Complete Gingerbread House Kit

A VERY easy way to kick-start family creativity (and impress Christmas guests!) Build and decorate a beautiful, traditional gingerbread house with this complete set. Contains pre-baked gingerbread to make the house, along with icing, decorations and instructions. May contain nuts. Gingerbread House measures 12cmH x 14cmW x 14cmD when assembled. £15

Gingerbread House - make your own! £15

The bottom line is that it is illegal to cut and take produce from anyone’s land including publicly managed land without permission. Clearly unmanaged collection of any materials – holly, loose rocks, wild seedlings, dead wood, wild flowers, wild mushrooms – may have a damaging effect on the plants and wildlife in the woodland or forest.

We may sell holly to a trader where appropriate subject to our own controls on cutting and assessment of environmental factors.

Overall it is best either seek permission or look for a reputable local supplier.

Forestry Commission England

The artificial Christmas tree also arrives in a handy 31″ pizza box style package making it a perfect candidate for online purchase.

There are a couple of different versions available on Amazon ranging from around £70 to £121. They come in a range of colours and are delivered right to your door. What could be simpler?

You may have already heard about them in the Daily Telegraph and the Mirror today, or seen them on Gizmodo (who decry the lazy design!).

Collapsible Christmas Tree in a Box as shown on Gizmodo

There are similar trees available on Amazon (though not the same as that pictured above) which you can order and erect in next to no time: take the trouble out of decorating your living space!

• Click here to buy an artificial tree from Amazon in the UK
• Click here to buy a collapsible tree from Amazon in the US

Live Christmas Trees

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. The Living Tree comes in a pot complete with rootballl so that, with proper care, you can plant it in the garden afterwards and perhaps even use it next year – a very eco-friendly way of approaching Christmas. There are tree sets of delivery dates to choose from to save you having to tramp around your local farm in the cold. If someone else is buying, you can even use the Wish list button to let them know which tree you want. Some of these trees are grown in the UK and others in Ireland – check the descriptions for more details. Click here to look at the live Christmas trees online.

Paper Snowflakes

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.

1. Just get a square piece of white paper and fold it in half and half again.
2. Snip out small sections – these will cut through the paper four times.
3. Unfold the paper and see what you have.
4. Try again until you like what you see.

Note

The only thing that can go wrong is if you cut too much out and the paper falls apart.

John Lewis Reversible 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 click here.
• Pine cone Christmas trees 1.8m or 2.4m from Eddie’s essentials. Also, LED light trees and lighted twigs. Click here for more information.
• Marks & Spencer have a range of ready decorated trees from £25. Click here to find out more. They’re also part of the M&S Christmas 3 for 2 offer, so you can get some money off your basket.
• £19.99 for an 80cm fibre optic Christmas tree or a 6ft pine Christmas tree from Robert Dyas. Click here to see.
• John Lewis have a god choice of tree, including the upside-down reversible trees that have been causing a storm this season – one at only £30. They also do a red felt Christmas tree. Click here for more details.

Always start with the lights, followed by the tinsel and finally the decorations.

Decorations

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  NotOnTheHighstreet

  British Heart Foundation heart-shaped tree decorations from £1.50. Click here for more details.

• NotOnTheHighstreet have a vast array of Christmas tree decorations. Some of which are very quirky and original. Click here to find out more.
• Baubles and tinsel individual tree decorations from M&S start at £1 and include all of your usual red, gold and silver accoutrements. Click here for more information. The best decoration is a hanging Santa tin which contains loads of chocolate Santa Clauses
• Much cheaper for baubles is Robert Dyas – £1.49 for an assorted pack of baubles. However, the delivery is £4.95 so you’ll probably want to get a few other things at the same time. Click here to have a look.
• Indoor Christmas lights from Robert Dyas. Prices start at £7.49. Click here for more information.
• Lights4Fun have all the indoor Christmas lights that you could possibly want, including some very beautiful star lights (£13.95) for the Christmas tree and battery powered lights for stand alone objects. Click here for more info.
• Heal’s have some very bright baubles and many alternative tree decorations such as cars, birds, owl and a singing Santa! Click here to have a look.
• John Lewis have handy multipacks of very beautiful tree ornaments and useful things like tree skirts. Click here for more information.
• Fairtrade bird decorations £5.62. Click here for more.

Star / Fairy / Angel

• British Heart Foundation tree-top angel £12.99. Click here for more details.
• Heal’s do a metal and diamante star tree topper for £12. Click here to learn more.
• John Lewis have a range of angels and snowflakes. Click here for more information.

Christmas Card Holders

The Table

NotOnTheHighstreet have a special selection of products specifically for the Christmas table including; place settings, candles and indoor sparklers in the shape of hearts (£3). Click here for more information.

• John Lewis do table runners, Christmas themed plates, platters and placemats, plus much more. Click here for more details.
• The British Heart Foundation: snowman and holly & ivy napkins for £3.25. Just click here.

Candles & Candleholders

• Gift box tealight holders and bauble candles from The British Heart Foundation £2.95 click here for more details.
• Candles with berry crown rings and sequins from John Lewis. Click here to look.

Crackers

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  Black and White Crackers from John Lewis

  Luxury Christmas crackers from BHS. £12. Each cracker has a hat, joke and gift. Click here to find out more.

• Luxury Christmas crackers from Robert Dyas, pack of 12. Click here to see more.
• M&S have a lot of luxury crackers which are well present – prices start at £5. Click here for more.
• Heal’s have musical crackers, old-fashioned crackers and celebrity game crackers. More entertaining than your usual assortment. Click here to have a look.
• John Lewis aren’t the most expensive crackers, but you only get six in a pack. They are, however, very beautiful. Just check out the black and white design by clicking here.

