Shitty homemade Christmas Gifts

[justilou1]

I’m really loving the homemade Christmas gifts thread, and am watching it for inspiration. Can we start one for ideas for things to avoid - ie glitter-encrusted his&hers champagne flutes.

@ThrownMuse yes you can. I actually liked those when they first came out (because I like Scrabble) but they are so overdone now. A sweary one could be fun though.

FUCK ..S
U..... .. .H
N..... . . I
T W A T
... A
... N
... K
... E
... R

I came on to add Inkey Feet. Framed images of your newborn's feet. No thanks. For parents and grandparents only, possibly aunts and uncles at a pinch.

Funt? What is funt? This is why I can't be doing with craft. Can't even do it virtually.

I love homemade jam! And cake actually although I’ve never seen a baked bean one.

Also anything made by a child is acceptable.

I do know what you mean about stuff that’s more of a hobby for the giver.

Many of these I've never heard of (am I lucky?) I have no idea about the tin cakes, I need to know more!

A Few years ago I made Christmas cake using bean tins. I gave them to my grandparent, dh aunt and a friends mum. They are perfect size for those who enjoy Christmas cake but would waste a larger cake. Attached a photo feel free to judge.

Homemade soap/bath bombs. Not great for sensitive skin. I would say that factory produced cosmetics are more likely to contain inflammatory ingredients. My homemade soaps are made with olive oil, rapeseed oil and a splash of argon oil and essential oils for fragrance. My bath bombs have 4 ingredients - bicarb, citric acid, water and essential oil.
And since I have started using good quality soap rather than liquid detergent based shower gels and pump hand "soaps' my eczema has improved enormously.

Framed pictures of your children. Possible exception for grandparents but no one else

Oh my god would anyone give a framed picture of their own child to anyone other than grandparents (or maybe very close aunts/uncles). I once gave a framed picture of DC to my mum - she put it away in a drawer and eventually used the frame for a picture of her pet dog!

IggyAce

Is that any actual picture of what you made? Feel free to make one for me any day!

Yes I also hate those scrabble pictures!

Bean tin cakes are usually a Christmas cake, made in cleaned out and lined baked bean tins. Or sweet corn tins, if you want a slightly larger cake. No baked beans or sweet corn go into the cake.

I make sweet corn tin Christmas cakes from Delia’s recipe for family who have specifically said that they want one/like them. So

I get homemade jam (from someone lovely) every year. It is set like concrete and seems to have a ratio of sugar to fruit of 99:1.

She asks me to return the empty jar. So late January I have to don tools to get it out of the jar and into the bin.

Memories of filling jam jars with bath salts from the cheap jack shop and putting a jam
Jar lid covered with a doily and a sticky present bow on top as presents for the aunties. I'll bet they loved those.

Especially as they all suffered with eczema. 🙄

Yet, it is the cheap, (home-made) crap that has made Christmas so hilarious. I can remember the horrible jumpers that my grandmother used to knit us as children, and the dot-to-dot books that my aunt used to buy us well into our early teens.

At work, we used to get each other a present from the local Pound Shop. Some of the things they sold in there were wonderful.

I quite like some of the things on this thread- homemade cards (esp from my children), picture calendars (although happy with just photos printed, so great to have them printed out finally), bookmarks, I like homemade jam too!

The thing is, no one actually likes Christmas cake.

One year my mum made a Christmas cake in the shape of a Christmas cracker by using bean tins to make cylindrical cakes. There was an inordinate amount of icing, but I thought it was quite creative.

@Isentthesignal
I’m surprised to see Citric acid listed there , I thought it was a trigger for eczema so I’ve been avoiding it.
My daughter is plaguing me for bath bombs but I can’t find any that fizz and don’t have Citric acid in them.
Off topic sorry !!!

I must be weird because I really like receiving cooking ingredients in a Kilmer jar.

But not home made cushions which don't coordinate with my house.

I like the jam, the treacle toffee sounds fab and I would be happy with the Christmas Baked bean tin cake or biscuits
Not so keen on the bath stuff or wood/glitter/stone combos
That said all the homemade stuff has to be good (and from someone reasonably hygienic)
Photos/frames are fine from close family but not otherwise
Caveat to this my great aunt knit me a tight and itchy jumper when I was about 4 which I didn't appreciate! Afterwards I was permanently assigned the role of worst great niece (there were many) and given a 50p piece taped into a card.

To anyone who is reading this thread and thinking, "oh well now I won't give anyone that shit ton og sloe gin i've been making or any of my homemade mincemeat, jam or biscuits"

Just send it my way, I will happily scoff dispose of it for you.

Hmmm I get what everyone is saying but it makes me a bit sad. I always make some / as many presents as possible because I am absolutely skint and it’s a way to try and give a thoughtful present to friends and family without breaking the bank. I am a crafty type though and would never give anything I wouldn’t be happy to receive (I suppose you might say that depends on my standards of a good gift!).

Some Things I have made and given

• a puppet show and puppets for niece
• clothes
• gingerbread
• an apron
• a patchwork quilt
• a painting
• doll clothes

I do enjoy crafting but would far rather be making something for myself!!! So it’s not from a selfish point of view. Now I feel like maybe I shouldn’t bother, which is a shame as it comes from a genuinely thoughtful place

Hanyu 'The thing is, no one actually likes Christmas cake'

I do. DH does. All my family did. DH's family do. My friends do. Are we strange?

Hideous @iggyace def don't give them to friends this year. I'll take them off your hands for you like a good Mner.

I do enjoy crafting but would far rather be making something for myself!!! So it’s not from a selfish point of view. Now I feel like maybe I shouldn’t bother, which is a shame as it comes from a genuinely thoughtful place

this is a self selecting thread though isn't it. Who wouldn't actually want a handmade quilt?

I do. DH does. All my family did. DH's family do. My friends do. Are we strange?

Yes. Sorry you had to find out this was.

Actually I do like the icing/marzipan it’s just the cake that I can’t be doing with