Old style Preparations for Christmas 2010!!

yummymummy85

karenann76 wrote: »

Have had another idea but need a bit of guidance on this one!!! was thinking about a couple of kids baking "hampers" with a selection of sprinkles (have cellophane cones coming off ebay) and some cake mixes maybe in a nice bright mixing bowl with some wooden spoons. Possibly some aprons if I can get them cheap enough?? any ideas?

Do you think I could paint their names on the spoon handles? what type of paint to do u think I should use?

I'm going to do one of these for my eldest son. He's 2 and loves baking cakes and biscuits (and eating the cake mixture lol!). I saw in Asda the other day that they have a kids baking set which has a rolling pin, wooden spoon, spatula, whisk etc and a load of cutters for £3 so I'm going to get one of those and a mixing bowl, make him an apron and do up some recipe cards. As he's only 2 I'm going to adapt the recipes so he can 'read' them i.e. when it says 2 eggs put a picture of eggs then hopefully it'll help with him learning to read too (he already knows all his numbers and letters). Not going tobother putting any ingredients in it as we always have a cupboard full of baking stuff!

I'm also knitting each of my boys jumper (christmassy one for ds2 and a fireman sam one for ds1), doing snowman soup for nannies and grandads and auntys and uncle from the boys, chutney for my nan with a framed picture of the boys and pots of gold for everyone. We are buying presents for our parents, siblings and our boys but apart from the boys this has a £20 limit and if they don't like it they can lump it!! My DH is always saying we should spend £50 plus on his sister as she spends a lot on us however she still lives at home with their parents and doesn't have any kids or substantial outgoings!!

The movie night in hamper is a good idea, might steal that for my DH!

I'm gonna do a Christmas eve hamper for us as well with reindeer food, new pjs, snowman soup, Christmas DVD, new plate for Christmas day, takeaway menu for mummy and daddy and a nice bottle of wine.

Oh, also going to do some gingerbread men in a jar for my cousin's boys (they always buy for our boys)!

greent

welshcamper wrote: »

made 7 pots of blackberry jam tonight (hope they set) which will be given out as presents..... thinking about doing pickled eggs as well as boys love these (will give them for christmas)..does anyone know how long pickled eggs will keep for once made?

Pickled eggs will keep for months Make them Sept/ Oct and they will be lovely for Xmas and still last for ages after the recipients have them

Primrose2004

greent wrote: »

Pickled eggs will keep for months Make them Sept/ Oct and they will be lovely for Xmas and still last for ages after the recipients have them

How do you make pickled eggs?:o hubbie loves them. and pickled veg, how do you do that?

Sorry to be dim:o:rotfl:

TeegansNan

yummymummy85 wrote: »

I'm going to do one of these for my eldest son. He's 2 and loves baking cakes and biscuits (and eating the cake mixture lol!). I saw in Asda the other day that they have a kids baking set which has a rolling pin, wooden spoon, spatula, whisk etc and a load of cutters for £3 so I'm going to get one of those and a mixing bowl, make him an apron and do up some recipe cards. As he's only 2 I'm going to adapt the recipes so he can 'read' them i.e. when it says 2 eggs put a picture of eggs then hopefully it'll help with him learning to read too (he already knows all his numbers and letters). Not going tobother putting any ingredients in it as we always have a cupboard full of baking stuff!

I'm also knitting each of my boys jumper (christmassy one for ds2 and a fireman sam one for ds1), doing snowman soup for nannies and grandads and auntys and uncle from the boys, chutney for my nan with a framed picture of the boys and pots of gold for everyone. We are buying presents for our parents, siblings and our boys but apart from the boys this has a £20 limit and if they don't like it they can lump it!! My DH is always saying we should spend £50 plus on his sister as she spends a lot on us however she still lives at home with their parents and doesn't have any kids or substantial outgoings!!

The movie night in hamper is a good idea, might steal that for my DH!

I'm gonna do a Christmas eve hamper for us as well with reindeer food, new pjs, snowman soup, Christmas DVD, new plate for Christmas day, takeaway menu for mummy and daddy and a nice bottle of wine.

Oh, also going to do some gingerbread men in a jar for my cousin's boys (they always buy for our boys)!

Don't forget the reindeer poo / snowman poo etc posted previously by me!!:)

welshcamper

greent wrote: »

Pickled eggs will keep for months Make them Sept/ Oct and they will be lovely for Xmas and still last for ages after the recipients have them

Thank you, will be making them this weekend!:D

most off the jams i made for christmas have been given to friends and family who seen them and wanted one now!...so back to the jam making again:rotfl:

mummyslittleboy

jintyb wrote: »

Thanks for the link re wrapping - good to know!
I think your idea sounds lovely. Re the specialty ingredient - you could make your own flavoured oils. You put olive oil in a nice bottle with dried chillis or you can do it with herbs and peppercorns( the coloured ones are nice). Add a hand written label and you're good to go! Also you could do flavoured vodka - see the first post on this thread for ideas.

Re the wrapping it arrived on wednesday considering it was a bank holiday I was really pleased with that I ordered 2 rolls of cello wrap and cello cone bags the cello bags were sent seperatly to the wrap and they still combined P & P so am really pleased with this seller.

We are going to make snowman soup this year for relatives and my girls are going to try doing the pint of socks for uncles/male cousins and the towel cupcakes for all aunts and female cousins, we might do some homemade chocs to go with it to but they arent getting anything else I am being [STRIKE]tight[/STRIKE] careful with my money this year:D

yummymummy85 loving the christmas eve hamper idea might have to try something similar:D

kazire

how long does HM turkish delight keep for?

lolly_896

My brother and I have always had a Xmas eve hamper and now as a Mum myself i do one for my boys (4 & 1) Last yr they had a Small toy each (£2 max) new pyjamas & bed socks, a family DVD or board game, Reindeer food, Snowman soup, Bubble bath, the small flannels that squish up!(May do some flannel foldng this yr and a new toothbrush a character one

mummyslittleboy

I finished my friends christmas present yesterday and I have just one more thing to get for my mums pamper basket,also got a list of stuff for DS for christmas so at least I know now what I am getting for him as for DD1 and DD2 they know what they want as there main presents but no other ideas yet.




This is my friends present all wrapped and ready to go.

tcr_3

One thing I miss is my Granny's Christmas cake.

Well, that's not really true, it's more Granny I miss & the whole annual rigmarole of her & her Christmas cake, rather than the cake itself.

She'd be collecting ingredients all Summer long and then in early October out came the mixing bowls and into the oven this monstrous thing went, sixpences n'all. And I got to lick the bowl and the big wooden spoon ! She swore the cake got better if it was left to itself for a couple of months before the marzipan & icing got put on.

Now shop bought can be nice. But it's not the same. I'd love to make a Christmas cake this year but haven't got the foggiest where to start ... anyone wish to start a thread where we can find the best recipe, get the best (yet least expensive) ingredients and share our Christmas cake experiences ? I think that'd be a hoot !

p.s. why can't Grannies live forever ?