Christmas

Tasteful, gaudy, flashing or handmade – we help you to find the Christmas decorations to suit you and your home.

Did you ever read about Hansel & Gretel abd think that it would be brilliant to have a whole house made out of sweets? Well now you can have one! For just £15 you can keep the kids occupied with the construction and then have a huge centrepiece for the Christmas dinner table – if [...]

Here are the guidelines from the Forestry Commission on picking holly in the wild. Basically, unless you own the holly tree yourself, or have permission from the landowner, you shouldn’t pick from it:
The bottom line is that it is illegal to cut and take produce from anyone’s land including publicly managed land without permission. [...]

The ultimate lazy Christmas tree has hit the shops – a Christmas tree that is pre-lit, pre-decorated and hangs from a pole that you can set up in two minutes. It then plugs in and your decorating is done.
The artificial Christmas tree also arrives in a handy 31″ pizza box style package making it a [...]

We’ve shown you where to get a decent artificial tree online, but now you can get a live Christmas tree online from Crocus. The cheapest tree is in a pot at £29.99 and you can get a 2m tree with stand for £59.99. They are all Nordmann Firs and renowned for not dropping their leaves. [...]

Paper snowflakes are really good fun for children to make and easy too. You can vary the designs with different cuts, different paper or by colouring the snowflakes in. Put them on the window or against black card to create a homely snow scene.

Just get a square piece of white paper and fold it in [...]

The Tree
The Tree Itself

Choiceful have a large range of fibreoptic and faux Christmas trees. Some are ready decorated, some are not. You can get a 5ft Christmas tree with “realistic foliage” for under a tenner. Just click here.
PrezziePlus have a small range of mini Christmas trees including “grow your own” and USB desktop trees. Just [...]

The first advent calendars came from 19th century Germany in Protestant areas. Religious families made a chalk line for every day in December until Christmas Eve. The first known Advent Calendar was handmade in 1851. Other early styles were the Advent clock or the Advent candle – still used in [...]

(Very absorbing activity over 3 days!! Or maybe a rainy weekend!)
Salt Dough recipe – 4 parts plain flour, 1 part salt, 1.5 parts of water.
Day one;
1. Make the dough by mixing all the ingredients, then roll it out, and cut all kinds of shapes using pastry cutters (gingerbread men, hearts, stars, e.t.c.). [...]