Credit Crunch Gift Ideas

[Polly Fouracre]

I am going to plant some hyacinths and narcissi and force some bulbs for pressies this year. I have been saving the containers I got pressies in last year and family have been donating them to me as well

I look on car-boot sales starting about now for pretty bowls and pots for flower bulbs for Christmas.
I also make herb pillows, with a mixture of hops, lime flowers and lavender in a pretty bit of cotton fabric.
You can also get Christmassy fabric to top your jars of preserves which makes them a bit special.

[LostGoddess]

What a great thread, lots of great ideas.
Last christmas was my first for making all my gifts - jams, jellies, pickles, etc with some raspberry rum/bramble vodka sweetening the deal for my recipients
This year I would like to do some home made skin care goodies too. I have been saving and freezing all my calendula flowers as I not-quite-dead-head them in the hope I can make some soothing hand creams with them. Been saving pots and bottles all year.
I am with Kirsty B, a big fan of James Wongs recipe book, lots of inspiration.

More suggestions please!

[zazen999]

Stickied

[quark1]

Thankyou Z999 - hopefully we can all look and learn!

[NOG]

I buy an extra pot of tuna, coffee, sugar, during the year and other stuff on offer and make up hampers for our tame OAP's.

For my charity we decorate one of those blue boxes that mushrooms come in and fill it with home grown produce and pickles...and raffle it.

[sarraceniac]

Or pickled shallots? They are a good gift idea! Hint hint, i have loads lol

I do dat. The twist we use is to pickle in balsamic vinegar. Two luxury items in one small jar. Don't know if the recipients would be so impressed if they knew that the balsamic vinegar is T***o's own at less than a quid a bottle.

[Hilary B]

I'm going to be doing scented candles. I bought the ingredients for lavendar ones for myself, and it is really easy!
I think I will order some more stuff later this week.......

[kirsty b]

Do you get the stuff online Hilary? Would like to do that too.

[OllieMartin]

Lime Pickle: I made the recipe a couple of years ago and it has continued to reign as the best Christmas present I've ever given (Possibly all the others have just been rubbish!).
If you want to make a good batch, make it now. The flavour infuses over the months and it gets far better with age.

Pickled eggs: If you pickle them with turmeric or beetroot juice you get yellow or purple eggs respectively. They taste fantastic, but just be sure the receiver likes pickled eggs, a lot of people simply don't like the IDEA of them and aren't even willing to try them!

(If you want recipes for either of these, please post below)

A Hamper: I got fed up with my step-mum complaining that she didn't like my Christmas/birthday presents (rude hu?) so I bought a hamper, lined it with pretty paper and filled it with cheap, but interesting food and drink for her and my Dad. Then told them that I wanted the hamper back for next year. I can fill it for next-to-nothing and this year is sure to have a variety of home-grown produce. The excitement is in finding out all the little things you've got rather than what the one big present is.

[Lemon]

Oh I'm so glad I found this - a website for knitting toys and decorations by my favourite pattern designer - Jean Greenhowe.

Jean Greenhowe Designs Official Website - Jean Greenhowe free knitting patterns, knitted dolls, toys

I've made several toys and decorations from her books and leaflets and have no idea how easy it is to obtain now.

She has kindly included many free patters to download from this site.

So if you're handy with those knitting needles here is an excellent way to use up the tiniest of wool scraps for either gifts or school/church fairs.

I've made the footballer up for girls and boys alike - adapting the colour scheme to their fave teams!

OooH! Great link! Loved the site! I will look forward to making some of these (if only I had MORE time!)!!!

For Christmas gifts, I have made home-made chocs and a variety of biscuits. (Orange Christmas Trees with Smartie 'Baubles'; Cinnamon Snowflakes to name a couple...) I put them in cellophane bags, tie them with ribbon and cut up old Christmas cards as 'tags'. I tie the tag to the bags so they know what the item is. I bought some pretty little lidded boxes from Aldi & QD Stores to put the home-made wares in.

[Hilary B]

Do you get the stuff online Hilary? Would like to do that too.

I get stuff from this lot.

welcome to Candle Makers Supplies - For all your candle making needs

[BumbleB]

Check the summer sales for Christmas fabrics, great for any size stockings, cushions and napkins. Easy for any level of sewing skill.

[lainey lou]

Love this thread.
I,ve been making Jam this week for teachers pressies (end of year).
I've made little fabric bags to put the jars in, I'm really chuffed with how great these gifts looked and really they only cost pennies!
Going back to the D Egberts jars, they are also really great for flavoured sugar, I have done vanilla sugar and Lavender sugar, a little ribbon finishes them off nicely.

[LostGoddess]

Going back to the D Egberts jars, they are also really great for flavoured sugar, I have done vanilla sugar and Lavender sugar, a little ribbon finishes them off nicely.

Or don't wash the jars and do coffee sugar

I have a challenge - what can I make as gifts for my two nephews? one is a pre-teen and one is 10, and they are the only members of my family that escape my home made presents and I would prefer them to suffer as much as the rest of the clan!

[OverWyreGrower]

Or don't wash the jars and do coffee sugar

I have a challenge - what can I make as gifts for my two nephews? one is a pre-teen and one is 10, and they are the only members of my family that escape my home made presents and I would prefer them to suffer as much as the rest of the clan!

Could you do some sort of icky-plant type thing, like a venus flytrap or something.... in a little terracotta pot with their names on it?

Unless you make them biscuits or homemade chocs?

P.S. Just seen you are in sunny Blackpool - just down the road from me!!