Old style Preparations for Christmas 2010!!

purpleheather2810

gailey wrote: »

Told my mam to go in b and m tommrow look for reduced tins.

Went in pasttimes today was lovley never been in before.
Got a reduced book adventures for boys from 7.99 to 2.49 for my adventure hamper for twins so pleased.

Will go back and get some old fashioned toys which retro packaging 3 for 2.

Bit stumped how im going to find small paddington bear suitcase will look at carboots.
Getting them all secret 7 and famous five they dont yet have.

Would jellybeans on a jar be quite retro.
or would toffees or mints be more 1950,s.

Fel better now im starting as its help reduce my anxiety and stagger cost.

Hubby thinks im mad, lady in pastimes thourght I was sweet.

How about stripy mint humbugs? Yum yum!

chasingsunshine_2

The above recipes look fantastic and I will be using them in my homemade hampers this year so HUGE thank you to you all!

I'm also making, jams, chutneys, flavoured vodkas and chocolates.

Just wondering though if any of you have made liqueur filled chocolates? You know the hollow shell filled with some yummy brandy or something, sometimes with cherries in. Just trying to figure out how to do the chocolate base without the chocolate falling into the liqueur....? Any ideas? I'm sure you all know exactly how to do this properly

:rudolf:

ERICS_MUM

freyasmum wrote: »

I made pots of gold for my daughter to give her grandparents and my sis/BIL. The beauty is you can make them as cheap or expensive as you want, everyone still loves them!

I had ferrero rocher, werthers, wispa gold, anything else in a gold wrapper, a scratch card and I added loads of gold coins - some real in my dads case, chocolate in the others All wrapped up in an ikea 40p gold bowl and gold cellophane with ribbons.

They absolutely loved them! I helped her give them all out at the same time and it was like a bunch of big kids all trying to gets theirs opened first :rotfl:


Oh yea, made Baileys fudge for my daughters nursery teacher and it was absolutely gorgeous. I had to make much more than intended 'cos it kept going walkies :rotfl:

what a lovely post, I've bookmarked it in my Christmas folder. Thank you so much.

Linda xx

ERICS_MUM

What about non-food ideas ?

Can you sew ? I usually make at least one cross stitch item for a Christmas present - a framed picture, Christmas stocking, lavender bags etc. I'm thinking of making a cushion for Mum, fabric to match her bedroom decor and applique a cross stitch picture on the front. Also you could make pretty padded coat hangers, quirky door stops, Christmas tree decorations etc. Add your initials and the date discretely and it becomes a lovely memory too.

Or a scrapbook, rather like a photo album with favourite family pics but with the photos being displayed on back ground paper, embellished with ribbons, paper flowers etc and notes explaining who they all are. Much more fun than arranging photos in 4's on black photo album paper.

Or decorate plain plant pots and wrap them (in a strong box!) with packs of seeds, or add a pot plant and wrap in cellophane with a big bow.

You can buy "blank" gift bags and decorate them, perhaps stencil the recipient's name on them etc.

Linda xx

samanthalvsben

Truffles
Mix melted white or milk chocolate, which ever you prefer and icing sugar till forms a smooth paste
roll into balls
put into fridge
melt some more chocolate and roll the hard truffle balls into the melted chocolate
put into fridge again to harden

done

gailey_2

samanthalvsben wrote: »

Truffles
Mix melted white or milk chocolate, which ever you prefer and icing sugar till forms a smooth paste
roll into balls
put into fridge
melt some more chocolate and roll the hard truffle balls into the melted chocolate
put into fridge again to harden

done

sounds yum any idesa how long they keep. guessing near the time best to make them.
What might be nice is coating in mashed up flake/malteser.

gailey

mickey8260

I made my own cotton bags last year to use as gift bags and used a transfer to decorate with a pic of the kids and happy Christmas on, they are all still being well used to this day and to my surprise as haven't sown for a while haven't fallen to pieces, filled them with homemade hamper bits.

cmazza

I am making a scrapbook for my younger sister and her husband they got marroed about 3 years ago and have two sons (one 3 and one 6) and a daughter on the way, so I have loads of photo's to go in it. I have already started it but have loads left to do.... will probably take me to Christmas

MrsBartolozzi

For the folks looking for recipes to make in advance, I'd recommed this thread from the celebrations board.


Alsio this thread, which I've just seen although it's a sticky, oops! Its a list of all sorts of gifts you can make for hampers etc. I've only just had a skim, but there's tonnes of info there... I'd better bring my lunch to the pc as it might take a while...

Also over on the celebrations board are the Thrifty gifty thread, the organised Christmas thread, and the Crafting for Christmas thread.

Some of these have links to last year's threads which are often worth a look for ideas.

HTH someone,

MrsB.

originalkat

Excellent news that the Tesco clubcard vouchers are worth double for a few weeks, plenty of xmas shopping opportunities. I am cutting back on what I spend this year, I have a big family but no one really needs anything, as opposed to 'wanting' which is a different thing altogether!! I am also trying to buy 'treats' rather than the usual presents although I am buying small token presents so everyone has something to unwrap. M&S has some sale items and some of these are half price again at the till e.g. I bought a lovely hooded cardi for a baby for £1 and a pair of ladies jeans for £2. These are some ideas I have used or will be trying this year:

Magazine subscriptions are a good idea and the junk mail offering bargain subscriptions should start arriving soon.

Cinema ticket vouchers and if it is for someone with children, offer to babysit while they go.

For children have a cinema outing on a weekend when there are seats for around £1. Take your own sweets and drink.

Especially for children, a trip to London using cheap coach or train travel, picnic lunch and free museums. Two of my grandaughters loved this especially as we then went to Hamleys where they spent their xmas money (from other people) in the 'build a bear ' shop. Warning though, it is very crowded and hot especially when you are perched on a small stool trying to dress a horse in a dress!

Adopt a monkey at Monkey World- I did this a couple of years ago, picked monkeys whose profile (bossy, shy etc) fitted the person I was buying for, £20 each including free entry for a year and a photo or 'their' monkey. There is also an option for a family to sponsor one monkey. It was good fun spotting the one you had adopted and the
playground is amazing - even had a swing for wheelchair users which I have never seen anywhere else. Other animal parks, zoos and theme parks will have similar deals offering entry for a year. To save on transport costs and to get full use of your membership, see what you can find locally. It's no good having free membership if it costs you a fortune to get there.

For very small children especially, perhaps 3-6 years old, a day out locally to a really good park with a picnic, yes even in the winter.

A visit to an indoor fun pool is also good, just make sure there is an adult for every small child or they might not let you in.

Hope these are useful, the idea is really to spend as little as possible but also to reduce the amount of clutter in the house and avoid the piles of gift wrap and packaging.