Christmas Gifts

Hello! I hope that you've all had a lovely Christmas!

I thought I'd share with you some great Christmas gifts that I received that might be of use as ideas for you to use next year!

First off, coffee! I luuuurve coffee but you may've noticed that it's a pretty expensive habit, especially the flavoured lattes I like best! My sister's boyfriend got me some ground coffee and a set of flavoured syrups, so now I can make my own! (Or pull a bottle of syrup from my sleeve and add it to my coffee at work, just like Elf! :D)

My Nana gave me a book on preserves, complete with some Kilner jars! I can't wait to try making jam, or possibly the citrus marmalade.

My parents gave me a waterproof rucksack. This is ideal for anyone who has to walk a fair distance on the way to work. My bus stops about 15 minutes away from the University, and I get SOAKED fairly often! My old rucksack just wasn't keeping my books dry!

One of the things I got from The Boyfriend was a book on growing vegetables. I've already picked out what I want to try growing next season! I am restricted to whatever I can grow in containers though, because the garden of our flat is pebbles and decking. :(

The Boyfriend's dad gave me a Post Office One4All voucher. They can be used in several shops, although they are a bit of a pain because you have to know exactly how much is left on the card.

Anyway, I am sure as an avid gardener he would approve of my use of the gift card this morning; I bought a mini greenhouse (and a big container for future veg growing!). I'll use it to raise some seedlings in the spring, then transfer most of the plants outside whilst keeping tomatoes and other fussy things inside. I'm excited already!

Oo, oo, I also got some ball-point needles for my sewing machine. They allow you to work with more stretchy fabrics than my normal choice of polycotton. I think crafting supplies would be a welcome gift for a lot of people - I got my sister some card-making stuff, which is something I know she likes to do.

As you can see, I have lots to be getting on with in 2013! Growing my own food and preserving it, lots of sewing and more! :)

Did you get any frugal-inspired gifts that will make your life cheaper and easier in the new year? Leave a comment below with gift ideas to send and receive!


To Pamela:
I must confess, we didn't get the chance to make tofurkey! The shop had sold out of tofu, so we had mushrooms with our Christmas dinner instead! 

Homemade Christmas Decorations!

Hello! I come bearing tidings of great joy, in the form of a couple of snazzy Christmas decorations you can make on the cheap!

Glitter swirl bauble

These are so simple to make but I love them! :) You can personalise them to suit your tree or make one for each family member.

Get yourself some cheapy cheap plain baubles. I think Poundland do some, but I got 30 from Tesco for £2.80 (ish) because we didn't have any for the tree! You will also need some glitter glue (or glue plus glitter). You can get three bottles of glitter glue in Poundland for... £1. ;)

All you do is draw a pattern onto one half of the bauble using the glitter glue. To do the swirls, draw one coming down from the top, then add another coming off that one, and so on until you fill the space. Instead of swirls, you could draw stars or snowflakes if you like.

Then leave it to dry overnight and do the other half the next day. (To dry the baubles, I cut some toilet roll tubes in half and balanced the baubles on them - pretty sturdy!)



Fabric bauble

This one's a little more complicated than the glitter baubles, but they still only take about fifteen minutes.

Cut out two shapes from your favourite fabric, leaving a 5mm seam allowance. I used heart and star shapes, but Christmas trees could work too.

To embellish the bauble, I used a piece of ribbon and a button on the front. If you'd like to do that too, position the ribbon over the right side of one of the pieces of fabric and pin it into place. Next sew your button into place, remembering that it will be closer to the sides both because of the seam allowance and because it will be stuffed.

Pin the two pieces of fabric together with the right sides (and button/ribbon) facing in. Make a loop of ribbon or twine and position it in the top centre of the bauble, with the loop facing down between the fabric and the ends of the ribbon pointing up and out (see my Advent calendar posts if you don't know what I mean).

 Sew the two pieces together leaving a 5cm gap along one edge for turning and stuffing. Make sure the gap isn't where the ribbon is or you're making the final seam much more difficult for yourself!

Turn the fabric right side out and fill with stuffing or scraps of material.Using small pieces to stuff will give a more consistent shape overall.

Use a ladder stitch to close the seam of the bauble.



I made some paperchains instead of tinsel, as you can see in the photos! :) Also the Advent calendar is hanging in our living room as a bit of additional festive decoration.

Do you make your own Christmas decorations? Post a link below if you've done some Christmas crafting!

Say No to Payday Loans this Christmas!

