Old Style Christmas Preparations for Christmas 2013

starlight29

Hi
Well im getting my knitting needles out im going to knit my dad a scarf for christmas and ive got some fab receipes from the celebrations forum for home made chocolates and sweets really looking forward to doing some home made stuff for xmas presents I never actually know what to buy people and it costs a fortune.
My lovely parents are going to go halfs with me for some special sensory fibre optic lights for my little boy whobhas autism im making him his own sensory room in his bedroom
And my daughter is a one direction obsessed maniac so no problems there lol
Cant believe its almost september be halloween stuff soon I love this time of year

Starlight

fuddle

Stumbled across some holly while walking last night. If we're still living here at Christmas I have sourced some of my table decoration

Chris25

glitterkitty wrote: »

Same thing from Lakeland - £29.99 instead of £41.....

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/10972/Silverwood-Multisize-Foldaway-Cake-Pan

I've had one of these for over 20 years - and then it was passed onto me by a neighbour who was emigrating, so I've no idea exactly how old it is!

It's so useful with the different configurations you make. It can be a little fiddly sloting the panels in, but really not difficult or that time-consuming.

The extra dividers can be bought from lakeland too, not sure exactly but pack of two is definitely under £10.

noodles86

I've had enough this year and just doing most adults token gifts;

Most people are getting one of these each

http://www.jakheath.com/2012/12/make-your-own-chocolate-place.html

Maybe some of these

http://www.bakedbyrachel.com/2011/12/snowflake-peppermint-bark-memories/

The kids I got two girls (both 1) in the night garden figures reduced to £2.50 in Tesco

My cousins newborn 4 rattles toys reduced to 50p each in Asda & leggings and a t-shirt reduced in Tesco total cost £5

My cousins older son a bnwt thomas the tank hoodie £5 inc postage from ebay & some socks total £6

One boy who's 6 a reduced meccano set for £3.99

I only have one more boy to buy for but will wait until nearer the time to ask his mum what he would like, she always buys for my two so spend a bit more on her one.

The only person I've spent more on is my mum, I have done her a movie night, two brand new dvds, muriels wedding & shirley valentine, a mini bottle of wine & some galaxy chocolate for £7.84


I cant believe where the time is flying, my cousin works at asda and said once all the summer stuff has sold off the halloween will be coming out!

Chris25

noodles86 wrote: »

I've had enough this year and just doing most adults token gifts;

Most people are getting one of these each

http://www.jakheath.com/2012/12/make-your-own-chocolate-place.html

I !

thank you, these are lovely; I'm definitely going to be making some
:T

vickiem30

Hi

I want to make a Christmas pudding on stir up Sunday with my grand skid. (I know it's ages away!) Problem is, he is three and I'm not great at cooking. All the recipes I've found on the internet require things such as soaking stuff overnight, or food processors. I just want a simple recipe that we can do with just a mixing bowl. Ideally, a pudding that could be cooked in the microwave would be brill, steaming would be fine.

I found one supposedly child friendly recipe and it needed 3 mixing bowls we've only got one, I thought that was the standard number of mixing bowls in a household!

Does anyone have any child friendly, recipes out there?

dylan2011

vickiem30 wrote: »

Hi

I want to make a Christmas pudding on stir up Sunday with my grand skid. (I know it's ages away!) Problem is, he is three and I'm not great at cooking. All the recipes I've found on the internet require things such as soaking stuff overnight, or food processors. I just want a simple recipe that we can do with just a mixing bowl. Ideally, a pudding that could be cooked in the microwave would be brill, steaming would be fine.

I found one supposedly child friendly recipe and it needed 3 mixing bowls we've only got one, I thought that was the standard number of mixing bowls in a household!

Does anyone have any child friendly, recipes out there?

Sorry, can't help much, but just to let you know I haven't even got one mixing bowl at the moment, I use whatever I have to hand - saucepans, a glass serving bowl etc. Anything that is not being used. (which is usually everything lol) after only moving into our first proper home together alone 5 months ago, and having lots of other expenses, we just make do with what we have.


