Old Style Christmas Preparations for Christmas 2013

whitesatin

Great idea re the tote bag and pjs. I have always intended to make bags instead of always wrapping presents in paper. Food for thought, I need to get planning.

meg72

whitesatin wrote: »

Nice ideas, thanks. Can you think of something to mix with the lavender to make it more seasonal? Lavender is always appreciated mind you. My little 4 year old grandaughter is addicted to the stuff and is always disappointed if things I make don't smell of it. LOL.

I save orange and satsuma peal, chop small, dry and add sweet orange oil then mix with lavender, smells lovely and a bit more seasonal.

whitesatin

meg72 wrote: »

I save orange and satsuma peal, chop small, dry and add sweet orange oil then mix with lavender, smells lovely and a bit more seasonal.

Sounds lovely, thanks. When you say "save", how long before, say December, would you start doing that?

jemb

Ohhh! Which shop in Harrogate?

TravellingAbuela wrote: »

As sad as it makes me sound, I got some great bargains this week to add to my present stash! A discount shop in Harrogate is closing down and they were selling off Floriography gift sets for £3.50 - rrp £22.50 and £19.99 on Amazon. I came out with 7 boxes!!!! It's gorgeous stuff and at that price I even treat myself to a box!

honeythewitch

xxlouisexx56 wrote: »

This year dd1 (who will be 8 on 31st dec) will have a much small pile of presses than dd2 (who will be 2 1/2) as her pressies are much more expensive. But she also has autism and I know she won't really understand why.

Any tips from those who have been through this already?

We used to bulk out the small pile with large and cheap items like sleeping bags and teddy bears and evened up the number of presents with junk from the pound shop so everyone's sack appeared the same size, and everyone had the same number of presents.

fluffysox

Been thinking about Christmas already too. Last year we didn't do much as we got married 4 days before Christmas. I made wooden tree decorations, using laser cut wooden shapes, doves and bells, as favours. Nieces and nephews got cash. Ladies got a little Christmas cactus and men got simple gift of smellies or a bottle of something alcoholic.
Really want to do something personal this year- that shows thought. I know teenagers will prefer cash but for the adults I definitely don't want to do loads of boots giftsets etc. We are due to have our second baby October so will try to get a nice photo of them both in a nice frame as a starting point for each couple.
As to what else to do I'm not sure yet.
I had one idea but truthfully I don't think I have the skill or the time. That was to make jewellery rolls. Idea came to me when i was cleaning my necklaces recently. Anyway there are tutorials online and with nice fabric would be a lovely gift idea. Found a nice one here, but there are others on Google.
http://kathyscrazymoments.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/jewelry-roll.html?m=1

MrsChristmas

Oh how my eyes lit up 2 days ago when I came across this thread!

I had to create a new folder on the laptop to store all the brilliant ideas as I am determined to be organised & thrifty this Christmas. I'd like it all done, bar cooking & baking, before 1st Dec
Especially love the Christmas Eve stocking, hug in a mug, hampers wrapped with cellophane & ribbon, cooking the turkey the day before and reheating at the bottom of the oven with turkey gravy, scrapbook for nanny & microwave fudge

I had already started decluttering the house & selling on Ebay so used what I had made to make a start buying a few Christmas presents.
Managed to grab a brand new East of India (Christmas dec wooden block) sign for each of my friends as they are into shabby chic for 99p each... & the seller very kindly combined postage! Very happy with that
Also picked up, again brand new, a Yankee Candle Snowman tealight holder with 12 tealights for £7 .... FREE POSTAGE & PACKAGING!
Haven't decided if this will be a present yet as ~shusssh~ I quite like it
Then I remembered that I was given a Body Shop gift box & a 'not so expensive' one for my Birthday. I'm not really into smellies so have squirreled these away ready for nanny or an unexpected visiter. So that's at least 4 possibly 5 presents done :T

meg72

whitesatin wrote: »

Sounds lovely, thanks. When you say "save", how long before, say December, would you start doing that?

You can start this as soon as you like as once dry it lasts indefinitely, just needs refreshing with oil after a while. It also darkens with time so if you want that lovely orange colour then I would say make a couple of months before christmas.

Bitsy_Beans

Torry_Quine wrote: »

We haven't even had any decent weather yet. It's silly to be posting a thread about christmas so early.

So why bother reading it if you think it silly? <sigh> it's not as if its not clearly marked.........

I have subscribed. Not because I really prep as early as you guys, in fact after buying toys in advance last year and then DS changing his interests I swore I'd never start so early again :rotfl:
However I love Christmas. And I will enjoy reading all about your preparations

joedenise

I'm a bit like Bitsy Bean in that I don't do much prep before Christmas but like to see what others are doing - I'm nosy like that:rotfl:.

The only real prep I do is to buy my cards and paper in January but I didn't even need to do that this year as I had more than enough from last year bought really cheaply and stashed away:money:.
I've also subscribed.

Denise