Windows, Windowsills and Mantlepieces

Nativity

• British Heart Foundation: Wooden nativity scene with tealight holder £12.50. Just click here.
• Wire framed nativity scene from NotOnTheHighstreet £18.

Lights

• Heal’s have a small but original range of indoor lights for Christmas including frosted “white berry” lights. Click here for more information.
• John Lewis have plenty of indoor and battery powered lights from £4. Click here to see.

Snowflakes

• Tealight holding hanging snowflake for £10 or plain hanging snowflakes 3 for £9.95 from NotOnTheHighstreet. Click here for more details.

The Urban Garden

Candleholders

• Metal star decoration with clear glass votive from the Urban Garden £13.50. Also available in Christmas tree and heart-shaped design. Click here for more info.

Garlands

• Garlands from NotOnTheHighstreet start at £4.99 and include bunting, union jack paper chains, chilli garlands, eco-friendly designs and frangipani light displays. Click here for more info.

Stockings and Christmas Sacks

• A massive range of modern-design stockings and Christmas sacks in leather, wool, cotton from £4 at NotOnTheHighstreet. Click here to find out more.
• Save yourself the bother of wrapping up with these bumper Christmas sacks (very large) at only £4.99 from Yellow Moon. A proportion of sales to Yellow Moon are automatically diverted to charity. Click here for more info.
• Faux fur, felt and leopard print stockings from £15 at Heal’s. They also do silver festive-themed hooks for stockings. Click here to see.
• John Lewis have stockings and sacks including faux fur, black and gold coloured stockings from £5. Click here for more information.

Other Indoor Decorations

• Lifesize snow animals from Heal’s; deer, penguin, polar bear. Click here to learn more.
• Cinnamon bundles from John Lewis £4. Click here for more information.
• Heart-shaped fairtrade cardholder £6.71 from Natural Collection. Click here to find out more.

Outdoors

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  The Urban Garden

  Star-shaped Christmas bird feeder £1.30 from The Urban Garden.

• A stunning array of outdoor lighting available from Eddie’s Essentials. Including light displays, LED trees, animals and gutter hooks. Click here for more information.
• Outdoor LEDs, timers and decorating clips from Robert Dyas. Click here to have a look.
• Lights4Fun do the most comprehensive range of outdoor Christmas lights – they even do commercial street decorations online so you can buy for your business too! Click here to see.
• Heal’s have a small but exclusive range of outdoor lighting for Christmas, which includes an LED reindeer for £1200. Click here to find out more.
• John Lewis have plenty of outdoor lights from £4. Click here to see.

Make Your Own Advent Calendar

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 many churches today. Another tradition was to paint chalk strokes on the door, one per day until Christmas Eve.

According to the Austrian (NÖ) Landesmuseum, the first Advent Calendar to be printed was in 1903. In 1904 an Advent Calendar was inserted in the newspaper “Neues Tagblatt Stuttgart” as a gift for their readers.

In 1908, Gerhard Lang from Maulbronn, Germany worked at printing office Reichhold & Lang. He produced little colored pictures which could be affixed on a cardboard at every day in December. At this time as well the Sankt Johannis Printing Company started producing religious Advent Calendars, with Bible Verses instead of pictures behind the doors.

The World War II terminated the success of this German tradition. The cardboard was rationed and it was forbidden to produce Calendars with pictures. The first printed specimen after the war was printed by Richard Sellmer in 1946 and chocolate became involved in 1958.

It is possible to make advent calendars out of cloth in a banner style and then place small presents in pockets rather than having paper windows. This is useful if you are catering for a large number of children, such as in choirs or classrooms. Other calendars reveal Christmas themed pictures, pop-ups or have stickers. There are a number of make-your-own Christmas calendars for children, the cheapest being from Pickabook at £2. Click here to look at it.

• Make your own advent calendar £3.19 from Play.com
• Musical, pop-up and make-your-own advent calendars from Blackwells from £2.99.
• Assorted advent calendars from £3.82 at Foyles.

The trend for 2010 is to use advent calendar buckets – seriously! Have a look at the ones available through Great Little Trading Company and Notonthehighstreet.

John Lewis do a fully reusable advent calendar with little drawers for you to put a treat in. At £15, it’s cheaper than buying three sets of advent calendars each year for ten years. It also has a nativity on the top of it – saving you another extra hassle. If you want to go the whole hog, there’s a wooden house advent calendar for £25. For the totally alternative advent calendar, try NotOnTheHighstreet for their range of hanging calendars. Click here to learn more.

Salt Dough recipe – 4 parts plain flour, 1 part salt, 1.5 parts of water.
Day one;

Christmas Tree Cutters

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.). There are Christmas tree shaped cutters from Robert Dyas for £2.99.
2. Make holes in them for threading ribbons through to hang them with, using the end of a plastic straw,
3. Decorate with all kinds of indentations or by adding lumps/ bits of dough.
4. Bake in a low oven (gas mark 1) for 2 hours.

Next day, colour using poster paints or felt tip pens. Allow to dry.
When completely dry, coat with clear varnish. When this is fully dry, thread with ribbon and hang on the tree proudly.
NB – they will be quite heavy, but unique and special!! Keep away from naked flames in case the varnish is flammable.
These will only last for one year,as they absorb water eventually and go soggy.