Katy's Christmas Hamper Making Diary

[Dream.A.Dream]

After reading a lot of threads about hampers I have decided they are a fabulous idea and thus I am doing 3 of them as presents this year, if not 4

I will be making one for my mum, one for mum's boyfriend, one for OH's Mum and possibly a small one for OH's nan.

My mum's and OH mum's will be a mix of homemade chutneys, oils, chocolates, fudge and then bath bits. Probably will buy a bath bomb and perhaps some miniatures of shampoo etc. My mum's will have a mini bottle of nice wine in too

Mum's OH (he's pretty much my dad, brought me up since I was about 8 but they never got married so he's technically not my stepdad) will be chocolates, fudge, cookies and then some coffee beans and possibly other coffee related stuff.

OH said he doesn't usually buy for his nan, but I thought since I was making these anyway I will do her one with chocolates and chutney and chilli oil.

I think I need to hurry up and get started, the mango chutney recipe I've found needs to mature for 1 month. So now I need to find jam jars, and then sterilise them (apparently, I have no idea ). Also need bottles for the oils.
xx

 

[angeljewel]

Great idea, I'm making a small sweets hamper for my OH, with loads of retro sweeties in like dip dabs, sherbet fountains, black jacks etc!! You can buy them but they are so expensive, so hampers are a great way to save a few pennies and they are really personnal!

 

[Squidge]

Great idea, I'm making a small sweets hamper for my OH, with loads of retro sweeties in like dip dabs, sherbet fountains, black jacks etc!! You can buy them but they are so expensive, so hampers are a great way to save a few pennies and they are really personnal!

That's a brill idea - i may do one for my OH too

I'm also thinking of doing a small hamper for my OH's sister but we'll see - don't want it to work out too expensive as we're on such a tight budget!

 

[littletobyj]

Hiya, I would love to do a hamper but where do you buy your baskets from?

 

[Dream.A.Dream]

Great idea, I'm making a small sweets hamper for my OH, with loads of retro sweeties in like dip dabs, sherbet fountains, black jacks etc!! You can buy them but they are so expensive, so hampers are a great way to save a few pennies and they are really personnal!

That's a brill idea - i may do one for my OH too

I'm also thinking of doing a small hamper for my OH's sister but we'll see - don't want it to work out too expensive as we're on such a tight budget!

That's the problem I have no come up against, It would be cheaper to just buy them a present

Hiya, I would love to do a hamper but where do you buy your baskets from?

I ordered mine from this website https://www.cheapwickerbaskets.co.uk/items/wicker-baskets/wicker-baskets/list.htm Someone recommended them on a thread in here xx

 

[Kitten]

Yeah I toy with the idea of making hampers every year but they always seem to work out more expensive than a couple of presents by the time you've bought ingredients for jams, chutneys etc. and then jars and then the hamper itself and so on.

 

[katycam]

I was thinking about doing them this year, need to work out costs and see if its cheaper

 

[Dream.A.Dream]

Well my baskets and shredded tissue paper arrived today So now I just need to buy the stuff to go in them. I don't know how much will be homemade as it might be too expensive, so I'm thinking of buying small things and filling them up with those xx

 

[katycam]

homemade stuff is nice but yeah, it costs more to make than buying it from the shop!

 

[angeljewel]

For my sweet boxes I just got some swizzels matlow tubs from Tesco. They are actually for Halloween but as I'm splitting them it won't matter. 1.5kg of sweets half price £5 instead of £10. Bargain. Means you could make small boxes for a couple of quid per person x

 

[Blah11]

Its only worth doing homemade hampers if you're gonna make quite a few so you use up all the batches. It does work out cheaper than buying 3 jars of luxury chutney at £3 a pop. I'm making £50 hampers for my dad and his GF and the inlaws

 

[Dream.A.Dream]

I found a really good recipe for mange chutney, but it makes loads, about 9 jars worth and I only need 3! xx

 

[Blah11]

Just half the recipe and keep one for yourself!

 

[Dream.A.Dream]

Just half the recipe and keep one for yourself!

Jeez, this baby has really done something to my brain. I didn't think of that xx

 

[Dream.A.Dream]

Have got quite a bit of stuff for these now

Got some cellophane with christmas print on for wrapping them up in, and that came with free ribbon

People's stuff has changed though because of costs and thinking on it more.

OH's mum's has loads of stuff so far:
*Big posh Lavender scented candle
*6 mini floral soaps
*3 different floral shower gels
*chocolates

My mums
*3 Sanctuary miniatures from boots
*Chocolates

Need to get:
Mini bottles of wine. 1x White, 1x Red.
Miniature bottle of limoncello if such a thing exists
Maybe some nice tea
Nice biscuits
More toiletries.

Mum's OH
*Jelly Belly beans.
*Chocolates

Need to get:
*Nice coffee (ground or beans)
*Nice Biscuits
*More chocolate
*Homemade fudge & Cookies
*Mug

Think that's all. Trying desperately to think of cheapish but nice stuff for my mum. xx