Christmas is coming. Shops are looking to drain every last penny from their customers, and payday loan companies are happy to provide you with a boost of money to spend... for a price. 

A new report from the Office of Fair Trading says most payday lenders do not follow rules put in place to protect customers. A payday loan is a short-term loan, with the money often provided within an hour of applying for it. The APR interest rates can be as high as 4248%, leaving customers paying through the nose when repayment day comes. According to a study by R3, an estimated 5 million Brits are considering taking out a payday loan in the next six months.

Last year the average cost of Christmas in the UK was estimated to be around £600, with poorer families spending nearly £200. An estimated one in three people went into debt to pay for it. Getting a case of the January bills blues isn't unheard of, but what if you'd funded Christmas on payday loans alone? The absolute lowest estimated gift budget for an “acceptable Christmas” was £113.43 (of course many people spend hundreds of pounds more than that!). Wonga.com proudly proclaims that it could lend you that sum in 20 minutes. Come January 1^st however, you would have to repay £166, an increase of 46% over 40 days. 

There is a huge amount of pressure on people to buy the best Christmas presents, especially for parents. If you don't have a lot of money for gifts this year, try to find a way to minimise your costs and avoid going into debt at all costs. If you can't afford something now, how will you afford it next year?

A couple of ideas to reduce the costs of Christmas:

• Talk to family and friends about your gift budget. Everyone is feeling the strain of the recession, so they might be grateful you brought it up! 
• Have a chat with older kids about trying to save money. They might even have some ideas to help you out!
• Buy cheap crafting supplies for younger children and spend time with them making Christmas decorations or art for your walls!
• Shop second hand. Always a bit controversial, but consider a quality second hand gift from ebay or even a charity shop. You might find the perfect board game for the kids or handbag for mum. Just make sure there are no stains, it doesn't smell weird, etc.!
• Homemade gifts are brilliant! There are thousands of websites full of ideas to pick from, such as this one or this one. Why not make a big batch of truffles or try the fake Ferrero Rocher I made last year? 

The most important thing you can do is spend time with your loved ones. Focus on your traditions and festive-but-free activities that will keep the kids entertained! Give yourself the best possible start to 2013!


Have you ever been a victim to what MP Stella Creasy has dubbed "legal loan sharks"? How do you plan on saving money this Christmas?

How to Make an Advent Calendar: Part One - Get Ready!

I recently posted about getting organised for Christmas by the end of November, including gift-buying and homemade decorations. We want to have a frugal Christmas, and this means DIY and festive spirit! :)

My biggest project is a handmade Advent calendar, which needs to be completed pretty soon!

My Advent calendar is comprised of three repeating units; a stocking, a bag, and a sort of folded over triangle pocket! They will be strung up on white and red twine with their cardboard numbers held on with mini pegs, but for now you can see the basic design opposite.

I will be posting the stages of how I am making the calendar on the next three Fridays of November, so by the last week of the month the calendar should be done and dusted!

It's a pretty easy project, but a little time-consuming. From the work I have done so far I estimate that the calendar will take a total of 7-8 hours to complete (at a fairly novice rate), which means that if you want to join in, you still have time! :)

If you want to make an Advent calendar, you will need:

• A sewing machine (it will take a very long time to make without one)
• Needle, pins, thread, scissors
• Approximately two metres of material. I think I used half a metre of the spotty polycotton, nearly a metre of the gingham material and part of a pair of old worn-out jeans. You can use whatever you have lying around; it doesn't matter if the fabrics are different for each unit!
•  Approximately two metres of "lining" material. It doesn't really matter what kind of fabric it is, just something cheap and easy to work with. I think mine was cream-coloured polycotton, or perhaps it is cotton, not too sure! :)
• Coloured ribbon or twine. You will need approximately 7 metres all together. 
• Eight small buttons (I used white ones from an old shirt)
• Some form of numbering. I am using numbers written onto cardboard disks, held on by mini pegs. You might want to choose iron-on numbers, or stickers, or something else entirely!

To begin:

Once you have your fabric, create a template for each of the designs you want to use. I made stockings, bags  (the rectangle template) and triangle pockets (diamond template), so my templates looked like the following:

To give you a bit of a sense of scale, the stocking and diamond shapes are about a handspan in length. Pay no attention to the fold at the top of the stocking. It should be flat and the folded part is included in the length.

I am wearing a blanket, not a skirt!

Cut out the fabric based on your templates, leaving a 0.5-1cm gap around the edge for the seam allowance.

