Thread 5 - the one where I saw 999 and panicked!

[Notlongnow1]

Hopefully @Reastie will be along to add all the necessary info!

Thank you @AnotherOne4! That sounds great! Might double up my order…

@dizzygirl1

Quick velvetiser question... Are they actually worth it? £80 on offer at the moment, it seems such a large amount of money to make hot chocolate but I really like the look of them, just seems a lot for a gadget.

We got a velvetiser about three weeks ago when it was posted on one of these threads for £65. We're delighted with it although have only used it for actual hot chocolate a couple of times....it makes grrat hot chocolate with the flakes but also tried with hot chocolate powder and that was lovely. But so far we've used it daily to froth milk for lattes, make chai lattes or for ovaltine. I already love it!

@irresistibleoverwhelm

Can I ask a question about the cinnamon buns? What are the packs like, m and what are the use by dates - can they be kept and given as a gift, say to teachers/friends etc? (That is, if I don’t eat them before then - have ordered some but they aren’t here yet!)

I think the packs that come with the foil trays would be a really nice gift, they look quite substantial and are the nicest cinnamon buns I've ever had. I ordered a couple of packs about a month ago and the date on them was April 2022 so perfectly fine for Christmas presents.

@TwinsandTrifle brilliant idea, thanks!!

Ooh thank you @FireworkParrot- that sounds great! 👍

Thanks, All, for some lovely suggestions - buns and H&B boxes have been great.

Quick bun question: if you were going to freeze one of the two trays to stop yourself and DC from eating all at once, at what point in the process would you freeze and how would you defrost/cook from frozen? I have the other box stowed away as an Xmas gift, honest.

We got the B&M sacks last year (after a very kind Mumsnetter posted me one of the initials I couldn't get hold of locally.) I found them really useful for holding the in-between presents that didn't fit in stockings (so books, clothing etc.) Anything too large to fit in I'd just wrap separately and have by the side of the sacks on Christmas morning.

@agedmother apparently you can get the buns to the point they're in the foil tray and would put in the oven but freeze at that point then just defrost and bake from room temperature.

Can anyone recommend some inexpensive but decent hot chocolate flakes/ powder? I'd like to give it with the hot chocolate shaker gifts. Thanks!

Cinnamon rolls are so delicious! I think it's weird you get them in a kit? Do you have to add an egg and butter, etc.? So are you really just buying a box of flour, sugar and yeast?

chad valley supermarket playset down to £8.50

SUPERMARKET

@itsonlysubterfuge

Cinnamon rolls are so delicious! I think it's weird you get them in a kit? Do you have to add an egg and butter, etc.? So are you really just buying a box of flour, sugar and yeast?

This is what's stopped me buying them, dd makes fantastic cinnamon buns so I can't bring myself to buy a box mix!

@Pissinthepottyplease

It is £38 if you look under other sellers. It's actually amazon selling for £38 but that is t the seller that automically comes up, I think because its not due to dispatch til the end of October

Thank you for all the bargains this far!

So far, I've ordered: 2 pound puppies, 2 sets of mermazing cutlery, 2 sets of Submarine Lego, the £2.99 beauty box (skipped the October delivery, must remember to cancel the subscription).

Am still debating the cinnamon buns.

Hoping for a blinder, like the hand puppets from last year (DNiece still takes hers to bed with her)

I can seriously recommend the Pendragon hot chocolates.

The DC (boys 5 & 2) have a sack each with pressies from FC then gifts under the tree from mum/dad, family & friends. The sacks are beautiful & personalised. I’ve just seen that they now do matching stockings & I’m trying to convince myself that if I got them I wouldn’t just fill them with crap. I feel like I’m still trying to figure out our Christmas family traditions (DH is Jewish so has no ideas). What do you all think??

Do you wrap the presents that go into the sacks or is the idea to cut down on wrapping paper? I don’t know if mine would be disappointed not to have paper to tear at but I always feel bad at the amount of waste.

[quote FireworkParrot]@agedmother apparently you can get the buns to the point they're in the foil tray and would put in the oven but freeze at that point then just defrost and bake from room temperature.[/quote]
Thank you @FireworkParrot.

@fireworkparrot....omg gutted I missed it for £65. Its £80 (with £20 off) including 2 cups but no details about actual chocolate.
It did give me a box of chocolates too. Hmmm 🤔🤔

The Cambridge Confectionery Company have changed their website. I was looking at buying some Fudge Mixes (purchased these before, and highly recommend)
They have Fudge Mixes for £2.99 each, or Hot Chocolate Stirrers for £1.66

No offers, but seems cheap enough. Not sure whether to place an order now, or wait nearer till Christmas.

@oatmilkisntsobad
Pendragon hot chocolate flakes go down well in our house. Company in North wales. Black forest, dark chocolate and the chilli flavours went down quickest here.

hot chocolate

My DD has a stocking which has small and inexpensive gifts- pencils, lip gloss, scrunchies, chocolate orange etc. Then she has a sack which I made for her years ago which has 'medium' presents in- craft kits, books, slippers, that kind of thing. Big presents get piled up on the sofa and her main most expensive present goes right at the back so she opens it last. Everything is wrapped no matter where it is.

Barbie Care clinic in store at Asda for £35, rolled back from £66 and currently at smyths and Amazon for £42-44

@happytobemrsg my DC have matching stockings, and I love doing them. We do things differently - mainly because we live in a very deprived area, over 50% of kids at DC school are FSM, so we try not to get expensive gifts from FC.

So in our house, Santa brings the stockings, and 3 presents each under the tree, then mammy and daddy buy the presents in the sacks. Father Christmas is magic and can match mammys paper lol. We do one colour per child, same paper for all presents. We do the stockings upstairs together, and it's lovely.

I fill the stockings will little things that are too small for the sacks, and we have some traditions too. For example, I always get them bubble bath, chocolate coins, a tube of jelly tots, a chocolate orange and a real orange because thats what I always had in my stocking when I was small.

For the other presents I try to get things that they'll actually play with rather than gimmicky toys, so far this year I've bought a 2x2 rubiks cube, UNO card game, dino top trumps, a rocket bath bomb, a magic spring and a bubble blower.

I love how excited they get about little presents, it makes a lovely start to the morning. We do the stockings all piled together on my bed, then DH comes down and gets Gingerbread Rudolphs (that we bake Christmas Eve) and juice for us to eat upstairs while the DC play with the stocking toys for awhile. It's lovely family time for just the 5 of us, before the madness with the wider family begins.

[quote dizzygirl1]@fireworkparrot....omg gutted I missed it for £65. Its £80 (with £20 off) including 2 cups but no details about actual chocolate.
It did give me a box of chocolates too. Hmmm 🤔🤔[/quote]
Not sure if you have ordered yet but the code I got from here for £35 off is this, hopefully still works!

VELV35KCFMICIT

Joining in this thread. Looks like some pretty good bargains. Will post any I see.

I have ordered the asda Lego half-price kit as Lego is on Dd's exmas list, but I'm sceptical it'll be in stock and am expecting an email tomorrow saying sorry none left 😔