Does this sound like a good enough Christmas present?

[Christmasiscomingitis]

Selection of home made jams and chutneys (made now)
Biscuits (home made nearer the time)
A house plant (grown by us from seed) and a watering can (bought in bulk so quite cheap)
Hand made Christmas decoration for the tree, one for everyone but personalised
Also a second hand book or a treat such as chocolate that would be different for everyone depending on what they like. But over all cost per person/ couple would be less than £5 as the home made bits are basically free or cost a few hours pence to make.

This is the only thing I can think of that I can make myself, so basically everything will be free. Is this good enough or am I going to be embarrassing myself?

I'm not really worried about my family as we aren't very materialistic but I don't want to embarrass my self with Dhs family.

We usually get different gifts for everyone, ask what they want and have a £10-15 spend per person (bought throughout the year to spread costs, also what they asked for so nothing like this.) Sometimes someone will ask for something and I can find it for a fiver or something, find one second hand (fine for our family) so it comes out cheap enough.

I have asked that we exchange no gifts or just for the children but everyone has said we don't have to buy for them but they will still buy for us. I don't want to be only receiving on Christmas and this is the best I can think of.

If anyone else has any easy(ish) handmade gift ideas I'm all ears. I can bake, sew and knit so anything along those lines would be great.
(all gifts are for adults but if you have any ideas for kids let me have it)

Thank you for reading if you got this far. We struggle at Christmas as it is but this year with everything going up I just need to get it sorted now. Sorry for the essay.

I think it depends on the person you are buying for, I personally would rather just have a box of chocolates or a bottle of wine and I wouldn't buy second hand gifts for anyone.

I would scrap the watering can as anyone who needs one will have one and use the money saved there to get a new book rather than a second hand book.
Presents sound great and I'd like them.

Yeah, antiques are second hand; classic cars are second hand, vintage clothes are second hand, etc. (Not that I'm advising op to give these as Christmas presents...)
Not everything needs to be brand new and shiny. Some things age well.

What lovely gift ideas- I’d love home made jams, plants, fudge, chocolate. I much prefer edible tasty stuff rather than another bath gift set any day!

I make homemade flavoured gin and vodka. Blackberry gin is great and you can get some lovely little bottles for it to go in. Spiced plum gin is also good at Christmas. Damson and sloe if you can get them.

Home made jam / fudge / biscuits,
Nice house plants all good.

And enough.

Chutney: only if you know they love it and eat it.

IMO if you mess about with Choc oranges it looks as if you are somehow apologising for home made stuff.

it wasn't a gift for them but their oh. they checked the price and made several comments every time I left the room. (I admit after the first one I stayed by the door to see if they start up again. which not proud of but can you blame me) the worst part was the gift came in 2 parts and the price was left on the cheap part not the more expensive part so she was wrong but o couldn't amot to eaves dropping and it'd be rude to tell someone the price of their gift!

They oh (my relative) told her we don't care about prices in this family (we don't!) but it still stung. you know when someone changes the dynamic?
but it made me question whether I am just a tight git and it's just me that doesn't care about prices.

dhs family are a £50 each kind of family and that's been undoable for us from day one. DHs first gift to me was hundreds of pounds. it was over 2 weeks wages for him and we'd only been together a year. he never bought me anything so expensive again though but that's the difference in our families gift wise. it was actually a really thoughtful gift. I still have it but it's rarely used as its so expensive I want to keep it nice. I should thank him again when he gets home.

it's nice but I'd be in thousands if pounds of debt I'd I tried to keep up appearances.

Adult Dd decorated a plant pot and gave me a home grown plant (from seed). She lives abroad and when I look at the plant (and pot!) I always think of her so I do think home grown plants as gifts are very thoughtful

Are you absolutely sure they eat the homemade edibles?

at Christmas time we have so much treat food in, that when our lovely neighbours drops off her homemade chutney and biscuits I feel so guilty. A) no desire to eat homemade anything unless I cooked it or my sister. B) it’s another thing to find storage for in already Christmas laden cupboard!

It sounds wonderful to me, but I'm a 2nd hand person, your DH family sound the opposite. Honestly think you should say We Are No Longer Participating In Present Exchanges and really stick to your guns. They are wankers anyway so bollocks if they don't like it!!

Everything is broke and the planet is on fire. Don't knacker yourself making chutney in August for some nobbers to sneer at ungratefully in 5 months time.

A hamper of fudge, jam, chutney, plant and a decoration with 2022 on it would be my favourite gift. Perfect, really perfect!

It was supposed to go with the plant. So they don't forget to water them.
I saw an Instagram post with a pretty watering can and potted plant and thought why not?

Definitely fudge. Very easy to make at home when you get the hang of it.

The critical part is taking it off the heat at the correct point - soft ball stage. You dollop a little bit of it in a bowl of water and it forms a soft ball that you can pick up and squish.

I've seen these!
Good idea! It's a good job it's August and not November. I'm going to make a list of everything.

I am a hoarder of wool and fabrics so I have loads form previous projects where you buy Four balls but only end up needing 2 or 3.

I'd be delighted to get such a present for Xmas.. I love home made and seasonal.

Never fails to amaze me how weird people are about stuff. Don’t like second hand books? Won’t eat food homemade by other people?

Sounds lovely to me OP.

On books - I have bought books in charity shops in pristine condition and given them as gifts. The recipients were none the wiser.

Good point!

I think it sounds lovely. I do similar for groups of friends - usually a jar of home made biscuits mixed with chocolate coins or a potted plant; I’d be chuffed with both!

and for the doubters, yes I know they enjoy eating the biscuits as I get pictures of them being inhaled! Normally give them in the run up to Christmas and they rarely make it to the day itself.

Liking the fudge and gin suggestions but definitely more expensive than biscuits. I put ours either in ikea jars (which then get recycled by my friends and used to store dog treats/batteries/returned with their own baking in at a later date) or else nice pie tins or serving dishes from the local charity shops. Usually comes out at around a fiver per family group, ten if I push the boat out.

tried for paperwhite narcissi but got the timings all wrong with them so may aim to grow something a little less floral another year.

OK I think I'm just going to go for it and hope for the best. I think its tricky once the expectations have been set, you feel obliged to stick to what you did last year/ what others buy even if it's too much for you or stressing you out.
for a couple of years I've talked about scaling it back and never have. I NEED to this time.

Christmas is such a stress though, I love it more than anything but I find Mtself dreading it every year.

@UpdateStoleMyProfile how do you present everything? the Christmas hamper baskets seem like a waste of money.

Op

why, why would you want to buy anything to anyone who bitched about the price of a present when you leave the room?

they checked the price and made several comments every time I left the room.

in your home.
a present you had bought.
they bitch when you leave the room

and yet a year later you are tying yourself up In knots re the special hand made gifts to make them.

have some respect op. For yourself.

@Endlesslypatient82 ha, I guess I'm endlessly patient too.
no I'm joking.
You can't leave someone out on Christmas.
Anyway it'll be ine 'hamper' per person/ couple so she'll be lumped in with no extra cost.
I might just write 'From Christmasiscomingitis' and not write any 'to dbro and sil' just leave the 'to' part blank so it's not obvious. A little subtle pay back.

Anyway I know everyone is meant to be all high and take the high road but it made me feel like shit and embarrassed and I don't want to feel that way again.
What can you do?
She obviously won't be getting a tree ornament though. victory is mine!

“Leave someone out”

OP you are a grown assed woman and “they” were bitching about YOU in YOUR home.

it is not about “leaving someone out”.

It would break my heart to see my children trying themselves in knots about handmade gifts for people that bitch about her (and only by chance you even heard)