thought I might try my hand at making a few xmas pressies to save a bit of cash . . .

[lucysmam]

anyone any ideas what I could do?

my mind kind of went blank after I had the brainwave that I could make something . . .

here are instructions

images.marthastewart.com/images/content/web/pdfs/2008Q1/tvs_rabbitglove.pdf

if you go back to the main site the finished product doesn't look as bad as it sounds ...!

mixed pepper berries? I'm curious . . . what are they? Although I'm sure the answer is staring me right in the face!

Lucysmam - I've googled this,

"the round black balls we know as peppercorns are actually the berries of the plant Piper Nigrum. Harvested when half-ripe, these berries are allowed to ferment and dry in the sun until they shrivel and turn a brownish-black color. They have a hot, piney flavor that stimulates the taste buds."

There are other pepper varieties : green or white for example and you can buy jars of different varieties combined.

well, you learn something new every day! I didn't know peppercorns were berries! Am genuinely quite surprised by that

HereComesthesciencebint, that's a fab idea. Wow, you're all full of brill ideas. Why can't I be more creative

Ohhhhh herecomesthescience I am going to pinch that idea I really like it .

i love these types of thread!

Last year i made hampers for MIL, my dad and step mother and my nan. They cost under £20 but IMO looked more(I hope!) I put in things like mugs, local tea, a calender, chocolates. Basically a load of little bits that each of the people would like.

I think this year I might get dd(maybe ds but he'll only be 19months!) to make some biscuits or cakes and decorate them.

I also might make a cardboard photoframe type thing and get dd to decorate that with all things glittery and then put a photo of dc in it for MIL. She'd love that!

Wow, this thread is great. Thanks for the link countingthegreyhairs, am going to scour charity shops for some bright gloves! And herecomesthesciencebit great idea about the wine, going to do that one too.

A request for furthering this thread: can you link any sites or suggest shops for cheap containers for doing all this e.g. hampers, glass jars, boxes etc.?

bumper, i'd like to know where to get containers too. I was particularly thinking of things for biscuits.

For my hampers last year I bought some wicker baskets in poundland they are laundry baskets but they looked good still!

Dunelm mill sell baskets, although they're not that cheap

Eddas, I like your piccy frame idea with sparkly bits. That could be a good one for my mil with a pic of lo in too! & especially if decorated by her!

Wicker baskets in wilko's about £3.99 for a largeish one. Well, I have 19 baby feeding bottles plus other bits in one on top of kitchen cupboard so they're quite roomy.

Jars I haven't a clue. If there's a TJ Hughes or something like that (cheap & cheerful) they normally have a selection of stuff. And our pound shop have quite a few crafty bits in in the run up to xmas

thanks lucysmam dd made one at preschool once and it looked good. I know MIL will love that more than something bought anyway.

I've uploaded some pics of last years hampers so you can see what the poundland baskets look like!

A nice way to give biscuits, ,mince-pies and home-made choccy's is with

these

They also do plain one's, which are lovely with some bright red ribbon

Here

They also have Jam Jars

here

I love Lakeland

I am definitely going to do some home-made hampers, and I have a great idea to personalise them. I am going to take the kids to my local painting plates place, they can design a plate for the Grand-Parents and it can go in the hamper, along with the goodies.

Eddas - Your hamper looks lovely

Eddas, they're fab. I might give something like that a go for my dad and sis, rather than buy something each since we never see them

AbbaFan, I love Lakeland too . . . to online 'wander' around! Can't actually afford to shop there atm but they have some great looking stuff!

take a look on this thread from last year for some more ideas

you might not want to post on it though since it's in the 'christmas' topic and people don't seem to want to talk christmas yet

Thanks for saying they're nice abbafan and lucysmam

I would recommend getting some bits from poundland. But you need to get them as soon as they're appear as they go quickly(the seasonal bits) last year they had some quite nice ribbon. I bought some with reindeer on and cut it up to use on babyfood jars to make reindeer food for the preschool bazaar

lmao@people don't wanna talk xmas! It's the only way I'm going to be sorted!

Will look later on as my lo is being a PITA this morning

Eddas- those hampers look fantastic!

I love the idea of reindeer food too! (oats with glitter in perhaps?)

(OT- your children are beautiful, and so alike... especially the sleeping pictures, ahhh)

eachpeach,that's right, reindeer food was cheap oats which i part dyed green and red(ws gonna be fully dyed but ran out of food colouring) and I was gonna add glitter but it was a huge batch of oats so needed more than I had! I then cut up some material to put over the top of the jars and put an elastic band round it(dh got some red ones from the postman) Ds was having the little babyfood jars at the time so i just saved them up. It was an idea from a thread on here. The kids loved it!

Actually I must ask on freecycle for some jars this year(or think of parents I know that may have some!)

a homemade hamper...

blackberry jam (get picking now!)

sloe gin (get picking now)

christmas almond biscuits

mini christmas puddings (mmm)

and spicy nuts

lovely present, especially for those who have all the gadgets, paintings, clothes they could wish for!

adding homemade labels can make them more exciting...

once for a friend, we did an Alice in Wonderland Hamper.

one bottle said 'Drink Me' then refered to cake
one cake said 'Eat Me'then refered to drink
and third said 'Drink Me' then refered to other bottle...

great fun!

Ok so, on the home-made hamper idea, would anyone not include any of the following (for my dad n sister who we NEVER see atm);

mini xmas cake
bottle of something . . .not sure yet but like the mulled wine idea
next year calendar
home made biccys decorated by dd
something else xmassy

or is there anything you'd put in that I've not thought of?

LM, i like everything you've suggested. Extras, mmmm, would they appreciate a picture of dc? THat'd be nice if they would. Last year I put in a festive tea towel

that would be a good one actually Eddas, they've not seen her for about 4 months now. Which I think is but that's another story altogether . . .

Mini xmas cake, does anyone have a recipe that I could do in a small spaghetti tin or something similar? & would one be ok in that kind of tin? Although I can't see why not