Leaving gifts for redundant colleague - the OS way?

Butterfly_Brain

lisa26 wrote: »

Could you afford to spend about £1? If so you could make her some lovely chocolate mints. All you need is 200g of dark choc (tesco and morrisons both do a 100g value range bar for 37p that works well) and a pack of extra strong mints. Crush the mints (I do them in the food processor), add to the melted choc and mix together. you can then either spread it out thinly onto greaseproof paper of very lightly oiled cling film then break it into bitesized pieces once it has set. otherwise, what I do is draw around a 2p coin loads of times on a sheet of greaseproof paper and then garefully spoon the choc onto the circles to make lovely indidvidual mint chocs. you could then pop them in a nice box or bag with a bit of ribbon. it makes a lovely present......my relatives are all getting some for xmas.

I do that with white choc and crushed candy canes

lisa26_2

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

I do that with white choc and crushed candy canes

Ooh I bet that looks real pretty too! should have added, i got my choc mints idea from somewhere on here a couple of years ago.

Morganarla

lisa26 wrote: »

Could you afford to spend about £1? If so you could make her some lovely chocolate mints. All you need is 200g of dark choc (tesco and morrisons both do a 100g value range bar for 37p that works well) and a pack of extra strong mints. Crush the mints (I do them in the food processor), add to the melted choc and mix together. you can then either spread it out thinly onto greaseproof paper of very lightly oiled cling film then break it into bitesized pieces once it has set. otherwise, what I do is draw around a 2p coin loads of times on a sheet of greaseproof paper and then garefully spoon the choc onto the circles to make lovely indidvidual mint chocs. you could then pop them in a nice box or bag with a bit of ribbon. it makes a lovely present......my relatives are all getting some for xmas.

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

I do that with white choc and crushed candy canes

Oh my word they both sound DELICIOUS! I'm definitely going to make some of them..!

Murtle

Can you do a mug in a hug, with hot chocolate powder and things to make a hot warming drink?

Can you write a little poem to go with it?

So sad when people leave, but I believe it means something better is round the corner for her!

jackyann

Aren't these lovely ideas?
I think that making sure you see her in January - maybe put a suggested date in the card - make it something nice & cheap like a walk together followed by tea & cake at your house.

oldtractor

What a lovely thread:T:A Lots of good ideas here.

shandyclover

Once when I was very broke I bought a plain white mug for 20p from a CS, with lots of different colored nail varnish I painted my colleagues name along with some of her admirable qualities on it, like this..

B ubbly
R eliable
O ptomistic
N o nonsense!
She had a very unusual name and so could never find anything personalized, so it worked well. It wouldn't stand up to dishwasher use but she kept it on her desk for bits and bobs.

Morganarla

I'm touched by the ideas on here guys, can't wait to start on them! Makes me miss her all the more already though The thing that worries me the most, is that she is already struggling to find another job. In this current climate, it's never going to be easy and she doesn't deserve to lose her job in the first place. Makes me so angry.

Ah well. There is nothing I can do.. (and believe, I have battled with H.O and the powers-that-be to overturn the decision, but it's been fruitless...) All I can do is send her off with all these homemade delights! Off to have a look at the HM gift thread, thanks Butterfly Brain!

karren

id also write a heartfelt letter of how much she means and that you will miss her but she will be out of sight never ever mind and make sure you keep in contact that will be a present in itself x

Morganarla

Well the day has come, and it's her last day at work

What ended up in her gift basket (old wicker basket that I had for the cats(!) with a silky red cushion in the bottom, homemade of course!):

~ I knitted a cream and beige chunky scarf
~ made a lovely rich tomato and herb loaf
~ made the mint chocolates and crushed candy cane white chocolates mentioned in this thread
~ and a homemade leaving card, plus a little Christmas card with all my contact and address details in, saying she's welcome ANY time

She is absolutely bloody delighted! :j:j:j

Thank you all so much for the ideas and inspiration :T

Now just to get through the day without crying when I speak to her to say goodbye...