The 'C' word - Ideas for my £5 Christmas

[Oola]

Hello all

This year my whole family (inc. aunts, cousins etc) are doing a £5 Christmas - we're to spend no more than £5 on each other, although obviously we can use anything 'free' like homemade jams, chutneys etc. Thinking ahead, I thought it would be best to start organising things now as if I have to make or prepare ingredients myself, I'll need a bit of extra time.

I was just wondering if anyone had any creative ideas for what they could do with £5 for a Christmas gift. What would you love to receive if you knew you only had £5 to have spent on you? Have you ever received a really small but precious gift?

Also, has anyone ever tried making their own (recycled or recyclable) wrapping paper? If so, how did it turn out?

Ideas would be more than welcome! :)

[Pippa]

Besides the obvious edibles, how about packets of seeds, handmade lavender bags, maybe a quirky design for them - if you have a fabric stash then any amount of ideas. Lovely padded clothes hangers, drawstring bags filled with soaps. I made candles one year from all old candle ends from local pub when I worked there, fiddly but fun, used wax crayons to colour them and put lavender in the mix. Save used choc. boxes to refill with home-made goodies, ditto biscuits. Have used colour pages from magazines without text for wrapping small items before now or else plain brown wrapping paper with cut out stars from last year cards, decorate plain brown paper bags same way. Hope this helps.

[Serenity]

Hi, this year I'm wrapping my pressies in plain brown paper, tied with string and decorated with a spray of holly, ivy, dried orange slices and cinnamon sticks. Another idea for wrapping paper is wallpaper (samples or left over rolls) - although not very christmassy maybe better for birthday presents. Oh and what about cutting out and gluing on christmas themed words from newspapers onto brown paper.

[keepersdaughter]

Morning Oola, I've only just got up so I'm still a little groggy, but for Christmas or any gift wrap for that matter, if you have any brown paper - plain old mailing type - can look quiet effective, tied with raffia, hessien or a dark coloured ribbon, then use piece of holly, liitle pinecone, etc. tied, glued under the ribbon. Also read this tip in a magazine, old wallpaper books from DIY shops, sometimes they can be persuaded to give them away. You could find some attractive patterns in those, just tied with ribbon, etc. I'll put my thinking cap on so if I can come up with any suggestions.

[eleanor2]

of wallpaper lining paper.then you use stampers and make your own design.i think you can get some lovely jewellry etc from charity shops.then make your own fancy wrappings.

[franbee]

I would rather have a small gift of something really nice, scented soap, quality chocolates, a pair of expensive tights, something someone has made, rather than a larger cheap quality gift. I save all my wrapping paper offcuts, so I need to give a batch of diaries to use them up! Fran.

[Crocus]

Or perhaps cover pressies in nice leftover fabric with a christmas theme and tied with nice string or ribbon. I've once stencilled brown paper and used that to cover pressies. A bit of diluted paint on brown paper also works quite well.

[keepersdaughter]

when my daughter was in High School, we used take a name from the 'Angel tree' for children from either underpriveledged homes or overseas. There was always a price limit, so we had to be creative. We used a shoebox and decorated that, or may be you could make some inexpensive Christmas stockings with any leftover fabric, charity shop finds etc. and personalise each one for each recipient. Fill with homemade goodies. The Dollar/Pound Shop often has some odd bits and pieces that we you use, or personalise, like Pippa suggested; take soap, bath salts, pencils for children and make wraps or holders. Once you get started, it's amazing how creative you can be. I'm still thinking.......

[Crocus]

I've lost my thinking cap somewhere due to total hectic day! Once I've found the old cap, who knows, something might just jump into brain. :eek:

[Oola]

Some great ideas here :) Keep going ladies, I'm making notes as we speak!

Pippa, how did you make the candles? Is it easy to make scented candles, or is the oil expensive?

[franbee]

Oola, if you fancy making candles, either visit a good craft shop, or check online Craft Supplies. They will have all the bits you need, except for moulds. You could make them in little china cups from a charity shop, or use empty glass jars, pate or paste, or I have a collection of jars I use, collected on holiday in France, that had creme caramel or chocolate dessert in. There was a lady on CL forum called Cornish Candles, she gave advice.

[Sparrow]

If you have any knitting friends/rellies, why not get a pattern for a funky/useful household item/pair of woolly slippers/fingerless gloves etc and buy some s/hand needles and wools from a charity shop, enough for them to complete the project. You make them up into a nice pack. I would be AMPED if someone did that for me. You wouldn't hear a peep from me over Christmas - I'd be the one in the corner near the tree knitting like crazy!

[Sparrow]

Oops, another idea. A friend of mine used to batch make the dried ingredients for either chocolate brownies or pancakes. She would then get a huge jar, put the dried ingredients in with the recipe on the outside. The jar would be decorated with nice bows etc.

