Aibu to make all my Christmas presents this year?!

[cloudnews]

Aibu to make all my Christmas presents this year?! I feel it’d be reasonable if they are lovely, tips please!

So things are tight! So I plan to make all my own gifts, I’m thinking fudge, peppermint creams, chocolate bark - decorated Christmassy and maybe soft caramels covered in chocolate!

I’ve made fudge before, and believe the others are fairly easy but please can anyone give tips on how best to make these or other yummy treats I can gift!?

Thank you

[Getitwright]

I make a lot of gifts for family and friends. Nice jewellery, custom designed and made, rather than tat or overpriced Etsy stuff. I can also knit, and I have orders for mitts and gloves, bandanas and neck warmers. I make preserves and chutneys, special cakes, biscuits, amarettos, florentines Etc... much nicer than bought in stuff. I’ve even done home baked bread sometimes. As I actually get asked ‘will we be getting a custom hamper this year’ I don’t think things are being thrown away. The jewellery certainly gets worn. Some crafts and skills are so easy, it’s a shame to waste money buying some stuff. I do of course have the tools and equipment to do it though, so that is an outlay to consider.

[unicorncupcake]

I love peppermint creams, but for some reason wouldn’t particularly want to eat homemade ones 🤔 I don’t know why...

[SherlocksDeerstalker]

I am always shocked when people say they don’t eat things make by other people. I honestly can’t understand it. I would rather have something nice and home made than a shitty shop bought lump of preservatives 100 times over. But then I understand that even shop bought crap has had people touching it so...

[firawla]

By the time you buy all the ingredients I dont think it’ll be cheap anyway. People would be just as happy with a cheap but nice small box of chocolate from the supermarket or pound shop if need be!

[Bluntness100]

OP don't bother wasting your time and money, no one wants home made peppermint creams.

I'm not sure that's true. I think if they are very decandently made, by a great cook who knows what they are doing, , and packaged to look lovely, many people would be delighted.

However I'm not quite sure the op is at that skill set. And as such you're right, and it's better to say let's have a no present christmas

[AllergicToAMop]

I would like them but at least half of mumsnet bin any homemade food incase it has bits of child and pet in it.

Always makes me giggle. Like factories, CDs trucks and shop stockrooms are just magnificently clean and NOTHING ever gets into their chocolates😂 And no one ever sneezes there😂

[JaceLancs]

I only make things if requested
Home made flavoured vodka is very popular amongst my family (not cheap to make though)

[Butchyrestingface]

Was there not a recent thread about ppl hating home made gifts?

[Hahaha88]

I'm a mumsnet enigma as I love handmade gifts, both to give and receive

[BackforGood]

Whereas I'd scoff them happily , surely, if you are skint, a better way to go would be to talk to your siblings / whoever it is you are doing this for and say "Things are really tight this year, can we please just not get gifts for each other" or "Can we do a 'Secret Santa' in some way and all just buy one gift". (Might be a bit late now if you swap gifts with organised people).
You will spend a fair bit on ingredients and then wrapping etc to make them nice.

[Willow2017]

I would love it op but it appears I am in a minority on mn.
Make sure it's cost effective for you, check if they will be appreciated first and if so go for it. I would rather have home made fudge or peppermint creams than tat I won't ever use.
Never understood why people think every factory, shop etc is sterile but home made is riddled with the black death!

[Lipz]

I wouldn't like what your offering but I'm sure there's loads who eat fudge and minty chocolate. They always go in the bin here.


I think what I also don't like about home made gifts is the level of hygiene is not the same as a factory, factories have health and safety checks, it may not be spotless but I feel it would be cleaner than some homes I see people baking in. I've often seen kids lick spoons and continue then to stir the ingredients. I've seen adults tasting their work and not change spoons. I've seen cats in counter tops. Dirty floors from animals and the Baker picking dropped ingredients back off the floor. See there would be no animals and kids in factories.

I would have thought buying the ingredients would be dearer ? I was buying a filled pavlova the other day, it was 6 quid. I decided to make my own and it cost me 13 quid. Sometimes it's best to just buy pre made and in the UK yous have so many great shops with very reasonable prices that it might work out cheaper for you.

[Mammyloveswine]

I'm quite a talented baker and am making home made cupcakes for my siblings to go with wine. Home bargains do lovely decorations and cupcake boxes! I'm not going to say I made them will just give them the boxes.

[areyouafraidofthedark]

If money's tight I'd rather the person tell me or just buy a £3 box of biscuits from m&s.

[JenniferM1989]

Take Scottish tablet for example. I made some not long a go and by the time I bought the ingredients to make enough for 8 servings (5 little bits in each), I'd have been cheaper buying 6 bars of tablet and cutting it myself. Add in the packaging and you're definitely cheaper buying it already made and packaged. I just made it because I wanted something to do and to see if I could. If you were able to make things like hats, gloves, scarves, wooden toys etc then yes, you'd be cheaper to do it yourself and gift but not sweets. They are always going to be cheaper in the shop because they're made in a factory where they aren't paying 80p for 500g of sugar, they're paying about 10p because they buy it in massive bulk. The same with the packaging. You'd end up paying about £1 each for some nice bags to put it in but a factory will buy millions at a time and pay pennies. If you were a fudge retailer that was able to buy things wholesale, that would be a bit different

[sleepingdogssnore]

My mum used to do this in the 80's and make her own boxes from card and a plastic sheet for the lid. She'd do round chocolate truffles that looked like Christmas puddings ( drizzle of white choc on top and a holly iced) peppermint creams in two colours pink & green. Also marzipan fruits. I can't remember her doing fudge. We have tried making fudge and it can come out very grainy, you need a cooking thermometer.

My mum did this as something nice and to save on buying adult gifts when they didn't have much money. Good luck !

[JessWakefield86]

Sorry, but it'd go in the bin here.

Homemade gifts from people who are good at what they do, and know the recipient will like it = yes please.

Homemade gifts from people who decide to chuck together some "chocolate bark" or put something revolting like After Eights in cheap vodka = please don't bother, just say you're broke and I'll understand!

[missyB1]

I love homemade goody gifts but I’m a cake person. If someone was making me a gift I would want some kind of cake. Mind you a friend gave me a lovely chutney for my birthday it’s was amazing!

[Dishwashersaurous]

Homemade chocolates are generally more expensive to make than nice chocolate to buy

[EmpressJewel]

I have attempted to make homemade goods over the years as I enjoy trying to learn new skills and what I have found is:

1. unless you know what you are doing (or practice) it's not always easy to make a homemade goods look visually appealing. For example, I can follow a recipe and make a cake, but they always look a bit shit. There is no way I could give them as gifts.
   
   
2. it can cost a lot more to buy ingredients, utensils and packaging needed to make the item than to pop to the supermarket and buy the equivalent.
   
   Op, don't want to put you off, but unless you are skilled or spend a lot of time practising, it's probably not worth doing homemade.