Little inexpensive touches

[SweetPeaPods]

If you have family for Christmas day (or staying for Christmas period in general) what little touches or traditions do you have to make it that little bit extra special?

We have got family staying for Christmas this year. First year having parents, in-laws and sister who lives in Canada staying so won't happen again for a number of years, especially not while dc still 'believe'.

Keen to make this year as special as possible without blowing the credit card.

Hot chocolate and marshmallows in front of Christmas film.

Chocolate Santa for everyone in lieu of adult stockings?

I have been saving jam jars to make mini vases of holly and Ivy all over the house.

Box with the families last name on (the Xmas boxes in Hobbycraft are about £4) filled with little treats like chocs, a dvd, slipper socks or cheap pj’s for the kids. The works.com also have Xmas crafty bits like colour your own canvas bag. Have a look in Aldi/Lidl for mini wines and “fancy” biscuits for the adults. 🎄

Yes to holly!

Tracking Santa Christmas Eve is good fun, even better if you can time it to see him fly over......

A lovely walk.

A church service? Or carol singing?

Track Santa, hopefully ISS will do a Passover, reindeer food (no glitter), drive around to look at Christmas lights and then home for home alone.

Hot chocolate in reusable takeaway cups then a walk around to see the local Xmas lights! Or a drive round if nothing local

Maybe a bunch of flowers, a couple of paperbacks, a bottle of water and some fruit or chocolate in each bedroom. And lamps are always more welcoming than a big, overhead light, I think. Plenty of coat hangers and some empty drawers. Fresh towels on the bed maybe.

Nice tea and coffee, a good mixture of fruit and snacks laid out for them to help themselves. Cold drink alternatives to fizzy drinks.

Have you got any Christmas markets happening locally? Our local church does a candlelit carol service which is lovely. Any reindeer feeding places local to you?

You can get baubles that split in half so you can either fill them with sweets etc or a photo. They’re in the Works for a couple of pounds for a pack of four. Could you get a friend or neighbour to pop in and take a photo of you all together (so nobody is missing because they’re taking the photo) then give one to each family as a memory of the trip?

Some lovely ideas thank you.
Love the idea of jam jars with holly in.

SiL does chocolate favours which I thought was a lovely touch when I went to hers one Christmas.

For me candles make the evenings feel cosy and special, you could get a couple of small scented candles and a couple of bigger ones for the centre of the table. Even a tapered dinner candle in an old red wine bottle looks lovely once the candle has dripped wax down it.
I got a cream candle from Dunelm for £1 and put it in an old vase with a strand of ivy around it from the garden, it looks quite effective!

Last year I took a walk in the woods and cut a few small branches from a pine tree and picked up some pine cones, cut some holly and a bit of conifer and decorated the fireplace with them. I put a battery operated set of warm white lights intertwined around the branches. It lasted til the new year and looked lovely.

Mulled wine fills the house with the most christmassy smell, and of course makes everyone feel more cheerful. You can use cheap red, no need to use expensive wine and if you mix in a bit of orange juice a bottle can stretch quite far.

You could do some baking? The children could make some gingerbread men whilst the adults make the walls and roof for gingerbread houses, then the children could help to assemble and decorate them, and decide on an appropriate date for everyone to eat them! They last quite a while once they're covered in royal icing and sweeties. We did this last year and it's a lovely memory, the children have already asked if we can do it again. I would think the ingredients cost less than £5 in total.

When we stayed at my mums last, she brought some mini Christmas chocolates and on Christmas eve and Christmas night put a chocolate on the pillows, like they use to do on Cruise ships and in posh hotels. It was a nice little inexpensivr treat.

Christmas toilet paper -M&S does silver stars if The Snowman is a bridge too far
Handsoap ( lots of festive ones)
Handtowels - my Christmas ones have been colected over the years , I start on 1st Dec
A festive throw over each bed (Primark will have some ) rather than full on Christmas bedding

Candles
Holly and Ivy

But not in my house because of the cats

I’m not usually one for the Christmas threads but this is lovely (and I’m also clumsily place marking)

Fairy lights on bannisters.
Dining table centrepiece with candles /tea lights, pine cones and holly.
Walks with flasks of hot drinks
Good quality coffee and hot chocolate
snacks and food available

Press slightly soft butter into holiday-themed candy molds; set in freezer 15 min, pop out & store in refrigerator.

Makes a nice touch to have individual butter pats in fancy shapes. I usually do holly leaves.

A really big jigsaw left out - everyone wants to do a few bits as they pass. We have a jigsaw roll so it lives on the big table but can get easily moved at meal times.

If you do new pjs for DCs anyway, either a posh hot choc or a mini drink each for adults at the same time? Xmas/winter craft beers, a mini bottle (airline size) of a favourite with mini mixer or to add to hot choc/coffee, or posh non-alcoholic ones like nice ginger beer or real lemonade etc.

If you're a house that tends towards shoes off indoors, either fluffy socks at same time as DC pjs or on top of towels on the beds might be nice. Primark has lovely but not £££ versions.

I love the idea of jam jar vases.

If you have them, battery operated nightlights in bedrooms might be nice too (no open flames to worry about either).

Having any good books (seasonal or just reading) pulled out from backs of shelves for ease of browsing (maybe on a table/in a basket/ just visible on shelves), cosy rugs cleaned and laid over backs of chairs, fluff towels for each bedroom in tumble drier, etc...to use what you have but make it cosy and welcoming.

And maybe having the makings of hot drinks (tea, coffee, hot choc, sugar) and some mugs and spoons easily available so everyone can help themselves and not depend on you always. If you have some biscuits, mince pies, homebaking nearby as well, that's also nice.

We usually buy £1 scratch cards due everyone and pop them in the crackers.

I've just had the idea of filling the rather sad-looking, empty flower holders on the fence outside my kitchen window with a string of solar lights to brighten up the gloom! You could do that in pots too around the house and garden?

Put on some Christmas music, maybe encorage the children to dance around the with the lights off and the twinkly Christmas lights on? That's the sort of thing my children love and remember more than the actual presents, they love it when the adults join in!

Go to church. I'm a very committed atheist, but you can't beat Nine Lessons and Carols for festivity. Even better if you've a cathedral or a church with a really decent choir in striking distance.

And make you own mince pies. Ridiculously easy, and no scented candle can compete with the gorgeous aroma of mince pies in the oven.

Do you have a garden? Possibly first ever Christmas guest this year, good friend of decades, now alone. Want to make them welcome but no spare cash so will put a big bouquet of greenery and berries in guest room with a Christmas scented candle.

@MrsSkylerWhite

Do you have a garden? Possibly first ever Christmas guest this year, good friend of decades, now alone. Want to make them welcome but no spare cash so will put a big bouquet of greenery and berries in guest room with a Christmas scented candle.

That sounds nice!

When we have friends and family at Christmas or new year, I do table gifts instead of crackers for when we eat. They serve as a place name too. I used to buy the fill your own crackers, but now I buy little bags, fill with party hat, joke, chocs, scratchcard and little gift.

There is a really fun game that I’ve forgotten the details of (helpful) where everyone buys something for £1 (or maybe the host provides as many £1 gifts as there are people) and wraps them (all different sizes for intrigue) and then people swap and swap again. Hopefully that’s enough detail to Google!!!

I also make mince pies (loads of them) and brandy butter.