Old Style Christmas Preparations for Christmas 2013

stoppinshoppin

I started collecting £2 coins in Jan to pay for Christmas food. I hope to have £100 cash and will also use Tesco vouchers for other things (presents), depending on what voucher exchange offers are.

I love christmas!

p-pincher

Wow only just saw this thread, I love Christmas, hubby always calls me Mrs Claus as I make a huge deal out of it.

Not done much buying for the actual event yet but started planning. Me and hubby save £10 each a week to cover everything, we always have some left to pay towards next years holiday.

Saving all of my nectar pins for nieces and nephews pressies and now started saving some shopping vouchers. Need to get a list going of all the OS things i want to do, things like making some printed paper with the kids for wrapping and making some home made decorations.

Keep going everyone x

CountingPennies

DH had to pop into town today so i went with him. Whilst browsing the shelves at a game shop I spotted Fred Clause on Blue Ray DVD for £2. I thought to myself "thats perfect for the christmas eve hamper" for my kids (i always put a christmas dvd in to watch christmas eve). So at £2 i thought it was a pre-owned, especially for Blue Ray. Anyway, paid for it and they brought me a brand new sealed one out! Over the moon. And in theory, it was free, because we spent £10 in Wilkinsons so they paid out £2 parking fee (its a scheme at a small shopping centre) so i got £2 for my parking!

Received a free gift through the post today. It was a sterling silver necklace. Will come in handy for my niece for christmas (its small) so thats her sorted. I really need to start making a list of what i have.

I would love a new christmas tree this year. Mine is 8 years old and looking very thin! Might keep an eye out for a bargain next month on ebay or somewhere like that.

I also love the bathroom ideas, so i'm gonna hunt round for christmas shower curtain and stuff like that. I have red towels, so i'm gonna put them away and not use them till christmas

Feeling very christmasy today.... Not sure why tho!

Hope everyone is well

kboss2010

MrsChristmas wrote: »

I love candles & like the idea of putting them in teacups kboss2010 You make it sound really easy! Is it really that easy??!

I have wicker baskets full of china tea cups & sets, I've been collecting them for years in the hope that one day I will run a little old fashioned tea shop, they're all currently sat in the conservatory so I'm sure I could spare just one to give the candle idea a go.
Can I reuse the wick from the old candle? & do I have to hold it until it sets?!

Sorry for the late reply! The best way to do it is to chop up the candles into pieces (like breaking up chocolate to melt it!) and then melt them - the greater surface/volume ratio will make them melt faster! You can buy a bag of 10 ready-coated wicks from ebay for a few ££ and all you do is pour the melted wax into the teacups, wait for it to harden slightly so that when you push the wick in it will stay relatively upright (they have small metal bases so it should stay in one place) - if you need to lean it against the side of the cup, do so and keep an eye on it so you can keep pulling it towards the middle as the wax hardens.

NB: remember, don't melt the wax straight into a pan, it has a low flash point and may set on fire! Melt it like chocolate in a double broiler or pyrex bowl over a pan of water.

Own_My_Own

Not very Old Style. But just found 54 Christmas books for the kindle for 68p.

If you don't have a kindle you can open an account( free) and read them on your computer.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Christmas-Megapack-YuletideStories-ebook/dp/B00A14BW48/ref=pd_sim_kinc_1

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Second-Christmas-Megapack-ebook/dp/B00A14J9SO/ref=kinw_tu_recs_1

OMO xx

mum2one

kboss2010 wrote: »

Sorry for the late reply! The best way to do it is to chop up the candles into pieces (like breaking up chocolate to melt it!) and then melt them - the greater surface/volume ratio will make them melt faster! You can buy a bag of 10 ready-coated wicks from ebay for a few ££ and all you do is pour the melted wax into the teacups, wait for it to harden slightly so that when you push the wick in it will stay relatively upright (they have small metal bases so it should stay in one place) - if you need to lean it against the side of the cup, do so and keep an eye on it so you can keep pulling it towards the middle as the wax hardens.

A tip I picked up off TV was when you put the wick in the empty cup, put 2 pieces of sellotape across the cup and this hold the wick in place, when set just take the tape off xx

Own_My_Own

mum2one wrote: »

A tip I picked up off TV was when you put the wick in the empty cup, put 2 pieces of sellotape across the cup and this hold the wick in place, when set just take the tape off xx

Or tape to it a pencil and rest this on the cup. (less selotape needed).

charleybear

I've already started buying presents they were in the sale and cheap for what they were. Me and my partner are going to give each other stockings instead of big presents though I have spotted a bigish present I would like to get him.

MaddyWaddy

I had a candle making kit as a child and I always used the pencil method I do like the idea of home made candles

My to buy for list is quickly dwindling ... I had an early delivery of some of my daughters presents and step daughters presents and I have found some local suppliers of some very nice home made things.

I have now created my spreadsheet and working my way through people as I see bits and pieces for them ... the only problem is I have too many things that I can buy for my hubby ... need to trim the spending.

I now have £50 saves for Morrisons and my workplace usually give us £100 M & S vouchers so that will be most of the food and drinks taken care of ... I would like to make my own cake though as this is something I have never done. I usually go to my mums for Christmas dinner so will buy the turkey for her.

mumofthetwins

Started reading this thread and thought YAY !!
I sooo love christmas !
This year i have booked to take my 2 little boys to florida leaving 1st January ... so suprise for them for christmas, my BF and his lil guy are coming to so suprise for his lil one aswell
That means that i have to try to keep costs down as much as possible so i can save for the holiday ... ive adjusted my weekly spending habits and have now gotten my weekly shop down loads (thanks GC) and im ebaying but ive decided to start christmas shopping early when/if offers are around.
Im gonna do a hamper each for the grandparents (car stuff for boys and chocs pics and books for the girls) so im hoping that i will be able to find things in the next few months.
The boys want a new xbox one each (hence ebay) and i should have enough soon to pay for them :T
But my family want me to do christmas dinner again (always me as i have the biggest house) i need to try to do that cheaper this year though as i normally spend a fortune but i used to have ex hubbies wage coming in to .. so any advice/tips would be great .

last one ... is there anything i could start doing now ... just want to start that warm fuzzy christmas feeling

Thanks
Lisa x