[Oola]

Oh right franbee, thanks! - thing is I don't want to spend more than £5 on the wax and wicks - do you think this is actually possible?

[Oola]

Great idea Sparrow - I can knit a little, and my cousin wants to learn. We're setting up something we're calling 'Chips'n'Knits' night with our grandmother (who was a prizewinning cable knitter when she was a teenager). We basically meet up, do some knitting and then have chips from the chip shop.

[Pippa]

Oola, Franbee is right, look at Fred Aldous or any Candle Making supplies. Sometimes I add extra sterrin as this makes the candles burn better and I use all sorts for moulds bearing in mind that the top must be wider than the bottom if you want to get the candle out! But I have used posh dessert containers (from Waitrose), metal herb containers, decorative glass jars. The scent usually comes in solid form, I use citronella a lot as is should deter bugs, Hobbycraft also another place to look.

[Pippa]

Unless you have a supply of cheap or free wax you will have to make a lot of candles to get your money back if you buy everything, scrounge all the old candles you can.

[sheddie]

i've got it Oola because I do it every year for my daughter and now relatives too, particularly special people.Whilst the decorations are just coming out go to somewhere like John Lewis in welwyn and buy a really unususal tree decoration, something maybe metal or wooden that will be an antique of the future. The Victorians loved their christmas tree decorations and they will go up in value if you buy right.I buy a different one each year and have done since my daughter was born. She is now 31yrs so has quite an assortment of unusual ones.Then wait for this rural musers, buy some old christmas music sheets from a junk shop, stain with tea if appropriate or just leave black and white to wrap with or a really nice box would do.

[keepersdaughter]

I've been cogitating! How about making a family recipe book or family album - ask family members/friends for their favorite recipes, tips, ideas, family stories, anecdotes, anything that comes to mind. Each person could have their own page/pages, maybe you could add their photo. You could photocopy each page, buy some card at a craft supply shop, bind with ribbon. I don't know if you are handy with sewing needle or have a sewing machine, but you could use handkerchiefs or scarves (square ones) and make pillows, or buy couple of yards of fabric from the market if you have one nr. you or fabric shop, make up some pillows decorate with sequins or buttons. Or maybe make herb pillows. Last year I made oatmeal cookies, chocolate fudge, and caramel popcorn among other things for friends for homemade cookies. Would be happy to pass on recipes if you're interested. I got the cellaphane cone shaped bags for the popcorn free from my local supermarket flower section. (I asked the flower salesperson first, and she didn't mind me helping myself to a few). Tied the end with either raffia or ribbon.

[jazzactivist]

Hi Oola, a £5 Christmas is a great idea! The best under £5 present that I ever received was a 'best' collar for my dog made by my niece when she was 10. It is a lovely one made out of a green silk tie, with a cosy inner lining, and decorated with lots of fabric daisies. She used a fancy buckle from an old handbag. He still wears it at all special occasions, and it looks so lovely and funny that it makes me laugh and think of my niece.

[Oola]

Thank you all so much for your contributions - I really am keeping note of them, even went and had a cursory scour around yesterday. And yes keepersdaughter, I would love to have some of your recipes!

[keepersdaughter]

Good morning, I just popped on for a quick look around. I'll post the recipes over the weekend. I'm going to be out most of the day today. Talk to you later :)

[keepersdaughter]

Hello Oola, I had a quick look thru. my recipe collection. It's a bit of a mess with recipes bunged into three separate binders, I'm working on compiling them, bit by bit. Before I go ahead and post any, can you let me know if you can get corn syrup or Fluff, which comes in a jar and is a sort of cremed marshmallow. I believe Fluff can be found in the supermarket there now - it's in the chocolate fudge recipe. The corn syrup I'm not so sure of, it's in the caramel popcorn recipe. If either of these aren't readily available, I have another look, see what I can come up with. I figuring out US cup to english weight measurements right now.

[Sparrow]

Oola, I just read your reply to my post

Chips and knitting oooooooo! Can I come too? I never had a granny to do this sort of thing with. What a great idea.

Only one problem, if you do it too regularly, you might need to knit clothes on jumbo needles.

[Oola]

Hi keepersadaughter, I'm pretty sure that I can get corn syrup from somewhere :)

Jumbo needles?! My mum has some pretty mean looking 20mm (not sure what the US size is) needles. I think the largest I have is 10mm, tried knitting with them last night in fact.

[sunflower]

One of our favourite home made Christmas goodies is glace cherries, each one wrapped up in marzipan then dipped in chocolate. Then when dry place on baking paper in a pretty box or jar. You can even soak the cherries in brandy for an extra treat!!