Credit Crunch Gift Ideas

[jackyspratty]

We took lavender and rosemary cuttings and gave them as gifts for teachers at the end og the year. Really easy for my 4 and 7 year old to do. Do them now and by next summer they will have bushed out nicely.

[hamsterqueen]

my daughter made jars of spiced nuts, butter melted, chilli or similar spice and then teh nuts tossed in the mixture.

dates dipped in chocolate or stuffed with marzipan.

marshamallows threaded on skewers, dipped in melted chcolate then dipped in hundreds and thousands.


For cooks:
flavoured oils, jars of roasted peppers ( I gave my daughter's boyfriend a jar of peppers and he was really pleased, they had pasta sauces, stuffed chicken breasts and tapas from the one jar.)
dried herbs, bayleaves etc
preserved lemons
themed herb/spice mixes perhaps with a cheap cookery book from The Works?


Also bags of cookie mix and a cheap christmas themed cookie cutter.


Sloe gin!

[kirsty b]

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 received 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, 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.

I do hampers for my family with things like jams and jellies, sloe gin and cookies, mince pies etc. This year someone bought me the James Wong book, so peeps are going to have homemade lip balm, soap and bath bombs too. I can pick up pretty wicker baskets at a shop in Newmarket or trawl the charity shops for more unusual ones. Have done loads of jam and stuff this year, so have loads to choose from. My dad's hamper will have pickled eggs in cos he loves them. My mum looks forward to each year's parcel

[kirsty b]

Bath Bomb Recipe:

5-6 fresh lavender sprigs
1 tbsp citric acid powder
3tbsp bicarbonate of soda
10 drops lavender essential oil
1 tbsp plant based oil (almond or vegetable)

Heat oven to 180 degrees, when up to temp, turn off and place lavender, hanging upside down in the oven for 2 hours to dry. When dry, remove flowers from stalks and set aside.
For the next stage you need to make sure that the bowl you are using is completely dry..
In a glass bowl, mix the citric acid and bicarb together.
Add a few drops of essentail oil and the dried flowers along with the veg or almond oil.
Mix everything together with a metal spoon.
Place a biscuit cutter on a sheet of baking paper, put the mixture into the cutter and press down with the back of a spoon.
The oil now needs to evaporate so the bomb can set as a hard dry block - leave for a minimum of 30 minutes or preferably overnight.

Store in tin foil to keep out moisture.

I plan to make these with different oils so I have a range of scents.

[Jax]

If you want a cute little prezzie to get kids into growing stuff you can buy a bean plant off ebay that has there name etched into it and when the bean plant grows it has there name in the middle of the plant and they are only about £1.50.

Im giving the homemade gifts a go this year and have been making my grandma a homemade quilt out of old materials and looking for other ideas.

[di]

Just remembered,one year I made a large oblongy Christmas cake,cut it into six & then individually decorated each.Six gifts from one cake!

[smallblueplanet]

Okay, I'm a bit daft, but where's this lime pickle recipe then Ollie?

[dexterdoglancashire]

Thanks Kirsty! Can't wait to have a go.

[kirsty b]

Just remembered,one year I made a large oblongy Christmas cake,cut it into six & then individually decorated each.Six gifts from one cake!

I'm liking that idea, may adopt that one.

[Alison]

I did that the year before last also although mine only made 4 cakes and as I only needed 3 of them I got the eat the other one - bonus!

[di]

You're obviously not as tight as me Alison!

[Alison]

You're obviously not as tight as me Alison!

Ah but you never saw the size of the original cake, it wasn't that big, honest!

[Jillyreeves]

Make bath bombs. The lovely James Wong did it on grow your own drugs.
A lovely Grape (Jill, I think) emailed me some recipes, would be happy to pass them on.

Yes it was me Glad you enjoyed them.

[Scottishnewbie]

yes please, can i have the recipes - sounds like fun for kids and i to make for some presents - thanks

[Pumpkin Becki]

...I'm seeing some excellent Secret Santa ideas here peeps!!