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I wrote a little artical on this for the big green idea a few years ago http://thebiggreenidea.org/news/newslet ... -christmas
I do this every year. in mine i put a combinations of..

-damson gin
-damson wine
-damson jam
-homebrew
-mince pies
-mini christmas cakes
-star biscuits with ribbon on (for hanging on a tree)
-lavendar soaps
-lavendar hangers
-lavendar candles
-lavendar bath salts
-dried garlands (orange / bay leaves / chillies etc)
-herb planters (random cups from carboots with soil and seeds)
-porchini risotto kits
-bouquet garnies
-mulled wine sachets
-vanilla sugar
-customised board games (guess who with photos of family members goes down well, as does cludo)
-cress and eggshell kits (for the kids)
-lentil filled rag beanies animals
-fabric advent calendars


to put them in, i either get zut bags, or hampers from carboots

That sounds lovely. I wish one of the people who buys me presents would make me a hamper! (Although to be fair they do try very hard to get me nice things :-) ).

lydneyian wrote:Great Sarah

what else did you put in yours???

Ian

a lot of what I made has already been mentioned on here...fudge, truffles, chutney, gingerbread, oatcakes, and cheese sables.

for "smaller" presents I bought some cheap mugs and individual hot-chocolate sachets and wrapped them in celophane with some home-made choccies


Kazaddress - you're stuff looks AMAZING! (and those cakes are making me hungry)

If you hunt around the web you can get mugs printed with your own photos. From time to time they have special offers and the mugs are only a couple of pounds. Really unique present, especially if you can find a photo of the recipient or their favourite pet.

Zoe

Kaz - that is an amazing post - some great ideas - and excellent photos - loads of ideas thanks - I like the idea of the mugs - how do you make hot chocalate

Christmas Hamper? Got to have home made(the best) Christmas pudding.

yep christmas pudding a just you can use up all the cherries from cherry brandy to make them to

and taste great

Christmas pudding is a good shout - we are definately putting xmas cake in - I need to find some cherries for cherry brandy

If any of you have kids (or not), my little man made peppermint creams as presents off himself last year. He put them in clear bags and tied them with ribbon and a handwritten card. They were really easy to make (he's 6 and needed very little help), and everyone loved them. We'll definitely be making them this year.

Also, I'm sure in the past I've read about putting mixes in jam jars with the instructions on how to make - such as bread, or cookies.

pickled eggs?!
We are over run with quail's eggs at the moment ... so this is something I'm looking into!

These are all great ideas but my goodness it doesn't seem 2 days ago we were discussing this last year am also taking notes though

Loving this thread, such great ideas and something I really need to start thinking about!! XX

I saw some of those cookie Ingredient jars last year - they are an excellent idea

lydneyian wrote:I saw some of those cookie Ingredient jars last year - they are an excellent idea

I was given a jar of cookie mix. I just had to add eggs and milk. So the mix was basically, er, flour and sugar then

Still the jar's come in useful.

Zoe

I was surfing the net last night and came across a good site for jar mixes. Might be worth having a look. I'm going to make some in Kilner jars from Ikea. The site has quite a few cookie mixes and cake mixes including the recipes.
www.giftsfromyourkitchen.com/jar/jar.html