Christmas Hampers 2013

My parents are getting a mainly savoury hamper. List so far:
- homemade crisps
- bacon jam
- chutney
- handpainted plant pots with chilli, basil and coriander seeds
- bottle of wine
- cheese biscuits
- chilli biscuits

Mother-in-law will be getting a hamper too
- small Christmas cake
- mincemeat
- ginger biscuits
- fudge
- chocolate truffles
- chocolate cinnamon marshmallows

Friend is getting a hot chocolate and smores hamper
- mug
- hot chocolate balls
- chocolate cinnamon marshmallows
- chocolate bowl filled with chocolate buttons
- biscuits
- marshmallow toasting fork

Mnimad, you don't necessarily need wicker baskets for hampers. Any suitable container will do. A couple of examples that I remember from previous hamper threads are a shoebox covered in wrapping paper (I think this was a DVD night in hamper) and a plastic children's bin for a kid's craft hamper.

My son's sports hamper will be either everything inside a sports bag, or an open topped box covered with paper and everything displayed in that.

One topped boxes are quite good really, as you can use different sizes and different depths depending on what you want. You can also find wrapping paper with a relevant theme sometimes. For your chocolate themed hamper, you could use wrapping paper that shows hundreds of Smarties. I've seen that paper in a local card shop. Incidentally, that's another idea for your hamper, you could get one of those jigsaws that is just a picture of loads of Smarties. It would be a nightmare to do though!

For the Lego hamper mentioned, an old Lego box would be ideal - maybe from Freecycle?

And mentioning Freecycle, maybe you could ask for hamper baskets on there? Someone asked on one of my groups last week, saying that she wanted hamper baskets for making up Christmas hampers. I don't know if anyone responded, but it's worth a try. Car boot sales are another option.

For coffee or tea hampers, I think someone posted in a previous year that they used a tray as the actual hamper.

I made a fruit hamper earlier this week for my mum's friend who has been in hospital. I used a stationery storage box, the sort that you keep paperwork in. I propped the lid at a right angle behind the box, so it can be used as a lidded box again. I lifted the fruit by putting scrunched up newspaper in the bottom of the box and covering it with some coloured tissue paper that I had in.

And for anyone who is interested, if you are taking the hamper to someone's house, into school, etc, a tip. Buy a pack of mini glue dots and use them to secure your contents exactly as you want them. It's horrible when you have spent time arranging everything perfectly, only to find that it all dropped into the bottom of the hamper just because you had to drive over a speed bump!

Another tip - when buying tissue paper for hampers, it's usually cheaper to get a pack from the kids craft section, rather than the adults craft section. A pack of about 20 decent sized sheets can be bought for less than £1 when buying kids tissue paper, but in the adult craft section it is often sold as single sheets, at a much higher price.

Great tips, kingfisherblue-thank you!

I did an entertaining hamper a few years ago and used a metal ice bucket as the container. I love the look of wicker hampers and I always find a use for them, but some people might not.

kingfisherblue wrote: »

I love the book Ballet Shoes

How about a book about a famous play? The Book People sometimes have a children's book called Mr. William Shakespeare, which is a child friendly collection of some of his plays.

You could also think about a ticket to a play or panto, maybe with a home made voucher for the cost of the programme or some money to pay for the programme.

A Tshirt With a drama design (lots come up on Google, masks, clapperboard, etc) to wear at class.

A mirror to practice in front of.

Photo album, so that when she performs she can keep some photos, including some showing her in the prep stages, such as part way through make up.

Movie poster for her bedroom wall.

Purse to take her weekly payment or tuck shop money in.

Ring binder and plastic pockets for any work that she needs to study at home.

Adding on to kingfishers list, a giant star for her dressing room door (or bedroom to u and me) you could probaly make one with a large piece of gold card and personalise with her name