'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?

Apparently they have started to sell them in London waitrose stores at 4.99 per lb . Bit far to pop out.

If they like chalk that might explain not having many around here!

Could I make something similar with damsons (and less sugar)? I have a damson tree!

And if so does anyone have a recipe?

just marking my place - loads of good ideas here!

I found a recipe! Looks easy enough but needs 3 months so I'm damson picking tomorrow .

I've just made half my annual supply of pickled onions (there's only so many I can face peeling in one go!). I make two big kilner jars every year and then split them down into smaller jars nearer Christmas as needed for gifts and keep the rest. They knock spots off bought ones that might be the dried chillies I stick in the jars

In the past I bought an artists canvass and acrylic (I think) paints from poundland and had my (then) two boys make a flower/sun design with their handprints (eldest, and therefore, larger hands in blue, held his hand and placed handprints in circle, when dry youngest had red hands and I did the same over-lapping). Very controlled but they were only 1 & 2 at the time, so you might let your kids be creative! Pressies for both grandmas for £3.

Temper - I've got masses of lemon balm too, I had to retrieve a football from the middle of it yesterday and it smelled fabulous. It's the only one of my herbs that has really done well this year. The only thing I know to do with it is to steep fresh leaves in boiling water and drink it. I wonder if you could dry the leaves out in the airing cupboard and make them into little muslin bags?

I had fun with DS1 today testing out 'homemade' crayons!
Basically all different bits of crayon cutted up, put into fun silicone moulds (no pattern really, just a nice mix of colours) and heated until melted in a low oven-mine only goes as low as 110°C.

We did teddybears and hearts for DS1's birthday present to DS2, but I thought of this thread as they are ideal (and effortless) stocking fillers!
Apologies if everyone on the planet but me knew how to do this already :)

Sagely - are you on Pinterest? Lots of lovely things to do with melted crayons on there.

No, I am scared that it will eat my life (like MN does!)
But I'll have a butcher's :)

Oreocrumbs great idea about the brown bags.. Sorted thank you!
I did think about baskets but thought they'd be expensive. I'll check local cheapo shop and see if there is anything suitable tho
Thanks again

Just bought 25 brown paper bags on amazon for £2.85. Cellophane bags were £2 for 25 and I got a foods and Christmas craft book for 1p! Total £7 with postage can't be bad...

Ooh excellent, I haven't bought mine yet but know where I'll be getting them now!

I'm off plum picking, making plum gin, not damson now! (mother has set me right with which fruit is which . Turns out its too early for sloes here too, and there are loads very close to her house when they are ready, so I can put them away for sloe gin next year).

Eek I'm excited, my first home made christmas starts tonight!

So glad to have found this thread -

So far I have made lemon and elderflower marmalade (back in the early summer when elderflowers were everywhere) and Delia's Spiced Plum Chutney (made last week as our plum trees are full of plums but most of the plums look a bit blemished so not great to eat uncooked). I also just made Elderberry Cordial, which was an epic fail as it has solidified so I now have elderberry jam in bottles - wtf am I supposed to do with that?!!

I still have a bag of wax chips (following Laurie's famous candle making thread) so will certainly make some more of those.

Last year I made biscotti for Christmas presents for teachers (and put some in hampers with other stuff for family members and they were a hit!) Easy to do a week or two before the end of term before it gets too hectic.

This is my trusted mincemeat recipe - I don't drink but feel free to add alcohol as you see fit! I often add a splash of apple juice to get the consistency just right when I'm about to use it.

Fruit Mincemeat Without Suet
Ingredients
450 grammes apples
450 grammes soft brown sugar
450 grammes currants
450 grammes large raisins
450 grammes sultanas OR
a combination of mixed dried fruits and berries of choice
225 grammes whole mixed peel, sliced thinly
Grated rind and juice of two oranges
Grated rind and juice of one lemon
1 teaspoon mixed ground spice
225 grammes of butter
Method
Peel, core and chop the apples
Place all the ingredients in a large heavy pan
Bring to the boil while stirring
Simmer for fifteen minutes
Allow to cool
Then bottle in clean, sterilised jars with screw lids

Another dead easy thing to make is lemon curd - 10 minutes in the microwave, and it's really easy - will dig that recipe out...

Last year someone on here suggested cinnamon honey butter, which was divine, and so easy as well as being something you can make in advance and keep in the fridge!

Oh I should add - with the amounts for the dried fruit in my recipe - I literally just get bags of mixed fruit and use 1575g of mixed fruit - can vary it to include tropical dried fruit mixture, cherries, dried blueberries, whatever takes your fancy...

I may have added extra mixed spice or cinnamon to my mincemeat too, as I love it :)

This thread is dangerous! Since I found it yesterday, I've spent 3-4 hours trawling Christmas boards on Pinterest. It's like a rabbit hole isn't it, you start finding boards and following them, then repin a few things, then up pops the window saying 'this also appears on XXX's Christmas board' and so I open their board and the whole thing starts again :)

I pinned a few of the links from this thread and got a nice comment from the BBC Good Food people saying I was a bit early to start thinking about Christmas (it was for one of the chutney links earlier in this thread)!

I've now got a lot of pins on my Christmas board including a lot of present ideas. If anyone wants to see it, feel free to PM me. I'm relatively new to Pinterest but happy to share.

Thanks all for the ideas and to you OP for starting the thread!

I'm scaring dh with Christmas talk. Hee hee...

Any ideas what to make for men? My dad is 60+ and really into his garden but lives alone. I made him a house sign once and he loved that.
It is v hard to think of what to make!!

Some great ideas on here! For those of you who have done the melted crayon things before, do you think this mould would work?

www.amazon.co.uk/Silicone-Chocolate-Mould-Christmas-Shapes/dp/B002N1IX0S/ref=sr_1_28?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1347617152&sr=1-28

And how do you display your lovely crayons? What do you put them in when you give them as gifts? I have a few friends' children who we give to at Christmas and I'd love to make them a set of these each

Thanks!

Purple - no idea what to make, except maybe a kneeling pad or decorated pot planted with bulbs and mini conifers - but this is awesome.

I made some chutney yesterday for the first time ever. It's going to be the trial one, just incase. How long should we wait to eat it?

Did it say in the recipe it could be eaten straight away? As otherwise chutneys usually need to mature for a few months.

I love this thread. So many ideas.

One thing I am considering is buying a big roll of brown wrapping paper and getting the DCs to decorate it using paint and stamps. Then using that for the presents.

I planned to make jars of play dough last year to give to friends' children, but ran out of time. I'll see if I can find a link to it.

candy cane play dough looks lovely