Christmas hamper help

Pooky

I think I'd go down the route of a supermarket gift card a week or so before Christmas so she could use it how ever she needed to and then a hamper of nice treats to open on the day. That way if she wants to do the turkey dinner she can but equally it's new undies all round or a restock of the larder.

My in-laws did this for us when our girls were small and we were really struggling. We sensibly did the long life larder stock up, got a chicken for Christmas Day and then at the till we were told they'd put £500 on the card, we'd assumed probably £50. It lasted us months, however tempting it was to spend on luxuries we knew we needed to keep mouths fed and watered.

Spendless

RainbowHippie wrote: »

I once made up a 'fancy pasta bake' pack for a particularly skint friend at uni, with a cheap but nice ceramic oven dish, enough pasta/sauce/tuna/olives/sweetcorn etc for a few meals, and a £5 gift card for any fresh stuff like cheese, onions etc (i was also skint lol). It was very much appreciated. xx

I'm nicking this idea for my own student son. One of his complaints is that he doesn't have the stuff in to fully create a meal in the first place and always has to buy more stuff to 'add' to it. Pasta bakes where you can create the full meal from store cupboard items is a great idea. :T

silver-oldie

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

silver-oldie - can I just say thanks for posting the info about these biscuits. We're currently putting together our chrimbo donation to a foodbank, and Baby Greying will be handing over a tote bag of biscuits. We don't routinely buy biscuits, so I didn't know these were available. I picked up a couple of packets this am and will add to them with other 'interesting' types of biccies over the coming weeks.

Cheers!

Greying X

W@itrose have some some lovely Scottish all butter shortbread selection box 450g and Chocolate Biscuit Selection 450g on offer this week, £2 each. Bought some last year and they were yummy.

purpleybat

RainbowHippie wrote: »

I once made up a 'fancy pasta bake' pack for a particularly skint friend at uni, with a cheap but nice ceramic oven dish, enough pasta/sauce/tuna/olives/sweetcorn etc for a few meals, and a £5 gift card for any fresh stuff like cheese, onions etc (i was also skint lol). It was very much appreciated. xx

this reminded me of the first year one of my sisters went off to college and at 12 i was in charge of cooking (our meals were VERY boring), she wrote me out a few scrolls of favourite meals she used to cook, popped them in a dish with a few long life ingredients so i could make them. i loved that present.
i make up a food parcel each year for my eldest sister, it includes cookies and such, stuff for a quick easy meal or 2 after the busy-ness of crimble (pasta and posher end sauces) and some posh bath stuff cos i know she loves a soak in the tub.

re the original post, i'm not sure i would buy a turkey unless i was certain they won't have one and that they actually like it. is there some way you can get a conversation round to asking what she's planning for crimble dinner?
i love the idea of crimble hampers tho, i'd be so happy to recieve one, not a shop one of course but one thats taken thought to put together.

VfM4meplse

I have noted a certain trend - Aldi, Lidl, The Works amongst others - of price fixing hamper baskets. £5 for a lightweight wicker basket? Come off it!! You're better off using a 10p bag for life.

JIL

VfM4meplse wrote: »

I have noted a certain trend - Aldi, Lidl, The Works amongst others - of price fixing hamper baskets. £5 for a lightweight wicker basket? Come off it!! You're better off using a 10p bag for life.

Totally agree.
The wooden trays that some veg come or the cardboard trays lidl cucumbers come in are just as good as these trays. I have used a Hessian bag for life, folded down the sides and covered in cellophane. 99p.

I think it's a lovely idea, I think a few luxuries would be appreciated, some nice bubble bath, small bottle of wine , few chocolate biscuits, some savoury snacks.