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Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

This year am so skint it's Home Made Christmas Presents - a few qs

47 replies

Pruners · 06/11/2007 19:53

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glaskham · 06/11/2007 19:57

there is a hallmark outlet near to me that sell porceline jar toppers....they were on sale for 99p the other week and they look fab...some had animals on top, some fruit and stuff- very nice looking and can be kept after finishing the contents of the jar!!

massivebigpantsface · 06/11/2007 19:57

I'm watching carefully as I'm in exactly the same boat this year, even down to dh's family. I know my family and friends will love and appreciate whatever I gave them but I'm a bit nervous about the IL's!
I'm not very creative but I love to cook and bake so I've decided on goodies such as jams, chutneys and biscuits - I hadn't though of presentation yet!

EmsMum · 06/11/2007 20:00

Jars of stuff is good... how about getting some cotton cloth (gingham or a small print) and cutting in squares with pinking shears and tieing over the lid with some thin ribbon or raffia? I'd like to be given a jar like that with chutney or bath salts in (so long as I could tell which before using )

glammama · 06/11/2007 20:01

Do you have a haberdasher shop or market stall near you? You can buy cheap ribbons and fake flowers etc. I would just mention to people that you're making presents and leave it at that,tbh.

snowleopard · 06/11/2007 20:03

What about making nice patchwork cushion covers - easy to do, you can use old scraps or old clothes and it doesn't take long (especially if you have a sewing machine). You can get the filler cushion pads pretty cheaply. You can also make hot water bottle covers out of old jumpers. One year I made my sisters cool stripy pj bottoms out of a very cheap IKEA duvet cover.

Email - it woud depend on if I thought it would go down well with them. If I was them, I'd probably still want to send you a nice pressie and would welcome your home-made stuff.

Jars can have a circle of cloth on top (bigger than the lid and held on with elastic band or pretty string around the lid). Another nice idea is to get DCs to do a pic (eg of a tomato for chutney) and scan it in to make labels.

crunchie · 06/11/2007 20:05

Pruners Be honest with them, I wouldn't send an email around but I would make sure you drop it into conversation, eg Oh this year we decided to have fun making pressies for eeryone so I hope you like it. Or be honest and say things are so tight and you want to be able to spoil the chidlren so you are only doing 'token' presies for the grown ups

melpomene · 06/11/2007 20:06

Or cover the jar with gold and silver star stickers, and tie a nice piece of ribbon round it.

FairyOnTopOfTheChristmasTree · 06/11/2007 20:07

How about homemade chocolate truffles. they are v easy to make (try googling if you need a recipe). You can add your own liquer, coat them in white choc or roll them in nuts or cocoa to make them look pretty. You could then put them in little gift boxes, bags or whatever

Oenophile · 06/11/2007 20:07

What about chocolate truffles? Melt a bar in some double cream, allow it to set in the fridge, and either whip it for airy truffles or don't, for darker richer ones, then roll nuggets of the mixture in cocoa powder and put into those tiny petits-fours cases.

Instructions for these by the divine Nigel Slater are here

I've made them and they are very moreish! Oh, and I would love to receive home-made presents like jam and chutney, rather than something grabbed off the shelves I didn't really want. I got so many 'bath candles' last year I don't know what to do with them

ArmadilloDaMan · 06/11/2007 20:07

we have a christmas hamper/home made gifts thread here to swop ideas/tips if you want to join

Oenophile · 06/11/2007 20:08

Sorry Fairy, cross-posted with you but now she will have to make some

BettySpaghetti · 06/11/2007 20:08

Last year we made some white choc and cranberry fudge (recipe on MN) for DD's teachers etc. I bought some lovely (but cheap) small serving plates/dishes in a distressed gold colour, piled the fudge on them, wrapped in cellophane (from stationers), tied with ribbon and they looked lovely.

The serving plates were new from Oxfam or a similar charity shop that sells new goods.

Pruners · 06/11/2007 20:10

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Pruners · 06/11/2007 20:11

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ArmadilloDaMan · 06/11/2007 20:11

I did chocolate truffles last year - were very easy. I put them in takeaway style foil containers (better than they sound ) from asda and put ribbon round and bow on top.

Did some other homemade foods (biscuits, gingerbread, shortbread, mince pies etc) as well. WOrked out quite cheap and didn't take too long doing them in bulk.

Trick is I think parcel ribbon, bows and nice homemade tags. We did dark blue card and then wrote on in pencil, cos it looks lovely and silvery on dark background.

Cellophane is cheap from some places, especially if you're buying a few metres.

massivebigpantsface · 06/11/2007 20:13

fab ideas! well done pruners for starting this thread! i'm going to book in a couple of days to get sorted soon.

Mercy · 06/11/2007 20:14

Ab thhuibjuba about Delias Christmas Chutney.

Nwwds ro be made an month ahead thouhg.

BettySpaghetti · 06/11/2007 20:16

You can also buy cellophane gift bags cheaply on ebay -plain or with various designs on.

scroll down for snowflake and Christmas star designs

expatinscotland · 06/11/2007 20:18

i do homemade liquers if you'd like some recipes.

i buy the booze from Lidl - voddy, brandy, rum.

i also do fudge and chocolate truffles, would be happy to provide recipes for these. i do use marshmallow fluff for the fudge, but you can get that in any large sainsbury's OR lupe pinto's near tollcross if that is closer for you.

it's easy to tart up a homemade gift, too, with a little extra planning.

for example, in woolie's there are these Xmas cookie cutters, 4 for £2.50. well, i've already bought loads of wrap and Xmas ribbon in Jan. sales.

i tie on one of these cookie cutters and then curl the ribbon and it looks fab.

dig around! do you have any spare tins and boxes or jars or picture frames to tart up? i collect these througout the year.

try going to that shop called 'q' something or other right in nicolson street on the east side by lidl and superdrug.

go into the basement, the top is full of cheap clothes.

the basement is a goldmine of DIRT cheap wee sparkly boxes to put truffles and homemade fudge in.

they also sell cheapo glitter glue. like a pound or two for 6 tubes.

you can use it to decorate boxes or tins or jars with squiggles or designs.

CalifraundingFathers · 06/11/2007 20:56

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RosaTransylvania · 06/11/2007 20:58

Califrau - I would love the Amaretto Brownie recipe if you care to post it. It sounds fab.

CalifraundingFathers · 06/11/2007 20:58

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CalifraundingFathers · 06/11/2007 20:59

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eidsvold · 06/11/2007 21:06

can recommend the white choc and cranberry fudge

another thing I make is rocky road - something that I never saw in the UK - so a little different.

I posted the cranberry fudge recipe - used it for dd1's teachers and therapists and it went down a treat - as the other poster said - nice cheap plates/bowls, cellophane and done.

see if I can find the rocky road recipe for you.

This year I thought I would make vanilla truffles. Not sure how they will go.

rocky road recipe

choc melts - 2 pkts - white/dark/milk - whatever you like ( 375g pkts) could use cooking choc
2pkts marshmallows cut in half
jellies or gummy sweets
coconut
nuts ( but not if they are for presents)

Melt the choc
add the sweets
put into a slice tin and refrigerate until sets

cut into squares

put in a nice bowl/mug/plate. wrap - job done.

Oh and in the cranberry fudge dried cranberries

the other thing I did one year was to check out the local library which had a book about making your own presents from bath bombs to stationery and so on - had fab ideas in there.

CalifraundingFathers · 06/11/2007 21:14

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