on blogs and places and adding them to my never ending list..............lol:rotfl:

Legendmum

Hey guys bought some more bits today for pots of Gold! Poundland has the gold wishes 2 for £, Morrisons have the werthers chocolate bags half price at 98p and Home Bargains have small werthers original bags for 49p and gold coins 2 for £! Hope this helps some1 out with the gold hunt!
Also got some cheap socks in Tesco if any is looking for socks its worth using self scan to check a few prices! Girls Peppa Pig trainer socks 50p, boys George Pigs Socks 50p and Girls Tinkerbell socks grey and black £1! None of these marked down on label! Got the Tinkerbell 1's for me as they go up to size 5 1/2! All trainer socks are reduced too but not all marked! Worth a look as I always get and give somebody socks at Christmas!

fedupandskint

mum2one wrote: »

Fedup- Sorry got to ask how did the Blackberry and apple gin, sounds gorgeous

Hi there, it was very easy to make

In a large jar or bottle add
225g blackberries
peel and chop 225g Bramley apples
add 225g sugar
add 600ml gin

Shake vigorously daily for 7 days to make sure the sugar dissolves and doesn't settle on the botton
Shake weekly for 6-8 weeks
Pass through a fine sieve
then decant into nice presentation bottles

The recipe does say taste weekly, which I've only just noticed meaning you can see if it needs to be a bit sweeter (add more sugar) or tarter (add more gin if room)

Other variations are
Damson gin - 450g damsons and 225g sugar
Haw Brandy - 450g haws, 225g sugar and 600ml brandy

Mine is at week 4 stage and a lovely shade of blackberry purple I'll be bottling mine up at the end of Oct ready to go into the hampers and of course one for me :rotfl:I've saved the cider vinegar bottles and will be reusing these at 500ml sizes

If I find any sloes on hols I'll be using these and making some sloe gin. Apparently it stores well and improves after a year

Todays Christmas Items
called in at Aldi after work and collected 13m of 79p wide wrapping paper to use on the denby box set. Bought myself a Stanley Food Storage Flask too for £4.99 if anyone wants one to go in a hamper. You heat the food in the microwave and then its supposed to keep it warm for 6hrs. I thought this would come in handy for university days so I can take some warm food instead of sandwiches

My book people order arrived today after a delivery mix up and they were mega helpful sorting this out and sent it out again next day delivery. Everything is pristine and I am very happy with the order. The calenders are great too.

Another order going in shortly for the Hairy Bikers Book for £4.99. The prices are brill and I'm going to have a look through my Sarah Raven's Christmas Book shortly which has lots of ideas in for sweets, drinks and flower bulb forcing

I need to find some nice little pots to put hyacinths and crocus into to make a gift for Christmas presents

Yesterday collected the Suttons herb kits for £2.49 for a double set meaning I've got 4 for £4.98 making them £1.25 each. Can give 2 away and still have 2 left for me

nickynoo08

Evening all, i've not been on htis thread for months and its about time i started thinking about xmas agian. Went over my 'still to get' list yesterday and have much more left to buy than i remember:(. So i went shopping today, managed to get a couple of bit.
Got - a spongebob slanket for my ds from home bargains for £3.99
- a learn to tell the time thingy from hb for £3.99
- a large tub of sweets 50 mini bars from hb for £3.99, these'll do brilliantly for my kids sweetie cones instead of selection boxes.
- got my money wallets 5 4 £1 from card factory
Also ordered a couple of books for my OH inc james mays new one for £4.99 from book people rrp £14ish, bargain for any top gear fan (from book people plus cashback from tcb:D)
I'm gonna go over my list again tonight and write a new one. Just need to wait for my park vouchers to arrive now so i can get the rest bought.

mary-op

Getting in a right pickle.............over on grabbit board there's a Tesco offer of a Tomy Megasketcher for £10............just right for grandson I thought and while I'm at it I'll order some boots............I thought ! Not so...........seems I have to order them separately .............not ordered from tesco online before (or tesco direct, extra, or whatever it is :eek:) Given up for now with items safely in separate ''shopping baskets''...................lol

Soup and home made bread was lovely !!!:rotfl:

piglet27

Thanks cdsmiler i have ordered one of these too, looks good for stocking for £3.35, bargain.

piglet27

mum2one - congrats on the argos stuff, esp the bike.

smithydirect - these baskets are great and good price too, might have to check these out for size.

mary op - best wishes to you and oh, hope he gets better soon.

legendmum - thank you for gold stuff info, next thing for me to sort out, so off into town tomorrow.

fedup - blackberry gin recipe looks lush, shame none of my family like gin,
does anyone know of a raspberry vodka recipe please, would be very grateful.

Real_Toothfairy

Had a busy day out shopping with DH.........Argos for a new printer as we have a big HP all in one printer and the cartridges are so expensive......even the own make ones from WH Smith etc etc So we got one of the Kodak ones ......still in the box will look at it tomorrow. Went to Poundland and got some bits in there......cushions (for stuffing my sock monkeys), Pink basket for hamper, tissue paper, wrapping paper and some other bits. Managed to get some wool in Tiger (sock monkeys hair) and some more clear cello, also got a pack of 5 mini bath ducks for hampers lol
Also got 2 nice glasses in Sainsburys for 12p (for posh pots of gold haha) and some little clear bowls just right size for pots of gold and a Cafetiere reduced to £5 (nice black one for a coffee hamper).

Just made my first Pamper Hamper but after looking at it I need to get some thicker ribbon. Total cost of hamper approx £5!

mary-op

fedup - couldn;t resist it.......just had to go on suttons web site.............lol There's some brown peppers that look a bit different and a few 'eden project' seeds.........thinking the peppers might do as a 'silly' pressis for OH -we don't normally bother, theres more often than not something for the house we need and we say thats our pressie to 'us'. Mind you his peppers haven't done very well at all this year so maybe I better think of something else.


piglet - thanks for the kind wishes...........OH will be ok I'm sure...........he's watching Liverpool play on the tele and if they win it'll make his day...........lol

toothfairy - lovely pamper hamper:T

Reading through these posts it makes you all look like shopaholics....................lol:rotfl:Here's hoping Edinburgh have a Poundland or at least sime kind of bargain store so I can join the club.............lol

scmp

Qaphsiel wrote: »

I am wanting to make a spy kit / hamper or kit for a child. Any ideas what to put in it etc etc....

I was quite a large pair of binocs in 'Poundworld' today which would fill it out a bit and they have a few Ben10 copys of spy kits in there.

HTH

SCMP