Poncetastic Christmas Thread 2026

[RainbowZebraWarrior]

Thought I would start this year's thread as there are plenty of folk starting to chat about Christmas makes, bakes and crafts on the Christmas boards.

Wherever you are, Fellatio, here's to you. I hope you're brining a turkey and had crafting authentic organic woven tinsel somewhere!

Here is Fellatio's traditional thread opening:

"OK, first of all, I know it's still September by 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.

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 jobs worth 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 canapés 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 Bessie’s' on the packet, this is not the thread for you"

Welcome, all, and let the Poncing commence!

<cuts metaphorical christmas ribbon>

🎄🎄🎄🎄

egg replacement depends on what the egg is meant to be doing I think - if binding (which it generally would be for a rich fruit cake) apple sauce does the jo and I am guessing thats also when chai seed gloop works. If its the raising agent then aquafava or baking soda and vinegar at the last minute (because it needs to be bubbling when you start to bake)

Thank you for the suggestions, DH bought some flax egg recently so I'm going to try with that.
I'm fine with figs (the wasps are already dead by the time the fruit is ready so no harm inflicted by us). I'd actually be ok with our neighbour's eggs as I know they have a nice life but DH disagrees.

Loving the lolly ghosts and murder cake. I don't really do Halloween baking anymore, but have treated myself to a pumpkin (shaped, not flavoured) Halloween pizza which I am as excited as a small child to have this Saturday night. Not at all Poncetastic, of course, just grabbed from Sainsbury's.

Fascinating stuff about all the different egg replacements. I made my cakes in August and still have mincemeat, so I think I'm 'done' there. I bought new cookie cutters and cookie stamps this year though so I am determined to have a tin full of something on the go throughout december. I need to find the recipe again for the one I had in mind. I feel sure it was some sort of Swedish stamped gingerbread.

Does anyone remember Satsuma Bubbles from the body shop? I absolutely loved it and decided to try and recreate in soap form. I've used a load of tangerine essential oil, and the smell and colour is very reminiscent!

Sorry for the ramble. Been up since 5am making candles to due being awoken by sickly cat.

@RainbowZebraWarrior what cookie cutters did you buy? I'm on the look out for autumn ones without being pumpkin......thinking leaves mainly.....but not much success so far, all the leafy ends are too pointy so keep breaking off!

That soap is a thing of beauty @RainbowZebraWarrior 😍

I got mostly traditional christmas trees and stars as I also want to use them as templates for felt decorations. I noticed that amazon had a nice pack of four 'autumnal leaves' which might fit the bill for you:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stainless-Steel-Maple-Fondant-Biscuit-Cutters/dp/B0DKN3Z39G/ref=mp_s_a_1_11?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.rZuY8wEqNxfGjztRrs1ouMP-Rs8jeffhNQXWLGMgwcPE1M-gqgltmIJYj2MSvo1GA84xTISMufGbBETYbDBsy0oc1UgR4w6M-GsoVTqgR_SBvGO0g19RZCHBGgFOpMUJZfgN_TAmZrbfb3DaeyPBK_MzWREP3lSCVWaumfWMStypHSe3fvhQD_l3aDTZkxwrfUiV-K5kfsOyYrqzUXWw4g.yShKnBp3gbPh9jlKyL0VQfMaXqQNsRjUW5Y0GbajY3k&dib_tag=se&keywords=leaf+cookie+cutter&qid=1793005425&sr=8-11

I have loads of leaf soap and wax melt moulds and must admit they are pleasingly aesthetic. I also bought stampers but cannot fathom where I have put them. They were to create this type of affair:

@RainbowZebraWarrior the satsuma body shop stuff- what a great idea! I used to buy my mum some for christmas when I was a child.

I am starting to think about festive bakes. I popped into farmfoods this morning as I had heard they had cheap boxes of malteasers. They did not, but they have Graham's butter on £2 for 2 250g blocks. Given the ordinary price of butter is nearing £2, a stash from there will reduce the cost of my festive bakes. Remember you can freeze butter too. (Sorry that is a bit of a tangent, but we use so much butter at christmas!)

Gah! I knew there was another reason I went in there the other day. Thanks for the reminder. I recently spotted some president butter on offer so grabbed a few, but a block of butter for a quid is definitely not to be sniffed at!

Hello 👋🏼

May I join.

I enjoy and am inspired by this thread every year but always fall short of actually creating anything, mainly down to time and convenience of replacing with slightly less magical/delicious/thoughtful shop bought versions.

However I’m signed off work for a few weeks and also have quite a lot of AL in December so thought this was the perfect year to delve into the festive ponce.

Things that are on list to make are the Gingerbread Gin, spiced/pickled pears, multi coloured velvet chains and a trial run of a Black Forest pavlova using the shoved Sour cherry preserve from the National trust website.

I do have a question though, there has been reference to Nigella’s orange Christmas cake which sounds delicious but the only one I can find is an almond flower orange sponge, is this the one or is there another secret recipe?

Hello! I've been awol from this thread and not feeling Christmasy at all because of a health scare. Have been given the all clear today and the gloom has lifted! Ready to start crafting, baking and decorating 😊
Hello @Everythingwillbeoktomorrow velvet paper chains are on my to do list too. I'm planning on making them double sided red and green if I can get gold of some self adhesive jewelry drawer liner for a reasonable price.
Black forest pavlova sounds amazing! I'll have to look at the Nat trust for that one.
Right, off to catch up with where I left off this thread

I made some really nice syrup for coffee today…described as “pumpkin spice” but definitely very Christmassy…

one cup soft brown sugar
one cup golden caster sugar
one cup water
five cardamom pods, seeds crushed
about 1/5 nutmeg
heaped tsp ground cinnamon
about tsp fresh ginger (grated).
five whole cloves

I’m not American, I literally measured the first three items out in a tea cup.

Mix together in a pan. Simmer for 10 mins, rest for 10 mins.

I strained it through a new j-cloth (in a sieve), and decanted into a small (sterilised) glass bottle.

Really festive and super easy.