Poncetastic thread

[WaitingForEgg]

Is there a poncetastic thread this year? I am itching to ponce!

I really want to make fesh garlands this year.

I was lucky to inherit huge holly trees with this house that are loaded with berries, and have ivy too. Live rurally so loads of berried hawthorn. I do Christmas for the kids and Yule for me, so bring in the greenery to decorate the two fireplaces as close to Winter Solstice as possible.

I have a huge run of stair spindles in dining room which i put lights on and have previously put tinsel/crepe paper around the spindles to hide the cables, but want to do something less 70's tastic with it this year.

I have loads of ivy, but they have lots of spiders. no thanks, don't want the ivy in the house that badly!!!

Golly!
To think I didn't know there were other pincers here

We (2 yo dd and i ) have already made saltdough gingerbread men and trees and snow flakes, ready to paint and string with twine for garlands.

My main ponce this year is going to be a ginger bread house, complete with boiled sweets windows and tea lights inside to make it glow
I'm just dithering between a log house design and a classy georgian affair.hmmm.

Anyone have any good recipes?
I've done 3 practise doughs but they are either not sweet enough or rising too much

*poncers ffs

We've never done a gingerbread house before, but I'm thinking this year might be the year. The dcs are old enough to enjoy it now, so I will be watching for info on them.

Hello

For anyone new there is a MN article about this thread here

www.mumsnet.com/christmas/top-tips-for-a-poncetastic-christmas

I did not finish my crochet snowflake garland last year but feel inspired to get it out this weekend. Tempted to give the crochet Christmas trees a try too.

I'm usually full of plans that don't always come to fruition. Sometimes I manage a homemade pud sometimes I don't. Some years I do the organic veg box and pre prep loads of veg dishes. Some years I succumb to the temptation of M&S preorder. This year DD insisting on local butcher so that may help nudge me in the poncetastic direction.

But the poncetastic aspiration is there. Always

shotgun thank you! I didn't know they were a thing, so will keep an eye out! My craft shop runs lots of demos so will ask if they are doing anything Christmassy!

Would love a gingerbread house this year, but my ds 2 is coeliac, so it's a no go. Will do cookies tho!

Need to get my crochet patterns out, want to actually finish some decorations this year!

DH and I are going to pick sloes and damsons this weekend, so making sloe gin and damson gin will be my first ponces.

I am also planning to make my own wreath this year, so looking forward to any tips for that.

Has anyone decided on any decorative themes yet? I am thinking about going hardcore Nordic - all wood and glass, but I haven't broken the news to DH yet that this will mean buying more decorations.

Actually, I need to start to consider making DH and I a stocking each. And making another 3 (I think) for DM's house.

In DM's house, there is a stocking each for the 6 DCs (all adults), and their DPs. But a few more DPs have arrived since I made the first batch when we started our KK and stockings plan a few years ago. So I know I need more, I think 3 but maybe only 2. They are all the same pattern, so same shape, but all totally different fabric and decorations (some quite male, some quite female, some neutral - and a mix of modern and traditional fabrics too).

But as DD is getting close to the age when she may not be getting a large stocking anymore, I would like to start a tradition in our own house of stockings for us all - that we all buy something small to add to each other's. So that means I need to make one each for DH and I for our house.

I am going with a red and gold theme for the table this year. I have white crockery, my silver cutlery, and a set of wine glasses with gold rims. Red beaded chargers, gold placemats for the centre. Red votive candles for lighting. I want to make some red napkins, or else buy some naice red and gold paper ones (I never see the type of fabric ones to buy that I have in my head).

I also need to start a few batches of things. Mince meat. Limoncello. Sloe gin. Considering Christmas pudding whiskey (having seen the idea here - but I have to find a recipe!). To give them enough time to mature.

I have visions of swags dancing in my head. But I cannot make them and never find time to try in December. A real tree is a MUST though, and I am contemplating buying it straight from the woods this year!!

Off now to do a small bit of work, and look busy, before getting my proper poncing plans in order.

I'm sticking with the traditional red and gold. Had it for the past two years and its just my idea of perfect! Want to expand on it a bit though, add a few more wall decorations, and a new garland for the mantle piece.

