Recycled Christmas, could it work???

GardenMillie

Following on from Carolbees post, last year I made mum up a hamper - bought a pack of two really nice baskets from Tesco (kept one for myself which now houses a plant in the dining room and attracts lots of admiring glances).

I put lots of practical things in hamper like, tea bags, biscuits for cheese, jam, savoury rice (Lidl) and quite a few nicer bits from Sainsbugs and M & S. The great thing about filling a hamper yourself is you know the person will like everything in it and you can spread the cost over a few shopping trips.:T

I also make my own gift tags from last years Christmas cards - everyone loves them as they are all different shapes and sizes.

dolly_day_dream

savvy wrote:

LOL trust me with Godders' recipe, they'll be happy to change...........it won my 2 over!

And you're definately sure your kids aren't doing the calendar thing for you cos you keep getting it out every year??? :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Have just checked with them if I could ditch the Advent Callendar this year and have been told that NO WAY for them it is the start of Christmas, even with the promise of Advent Brownies they pointed out that they are not all at home all of the time. One is away at uni, one lives in London most of the year and one at home. They catch up with the advent callendar when they come home. It makes them feel that even though they have been away from the home they are still part of the lead up to Christmas. But will definately be cooking the advent brownies - if only for me!

savvy

dolly_day_dream wrote:

Have just checked with them if I could ditch the Advent Callendar this year and have been told that NO WAY for them it is the start of Christmas, even with the promise of Advent Brownies they pointed out that they are not all at home all of the time. One is away at uni, one lives in London most of the year and one at home. They catch up with the advent callendar when they come home. It makes them feel that even though they have been away from the home they are still part of the lead up to Christmas. But will definately be cooking the advent brownies - if only for me!

LOL I'll get Godders to pm you the recipe then ;)

kbarty

count me in on the challenge too - I think it's a great idea! Was feeling slightly bad since my son is having a Nintendo DS for his birthday next week and we'd probably think about getting him another game for Christmas. Then I remembered I got them pre-owned from Game so it was recycled! And I can do it again in time for Christmas.

This year I'm going to try and make a cloth advent calendar, but then I say it every year! I will do it this year, saves on those awful choccy ones.

pavlovs_dog

savvy wrote:

LOL I'll get Godders to pm you the recipe then ;)

why not get him to post it savvy, i'm interested..they sound yummy

kbarty

I know a lot of my family wouldn't appreciate 2nd hand toys for their kids (we generally only buy for the kids) but I've just come across this site which looks nice.

http://www.lankakade.co.uk/content/default/index.asp

the other good thing is that I could get my kids some of that stuff and it's not all "tat" but usefull stuff like plaques for their doors. They'll still love it but it won't add to piles iykwim.

dolly_day_dream

I don't know if this would help but one year I bought my daughter a craft book and then included all the materials that she would need to make every thing in the book. She loved it and it lasted sooo much longer than the commerical kits. Now I know that would not be recycling but what if you found one of the books that shows you what to make from 'junk' and then included all of the materials that would need? Could be starting them early. Another item could be an indoor wigwam. When the boys were little I made up a patchwork wigwam from all sorts of old fabric, made about 4 channels for bean poles (which stuck out at the top) We mainly used it in the garden but the boys loved using it inside as well as a den.

savvy

pavlovs_dog wrote:

why not get him to post it savvy, i'm interested..they sound yummy

LOL no worries mate, so long as everyone is okay with a recipe on here ;)

Godders

savvy wrote:

LOL no worries mate, so long as everyone is okay with a recipe on here ;)

This one:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/triplechocolateandpe_70054.shtml

Generally with extra white chocolate thrown in

Just bake the full amount then cut them down into squares. I did 9 days worth at a time (27 brownies!!) to stop them from going off before they got eaten and put them into a plastic chinese takeaway containers in a 3x3 square. Then put the numbers on in icing and put the airtight lid on each container.

First up they got days 1-9, then 10-18 in the reused containers - and then I think I'd do 19-24 the same size as the previous ones but the 25th bigger to fit the container. However, instead of doing the last ones we went snowboarding in Serbia instead

Theres no waste at all (not a crumb ) and the containers went back in the cupboard for reuse afterwards



Edited to add - the Wheat free version I'll have to do this year is the pre done Tru-free Chocolate Cake mix from Tesco mixed up, about 100g each of White and Plain choc broken up chucked in and about 75g of crushed Pecan Nuts. Then just bake it as per the instructions on the box and Savvy seemed to like it

dolly_day_dream

Hi Margaret clare

[QUOTE
For reclaiming the winter festival, have a look at events that will be on at Sutton Hoo, at West Stow Saxon Village and also in Jarrow (Bede's World).

Margaret Clare[/QUOTE]

Sorry somehow I missed your post yesterday. Thanks for the info - it's not that I am anti Christmas - even though most people who know me know that I call the celebration under many different names - I am anti 'them' big business and commercialism taking it all over. :mad: The inference that we don't have a 'proper' Celebration if we don't go totally over the top, buy the must have toy for that year and drink and eat ourselves into a stupour(sp?) Mankind has been celebrating the mid winter festival for thousands of years without their help - we just need the confidence to do it our way.:j