The chocolate sleighs look fab, and I think I will make them for my partner and little ones - mad to think that even 14 week old will be old enough for a little chocolate treat by xmas!

I have to buy for:
my 2 little boys - last year there was only one - but will stick rigidly to budget of £50 each, including stocking fillers and will also include clothes and essentials, main present will be around the £20 mark. At this age, they don't need much.
my partner - we don't usually buy properly for each other, we both know how skint we are, but usually do a mini stocking with a few little treats, £5-£10 total
Mum - £10-£15 - Have spent more than this in past, but also spent less. She loved the personalised photo frame with picture of my little boy last year, this year I plan on a treat hamper/box and get my 2 year old to help me decorate some chocolates or something.
Dad - £10-£15 - Aint got a clue what to get him, used to always get him a cd, but now it's all mp3 nonsense, I don't know - I might only be 28 years old, but a lot of this "latest technology" frustrates me, it seems the world is getting rid of actual "stuff" which isn't fun when buying for people. eg. people dont need cd's, dvd's, books etc anymore because it is all digital now.
Mother in Law - £25 (there is no "dad" on partners side, so he spends a bit more on his mum)
4 brothers - £5-£10 each
1 sisters - £5-£10 each
neice - £5-£10
2 brother in laws - £5-£10 each
neice in law - not sure, she is only little, will be 6 months at xmas, so prob around £5

Think that is all for this year. The budgets aren't "set in stone" but the overall budget is, and what I always feel is most important is that the gift I give is thoughtful. Have started "saving" but haven't bought anything yet. We need to buy decorations etc. from scratch as it is our first proper home together at xmas, and I am so excited to see my 2 year olds face when we do up the house. He has seen decorations at my mums and mother in laws, but we have never had our own - last year we were basically homeless, moving around every few weeks from one cheap holiday home to another whilst waiting to get a house of our own.

Chris25

vickiem30 wrote: »

Hi

I want to make a Christmas pudding on stir up Sunday with my grand skid. (I know it's ages away!) Problem is, he is three and I'm not great at cooking. All the recipes I've found on the internet require things such as soaking stuff overnight, or food processors. I just want a simple recipe that we can do with just a mixing bowl. Ideally, a pudding that could be cooked in the microwave would be brill, steaming would be fine.

I found one supposedly child friendly recipe and it needed 3 mixing bowls we've only got one, I thought that was the standard number of mixing bowls in a household!

Does anyone have any child friendly, recipes out there?

to soak fruit overnight is easy though, you could use a saucepan. Is it because you want to go through the whole thing of weighing out etc, when he gets there? If so, you could soak overnight then drain before he arrives & put the fruit into a plastic bag & so when weighed, you 'just happen' to have the right weight.

If you don't want to buy another mixing bowl, you could try a value washing-up bowl from one of the supermarkets - much cheaper & useful for other things after used for mixing.

vickiem30

Chris25 wrote: »

to soak fruit overnight is easy though, you could use a saucepan. Is it because you want to go through the whole thing of weighing out etc, when he gets there? If so, you could soak overnight then drain before he arrives & put the fruit into a plastic bag & so when weighed, you 'just happen' to have the right weight.

If you don't want to buy another mixing bowl, you could try a value washing-up bowl from one of the supermarkets - much cheaper & useful for other things after used for mixing.

I am going to his house to make it, so that he can keep the pudding every week he can feed it (or is that for Christmas cake? I said I was rubbish at this!). What you've said makes sense, I can soak it overnight, weigh it into bags and take them with, so it's just the fun stuff of stirring.

Thanks for the advice, that's really helpful.

vickiem30

dylan2011 wrote: »

Sorry, can't help much, but just to let you know I haven't even got one mixing bowl at the moment, I use whatever I have to hand - saucepans, a glass serving bowl etc. Anything that is not being used. (which is usually everything lol) after only moving into our first proper home together alone 5 months ago, and having lots of other expenses, we just make do with what we have.


That's real thinking out of the box! I could use tupperware as makeshift mixing bowls. Thanks for the help, it'll be cheaper and easier than a trip to B and Ms for two more bowls!