'Make your own' Christmas

[Doodlekitty]

Ok, ok, I KNOW its only June. But I'm due to give birth late October and as it's my first and I have no idea what to expect I want to be all sorted for christmas by the time baby gets here. I'm also going to have no money when I'm on Mat leave so want stuff bought while I'm working but also want to spend as little as possible.

Last year I made Christmas pudding rum for my FIL who has never shut up about it since ( I used this recipe, www.wikihow.com/Make-Christmas-Pudding-Flavoured-Vodka but rum instead of vodka, if anyone is interested)

I think I made it in about November last time, but I'm thinking, if I made it in July then it will just be more yummy wont it, as it just has longer to infuse. also, last year when i told MIL I binned the fruit I used she was horrified, so I'm thinking i might put this in a jar for her (obviously with another present) as she said it would be lovely with ice cream. What do you guys think?

Felt food is a good option for 2/3 year olds, always been well received. I often use scraps of fabric in addition to felt.

e.g. Felt and fabric oranges
Pasta bows are ridiculously easy to make too

My pinterest board is here last years, and mainly focused on decorations.

Has anyone made/planning to make the button tree decorations? Can't do links on my phone. Has anyone found any star beads for the top, and wondering about doing them with different colours (with green as the main base colour), having seen Tizwozliz's pin of a multicoloured felt christmas tree. I quite like the idea of aa purple tree, but as the dc will be doing it I think rainbow is probably closer to the reality. Do you think it will work?

3duracellbunnies You can buy star buttons with shanks from most haberdashers

see here our local shop stocks yellow

I've also used image maker to print some fake money for DD onto felt and cut out with pinking shears. It's well loved and the image is fading slightly. I love making gifts for my DD, I'm knitting her a new winter hat atm. She'll need it before christmas though, it's got rather chilly lately.

Thank you Kellestar will go for a rummage. Have now discovered button santas and snowmen too so think will order red, white, green and black. Still tempted by purple button trees though! Will see how the first 20 for teachers, TAs, brownie/rainbow leaders etc go as I know a few godmothers who might also appreciate purple trees!

Tiny Box Company seems very reasonable for presentation boxes for little bits n' bobs.

I made Mary Berry's Christmas Chutney yesterday, it tastes awesome right now so hopefully even better after maturing - makes 6 x 12oz jars and a bit spare.

MrH made a Tesco online error and we have 5 punnets of nectarines rather than 5 nectarines.

This is a better problem than the time he bought cat food (we have no cat) but I'm still a bit stumped - any ideas?

I'd love to make a chutney, possibly to give at Christmas, but have never made one before. Can I use nectarines in a peach recipe?

Any and all ideas welcome, especially tried and tested recipes - there is no way the two of us and a baby are going to get through them before they're rotten!!

cupcake in the hamper goes a couple of locally made cheeses, homemade Parmesan biscuits, couple of homemade chutneys, this year mango and cranberry, and a small bottle of port. The mango chutney is a new thing this year (parents are getting a curry hamper so made sense!) but I can vouch for the easiness and tastiness of the cranberry recipe!

Ok so just made a batch of wild plum jam! Used frozen fruit and it had no problem setting at all, if anything it is a bit too set. And VERY sweet. But nice all the same. I used nearly a kilo of fruit but that only made 3.5 jars, shall keep half full jar for myself and can't wait to have some on my toast tomorrow! Reckon it would be nice with cheese and biscuits, or is that weird?

Oh and btw the recipe I used said the stones would float to the top so you could just skim them off with a slotted spoon - this DID NOT happen, I had to literally pick them out one by one and it took forever, think this was why it was so set as it was bubbling away for ages while I did that! So next time I am going to remove the stones beforehand...

Can't add link as on phone but google 'cowgirl cookies' (I'm sure someone mentioned similar earlier) there's ingredients list, measurements and labels to print off. Can do boys or girls. Very cute! Maybe good for teenagers?

Fab, thanks madamgazelle sounds lovely.
mrsH if you don't get a Christmas recipe for the nectarines, I would just peel them, whizz them up & freeze in small quantities to give to your baby, stirred into yoghurt or porridge.

Hope you don't mind tizwozliz I have followed you on pinterest., I need all the help I can get with decorations :)

I like this thread. It is poncier than the Poncetastic thread imo.

I made 8 jars of Piccalilli last night. It has joined the beetroot and chili chutney on the shelf. Just two months to go before I can 'test' that it is good enough for pressies.

DS and I have just had a go at this dough for ornaments (or snakes and worms in his case!) - it looks lovely, so will be interesting to see how it bakes. I've just done hearts and stars with 2012 stamped on them so far. I saw a nice star ornament that says 'twinkle' so may try that!

mummys I made jam last year with wild plums (mirabelles) and it set fine without pectin. All members of the prunus family have high pectin content.

Oh, Can I join in?

Last year was ginger bread men and meringue snowmen.

I always do 5chocolate cookies for DH.

Truffels and pepermint creams in posh jar (I use nice coffe jars that I clean good ribbon etc)

Lemochelo (SP)

Mulled whine - in those vinger bottels with heat me and serve labels.

This year is a definate for Ginger bread house.

Would love to do fudge but DD is Allergic to lactose so that is an issue.

My parents love fruit teas - any idea there?

Kveta, I found on pinterest decorations made with cinnamon dough so they also smell nice, will link in a sec...

Kveta those decorations look great. I made salt dough decorations a couple of years ago with DS1, but they were rather ugly looking. I'd like to have a go at doing the boys' handprints in that white clay (saw it on Pinterest - will have to check if they use the same recipe for the clay).

cinnamon tree ornaments

mummyshappypills - I too have that pinned on my Christmas board

I might have nicked it from you, can't remember, I have followed a few links to pinterest stuff on this thread!

Mummysleep, can you link to 5 chocolate cookie recipe? Think my dp would like them too...

Ive had such a nice day planning Christmas presents! I'm even going to have a bash at making my own cards . Can't link as on phone but on pintrest, search 'reindeer' theres some gorgeous hand made ones for kiddies. Marshmallow covered in chocolate with a pretzel broken in half for antlers! There's cellophane lollipop bags and sticks on eBay really cheap. Thought they'd be great stocking fillers.

pinterest.com/teresamshaw/christmas-reindeer-suckers/

HELP!

Why isn't my spiced apple chutney cooking properly?! I have made more than the recipe but not even double and it's been cooking for four hours now I'm worried it's going to be ruined!

Why do you think it's gone wring? Sometimes the consistency changes after bottling and cooling.