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

[Pruners]

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it's plain flour in the UK.

the chocolate chips here . . . aren't very nice.

i'd take plain chocolate bar for cooking, break it into bits and then blitz it in a food processor.

we have a lot of friends with fireplaces here.

we make wee firestarters. they don't look pretty, but they're excellent and everyone who gets them is very impressed.

you save up a paper egg carton.

cut it up into individual egg cups.

fill each with fluff from the dryer.

melt some beeswax and add a few drops of pine oil.

pour the wax into each cup and leave to harden.

you just put them under the kindling and light.

Are you just making edible items?

I/my DDs are making exploding photo boxes for Grandparents (as we never know what to buy for them!) Let me know if you want the instructions, they really are nice and the actual box probably costs £1 - £1.50 plus photos!

sleepy, they're easy and they really do work!

i heard about them when i first started to backpack and hike. used to carry them in my rucksack and once or twice, got into a situation where they really saved us and helped get our fire going.

then i lived in a cabin with no electricity so started using them for fires in teh fireplace.

I will post the instructions tomorrow afternoon when I have finished work, probably about 12.30!

Thats ok, sorry just too tired to sit and type them out now, but they really do make a nice present!

Exploding photo box!

outside of box

one 12" square of one piece of thick paper/card
score 12" square 4"from each outside edge (solid side up).... Fold on scored marks towrds centre. Cut into centre fold on the left side. Round all corners. Chalk edges front and back. Chalk folds on back.

Middle layer

one 11and a half"square of another piece of thick paper/card. Score 11 and a half" square 3 and seven eighths from each outside edge. Fold on scored marks towards centre.Cut out all corner squares. Round corners and chalk edges.

Top layer

one 11" square of another piece of thick paper/card. Score 11" square 3 and seven eighths from each outside edge. Fold scored marks towards center. Cut out all corner squares. Round corners and chalk edges.

-Lid_

one 7 and three eighths" piece of card/ paper. Fold on scored marks towards centre. Cut into centre fold on the left fold. Fold flaps to inside and glue in place. Chalk all edges of lid.

Once you have got all the pieces of paper/card ready, it is a good idea to use small photos, decorate them, add journaling. You do not need to have a photo in every square. Memorabelia (sp) sometimes can look good. I have made several, they sound complicated but they aren't really, and the actual box itself(not the decorating bit) takes about 45mins at most!

I was once given a jar of home made strawberry jam. mmmmmmmmmmmm. It was so good. SOOOOOOOO goooooooooddddddd!

my sister and i also make each other playlists as gifts.

When i was a child we were almost always skint. My father's 2nd wife had 4dc too. We could never afford to buy each other presents for christmas more than about £2 in value. So we wrote a note to each other on which we put what we WOULD HAVE given if we had ALL the money in the world.

Most of the time the presents were firvolous but sometimes some really thoughtfull things were written in those notes. My little brother (4) gave my mum a new husband once...

Is the exploding photo box for the fire? Or is it like an ornament?

Expat, could you post the recipes for the homemade liquers and fudge and chocolate truffles. They sound delicious.

Am having both sets of families over for Xmas and boxing day for the first time and would love to impress them.

We made gingerbread houses last year,
covered in snow icing with sweets on, like Hansel and Gretel's house.

Sat them on a cardboard base covered with foil and wrapped them in cellophane, tied with ribbon.

Didn't get any complaints!

Actually I genuinely think it is the case that usually home made presents are valued more than - for example - one of those awful but overpriced gift boxes of port with stilton (etc)...(or champagne with chocolates - barf at the cliche and lack of thought involved)

I would prepare people first for home made presents - but only to reassure myself, because they wouldn't care a jot I'm quite sure

I was skint about 14 years ago and made alcoholic truffles for me friends (same as the slater recipe but with Baileys or Grand Marnier added)... I was out with two of them the other day and they were reminiscing and both said that the truffles were the nicest 'grown-up' present they had ever received

(well, then we got onto DH's and rocks and they confessed that the truffles weren't quite as nice as diamonds)

exploding box

thanks for the exploding box idea I only have black and white template and it looked too hard to do with that, but that link looks easier.

I love this thread, I think home made is what it's all about