Would you be mortally offended if your sister made your Christmas gift?

I'd be surprised, but not gutted.

I think I may also have to make some gifts this year......

No, I'd think it was nice! We make things for presents quite a lot.

Me and my sister stopped buying each other Christmas presents the year I had Matthew as we were so skint. We just buy for the kids now.

H and his 3 siblings stopped buying for each other years ago too and H often just makes homemade chocs for them.

However I do think you need to at least let your sister know that while you'll buy for the kids you're cutting right back on other presents including for her. There would be nothing worse than if she got you an expensive present and you THEN felt embarrassed cos you hadn't.

Not at all gutted.

We're at the stage now where "proper" presents are just for the children at Christmas now anyway, and just exchange token gifts. I'd be really chuffed with something home made.

TBH I'd be really pleased, I'd much rather get something like that than another bath set which I will only end up donating to the school I work at's PTA as I'll never use it.

I'm cutting down on what I buy my Brother, SIL and nephews as I worked out I'm spending almost £200 just on them every xmas when they demand expensive presents! It'll be a small token gift for my Bro and SIL, the kids will be getting stocking filler type gifts as they already have everything they want.

Not at all, my sister and mum have both given me presents they made in the past when they were skint, and we'll all probably be doing it this year

No, I'd love it. I love home made things, cards especially.

I agree with what Roobarb said though, you'll have to tell her that you're not buying presents for her.

We don't buy presents for any of our adult friends or family anymore, (apart from my sister who has no children and our mum's not here anymore so she wouldn't really get much if we didn't) we haven't for a few years now.

I would love it if it was for me, although I would make sure I told my sister what I was planning. I would much rather have a thoughtful present that cost very little than an expensive present that I didn't need or want.

It's a lovely gesture and would mean more to me as it's something made and not just picked up from a shelf somewhere.

I would think it was lovely (especially as I am a mint chocolate fan). I might have other ideas if my sister was (for example) to knit me a pink jumper with pom-poms on though ?

Not at all. Mind you, my sister is supposed to be producing a baby on christmas day, so if we got anything homemade I'd be very surprised ?

Mind you, a baby is the ultimate in "making something yourself"...well takes a bit of "help" in the beginning I suppose ?

Sounds great! Last year I made shortbread animals and peppermint creams for some family members. We tied them up in sellophane, scrunched some tissue paper into a wicker basket and added a bottle of wine. Seemed to go down very well!

Aw, thanks you lot. I was going to buy some of that nice gauzy stuff and make up a parcel of them, with some muffins/brownies in a basket, for her & BIL to share. good to know I'm not being mental ?

Urgh! I hate being skint!!!

But I don't think she will give it to me for Christmas ?

You never know. I'd have cheerfully offloaded mine to anyone who looked sideways at him ?

How skint is "skint"?

We've frequently made chocolates for Christmas, usually for grandparents, but everyone else always gets a few too.

We mostly do:

Truffles (some coated in cocoa powder, some coated in melted chocolate, some in vermicelli)

Peppermint creams (half coated in chocolate)

Kirsch soaked cherries in choc

coconut ice (pink and white, natch)

and last time we bought some moulds from here, (holly leaves I think), lined the mould with dark chocolate, when it had set filled them with lemon or orange curd, then put a chocolate "back" on.

You can make home made chocolates looks soooooo fab if you add a bit of gold lustre powder on dark chocolate ones, or pipe a fine drizzle of contrasting chocolate on either white or dark chocolate ones. Looking at your cakes you have far more artistic ability than me, but even I managed to get impressive results with just a tiny bit of additional outlay (the moulds and the lustre powder really aren't too pricey).

I wouldn't be offended at all.

tbh my sister has been skint the last few Christmases, so we just agreed that we wouldn't buy for each other and would only buy for the children. There are 3 of us, all with partners/husbands so not buying for the adults saves us getting pressies for 4 people and has saved us at least £100.

God, Flowery, that's PERFECT!! Thank you thank you. I will get a mould and make some orange creams for BIL and I was planning peppermint creams for my sister. I have gold & silver lustre powders anyway.

Is it hard to put the "back" on?

I think the christmas tree mould looks fab & you could decorate the tree too!

Thank you.

Tbh i think it goes to show you put a lot of thought and effort into the present rather than just going out and buying her something and id be really pleased that you could be bothered.

It would be so easy for you to just say i cant afford to buy for you but i wont forget your kids as lot i people i know do.

Nah - it was piss easy. We melted the choc gently, then using a teaspoon poured it over the filled moulds. then smoothed the back with a knife. You could always practise with some cheap chocolate, and then eat the results ? the curd made a fab filling too.

We got the big christmas tree mould too - I think we made it the topper on the christmas cake. It did take a lot of chocolate though. ?

I just called my sister to try & explain to her that we were so skint and would she mind if I made her something instead and ended up blubbing on the phone as she was so utterly nice about it.

So chocs it is. I will get some nice curd from the farm shop.

Did you use a specific choc, Flowery? Does G&B's work?

I can't remember which chocolate we used, we certainly didn't use the proper couverture the mould people recommend - it would have been lindt or G&B I reckon. You could probably make something gorgeous with G&B maya gold and an orange curd (you could even make the curd if you were feeling very Delia).

My sister LOVES maya gold.

I am not feeling THAT Delia ? I always have disaster when making anything with citrus ( I am cursed to have something utterly sour puss and minging, or tooooo sweet)

I did some home made goods last year, chutney and brownies and do you know what? They went down a flipping storm! People loved the [personal touch tbh....

I think it's a lovely idea, I personally would be touched.

My Mum is coming over from Crete at Christmas and has declared she's only buying for the children (UK pension + strong Euro = ex pat pensioner misery).

Consequently I've joined in, and we have declared it "Credit Crunch Christmas" this year. Festivities will go on as normal, and the children won't see any difference, but the adults aren't buying for each other. It'll save a flipping fortune and I'm thrilled TBH. I think we should do it every year.

So no I wouldn't mind. And I'd be chuffed to bits with homemade anything ?

Not at all and peppermint creams are one of my favourite things.

One of the best presents I get every Christmas is a jam selection from my Great-Auntie. I would be so sad if she bought me something instead!

I'd love it!

We don't buy for adults who've got children. I started it when I met Paul and the first year it cost me a fortune for a bunch of people who didn't even say thank you.

I wouldn't be offended - except I'm not very keen on mint ?

In the past few years my sister has given me a fab retro style tin with homemade gingerbread men, homemade cusions made from old shirts (better than it sounds!) and recently a handmade bag.

How do you line the moulds rather than fill them? Do you paint the chocolate on?

We spooned a small amount of chocolate in with a teaspoon and sort of smeared it around with the spoon. We tried painting, but the brush got horribly clogged and caked very quickly. It doesn't matter what the inside looks like, so the spooning method worked fine. I'm not sure the moulds are designed to be used like that, I think they are intended to make solid chocolate shapes, but it worked!

loads of ideas on that site actually

I'm not sure i bothered reading any of that before - i should have done!

Interesting, I supose the 'runniness' needs to be just right. I'll have to give it a go some time. Expect a mess ?