Preparing for Christmas 2011

junior_j

when do you guys start wrapping presents? I would ideally like to have brought the presents , wrap them , label them , bag them up and have all sent to the appropiate places by Dec 20th. But knowing the situation we are in this year looks like that will be of the window!

junior_j

Possession wrote: »

You can't go wrong with a microwave fudge recipe, it's really easy, honestly. Also peppermint creams - super easy.

OOO if you have them recipes that will be great , thank you x

Possession

You sound very prepared! I will be happier when I've got the Pots of Gold sorted as 16 of them is hanging over me a bit at the moment, with all the hamper stuff I'm making too. I've decided smaller is better and will be using the white ramekins from Poundland, so as soon as everything is bought I can have them done. Just wish I could find the cheap Ferrero Rocher, my store doesn't seem to have the half price boxes.

jakesbakescakes wrote: »

well guys I've had a very productive weekend.... have now completed my pots of gold, snowman soup, sock cupcakes and also made labels for bags of sweets which will be reindeer poo, rudolph noses, snowman poo and santa kisses! Oh and bought most of the sweets for these - will bag up closer to the big day to keep everything as fresh as poss. Most of these bits are stocking fillers and also for my homemade hampers (remember me mumbling on about plum jam, knitting turkeys...!!... etc!) Gosh that seems distant yonder now! Still need to sort out either xmas eve/breakfast hamper for friends who are expecting their first baby; but otherwise I am pleased to say i am well and truely in control!!!!! Hope you are all enjoying yourselves too - here's hoping this christmas will be very chilled and relaxing (and as money neutral as poss) x x x

noodles86

junior_j wrote: »

when do you guys start wrapping presents? I would ideally like to have brought the presents , wrap them , label them , bag them up and have all sent to the appropiate places by Dec 20th. But knowing the situation we are in this year looks like that will be of the window!

I wrap our presents (to other people!) as soon as the tree is up, the only reason for this is that they are all shoved at the top of dd's wardrobe and if I wrapped them now, they would get crushed and I have no where to store them wrapped xx

jakesbakescakes

Possession - if you can't get to Mr T for the fererro rochet offer I have also seen the boxes of 16 on offer in *ainsburys for £2.oo which seems quite good to me - guess this depends how many you need tho! 16 pots of gold is no mean feat! lol! I have used glasses from Mr T's which were 79p for a packet of 4. They are the blue stripe value range and a great size. HTH

Possession

jakesbakescakes wrote: »

Possession - if you can't get to Mr T for the fererro rochet offer I have also seen the boxes of 16 on offer in *ainsburys for £2.oo which seems quite good to me - guess this depends how many you need tho! 16 pots of gold is no mean feat! lol! I have used glasses from Mr T's which were 79p for a packet of 4. They are the blue stripe value range and a great size. HTH

Thankyou - Mr T is much nearer to me than Sainsburys but it doesn't stock the box of 40 which is on offer, sadly. the Sainsburys offer isn't at all bad though so I might have to take a trip over there.
Does anyone know is it only Asda's chocolate eclairs which are wrapped in gold paper?

Possession

junior_j wrote: »

OOO if you have them recipes that will be great , thank you x

I use this recipe for peppermint creams, but if you wanted you could just buy some white fondant icing and knead in some peppermint essence, then cut into shapes.
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/68605/peppermint-creams

for microwave fudge there are lots of recipes but I can recommend this one:

Ingredients:
100g butter
500g icing sugar
1 tin condensed milk (397g I think)
5 ml vanilla essence

Instructions:
Use a BIG bowl. Mix butter and icing sugar. Microwave for 2 minutes on high. Add condensed milk and stir. Microwave for 10 minutes. Stir every few minutes. From about 5 minutes you will have to watch it like a hawk so it doesn't boil over. You end up stirring a lot. When done, add the vanilla essence. Pour into a rectangular dish lined with greaseproof paper. Wait to set

junior_j

Possession wrote: »

I use this recipe for peppermint creams, but if you wanted you could just buy some white fondant icing and knead in some peppermint essence, then cut into shapes.
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/68605/peppermint-creams

for microwave fudge there are lots of recipes but I can recommend this one:

Ingredients:
100g butter
500g icing sugar
1 tin condensed milk (397g I think)
5 ml vanilla essence

Instructions:
Use a BIG bowl. Mix butter and icing sugar. Microwave for 2 minutes on high. Add condensed milk and stir. Microwave for 10 minutes. Stir every few minutes. From about 5 minutes you will have to watch it like a hawk so it doesn't boil over. You end up stirring a lot. When done, add the vanilla essence. Pour into a rectangular dish lined with greaseproof paper. Wait to set

Thanks very much , will do a trial batch this weekend

noodles86

Went to home bargains yesterday in Bedworth nr Coventry and they had quite a bit of xmas stuff, I got my dd a santa dress up for 3.49 they had loads of others like xmas puds, xmas trees etc! A xmas single duvet cover for 6.99 and a poo-lar bear, a plastic polar bear that poos jelly beans! for 99p can't wait for xmas even more now!

ETA - Duvet cover is the same as this http://www.amazon.co.uk/CHRISTMAS-CHILDRENS-REINDEER-PENGUIN-SINGLE/dp/B005MDWOO0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1319200947&sr=8-1

jakesbakescakes

poo-lar bear sounds great! Made me smile