Frugal Christmas thread

[ThisisCollie2022]

Anyone up for a frugal Christmas thread?

Homemade crafts, gifts, decorations, gift ideas and frugal festive food etc

Also ideas on how to keep the children busy would be great!

I know it's August but the best frugal tip is to be prepared so am thinking ahead now :)

Cake

Picture would help and given the first post didn’t

i use Mary berry as I find it lighter

If it’s my flapjack you want here

@ Beast, thank you so much for that advice, I'm out foraging tomorrow now, very kind of you to take the time to post for me!🙌

Big wave to@ decaff - woman after my own heart lol 😆 thanks for cantering lovely!

Waves to @life...it certainly is your legendary flapjack and I shall join and you Mary with the cake, many thanks. And yes the picture did help, thank you😂

Here's my slow cooker hot chocolate recipe if anyone wants to do it over Christmas.

I set it up like a hot chocolate station with marshmallows, candy canes etc.

You can adjust measurements to make more or less. It's very rich though. Also fab on New year's Day with a firepit this is our tradition we toast pannetone and toast chestnuts on the fire pit.

Slow cooker hot chocolate....
300g cooking chocolate, value range is fine
2 spoons of Nutella style spread
100ml pouring Cream
Litre whole milk

All on low for a few hours, stir occasionally until all chocolate melted and it's the desired temp

I have used both orange juice and brandy in the cake, both are fine

thanks for the hot chocolate recipe

@Decafflatteplease how many do those quantities serve ish?

Board games- more than anything children want your time and attention. Play with them. The magic of Christmas has been lost in commercialism.

Sack off fire work night, don’t spend a ton of money on bloody fireworks!

Look in charity shops for gifts.

Volunteer- if you have the time. I’ve started dog walking. The shelters are crying out for assistance/ walkers/fosterers.

Oops sorry that was for 2 adults 4 children. Maybe I put more than a litre of milk in I can't remember. It's not a exact science just play around with it. It does take a few hours though to heat up maybe 2-3 hour

If you have children still at toy age, check out your local charity shops regularly, they will have all kinds of preloved toys that your children won't even realise are second hand (particularly the under 5's) also there's Christmas books already in the kids section where I volunteer, just 49p

And if you want a free (donations gratefully received) activity, go to a carol service at a church, many will also have a crib service that encourage children to dress up and take part. We like many will be asking those who can to bring donations for the food bank, not Christmas foods but basics suitable for January when people are struggling to cope.

Love this! Definitely following for ideas

My Mam always sprinkled a little sugar on the bowl of blackberries and left in bowl of water and all the maggots use to rise to the surface 🤮.
I wouldn’t care but we use to eat as many as we brought home!
I miss bilberries picking, but the fell is now just used by dog walkers. And I just can’t even if I wash them.

Ooo these are great! We do decorated shortbread cookies, even tiny ones can dollop icing and add sprinkles.

also, special Christmas baths for little ones, new bubbles, Christmas music and one of those spinny disco lights🤣

@Decafflatteplease that hot choc recipe sounds delicious!!! Deffo going to give it a go.

@DarlingDarwin this is such a great idea! Love it!!

If you have poppies in your garden, the seed heads make great angel heads for crafting with kids. Dip the "crown" in gold or silver paint, draw a face on and then attach to a pine cone. You can paint the pine cone or glue things on (my kids like dried lavender). For wings, card, dried orange slices or feathers work great.

We go walking in the woods with hot chocolate to look for pine cones etc which they love as well. Sometimes with torches at dusk telling ghost stories.

Lots of people have mentioned National Trust - when do they start advertising Christmas lights etc? Are there special Christmas events?

This is the first year we have membership (we got it primarily for a couple of UK holidays with heavy NT presence) but we are not that close to any where we live in North London so if anyone has any recommendations for here that would be great!

My DC are small so do not notice / care about secondhand presents so I always keep an eye on Facebook group for plastic tat bundles of Peppa Pig etc. There are also lots of Christmas print outs online e.g. colouring, spot the difference etc. that I will print out at work and should occupy them 'festively' for a short while!

A pp asked about dried orange slices. The trick is to take as much moisture out of them before putting them in the oven. Otherwise they stick. Low oven for ages and finish on the radiator.

I keep mine from previous years. I love the contrast of the old brown ones against the orange. Store in tissue paper in a cardboard box, not in plastic or it will go mouldy. Same for clay decorations. They need to breathe.

pommanders are lovely if you can get cheap cloves. I wrap masking tape around the orange, and again at right angles and I use a flower nail to pierce them skin and then pop the clove in. Otherwise it starts to hurt your fingers and the top of the clove gets crushed.

put them in a paper bag - the airing cupboard is perfect if you have one but I just leave them near radiators. When they start to shrink a bit, take off the tape and replace with a ribbon, tying a loop for hanging.

you need to leave a couple of mm between cloves but when they shrink in the whole surface is covered. These last for years.

This is a lovely idea for a thread.
We do a variation on nigellas Christmas cake called if-its cake. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/nov/02/nigella-lawson-christmas-cake-recipe
Just bung in a bag of mixed dropped fruit, soak it in whatever traditional booze is in the cupboard (within reason! Rum/brandy/etc are fine) and add stem ginger/glace cherries, etc. and keep topping up the booze for a few weeks. If it's dried fruit in the cupboard and needs eating/drinking it goes in the cake. Then follow the rest of the ratios from her recipe. It keeps for ages, the 6 weeks they say is rubbish, just make sure it's an airtight container. Marzipan homemade if possible, I just do it for the top, stuck on with apricot jam. Royal icing to fully cover.

If you're doing Christmas pop some in cupcakes and they make good place settings with a letter or name on the icing.

I thought of something else...

I love reading Nigel Slater Christmas chronicles during the run up to Christmas. I don't really make any of the recipes but it's such a cosy nostalgic lovely book. Theres usually a read along thread on here somewhere during winter.

Hello! I am doing Christmas on a real shoestring this year (£200 for EVERYTHING!!) so am looking forward to getting some great ideas from these threads :)

deck x

I dont usually go in Primark but they had some nice stocking fillers today. I bought a couple of Harry Potter things for DS.

The £1.50 headphones are really bloody good and very comfortable. (I had to replace mine urgently and couldn't say no to £1.50!)

@Deckthewallswithpaintandplaydough you can do it!! How many are you buying for?