Ideas for homemade gifts?

[Fruitbatlings]

We're a little strapped for cash this year - isn't everyone!

I need some ideas on homemade gifts, preferably not too creative!
I noticed someone on here is making chocolate fudge, which I could do if I had a recipe, but not sure how I would present it? I'm hopeless and presentation and would end up spending far too much just making it look good!

What homemade gifts go down really well?

I posted these on another thread

Recipe for Fudge you can substitute pistachios with hazelnuts, cranberries or raisins.

Recipe for cinnamon decorations

You can buy 3 gift boxes for a pound in Poundland and some tissue paper and they look lovely!

Meant to say they are dead easy but I always get loads of compliments about them! Obviously don't mention how easy they are to make!

oh that does look easy.
Thanks

Would it taste ok if you just kept it plain? ie without the added nuts etc.

aw thanks Hellbent - for some reason I have trouble opening links when they are done like that, only for the last week or so, used to be fine Could you put the link as a web address for me? Cheers!

anyone else?

I always make home made gifts for my 5 billion cousins and it's usually something edible because that's where my talents lie. I have no illusions about making jewellery or anything like that

This year I am making blackberry jam, gingerbread christmas tree decorations and christmas chocolates for the kids.

In the past I have made-

Stollen (the Waitrose recipe is good)
Lebkuchen
Marzipan fruits
Mincemeat
Rosemary olive oil

Lakeland are good for getting supplies like jars and bottles (or you can just save them up throughout the year), fancy wrappers etc.

Here's the fudge link- www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/chocolatepistachiofu_87639.shtml

thank you sweet I finally found the fudge recipe. Looks great but says to keep cold which would be tricky - unless I say to the receiver to keep their present in the fridge!

Not sure I'm brave enough to do Jam, don't you need some kind of thermometer contraption?

I hope not because I don't have one I got the recipe from Essentials magazine, it looks pretty easy. I'm going to attempt it in the next few days so I'll let you know!

I'm planning on doing hampers for most people, filled with homemade gifts. Some of the ideas I have had (and I shan't be making all of them!) are:

• Candles
• Body scrub
• Bath bombs
• Chilli nuts
• Cupcakes
• Blackberry muffins (still have some blackberries in the freezer)
• Garlic cheese
• Hot indian pickle
• Chocolate truffles
• Mulled wine
• Marmalade
• Mini Christmas cakes
• Marmalade
• Fudge
• Sweet chestnuts (I need to go and find the chestnuts but not sure where in this area)

I have found recipes for all of them and all seem doable - some are just a bit more difficult than others.

The plan is to pop to Ikea and buy the straw baskets they sell for about £1.99 each and fill those up.

Now I just need to actually get round to doing this as I'm running out of time!

Won't it be cheaper to buy a gift each? Or aren't you doing it for that reason?

Fruitbatlings: Not sure if your comment was aimed at me but I assume so! I'm partly doing it for money, partly because it is something different. I'm not going to be making all of the above list. They are all just ideas that I have had and will just end up doing some of them.

I haven't costed it up yet but am going to this weekend. As I have a lot of people to buy for, I still think this will work out cheaper. Usually I would spend about £30/person but I can't afford that this year. I'm hoping that I can cut that down significantly. We'll see though when I work out the cost and I'll probably be dissapointed when I realise it's a no go!

Hope for the best expect the worse: That's a great idea! I personally like receiving gifts like this as it has had effort and thought put into! The curry idea in particular sounds great considering what you said about people in your area loving currys but not really knowing how to cook them.

Last year I made Christmas puddings in a large batch.

I got pudding basins from lakeland and some red and green see through sheets of paper, they were wrapped up and round the pudding basins and tied with curling ribbon and a gift tag

We gave these to all the "unclesand aunts"

As i felt it was homemade with love and effort rather than commercial.

The recipe was for three two pound puddings - so did several much smaller puddings - I think we had 7 or 8

I was given back one pudding and asked to refil if possible for next year..

Some great ideas!

I'm going to have a go at making Marmalade and maybe Jam too. Just ordering some jars and bits n bobs from Lakeland....

I'd really like to make the choc fudge, does it stay fresh for ages?
What about jams and marmalade, don't you have to get the air out of the jar somehow to keep it fresh?

bumpity bump

RE: jams and marmalade, when you have sterilsed the jars then add the jam or marmalade while it is still hot and the vacuum at the top of the jar will seal the lid for you. Takes a couple of hours for the safety button on the lid to get pulled down

re fudge if you make a simple vanilla one with sugar, butter and milk it lats for a month or so in a tin. Not sure about the fancier ones though.

thanks gingernut

presumably I can put the jars in my upright bottle steriliser...?

I'll be making choc fudge.
Also was thinking of making biscotti too, will that last?

Pickled onions, beetroot or even eggs! Home made tomato ketchup, jamie oliver does a great cheeky chilli pepper jam recepie. These all last for ages in people cupboards. I do mine in all sorts of jars I save over the year, tie gingham ribbon round them and get brown card to write on what it is you gave them.

I'm quite excited now! Looking forward to getting my jars and lids etc...

I don't want to be too ambitious but like the sound of the cheeky chilli pepper jam

I've ordered some cellophane bags and will tie ribbon around them.
I am hoping to put inside:

Marmalade
Choc fudge
Biscotti
Chilli jam (once I've looked up the recipe)

That's not too much to do is it? They are all pretty easy for a beginner aren't they?

ok, not doing the chilli jam, look a bit complicated for me. Plus it only makes 500g and you need LOADS of peppers which aren't cheap

I made spicy tomato chutney a few years ago with jars from lakeland. I made 20 jars and all in it cost under £1 a person.

Last year I made christmas biscotti, truffles and fudge, this time it was about a tenner for 20 people, and we had loads left over.

This year I am making hats or bags for close family and chocolate/marzipan/pistachio sweets for everyone.
I am makin stuff out of yarn/fabric I have in the house and the ingredients will cost very little so am hoping it will be even cheaper
I derive special smug satisfaction from my gifts being the one ooh'd and aah'd over when expensive things are put aside

I put my chilli jam in baby food jars as it is HOT! And I bought my peppers from lidl so they were cheap. It was still a cheap present to make, about £10 worth of ingredients gave me about 5/6 little jars, they looked very cute. Also not a difficult recipe to follow at all, I did it and i am a spanner.