Pinching Pennies

…..all in the aid of Christmas of course.

Many a time I have seen jars of sweets for sale in the shops for an extortionate amount of money to give as presents for Christmas.  However, if you make them yourself - if you are buying the sweets they cost next to nothing, all you need is a jam jar with lid, put a nice label on and a little cover and voila you have an extra to pop in some ones Christmas stocking.  You could even go one further and make the sweeties yourself, sweets such as chocolate coated cinder toffee, coconut ice, nougat, homemade fudge or even home made truffles like rum balls, hazelnut balls, coconut balls, homemade Turkish Delight, sloe chocolates etc.

I am as I am writing this thinking particularly of jellies.  Not jelly babies I am on about the fruit shaped jellies that are sugar coated.  The ones that usually appear on the supermarkets shelves in the run up to Christmas.  I am not speaking about Newberry Fruits either although I like those - now they are expensive.  I am talking run of the mill jellies that are "tarted" up in a pretty box and then charged an arm and a leg for. Jellies are a long tradition in our family.  We grew up with them and most certainly nearly always had them at Christmas as they were one of my mum's favourites. 

I buy those jellies in bags from Wilkinson's, or Waitrose.  There are other places that sell them.  I think the £ shop does or the equivalent of. They are about £1 a bag! So to me it is a "win-win" to do these jars of sweeties yourself especially for the kiddies.  They are usually just interested in the sweeties.

Equally, if you do not want to use a jar and you have a die cutting machine such as a big shot you could potentially make your own sweetie boxes in the shape of crackers or, tiny little boxes strung into a garland, or even larger boxes, as long as you have sourced the right die.  If a friend has a different selection of dies to you, and she has just the one that you would like to use, ask if you can borrow it.  Nothing ventured nothing gained.  When women bond together that is when they start talking and experimenting so it could well be a "win-win" situation for friends helping each other prepare a nice Christmas present for next to nothing.

I have photos which for one reason or another are not loading so I will try again later on with loading those.

Right off to get on.  It is really windy today so no crab-appling etc for me today.  Will see tomorrow.  However I do have my bucket of shallots I prepared last night (I am now suffering from yellow hand as I cannot wear gloves when peeling them) I did slap white vinegar on my hands though to take away the onion smell.  I also have the piccalilli to finish off but both of those will be attended to later in the day.  I have some other things to attend to before then.

Well at least the sun is out today.  Hope you have a good day.

Catch you later.

Pattypan

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