Christmas Tips
- Frosted cupcakes decorated with red and green frosting can put everyone in the Christmas spirit just as much as the most elaborate dessert with expensive ingredients.
- Arrange a platter of your usual raw veggies into the shape of a Christmas tree with the broccoli forming the tree, round slices of carrots and cherry tomatoes as the ornaments and cauliflower snow around the base.
- Keep bowls of peppermint candy and candy canes around instead of chocolates and caramels that are more expensive.
- To give your regular cheesecake recipe a holiday flair, add 1/2 tsp. of peppermint flavoring and 2-3 drops of red food coloring.
- If you want to have a Christmas party it doesn’t have to be a fancy sit down dinner. Just pop large bowls of popcorn and set them along the table with a few other easy snacks, maybe a couple of plates of cookies. Have large pots of steaming hot cocoa with candy canes for stir sticks and of course marshmallows and whipped cream to top them. Most people seem to have just as much fun at these types of relaxed and informal parties as they do the more elaborate ones.
- When you are out doing your day after Christmas shopping, don’t forget to pick up things like red and green candies, napkins, paper plates and tablecloths to use on Valentine’s and St. Patrick’s Days.
- For a table centerpiece, make or buy some donut holes. Stack the donut holes in the shape of a Christmas tree (a cone shape), use thicker chocolate frosting to “glue” the holes together. Thin the frosting out with milk or water to make a glaze and drizzle over the tree. You could also use red or green frosting and shake sprinkles or colored sugar on it.
photo by: labyrinthx
These are great ideas! Did you ever give the “story” of the symbolism of the candy cane, along with a candy cane, as a gift to someone? People like the Christian symbolism of the background. It helps them appreciate it more.
Here’s a little more inspiration for everyone–when you’re decorating with a budget of $0, use stuff you have already creatively. This year I put a garage-sale purchased Edward Scissorhands figurine next to an ice-clear acrylic angel at the top of my tree, added all the snowflake ornaments we already had plus some additional snowflakes cut from scrap paper and snowy tufts made from shredded cotton balls from the bathroom drawer. A string of white lights we already had finished it off. Even without garage-sale Edward and the angel, it would make a pretty winter-theme tree….Good luck everyone with no decorating budget….we can do it, thanks to Jill and Tawra and the imaginations God gave us! Merry Christmas!
I bought enough that the store threw in a gift item one day a couple weeks ago.
they were called pub pies. what they were was mini tarts filled with chicken pot pies. They are about an inch in size so one bite nibblers.
Great idea but there was a spice we weren’t keen on. So I reinvented them and they make a great snack for a party.
tart shells bought or from scratch. I used ready made frozen ones. less work.
I made a chicken stew with tiny pieces of chicken some sweetlet peas, and a bit of corn. spices and that was it.
filled the shells froze them and then put them into bags in the freezer for later.
I made 34 of them for about $5. They are great as they are not too wet so they can be held in your hand. they have no potatoes so they freeze well and once baked they can be kept warm in a warming tray or electric frying pan on the buffet table.
You could also use mini tart shells and get more tiny ones.
These are good for after skating or sliding parties to warm up with along with hot chocolate.
I am going to make some beef ones in a couple of days. They can be used as a meal just 2 for each person with a plate of mashed potatoes or you could put a dollop of potatoes on top when heating them up.
The company also made pizza tarts. I found them too soft and mushy so I am going to make my own with less sauce and small chunks of pepperoni and more cheese. The idea is wonderful and they look christmasy just needs a bit of tweaking. they simply used pie dough crust and added the pizza stuff.
They look nice on party trays so I will be tryint to come up with more ideas for tart fillings. Not everyone loves sweets so some savouries will make a nice change.
quiche works well if you use green and red peppers how christmasy is that.
anyone else have some ideas for me.
Is there anyway to freshen butter cookies from last year that have gone stale?
not sure but if they went hard try putting them in a container with a few apple slices.
if they are soft or rubbery try a slice of bread.
The flavour will not be great if they are stale and I would put them in the blender and then add sprinkles or some crushed candy canes and use them as a topper for ice cream or puddings.
I went to a Christmas party yesterday and racked my brain to think of a dish to share that was not too expensive but looked festive. I ended up taking an old stand-by: tuna macaroni salad. I used 1/2 box macaroni, 2- 3oz pkgs of tuna and some mayonnaise and mircle whip. This dish is very plain looking so I added some diced red and green peppers and put some strips on the top. It was delicious and looked festive with the two colors mixed in. Other times, I have made this with a parmesan dressing and bacon bits but did not have those available yesterday. The dish was a hit and I only brought enough home for lunch today.
To decorate windows with a winter scene or Christmas theme, and to do it inexpensively, use a bar of ordinary white hand soap (Ivory is perfect). Just use the bar as a kind of large piece of chalk and draw your pictures as you see fit. This is great fun for the kids, too. After Christmas, the windows wash up easily with a bucket of warm water and a rinse. When we were kids, the adults sometimes sprayed the windows with a kind of “canned snow”. It was beautiful, but was a pain to clean off later. The soap bar requires no scraping with spatulas or secret recipes to dissolve residue.
My Mum never had any surplus cash but used to do great parties. One of my favourites she used to do used stale bread. Buttered on both sides then cut out using pastry cutters, she would then press the circles into cupcake tins and bake till golden brown. Then a spoon of creamed mushrooms and back in the oven till bubbling! Yum!
This year money is very tight I haven’t been able to even save for gifts. I did however go to The Family $$ Store and take advantage of their $5.00 toy sale. I was able to get very nice toys very inexpensively. Combined that deal with other deals and I bought 9 gifts for $34.00!! I am grateful for those type of deals!! I won’t be able to do a lot but I will have a nice holiday! I already bought my turkey and fixings at Thanksgiving ( 2 turkeys) and I will be baking my own cookies and peppermint bark. I always make snowman poop to put into our hot chocolate and chocolate spoons for coffee in the morning. We are making a nice hearty potato soup with crusty bread and a side salad for Christmas Eve and this year I am making hot chocolate sticks as a main family gift along with the home made cookies and candy. I made a wreath with left over apples someone gave me and added cinnamon to it and I added a home made bow to it.
I’ve already given my family PJ’s to wear and slippers as well. I needed them now and couldn’t wait till December 25th.
I don’t have a tree but have branches and sticks that I decorated with templates I found on the internet for free. It looks wonderful! Of course we made a chain and snowflakes along with a snowman. It really looks festive!
In the Kansas City, MO area we have Dollar Tree stores where everything is $1 or less. Really great buys. They have plastic containers that I use for “cookie mixes in a jar” which work great for boys/girls/teens/teachers/preachers, etc. I use coupons for the choc chips/m&ms, etc. A couple of these make a nice family gift. You can get the recipes/instructions off the internet or from the library. Also use qt. size ziplocks, tie a tea towel, spoon, pot holder, etc. with a ribbon and it’s even nicer. Hearty potato soup sounds wonderful! Christmas should not be about money, but memories and time together with family and friends. Movie gift baskets with candy, popcorn, etc. also make nice individual/teen/family gift presents. Shop thrift stores all year long for items that will make great presents later on. You’d be surprised how many “new” items you find at those and my young adult sons love the T-shirts I find at them. Have a blessed Christmas!