All the homemade Christmas people over here please, lets share our ideas :)

[BabyDubsEverywhere]

Do we have a 'Homemade Christmas Thread' going yet? Ive linked to last years below, I am determined to MAKE MAKE MAKE this year and bugger the responses

I need a fail safe mulled wine kit to give people please if anyone can help, Thankyou :)

Last years thread!

I warned you pumpkin !! :o

How bizarre about your linking up with mates! :) Small world.

FLUBBA,

last year I relented and bought all the ungrateful buggers gifts. This year I do not have the option. I have bought for the kids, mostly ebay and in the sales, I have actually bought my nephew a second hand vtech computer, I think my sis would have a fit if she knew someone else had touched it before he does but it come with the box so Im feeling really sadly smug at getting one past her radar

I am making small hampers to include a selection of: toffe vodka, mulled wine/cider kits, christmas pudding brandy, bath stuff and fluffy socks (bought) and a biscuit barrel (tesco 1.80!) filled with homemade things, either honey comb or biscuits. I also host the evening with a small buffet and all the costs that go along with that. Tbh I dont care this year, i feel much more confident in telling them like it or lump it but at least appreciate the efforts when DH out of work and me returning to study!

Im also making up a hamper of above for me and Dh to open on christmas eve night when the kids are in bed, quite looking forward to it as we usually have a takeaway but cant afford it, so this will be a good sub for that

Christmas is still costing around £400 of money we just dont have, but Im quite happy that this will set the trend for future years when we do have spare cash again. Then i can spend it all on my poor Dh who always seems to be first to lose his place on the present list when we are skint.

Gosh that was long, sorry folkes

While Im at it, has anyone actually tried mulled cider? Any opinions/recipes?

Biking you cant add that you have made Christmassy biscuits without adding the recipe, you will be evicted for bad form

I want a christmassy smelling house too please :)

I have started following the people that are following me. I have no idea if any of them are you lot but I think the peppermint bark and candy cane vodka recipes have given some of you away

Thanks to whoever posted about the salt dough ornaments, they look brilliant and I've got loads of acrylic paint and ribbons so should be really cheap for me to do.

Hi I love making just about anything and love this thread! Can anyone send me an invite to pinterest please??? I HAVE to get an account the suspense is killing me! Thanks!

Am following you now HopeForTheBest. Ooh, that makes me sound like a stalker

I'm planning on doing some felt finger puppets for DD1's stocking (she is almost 3), they look easy to do and there are loads of templates if you google.

Be careful if you want to make crayons - the Ikea icecube trays melt in the oven!! Luckily I had them on foil covered baking sheets so I can wrap up the whole sorry mess and bin it when it has hardened.

LOL acsec O did exactly the same - I had misread the instructions from a Pinterest post that told you to bake it at 230 degrees as meaning celcius not fahrenheit. The smell of burning rubber gave it away. I tried again with another Ikea tray (the jigsaw puzzle one - do they still do that?) and just put it in for 5 mins at 100 deg C - worked fine this time. Had to let it get really cold before unpopping them though - the first two that I tried when it was still a little warm snapped.

I'm onto beanbags today - just little squares for my toddler's stocking and slightly swankier ones for his two toddling cousins to get with books from TK Maxx. I am quite pleased with them given that they are all made with scraps of fabric and beans I had in the house anyway!

PS I'm on Pinterest too - pinterest.com/ancientmarinatr/

ancientmarinator I really like your bean bag idea. Can I ask a silly question and check what kind of beans you used? Assume something like dried kidney beans? Would dried lentils work? Also, what did you do for the swankier ones? Would love to try making some for my toddler.

if you want the beans to be washable, you need to use plastic beans

I love this thread so much! I have made Christmas pudding vodka today and have got Nigella's Christmas chutney cook right at this moment (it smells divine!)

I made some Halloween lanterns with the dc yesterday using tissue paper, black paper and jars and they turned out fab so I am going to do some christmassy ones soon too (saw te Halloween ones on Pinterest)

Also saw Epsom salt jam jar candles that look fab so will be making those as well

Thanks hippy, where do I find those?

HopeForTheBest - I am doing Crayon Rolls, Sock Monkeys and felt roads for the children in my family - all shamelessly stolen from last years thread.

Sorry - I had a work thing after work and have only just got back!

Biscuits that give a Christmassy smell - I basically just used this recipe but:
I didn't add the salt,
I used (salted) butter instead of shortening,
I didn't add the nuts and instead put in some dried cranberries (some were bog standard dried cranberries, others were dried cranberries with orange oil added to them)
I used half the amount of sugar (and I used golden caster sugar as am a snob I think the taste is nicer than bleached white sugar?!)

They are a bit soft-ish (it's the banana) but they taste and smell very nice.

Anyone doing Hyacinth bulbs? I got two packs for £3 with a view to giving them as gifts. I've posted on the Gardening section to pick their brains as to the precise details as I have NOT A CLUE! I rather like the idea of jazzing up a plain, small glass Hyacinth bulb vase (having just learned that there is such a thing!) with ribbon and hessian/burlap/jute whatever you call it!

I am rather excited because a very nice upholsterer lady gave me some offcuts of hessian today - not a huge amount and it is quite loosely woven stuff but I can start playing around with the idea of making up Xmas decorations with them and/or using it for other crafty purposes. I am absolutely obsessed with hessian/jute/burlap at the moment. I am very nervous about putting it through the printer though - and before I do that I have to locate FREEZER PAPER - is there such a thing in the UK?

I'm also kicking myself for having thrown away a load of manky, stubby crayons over the Summer when I had a tidy up - I too could be melting IKEA ice cube trays

Thanks for the tip Ancient, I lost my puzzle piece ice cube tray but have bid on ebay for a insect cake mould (think it might be too big - if so will make bug cakes instead of crayons) and will head down to Ikea to purchase more ice cube trays to melt make crayons!

I can't sew either, that's why I'm making everything from felt- I can cope with gluing You could always cut out the pieces from felt and give it to a child like that so they could make it themselves. You could include some thread and buttons and whatever they need to make whatever it is.

Damn it I should not have clicked on this message board, I was up till 1am bookmarking different sites and I have now joined pinterest. There goes any free time I thought I had :)

Hope I sort my crayons into different shades of the same colour and do them that way. I agree the rainbow ones look pretty but they would annoy me!