Christmas Gift Ideas

With just over 5 weeks until Christmas, most of us only have one more payday in which it’s feasible to buy presents. If you’re stuck for ideas but want to get the ball rolling and get everything finished then look no further. I’ve brought you some Christmas gift ideas that could spark your imagination and inspire you to finish your shopping off sooner rather than later.

Personalised Gift Ideas
If you’re looking for a unique gift that you know the recipient won’t already have, then you need to check out the unique Christmas gift range over on Personalised Gift Solutions. With free delivery on all gifts you can pick up presents at a great price without having to pay over the odds for delivery. I love the personalised cheese board I received earlier in the year, I think it makes the perfect gift for someone who has everything. I also love this Personalised Oak Photo Cube Keepsake Box which would be a lovely present for anyone. These Personalised Christmas Beer Triple Pack are a great gift for dads. Personalised Gift Solutions have very kindly provided me with a discount code for you all to use so if you fancy 10% off, head over to their website now and enter the code 10%OFF4CHRISTIE before Christmas!

Homemade Gifts
If you’re on a budget this year then why not make some homemade gifts to wow your friends and family. Fudge is really simple to make, as is this salted chocolate nut crunch and who doesn’t love a mince pie? Delicious.

Jewellery
I received this gorgeous necklace from Lylia Rose last week and if you head over to their website they showcase an amazing range of jewellery, scarves and accessories. I think these pieces make beautiful gifts. Lylia Rose have very kindly offered me a discount code to share with you, so if you fancy 20% off head to the checkout and use code CHRISTIE. Keep an eye on my blog for a more in depth review and OOTD featuring Lylia Rose next week.

If you're still completely stuck for ideas and looking for an amazing present, why not check out the Gear Hungry website for some incredible gift ideas.

What will you be buying this Christmas?

Sweet and Salty Nut Crunch - Homemade Christmas Gifts.

I recently  made some Sweet and Salty nut crunch which I adapted from a Nigella Lawson Recipe (here). This always goes down really well in my house with very little to spare. This is also great for slicing up and putting in a jar or treat bags and giving away as Christmas gifts which is what I plan to do nearer the time. This is also really easy to make, that's if you can manage to do it without eating it all!

 

Ingredients

300g Chocolate (I used milk chocolate)

125g Butter

3 tbsp Golden Syrup

250g Salted Peanuts

4 x Crunchie Bars

30g Digestive Biscuits

Method

Heat together the butter, chocolate and golden syrup in a pan until all ingredients have melted evenly. I actually did mine in the microwave and kept an eye on it ensuring I stirred every 20 seconds.

Meanwhile, mix your dry ingredients together (the peanuts, biscuits, and crunchies - broken up)

Add your heated mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well until combined.

Place into a baking dish or similar. I used a silicone quiche pan! 

Place in the fridge for a few hours until set, cut into pieces and serve however you wish. This will probably last about a week or so in the fridge - certainly not in my house though! 

I love serving the crunch bars in jars. I bought mine from Wilkinsons which is where I bought the 'Made for you' gift tags which I think are the perfect touch. The ribbons came from Poundland.

Click here to see my homemade chocolate fudge recipe, also perfect for a DIY Christmas gift!

Let me know if you try this recipe out.

Really Simple Fudge Recipe - Homemade Christmas Gifts.

If you're looking for a simple fudge recipe then you've come to the right place. I recently got thinking about different DIY Christmas present ideas and decided that I was going to make some fudge. I love fudge and I can't believe how simple this recipe was to follow.

Ingredients

50g Unsalted Butter

375g Chocolate (I used Milk)

375g Condensed Milk

Sprinkling of Cocoa Powder (optional)

Method

Heat together the butter, chocolate and condensed milk in the pan until all ingredients have melted evenly.

Keep mixing until all of the ingredients are fully mixed and you are left with a smooth mixture.

Pour the mixture into a baking tray lined with foil or grease-proof paper.

Refrigerate until firm, I left mine for around 5 hours.

Cut into squares, or roll into balls as I have below and coat with cocoa powder.

  

I will be posting a recipe next week on how to make Sweet and Salty Nut crunch (pictured below) which is also a great homemade Christmas gift. 

Please let me know if you have any other great DIY/Homemade Christmas ideas.

Coffee Cake Recipe - Homemade Christmas Gift Ideas

Do you know any coffee lovers? Struggling to decide what to get them for Christmas? Why not make them some Coffee Cupcakes. I've made cupcakes so many times on this blog, and I am sure you're bored of hearing what recipe I use, so you can find the basic recipe here. I simply adapted this by adding a teaspoon of diluted coffee granules to the mix. These keep for a few days so you can prepare these a couple of days before Christmas if you wish and they should be good to go.

 

I used this roasted hazelnut flavour coffee which gave the cupcakes a really nice flavour. I also used a spoonful of this (diluted) into the buttercream, they were gorgeous.

I iced the cupcakes using my usual method. You can find a video tutorial for this over on my Youtube channel.

I added walnut halves to the top. Walnuts go great with coffee cakes, I chose to only add them to the top in case my recipient didn't like them and could then easily take it off.