Are you ready? Like, REALLY ready? The holiday season is in full swing already, and between all of the Christmas parties (work, your partner's work, your friends, your family, your neighbours, your church or team or book club) you're going to find time to get 'er done?
I think it might be time to reassess!
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| Scroll all the way to the bottom for the "Christmas Dinner in a Box" joke gift! |
So here we go, the "It's the last minute and I'm scrambling - HELP!" list!
From the post "Handmade Christmas? Start planning NOW!":
- Home Baked Goodies: pound cake in a loaf tin, cookies in a pretty glass jar
- Secret Family Recipe Cards/Books and a copy of your favourite go-to recipe book (new or used, but you might be up against it if you're wanting to buy online)
- Virtually ANY of these you still have time for! If they can't guarantee delivery of a card to pass on to your recipient, many of these organizations offer e-cards. If that's not going to cut it for you, try the whole "right-click" over the image, "copy" and then "paste" into a Powerpoint slide. You can resize and move the image around, add text and clip art (or more "right-clicked & copied" images from the website or elsewhere) and make your own flyer or card to present to your loved one. The added bonus here is that you have unlimited creative control in terms of design and text!
- Please, please look through these catalogues: I can guarantee that there's a 'gift' out there that is just perfect for someone on your list!
From the post "Frugal Yule - Gifts under $10 and $25":
- Good last minute ideas are: any of the local charity gifts, homemade hot chocolate/hot chai kit, herb seeds and a pot with soil to grow them in, raw materials for learning to knit, crochet or for sketching (needles, hooks and yarn or sketchbook and pencils/pencil crayons), Aquabus tickets, and you could always visit the Ten Thousand Villages store.
- Food, coffee and wine. Edibles are where it's at! Buy the good stuff or the unusual stuff for a real treat. Make your own little hampers or baskets with the favourite foods of your recipient. Need more instruction than this? How about these small combinations to start you off:
- Wine, cheese, chocolate
- Cured meats, condiments, crackers and cheese
- Nothing but chocolates (get the best variety you can)
- Coffees (a variety) and cookies
- Mandarin oranges, chestnuts, fudge and cookies tied with a ribbon (don't forget the candy cane)
- "Christmas Dinner in a Box" - keep in mind you want things that can go without refrigeration (no raw turkey!). This could be a funny one if you find something horrid like turkey-flavoured chips or turkey jerky, craisins, instant stuffing, instant mashed potatoes (eeeew), and of course dessert (like a Christmas cake or maybe a chocolate lollipop shaped like Santa). Don't forget a Christmassy tea or coffee to finish it off! You can even buy freeze-dried camping food at MEC for reasonably cheap ($6-9) like "turkey and mashed potatoes"! Or "classic homestyle turkey" (which also didn't rate very high by customer reviews). The favourite choice appears to be "Grilled Chicken Breast with Mashed Potatoes", which got the better portion of 5 stars.
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| A Christmas Dinner to go! Perfect for your goofy friend who cannot or will not cook, or for friends in rez (residence on campus) who can't make it home to enjoy a proper feast with the family. If it's for an undergrad, better include some beer. |
Late to press: I just found the most interesting foodstuff for a Vegetarian Christmas food hamper at T&T supermarkets - "Taisun Vegetarian Mushroom Jerky"! The link is to the weekly flyer, so apologies if it's changed by the time you read this ($2.39 instead of $3.59). I've also just discovered the existence of "Tofurky Jurky". . . . sick. I might be vegetarian, but I draw the line at jerky.
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