money saving christmas tips

16011996

;D Sounds like a plan to me.

I know these will be too big for truffles but if you want chocolate shapes buy a chocolate advent calendar (when it has been reduced, of course), take the plastic bit out of the card (eat all of the chocolates  ;)) melt a bar of chocolate and pour into the plastic mould voila home made chocolate shapes.  You could use them to decorate Christmas cake or plum pudding or your yule log or anything bigger that you are giving as gifts.  

You can save the plastic thing for next year and make shapes to put in a fabric advent calendar.

will have to make bigger truffs to compensate i think. ;D

culpepper

If anyone buys those chocolate large shaped snowmen/father christmas's that come in a plastic shaped container you can do it with those too.My late mum in law bought a snownman for each of my kids when they were little and we have made snowmen using the plastic containers.If the containers are thin plastic,dont put the melted choc in immediately but let it cool a bit or the 'mould ' will buckle.Put them in the fridge and then the freezer as they cool down and they will just fall out .

culpepper

We are making our own crackers again this year.I buy crackers in january when they are very cheap so we can have the snaps(Cheaper than craft shops snaps) .We take the 'toys' out and my daughter has them for her dolls house or we throw them away.In december we make things to go inside. we have made badges,keyrings and fridge magnets with a resin kit,pencil toppers with Fimo and this year we bought a pack of 30 pens in poundland and decorated them with acrylic paints. We usually have a theme (Animals,birds,Harry Potter) .I find jokes on the net and we print them out and we use the original hats that came with the crackers Except one year when we were all wizards,my daughter made wizard hats and we put the description of the hat in the cracker as the hat would not fit. We use crepe paper and loo rolls for the body of the cracker.They are great fun to do and the prize in the crackers last much longer than bought ones.

16011996

but how do you actually make the crackers themselves, can you tell me, cos mine alwayys end up rubbish. although the kids like them cos they have made them. ;D

culpepper

cut a rectangle of crepe paper big enough to go about 1.75 times around a loo roll and about 2.5 lenghts of a loo roll .Lay it flat, place loo roll in middle place things inside tube and a snap with both ends evenly poking out.put half a loo roll at each end leaving a 1cm space between it and the main roll.roll the crepe paper around the rolls. Take a piece of cotton or wool and tie the crepe paper in place in between the end rolls and the middle roll to make a neat cracker and remove the 2 end loo rolls. You can glue the paper with uhu before tying so that you can undo the wool if you want.trial and error to get it perfect but the wool helps hold the snaps tight to stop them sliding out. You can place a thinner paper inside before laying out the loo rolls if you want to make it fancier.Make a little picture to stick over the join in the crepe paper when finished like the shop ones. If the prizes keeps falling out,wrap them in a bit of kitchen roll to make them bulkier.

sheenagh_2

Merry Christmas all!

I mentioned in a post somewhere a german toy catalogue (Legler) and I have finally got hold of it. Just price checked pushalong toy with the letterbox catalogue - letterbox sell them for £6.99 Legler £2.99. I bought loads from them last year and the quality was really good. They seem to have bigger stuff as well this year like prams and the prices are incredible!

The web site is https://www.handelshauslegler.de (don't know how to do links and don't know what the terms of purchase are as it's all organised by a friend)

16011996

thanks, will try this method. ;D

culpepper

You can make 'buddies' as gifts for people with microwaves.
Make a bag from cotton material fill with rice.sew the end closed.
Put them in the microwave for upto 3 minutes on medium and they stay warm for ages.
To make them special you can make a slip cover like a pillowcase that can be removed and washed.

16011996

are these the ones they sell at craft fairs for aches and pains?

jaybee

I guess they're similar - I have a 'wheaty bag' which I put in the microwave. A few drops of lavender oil (or whatever works for you as a nice smell) and it does wonders around your neck / head if you have a bad headache / migraine which doesn't respond to cold treatments. Also good for warming you up if you've got really cold (back, feet etc.) without turning the heating up  ;). Stomach ache too.