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>

🎄🎄🎄🎄

first batch of candied quince complete - although they were picked early and I was worried they wouldn't be ripe enough I found they softened really quickly and didn't soak up as much syrup as I expected, so I only have about half what i started with as finished candied ones and the rest is going for quince icecream as its basically jam.

They do taste lovely so i am going to do another batch and tweak things a bit and use larger chunks.Hopefully they will store ok, I will check in 24 hours and see if these have started seeping because of the sugar and if not try packing them and see what happens.

I am also thinking the jam is a good idea, I have always done jelly but jam would be quick and seems quite tasty.

That looks amazing!! Congratulations! Thanks ever so much for coming back and showing it off.

Next winter, for me, I must make the effort.

I once scattered some poached quince on a cake tin floor, poured a vanilla batter over and baked that. Seriously, that was yum. And so easy.

The quince looks amazing!

Just thought I would share this in case it's useful. We got this 42 pack of felt for £3.50 yesterday from Dunelm. I always forget to look there. They also had embroidery scissors reduced to 50p in ours. Always worth having a spare pair or two!

The quince does look fab, I would like to try that. I have my first bottle of quince vodka now, after it steeped for 2 years. It’s nice but I don’t know what quince tastes like so hard to describe the flavour.

I’d love some ideas for a tiny advent calendar. I saved these tea bag envelopes from a Christmas box a while ago and want to peg them on a line for a calendar for DD. She’s 17 and very environmentally concerned so can only include a few bought things. She has everything crafty and not into make up. So far I can only think of putting in jokes on little pieces of paper. She’ll be at university next year, any useful things that are small?

@AuntieDen there’s quince paste, of course, ready for your Christmas cheese board.

That's a great idea @Zurbaran. I use some mini stockings that I crocheted, and try and do a mix of edible and useful things. Mini magnetic bookmarks and post it / place holders might work well? Or depending on her style, vintage style broaches or bracelets from charity shops?

How about

a pair of tweezers
Lip balm (in a tin so it's recyclable)
Coffee gift card
A trolley coin (v useful for a uni student as they tend to shop at Aldi /Lidl where you need them)
Washable makeup remover pads
Soap sheets
Small metal bottle opener (you can get key ring ones which both my uni student DCs found useful)

For the pegs you could maybe use bag clips as they are useful for sealing packets of food afterwards

Also some of those tiny strip type neon post it note style page markers. V useful for marking pages

I've done similar before and put in:

1. Tealight
2. A mini soap or mini solid shampoo
3. A wax melt
4. A £2 coin wrapped in a note saying "spend at the charity shop and find a huge bargain - let me know what you get"
5. A nice badge or brooch (I saw some lovely ones like cassette Tapes with the names of bands on at the weekend for £2)
6. One of thos reusable bags for veg as it would fold up very small
7. Mini roll of washibtape
8. Lindor or celebrations / quality street etc

Keyring

1. A voucher for "I owe you your favourite meal / takeaway next time you are home" or some such

10. A nice teabag or two! 11. A pretty piece of seaglass if you are able to collect some 12. A fridge magnet (you can make one easily with a shell / crystal / bottle top 13. Some paper eco friendly stickers (I am 55 and still love stickers!) 14. A mini round lip balm from an ethical shop 15. And definitely little paper neon page markers / an eraser / other small stationery like mini wooden pegs, paperclips etc.

Thats 15 ideas, but some could be duplicated, for example more than one teabag, pine badge, chocolate, sticker etc. Also some other types of paper vouchers.

Also, if you have a broken bracelet or loose beads anywhere in the house, put them in with some elastic and instructions to make a recycled / repurposed bracelet.

Sorry it sent the formatting crazy just cos I numbered some things. Hope it isnt too much of a pain to read

Lots of good ideas, thank you, I def wouldn't've thought of all of these.

@Zurbaran how about notes with ideas for Christmassy things you can do together? Eg baking / going for a walk and a hot chocolate/ making a wreath .....

@Zurbaran

Waterstones have tiny magnetic bookmarks that fold over the top of your page - not sure about the eco credentials, but if she’s a reader they might be a good choice.
A reusable make up remover pad
Paperclips
Packets of herbs / spices
A tiny padlock
Shopping trolley token
Mini carabiner
An After Eight mint, or similar
Incense cones

Good evening from my hospital bed. Slowly recovering and getting my mobility back but suffering from lack of sleep so can’t concentrate to craft or read.
Really enjoy all your messages though so please keep them coming x

This is a lovely idea, and I like your Dala horses!

Hood luck for yoir recovery, my lovely. Hope you are being looked after and that the sleep improves soon x

Bit of a specific question, but has anyone every made a savoury cheesecake? I saw this one in Tesco's christmas food catalogue and love the idea. The few recipes I've come across use cheese, but also sugar and vanilla which just sounds disgusting. I guess I could just try it without the sugar and vanilla.

I may either just buy the Tesco one, or make a flan instead!

Yes I made small ones ages ago. Definitely didn’t have sugar or vanilla in them. Not sure if I kept the recipe as we weren’t that keen on them, but I will have a look for it.

No not made or had a savoury cheesecake@RainbowZebraWarrior . I have had cheese flavour cake before and it tasted fine.

Not Christmas but somewhat poncetastic, I have decorated a corner of my classroom for Halloween with the new addition of preserved leaves I prepared last year. They haven't deteriorated at all, I'm really pleased! I wanted to scatter them about and they ended up getting caught in the cobwebs which looks even better!

I popped a note on the bargain thread, but relevant here too. If you have a sainsbury's delivery pass then their Christmas slots are open now. (I don't know about other supermarkets, but sainsbury's are often last).

@AlicePottery that's so cool!

Not very poncey but I went through my advent calendar fillers box, and stocking fillers bag, yesterday & think both are pretty much done. I need a trip to Aldi now for wrapping paper - I'm reasonably sure it was around the end of October I went last year.

Well not Christmas, but I'm really pleased that less than two weeks home from hospital, I've managed to put my Halloween decorations up in my porch. And every one is hand made..

More pics

Forgot my Witch