Ensure you cut a matching pair of fabrics, so that the right sides will face out on both sides when assembled. The best way to do this is to fold the fabric in half and cut through both pieces at once.

Altogether you will need 24 units of fabric and the matching lining fabric to go with them. It's up to you whether you want more of one design than the other, or which colour fabrics you want for which. Just as long as each unit has two matching shapes of lining material and two of "good" material!


OK, easy so far! Tune in on Friday for part two: making the bags!

How to make an Advent Calendar:

Step One - Getting Ready
Step Two - Making the bags
Step Three - The Triangular pockets
Step Four - Mini Stockings
Step Five - Finishing Touches

Christmas Completed by December Challenge!

Hello all! It's nearing that most wonderful time of the year once more. Wouldn't it be nice if Christmas was all ready and organised by the 1^st of December, leaving you free to crank up “Do They Know It's Christmas?” whilst decking the halls and getting merry, rather than drudging through town, getting more and more stressed because you don't have a clue what to get anyone?

Saving for Travel (SFT) has set herself a goal to finish her Christmas shopping by the end of November. I'd like to take up the same goal! I pledge to finish my Christmas shopping by the time advent rolls around.

I am also extending this goal a little. As you may know, it is the first year The Boyfriend and I have lived together in our own little flat. I LOVE Christmas decorations and making the house look festive, but we don't want to blow all our money on lots of expensive decorations in one year!! We decided to buy one decoration each year until we have a nice stash to put up every year, but until then I have got a couple of basics. Tesco are doing 20 fairy lights for about £1.75, so I got two sets, as well as these 30 red baubles for about £2.40.

To add to this I am making an Advent Calendar (more on this very soon!) and a few fabric-based decorations for the tree with some leftover gingham polycotton. (Oh man, do I love gingham!) As we all know, my attempts at handmade things often take longer than expected and things can go wrong, so I'd like to be finished with it all well in advance this year!

So far I have made most of an advent calendar and have completed a few people's Christmas gifts, but there's lots to be done! Is anyone else out there getting organised already? My friend has pretty much finished her Christmas shopping already! I am inspired!

Four Month Warning: CHRISTMAS!

Several people have recently found my blog by Googling “frugal Christmas gifts”. Be afraid; people have already started getting organised!

I know, I know, you probably think it's too early. Well after I nearly passed out from exhaustion last Christmas working two jobs, looking for the perfect PhD project and trying to handmake all my own gifts, I am DEFINITELY getting organised early this year.

The other day The Boyfriend and I were walking through The Range and I spotted something my sister might like for Christmas. When I mentioned it, he went on a long rant about how it was FAR too early to even CONTEMPLATE Christmas, which meant I took great joy in walking round the corner and pointing out all the Christmas craft things they are already selling! IN YOUR FACE!! :D

Since you've got time on your side, why not do some very quick planning? I'm not asking you to think of what you're going to give everyone, but grab a bit of paper or an Excel spreadsheet and getting scribbling:

• Write a list of all the people you want to give gifts to, in some order of importance.
  
  
• See how much you have saved already, if you have been putting money aside, or examine your budget for the next few months to see how much you could save for Christmas gifts. (Don't forget that if you need decorations/Christmas dinner/other expenses that you'll need to work out how much of your saved money to allocate to gifts vs. other Christmassy expenses!)
  
  
• Now see how much you can AFFORD to give. Don't try to base your gift budget on what you WANT to give. Don't go into debt for Christmas or you'll add more stress to what you want to be a happy time of year. If your budget is small, think about bumping a few people off the bottom of the list (write them a thoughtful Christmas card perhaps), or think about homemade gifts instead.

Now you know vaguely what your budget will be like, you can start keeping an eye open. Whenever I think of a possible gift idea for someone, I write myself a little note on my phone. (Let's not lie, I text myself. I don't think my phone can even write notes!)

If you want to get even more organised, A Thrifty Mrs has got loads more ideas for ways you can start organising and stocking up for the big day! 

Anyone else started planning? (Don't tell anyone, but I've already got a couple of little gifts for my family. Haha!)

Frugal Parcel Packaging: Cheap Alternatives!

Next time you need to post a parcel, stop and think before rushing out and buying a year's supply of bubble wrap and paper. Do you have anything that you could re-use for a frugal and green packaging solution?

Think of typical packaging materials. Boxes, brown paper, bubble wrap, bags? You can get free alternatives for all of these to save some serious money. The only thing you need to buy is parcel tape!

