Poncetastic Christmas 2025

[welikebeingcosy]

Added by MNHQ upon request:
OK, first of all, I know it's still September but we need to start this thread now because as you all know, having a truly Poncetastic Christmas involves precision planning, strategy, bravery, heroics, and frequently martyrdom. A bit like the war in Afghanistan, only with nicer food and sparkly shoes.

So, if you, like me, actually want to make the next twelve weeks of your life a misery by hand-crafting your cards, finding a huge bucket for Nigella's turkey in brine, pickling pears, shrivelling oranges in a low oven for those rustic au naturel decorations, dragging half a holly bush back from the woods, and just generally being a smug annoying jobsworth ponce, join me on this thread.

Feel free to post photos of previous tree-trimming, cake icing or table centrepiece triumphs, discuss this year's bauble colour themes, debate the merits of Delia versus Gordon, road-test a selection of canapes and cocktails, (all in the line of duty) and link to lovely inspirational photos/craft ideas for a truly Poncetastic Christmas.

Warning: If your idea of a good Christmas involves Pizza, ITV, gravy granules or anything with 'Aunt Bessies' on the packet, this is not the thread for you.The days are getting shorter, the leaves are starting to brown, that can only mean one thing- it's time to ignore the waves of Halloween decor all over your local The Range and head to the woods to start picking your own holly for that perfect Kirsty inspired wreath.

We want homemade stuffing recipes perfected by November, the handmade crackers draped in the most delicate of embroidered ribbon, mantle pieces draped in the most Scandinavian of wooden carvings, specialised stamps for the personalised wrapping paper ordered by next week and the word craft to be your official middle name by new year.

Happy ponceing and may Nigel and Nigella's fairy lights guide you on your way to getting the last box of rosemary and sea salt crackers in your own personal Bethlehem.

I haven't got that far @Peachypips78 I will make the kids write out some Christmas jokes, and probably put some form of chocolate in. Or maybe a Lego mini figure.

Any advice appreciated here, fellow poncers? I've painted this cracmet stool so it's gone from mahogany varnish to matt distressed 'Arsenic' by F&B. (The colour looks much better IRL) I was going to stencil it with Holly leaves, but then that will look out of place the rest of the year. What would look good? Trailing Ivy? Roses? Bees?

I’d go with roses, a sort of canal art display on the top. It’s lovely. I want a collection of stools now!

Holly is fine, it's in leaf year round, not just christmas. You could stencil in white so it feels less christmasy

If you did roses or bees it's themed for summer and not for spring, autumn or winter.

Hearts and stars would be good all year round.

I love the holly. As pp said it's good year-round and can fit right in to Christmas decor.

Holly without the berries, or any other leaves would look good.

Heh I said holly but I meant ivy!

Hello! Luther a bit but my poncing is quite limited this year due to two small kids. I am hoping for to make some garlands though! Those of you attempting to preserve berries in glycerin, how did that work? I’ve a bottle here and some berry laden hedgerows nearby…..

Roses with bees and some ivy for your stool would look lovely.

Does it count as poncing if I’ve started a sourdough starter so that I can make sourdough for the festive period? DH is eating Jason’s at a fast pace so I thought I’d make a starter up. Haven’t made any for a few years. I can hopefully make some trial loaves and then have a couple of nice ones for with soup as the starter on Christmas Eve.

I'd take that as definite culinary poncing! I do love Jason's, but only toasted.

I think I might go with this. I have all the stencils anyway, and have a fancy for it to look proper Arts & Crafts.

Thank you, all for the advice and inspiration ✨️

Decision has now been made - I am flying home for Christmas. I will put up the tree in my apartment in 10 days (weekend of 6th Dec). But now I will also need to put up tree at home when I arrive on 22nd, unless DD bullies DH (which she might!).

But it means far less chance to prep in advance and make it poncetastic like I’d planned. I’ll probably have to go basic food shopping when I get home, let alone the nice stuff. But I will bring good cheese and chocolate with me. And a good bottle of bubbles.

And the oven at home is one I trust, and I have jars of mince meat there - so I am more likely to bake - mince pies, cookies, brownies etc.

I did though make some progress on cutting and starting to sew together felt good for DNieces present…I may eventually get a decent amount of crafting done.

I’ve gone a bit sewing mad as I have ridiculous amounts of this green Christmas fabric to use up. I’ve already made a festive table runner.

So here are my Christmas crackers. I’ve only made one up to show you, the rest are waiting for their snaps, gifts, and hats.

I’m also attempting a rag quilt with the rest. It also uses up this random length of tartan brushed cotton I had laying around.

I’m so pleased with my little sewing machine. It’s just a basic Hobbycraft make and my mum laughs and calls it a toy one. But it has made curtains, face masks, jackets for my sons teddie horses, table runners, and now these festive goods. 😍😂

I have to be careful though as my 2 year old daughter is eyeing it up 😂

Ooh that cracker looks great, I haven't got remotely near starting mine (unlikely they'll be for this year now).

@TheWoollybacksWifei have no idea where to find PMs on the app! Where are they?! Thank you very much.
Loving the crackers. I’m going to use old copies of the RHS magazine for mine. Maybe a joke, lindor and something else…

In my crackers I’ll be putting in a scratch card for the adults and a little surprise toy for the kids. Also hats and jokes

Nearly finished the tree decorations for DDs.

@Trumpton these are lovely

Trumpton, they are glorious (but then, everything you do is amazing!) It's the highlight of the thread for me, seeing your yearly themes ❤️

I've made a kilo of Organic Frankincense soap with gold mica running through it. The large one will be ready for cutting after a few days (it's just a melt and pour number) but I also made some snowflake shaped ones. I had Christmas carols playing softly in the background as I was mixing and pouring. One of my absolute favourite things to do. (We will skirt over the fact that I am avoiding more pressing jobs!) The kitchen also smells amazing. I love Frankincense!

The loaf mould was a Søstrene Grene find, btw.

@RainbowZebraWarrior Oh that soap! It's beautiful! @Trumpton that's a very pretty donkey! You have so much patience! @DanceWithYourBalloon awesome cracker! I do love being able to fill them with just what I want. I was thinking about making fabric crowns instead of using the paper ones, but they might be too bulky with everything else I put in them

I put a hat, a scratch card and something to do at the table between courses in my crackers
This year, I've bought a few off brand lego kits of christmas figures (santa, rudolf, Xmas tree) to spilt into halfs (or maybe thirds) to put in my crackers. The idea being that between courses people build the lego with the person sitting next to them. Last year I did the same with small christmas jigsaws

@Peachypips78 I don't think you can read PMs on the app - you'll need to log in to the website.

Mine has gone mouldy on top… no idea what I’ve done wrong other than possibly it’s been too cold? Hoping that some of the stuff at the bottom might be usable!