Madrigal our theme this year is nutcracker. Lots of red, white and gold. I need to assess current decoration supply and top up accordingly. I already have my nutcracker gift wrap and am perusing the new stock at John Lewis

Ha yes. A theme. Thank you. You have reminded me that last year was our first Christmas in our new house. Our previous house was a self build, all contemporary with oak and slate so our decs naturally plain and Scandi.

Then we moved to new build show house half the size (long story). The decor is part next directory with some bits of John Lewis but the living room is gold and duck egg wall paper. Much more bling. So the felt decs and coloured lights were all wrong and I felt homesick for the old house.

Need to get some more bling - gold, silver and crystal!

Our tree, sadly, won't be very poncetastic, although it is... eclectic. We buy one decoration a year.. Last year DS picked a huge felt blue dinosaur.

The new apartment we move into (next week - eek!) is very seventies, it has a huge, awful brassy fireplace and very nasty parquet flooring, so I have a lot of house poncing to do before I even start Christmas poncing.

Very excited about having a fireplace to hang stockings from though, even if it is a horrible one!

I'm on maternity leave with DS2 who is two weeks old, I shall be poncing it as much as I can. I have plans to do my own mincemeat over the next few weeks and of course the cake. This weekend I shall be looking for sloes for gin and getting that going.

Craft wise I need to adapt the handmade advent calendar to incorporate the name of the child that we hadn't started trying for when I made it in November last year.. He has a poncetastic Christmas name and will need a suitable consume to wear for the photos I will use for home made Christmas cards to capitalise on it..

Nut cracker meets romantic German log cabin here
Lots of little toys and felt and saltdough leibkuche, ginger bread.

Anyone have any non alcoholic drink ideas?
We will have champagne and some nice IPA'S but not big drinkers.

TheOnlyPink Will this help re gingerbread house? It's gluten free. www.jamieoliver.com/news-and-features/features/gluten-free-gingerbread/#ePlz1ZCZd8FOACYb.97

TheOnlyPink if you use the Lakeland moulds then you could use chocolate instead of gingerbread, and I assume you could with any mould. Takes a lot of chocolate though. There has to be poncetastic merit in tempering the chocolate, even if you can't add boiled sweet windows or a candle.

I made my mincemeat in the summer holidays, so hopefully I'll get some mince pies cooked in half term and in the freezer.

I've got to decide on the design for the Christmas cards this year. Preferably something my DD(5) can help with on half term.

Omg alice thank you, that's amazing! Not sure it will stand up to being a house, will have to have a test run!

Want to make an advent calendar out of tiny little envelopes and tiny pegs hung on string. Someone mentioned it on the frugal thread and thought it sounded wonderful! We have a felt one, but I don't like it as much. Doesn't really fit with the look!

Ooh! Ponce! Count me in. I'll be back later when I'm not on my phone on the bus

New poncer here {waves}

I love decorating the house for Christmas, so will be watching this thread with interest. Ditto wrapping all the presents with gorgeous wrap and a mass of ribbons. ( Buy them cheaply from a florists wholesaler)

When DD is bigger and I have more time I will move on to some more crafty things. We do make a gingerbread house together every year - every year's has been more poncetastic than the last!

What can we bake now that will freeze?

Sloe gin and vodka will be this weekend. Mincemeat, too.

Does someone have the recipes for limoncello and for mars nat vodka or similar?

Ooh - the poncetastic thread! I have lurked on previous ones because I love poncetastic Christmas stuff, but this year we are actually hosting Christmas for the first time ever ! Even dh, who is usually an absolute grinch about all things Christmassy, seems to be looking forward to it. Probably because he'll be in charge of cooking Christmas dinner and will therefore be able to hide in the kitchen with a large drink and avoid talking to anyone.

Sooo... I haven't rtft yet, but does anyone have any particularly poncetastic Christmas pudding recipes or yule log designs? And has anyone got any poncetastic ideas for those of us with a less-than-poncetastic budget? Looking forward to reading about all your fab colour schemes and themes!