Boxes – NEVER BUY BOXES! You can pick up free boxes absolutely everywhere! Supermarkets are a top choice, local food halls, even restaurants will give you boxes if you approach them during the quiet period. Top tip: Fast food outlets like McDonald's have a huge variety of different sized boxes. If they don't have a size you want, cut them to fit and secure with parcel tape.

Brown paper – Use paper that you would otherwise throw away. Keep paper bags around the same thickness as brown paper, from shops like Primark, your local greengrocer and gift shops. Another option is used printer paper. If you no longer need those directions to York or the joke you printed to show your friend, tape a few sheets together and wrap the parcel with these.

Bubble wrap – Bubble wrap can be very expensive. It can be as much as £4 a roll in the Post Office (although my village Post Office sells the same roll for £1.95, so it pays to shop around!). Why not use free alternatives? Plastic supermarket bags are terrible for the environment, so why not get one much use out of them before sending them to landfill. Scrunch them into a ball and package up your item. Newspaper balls also work well, but make sure that the ink cannot damage your items.

Clothes packaging – Most people tend to package clothes in those thick plastic bags from the post office, but you can easily make your own from a thick bin liner with a few criss-crosses of parcel tape to prevent rips. Alternatively, wrap it in a bag to waterproof it then send it in a box.

If you often post parcels, make sure you keep any packaging that comes your way. Jiffy bags are incredibly handy for sending small objects (just stick your own label over the original address), even envelopes can be re-used several times!

What other environmentally-friendly packaging solutions do you use? I see it as a bit of a challenge every time I wrap something!!

Charitable Giving on a Budget

When you're barely keeping your head above water it seems inconceivable to give money to charity, even if you'd really like to. I'm here to tell you that there are a lot of different ways to make a difference without breaking the budget!

• Do you have an old mobile phone you no longer want or used printing ink cartridge? Even if it's broken, many companies will recycle it for you for free. Recycle 4 Charity let you choose who receives your money, paying £1 for an ink cartridge and up to £70 for a working phone.
  
  
  
• What do you do with old pairs of glasses? Did you know that 10% of the world are disabled or disadvantaged because they don't have access to spectacles? Many are excluded from school and cannot see properly to work. If you get a new pair of glasses, please don't throw the others away! Take them to your optician and they will send them to Vision Aid Overseas free of charge.
  
  
• Have a bit of a spring clean and donate old clothing, CDs, DVDs, games, ornaments or even furniture to your local charity shop. Most places are always in desperate need of new stock. Charities range from animal welfare to medical research to global humanitarian groups, so you can choose who you want to support.
  
  
• You can make a donation in someone's name as a birthday or Christmas present for someone in your life who wants to help too, but perhaps can't afford to make a donation themselves. Oxfam have a great range of clutter-free gifts that allow you to provide water, food, education or shelter to people in need.
  
• Many people save their copper coins but even with a full piggy bank you are left with little reward but a lengthy trip to the bank to get it changed to more usable tender! Why not donate your 1p and 2p coins to charity whenever you pass a collection box? It'll be a quick and easy way to make a small difference.
  
  
• What about taking part in a sponsored event, or organising your own? Most charities have a link on their websites for information on events and how to help. You might even get to try something you've never done before – skydiving, anyone?
  
  
  
• Volunteer! You can find out about a huge range of volunteer work in your area using Do-It. From conservation work to working with the elderly, from charity shop work to helping to run a youth centre for children; pick a charity you feel best suits your concerns about the world and then go out there and make a difference.
  
  
• Many charities rely on small monthly donation. A £2 a month donation to Oxfam provides food for people that need it most, at a cost of £24 a year to you.

“We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love.” 

Mother Teresa

Homemade Christmas Roundup!

Well, Christmas is done and dusted for another year! I can't help feeling relieved! I was up really late on Christmas Eve wrapping presents and making food-based gifts that couldn't be kept long. The past couple of days have been blissful though, if only for being rid of the niggling “I still need to make this, I have to hurry and finish that” thoughts! Soooo good to be done! I was given some truly lovely gifts this year too. Thanks to friends and family. <3

Guess what? The Boyfriend's mum saw the Christmas card holding tree that I made my Nana and has requested that I make her one next year! Result! Must've looked good then!

I did learn a lot from having a homemade Christmas however:

1. Working 50+ hour weekends in split shifts does not leave a lot of time for crafting, family, The Boyfriend and friends, and all of them require a lot of dedicated time in the run up to Christmas!
2. Cellophane is evil.
3. Sometimes you can buy things more cheaply than you can make them.
4. Continuous crafting takes up A LOT of space! My room is still full of boxes, fabric, gift wrap and various Christmas-type accessories.
5. Tissue paper and crepe paper are not good choices of wrapping paper if you have a cat that likes to rub up against things!
6. People do actually appreciate the time you spent something specially for them, rather than another generic set of shower gel.
7. I need a lot more practise!!

