Hamper ideas

[wildroseandpink]

I've decided to make my own hampers this year to keep costs down for difficult people rather than spending a fortune on things they probably won't use.

It's mainly for my in-laws - I really like the F&M ones but obviously they're too pricey.
They like everything that's normally in a F&M one, but I am struggling to find good alternatives cheaply.

I can source some nice wines from Aldi or Lidl. Any idea on the food items - can you recommend any?

Thanks

Do you have any farm shops nearby? I find they are good for jams and pickles. Also shops like Home Bargains and B&M often have cheaper treat food at this time of year. Chocolates, biscuits and crackers. Good old M&S would please my in laws for food and they love the stollen and baklava from Lidl/Aldi. Things like jars of pate and tins of nice Salmon are good.

I always do hampers for older relatives. Sometimes I theme them slightly and add non food items. Candles and napkins for a dinner party theme. Tea pot and cups for an afternoon tea hamper.

Other non food items I sometimes add include dvd, books, magazines, tea towels, nice soap and hand cream, jigsaw, board game, throw, hot water bottle.

Also think about the actual hamper. As I do them every year I try and come up with different ideas. A fancy waste paper bin was a big hit one year as was a garden planter. I themed that one with garden gloves, seeds, bulbs etc as well as favourite food treats. Most years now I use a hessian or oil cloth shopping bag. MIL uses these to keep her various knitting and craft projects in.

I really enjoy doing them and they have always been really well received over the years.

Just remembered TK Max can be good at this time of year for oils, vinegar, fancy salt, tea, coffee and chocolates.

The fruit in alcohol in nice jars.

Can you make chutneys and mini puddings or cakes? I appreciate it’s a PITA but it’s cheap!

Aldi for florentines, for sure.

Some of the f&m things are quite reasonable individually (there is a huge premium just for the f&m basket) so maybe you could still buy a few things from there to put in anyway if that would make it feel special for them.

Marks have some beautifully wrapped bits this year (chocolate biscuit tins and bags). I like their savoury cheese biscuits (they are a nice way to bulk out the hamper too because the boxes are good sized). M&S also do lovely fruit and nut bags for Christmas.

If they're picky people @wildroseandpink then perhaps they'd rather have fewer (in number) of the genuine F&M products rather than cheaper versions. Just saying, maybe they're 'label' conscious consumers.

For my mum's hamper so far I've got Aldi florentines and a mini iced individual Christmas cake also from there. And a toblerone from Poundland. Sainsburys has nice Christmassy biscuits.

Do you have any good local suppliers near you for jams, chutneys, locally roasted coffee, good biscuits, chocolates etc? Local breweries or distilleries for beer, ale, gin, whiskey etc? Local cheese and some artisan cheese biscuits? Local smokers for smoked salmon, or something a little different (often they have unusual things available if you go direct, that are not necessarily widely available)?

If you live near a Waitrose they do things like posh biscuits and cocolates

Honestly, if they're F&M people, an Aldi hamper will be a waste of your time and energy putting it together and they'll give it away.

Just kill presents between adults.

Dont

Just dont.

If you live near a world foods supermarket you can buy overseas items that may be hard to source In the uK.

My local Turkish supermarket has a large selection of olive oils.

I do agree with the previous poster who said that if they'd like F&M, they probably wouldn't appreciate a Lidl version