Hamper for In Laws?

[G0ldenbrown]

Hey all

My In Laws are VERY hard to buy for and absolutely lovely so I always really want to please them. This year we said we would cut back so are spending about half as much as we usually do. I have got them a photo calendar and a photo mug each already and have made some Christmas pudding flavour Rum for FIL which I'm going to bottle nicely. But we still need something else. They have just bought a caravan so I thought maybe a hamper of fancy bits and bobs they can have there. I looked at lakeland and they have one for £45 which is about what I want to spend. But then I thought, maybe I can do it myself for less and have it a bit more personal. So, I want to avoid alcohol (due to the Rum) any suggestions? Nice tea bags are a definite, but I don't drink tea, is Wittards the best? Am I wasting my time and should just buy one?

[mrstiredandconfused]

You might want to look at the Xmas craft thread- I've nicked borrowed lots of ideas from there.

I'm doing hampers too and i'm putting in 2 chutneys, rosemary infused salt, olive oils with chilli, basil and rosemary, lemon hand scrub, sticky rib glaze and some sort of sweet stuff. I've found it cheaper to do in bulk - i'm doing a total of 6 different hampers for different rellies and just amending the contents to suit the recipient (e.g. aunt and uncle hate chutney so they're getting extra sweet stuff).

Hth!

[PomBearAtTheGatesOfDoom]

I bought my parents this scenic drives atlas for Christmas this year - they're hard to buy fo, they seem to have everything and want nothing, but they go away a lot, staying in little cottages and will enjoy searching out the places in the book I hope. Maybe your PiL would like it too, for when they're off caravanning.

[CherryMonster]

whittards do have christmas blended tea, coffee and hot chocolate. also sugar swizzlers and various yummy biccies. i would get a basket and buy from them to make something yummy up xx

[LemonDifficult]

M&S Belgium truffles are half price at mo -£2.99 - and are honestly unbeatable. They have some lovely tins of Christmas Spice nuts too.

[LemonDifficult]

Also, what about some posh cordial? You can get a nice winter spice one from Belvoir (?) I think which is delicious cold or with boiling water in a mug. Would be just right for a caravan.

[G0ldenbrown]

Oooh, loving the cordial idea, that;s a definite. Loads of good ideas guys, thank you.

Went to whispers Aldi yesterday. MIL would never dream of setting foot in there so some of their posher looking stuff could pass as better than it is. I bought some strawberry and champagne conserve, which came with a really cute little jam spoon and a large tub of Twinnings Swiss Hot Choc for less than a fiver. It's a start

[5Foot5]

We do a hamper for the PILs every year that is Italian based because they love Italian food and always claim that we can find stuff they can't. I honestly don't know why that is because we live in a very small town and very often the stuff we get comes from Sainsburys or M&S (though we did get to a branch of Carluccios once) butthey seem to like it. Usually it is a mix of savoury (pasta sauces, unusual pastas, jars of antipasti) and sweet (panettoni etc).

Last year I did a hamper for my Mum but I went to the local market where small producers had stalls and themed the contents on stuff that was all produced locally.