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas. I've eaten far too much the past couple of days, but spent the time with all my favourite people. :) 

Merry Christmas! 

Homemade Christmas Card Display

Finished tree hanging on the wall

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
How lovely are thy branches!
Not only green when summer's here
But in the coldest time of year.
O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,
How lovely are thy branches!

My Nana uses sticky-back strips to hold her Christmas cards on the wall. The problem is that you can really only use them once and the cards tend to start dropping off before Boxing Day! I thought I'd make her an early Christmas gift of a new way to hold the multitude of cards she gets. (Not joking, she gets 50-100 from all her friends!)

Already filled!

I got the idea for a tree-style card display from this website and I followed their basic instructions, although mine has a different design. I made two trees using two sheets of holly-green A2 cardboard, which was about 1.5mm thick. I had to borrow a scalpel, which resulted in cut fingers. :D To hold the cards on, I bought some red mini-pegs cheaply from Amazon. A lot of shops seem to be selling mini-pegs this year too.

She was really pleased with it, although she'll need another one next year – there is still not enough room for all of her cards!

Homemade Gifts for Extended Family

The Boyfriend's family live up country so we only see them once or twice a year, so it can be tricky to know what to give them for Christmas. His brother has a young family, so I made them all a few little bits and pieces they all could enjoy. I'm feeling quite Martha Stewart-y about it all now that it's done so I thought I'd show off.

Firstly, I made each of them (adults and kids) a personalised bauble to hang on their Christmas tree. I bought some red baubles in Tesco and used a gold glitter glue pen to carefully write each of their names on one.

For the adults, I made a mulled wine spice parcel complete with instructions on how to make mulled wine. I wrote about this a few days ago HERE. I made several and will be posting them to a couple of friends from uni too!

For their three eldest daughters I made a “chocolate chip shortbread in a jar” mix.

The dry recipe is:

300g flour

100g sugar

150g chocolate chips

Then you write an instruction label of what “wet” ingredients to add (in this case, it's a simple recipe, so it only requires 200g butter/margarine). I included baking instructions (mix together and cook for ~15 minutes at 190C/375F/gas mark 5 if you're interested) on one side and a Christmassy poem on the other side of a piece of card (two of the poems I found HERE and the other I knew from primary school!).

I wrapped these cookie mixes up with festive crepe paper to cover the lids and string to hold the recipe card and a festive biscuit cutter in place (an angel, a Christmas tree and a star).

 
I wanted to get back into using the sewing machine, so for their youngest daughter (nearly 2 years old) I made a toy dog. I found the pattern in a sewing magazine that was once my great-grandmother's, and my mum made me toys from it when I was little, so I thought it would be pretty cool! :) Now this was a right royal pain in the bum to make. I think it'd be easy if you knew what you were doing but I was basically re-learning how to use a sewing machine at the same time! I'll post about making it soon. His front legs are a bit skewy but I guess it adds character? Haha! He looks like he's trying (and failing) to walk on ice! :D

Despite the setbacks, I'm glad to finally have this lot out of the way. There is still a lot more to do before the 25th!

Busy!

Along with everyone else this past week or two, I've been soooo busy! I've been working A LOT, so even when I've had free time I've been knackered! My sister and I decorated the living room for Christmas the other day, and we've been knocking out our homemade Christmas presents. I've got to finish a lot of it by tomorrow because The Boyfriend's dad is coming down to visit him (from Coventry) and taking all The Boyfriend's (TB's? haha) family's gifts when he goes back home. I've made most of the things we are giving them (I'll post again when they're done to show off!), although TB got his dad a bottle of apparently very nice (but pretty expensive) whisky, plus some stuff for his brother too.

Today's goals are to make a stuffed toy dog for TB's niece and to proof-read his university applications (before work). Tomorrow I'll be hunting for PhDs again, putting my Nana's Christmas decorations up and baking shortbread for Christmas gifts (before work again, haha). So much to do, REALLY NO TIME AT ALL! 

How are your Christmas preparations coming? Are you nearly finished? I can't wait for a bit of time off in January (the Chinese is closed for a month!).  

