xmas hamper ideas

[*honey]

Hi Guys,

Right every year for the last few christmas' i have refused to buy people more 'stuff' Generally everyone these days has everything they want, and if your anything like me have a house full of stuff and no more room for anything!!
So I have been buying 'experiences' ( bought tickets for my mate ( and me too, of course) for Horse of the Year show, or spa days, massages, west end shows that sort of thing.
I also did my own home made 'hampers' last years for family, with food and things i Know they would like, for a fraction of the cost of the pre made shop ones. ( which are like £30 for barely anything in them!)

BUT.......... this year i am more than skint hubby hasnt worked for all of this year and money is more than tight. So cant really afford anything this year ( especially because of christmas i'll be like £250 down on income - i am a riding instructor and with xmas and new year falling on saturdays, there are no lessons on what are normally lucritive days!)

So I am still thinking of the hamper idea, but to just make a few yummies to put in. Reckon i could make a lot of nice things for about £10.

So was thinking i'd do SW friendly goodies, even for non SW people ( they'll never know.....lol - and it'll be healthy for them amongst all the high syn stuff they'll be having)

My Mum, Nan and Aunt all follow SW, so they will appreciate SW goodies.

I have some ideas all ready, but throwing it out there what other things can you come up with.

My ideas so far:-
Gingerbread men recipe in new mag - 1.5 syns each
Chocolate truffles - from post on here ( the quark ones)
Honeycomb pieces

 

[lollipop1982]

How about the christmas pudding(71/2 syns per serving) recipe in the mag or the ferror rochers (1 syn each) recipe on here)

there's also a recipe for cranberry sauce in the magazine for only 1/2 syn per serving.

i'll let you know if i think of anything else

 

[darkcookie]

Hi Honey,

I have got the SW festive food & fun book, here are just a few ideas:

christmas cake - 9 syns on all plans
Mince tarts - 3.5 syns on all plans
christmas pudding - 7.5 syns on all plans
Low syn chocolate log - 3 syns
Pickled shallots - FREE (or any other fruits/herbs/veg)
Apple & cinnamon Strudel - 4 syns

HTH

Lyn x

 

[*honey]

Thanks guys, I too have the new Xmas book, Am going to make the syn free onion marmalade i saw on here.
and a tomato and onion chutney recipe i am going to try and SW adapt too.

 

[time2bslim]

I think this is a fab idea - I must admit I hate Christmas these days all so commercialised etc - wasn't so bad when the kids were little but now they've grown up etc - I love the thought of giving stuff that you've made and put some love into - and as it happens is cheaper too= good on ya.

 

[Mummy_Helen]

I'll be putting some of my low syn truffles into the hamper I'm doing for my sister in law, who's also doing SW.

http://www.minimins.com/slimming-world-recipes/172778-low-syn-chocolate-truffles.html

 

[hastalavegan]

I did a lot of cheap homemade gifts last year and will be doing the same this year. Here's what I did:

Cake/cookie mix jars - Not SW friendly but so cheap. I saved up a whole load of jars and filled them in layers with cake ingredients, flour at the bottom, cocoa powder, sugar and then topped with chocolate chips. It looks really cute all layered up. I got some nice ribbon and card and wrote instructions to go with them. All they had to add was some oil and soy milk (which I provided in small cartons each). I mostly gave these to my wee cousins, they loved doing them and asked me to come round and help.

Soup Mix jars - similar idea to the cookie mix. I did lentil and dried bean mixes with stock and herbs and spices added in. People loved them

Hot chocolate mixes - basically cheap hot chocolate with spices added into them so they look classy

Hampers - I did two different ideas with these. For some people I got all the ingredients for a nice recipe and did a little package for them. For example I did my friend a little package with channa dal, garlic, onions and spices so she could make my favourite dal recipe, which I wrote up in a card for her.

The hamper I do for one of my uncles is a bit different. He loves cooking so one year I did him an Indian food hamper and last year I did him a chinese one. For both of these I went to cheap Indian/Chinese supermarkets and got him lots of bits and pieces that he probably hadn't heard of. The Indian one for example had a garlic crushing machine (about £2), lots of different spices, some lentils, a small jar of chewda and an indian pancake mix. The Chinese one had an aloe vera drink, tofu, noodles, chopsticks, some wee bowls and a few other bits I can't remember. Anyway, these hampers cost me about £4-5 and went down really well.

I noticed Sainsburys are doing a deal on their Christmas gifts at the moment. I saw a pack of 6 different olive oils and balsamic vinegars for £6 I think it was. You could buy some of them and split them up to put them in hampers.

Other things I've made:

Fudge
Dried fruit and nuts dipped in dark chocolate
Cookies

 

[*honey]

I love the cake mix/soup mix ideas in a Jar. I'd never have thought of that. Im sure i could find a SW friendly 'something' to put in a jar

*goes off thinking*

 

[hastalavegan]

Well soup mixes are generally okay, cause you just need to add hot water to the mix!

I'm sure most SW cake/cookie recipes would be okay because you just need to put how many eggs are needed in the instructions.

 

[*honey]

Am really loving the soup mix idea, just doing a online search for recipes and there are LOADS
Thank you for FAB idea.

 

[Littleslimmingbee]

OMG- absoloutly loving the jar idea. How flipping cool, how did i not think of this myself?!?!

Fabulous. x

 

[*honey]

So have been making my homemade gifts..... here is a couple of pics

'gifts in jars'
on the left is 5 bean soup in a jar - SW friendly and FREE

and on the right, chocolate brownie mix - NOT SW friendly lol - but you will appreciate i have had to make and eat them to make sure they taste ok to give out.....lol
they are in oven as i type

Pot pourri basket