Mulled Wine

Ohhhh, mulled wine! The second best part of the run up to Christmas! (The first is putting the Christmas tree up whilst dancing around to Wonderful Christmastime, obviously!) I went into town last night with my family to soak up the late night shopping atmosphere (more relaxed than the BUYBUYBUY during the day!) and to sneak ideas for homemade Christmas decorations! They were selling hot mulled wine for £2.50 a cup. Quite expensive, but it was very cold so mum and I happily got some!

The way they were making it was to heat a vat of wine with some clove-studded oranges floating around in it. That's the simple version. The better tasting and more interesting gift idea is to make a spice parcel!

These spice parcels contain a cinnamon stick (cut into two), 30 cloves, 20 allspice berries (aka pimento berries – you might have to find a specialist shop, or they can be bought online HERE), three green cardamom pods and some dried orange peel. I got the recipe from this website.

You tie all the ingredients up inside some muslin, using some white cotton. Then just tie a bow around it to make it look nice. They literally take seconds to make and are an ideal gift to post because it's very light yet festive. To make the mulled wine, the recipient just has to remove the ribbon and heat the spice parcel up in a saucepan containing a bottle of red wine and three tablespoons of sugar.

I'm also giving some local family members a cheap (I usually buy a half price bottle that would normally be around £8 or £9) bottle of red wine with the spice parcel, to make it a bit more exciting! :) Considerably less than £2.50 a cup too!

I'm currently storing these spice parcels in my room. It smells soooo nice!! :D Win win!

Seven Favourite Festive and Free Things To Do

Christmas is an expensive time of year, but there are a lot of free activities you can do, both at home and in your local community. For those of you looking for some cheap ways to entertain yourselves and your family, I bring you the top seven free (or nearly free) and festive things to do!

Christmas carol services

I LOVE LOVE LOVE carol services. I go to at least two or three every year! I love the atmosphere, the songs, singing my little heart out (slightly out of pitch sometime, naturally.. especially the high-pitched ones!), mince pies and mulled wine!! Our local radio station promotes events happening in the local area, so it would be worth checking out your station's website for a What's On guide. Most churches hold at least one each year.

Making presents

I'm trying to make all my Christmas presents this year. A lot of them aren't finished yet as they're ongoing, but I guess I'm sort of getting there. I wrote a blog a month or so ago about some of the presents I have been making!

Making decorations

I usually make decorations, usually for the living room rather than the tree, although a crafty friend of mine is making mini Christmas bunting to use on her tree instead of tinsel, which I think is a fantastic idea to steal in future years!! :D One thing I will definitely be making is this goooorgeous 3D paper snowflake! There's a video on WikiHow to show you how it is done!

Baking

Luckily for us, my Nana makes us a Christmas cake every October, which we then slowly feed with brandy until Christmas day. It's always great to have a night in and make some tasty Christmas treat though – what about gingerbread, cookies, sausage rolls, truffles, or even... Mince pies!! :D

See the lights

Depending on where you live, this one can be free or almost free. If you live in a town, wrap yourself and your friends/family up in your favourite scarves and head down the road to look at all the beautiful/wonderfully tacky Christmas lights adorning the houses of those who are far too festive to care about rising electricity bills!! :) If you are more like me, several miles from even the nearest village, then just take a slow drive round the nearest town, or park up somewhere free and wander through to see the highstreet's Christmas lights.

We went to go and see the Christmas lights being turned on in Truro. It was accompanied by the Festival of Lights parade, which was fantastic! Have a look at some of these lanterns! 

 

Christmas Wrapping

You either love it or you hate it. Personally I loooove wrapping Christmas presents. Leave them all to the last minute and it becomes a chore, but stick on the Christmas tunes after buying/making a couple of presents and get wrapping for a free and festive evening doing something productive!! :)

Movie Night!

Christmas films will be taking over TV for the next few weeks so you'd better get used to it! I don't actually watch TV, but I have a lot of Christmas films on DVD to get stuck into! Wrap yourself up on the sofa with a blanket, cup of hot chocolate (completed with whipped cream) and maybe even one of your home-made cookies! My favourite Christmas film as a kid was The Santa Clause (with Tim Allen), although the 2^nd and 3^rd ones were horrible!! As a slightly more mature person now, I prefer Elf (with Will Farrell). It's perfect for both kids and adults so I'd definitely recommend it to spread some Christmas cheer! :)

So there you have it. A few ways I spend my time and build up the festive feeling during December. To be fair they're pretty obvious, but they can all be done either as a group or on your own, and should still leave you feeling merry (even before that fourth cup of mulled wine!)