| Product: |
Homemade Christmas Presents |
| Date: |
24/12/06 (364 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: You have enough time to make these before tomorrow rolls round!
Disadvantages: You'll miss out on bad Christmas tv.
It's Christmas Eve. Have you put all of your presents under the tree? Unless you're the poor hapless person in charge of cooking dinner tomorrow, you should be feeling pretty happy and stress-free. Unless you've committed the terrible crime of forgetting to buy someone a Christmas present!
Homemade gifts can be quite lovely, especially the ones you plan in advance. Knitted scarves in colours and styles to suit the recipients, felt animals for children or felt 'ugly dolls' for quirky grown ups, handmade photo albums full of specially chosen pictures, the list goes on and on. However, with only hours to go until the big day, you've left it a bit late to get started on a beautiful quilt to last generations.
This review is dedicated to last minute gift ideas, for those of you who are even less organised than me. If you're already sorted and your plans for tonight consist of watching bad Christmas television programmes, you could even make a few of these gifts to bulk out stockings. After all, everyone loves a few extra things to unwrap;) Based on the assumption that no one wants to hit the shops tonight (they were bad enough during the week, let alone in the last few hours of Christmas panic!) these gift ideas can be made using bits and pieces that can be found in most homes.
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IDEA 1: RETRO GAMES
What you will need:
* An internet connection
* A blank CD
* A sheet of paper
* A printer / felt tip pens
* Scissors
Do you remember the really old Sierra and Lucasart games? I'm talking about the classics like the first Simon the Sorcerer or Monkey Island... The type that ran in DOS!
2D adventure games have made a comeback, and many people are having a bash using Adventure Game Studio, a freely distributed program that allows you to build point and click games. A word of warning though, it's really designed for the people who know 'hard' computing languages like C++. Since AGS is free to use, most people have entered into the spirit of things and made their games built using AGS free to use as well. Some are not brilliant, but there are some good ones available to download if you look hard enough.
I've just finished playing the Deluxe Edition of "Ben Jordon Case 1: In Search of the Skunk Ape" which is game one in a series of eight. The first five are available to download, but from what I can tell, case 1 deluxe is the best one, as it makes use of better graphics and technologies. Took over an hour to play from start to end, and it was mildly entertaining. There is a bit of violence in the game, but bear in mind, this is 2D cartoon violence, so not terribly traumatising. It's a detective series where you talk to different characters and figure out different puzzles to get to the end of the game. If you miss a clue, you don't mess up the game as it's been designed so that you can try again and thus not lose.
Have a hunt around for the good AGS free games, download them and bundle them up onto a CD, and you have a nice retro package of 2D games that not many folk will have heard of, let alone tried. Whilst you're downloading your chosen games, make a nice insert for the CD case, and you've got yourself a nice little stocking filler. This gift is a nice one for any computer enthusiasts who remember the 90s.
Links
AGS (lots of games here to download): http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk
Gundislav (download all the Ben Jordan games here): http://www.grundislavgames.com
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IDEA 2: EDIBLE JIGSAWS
What you will need:
* Basic biscuit mix
* Icing (optional)
* A sharp knife
* Paper
* Scissors
* Felt tip pens
* Cardboard
* Wrapping paper / tinfoil
* Clingfilm / cut up bag (clean!)
Jigsaws have long been one of the staples of Christmas, along with socks, slippers and oranges. Combine the fun of a new game with the glorious gift of food, and you're onto a winner. With the exception of diehard dieters (and at Christmas, there seem to be few on the ground), the gift of food is always appreciated. And who doesn't secretly like to play with their food?
To make an edible jigsaw, you will need all the ingredients for a type of biscuit. The seasonal thing to make would be gingerbread, and in fact this would work the best, but if you don't bake an awful lot in your home, you may be lacking in the special ingredients like nutmeg. Making chocolate chip cookies is probably more attainable, as this requires less exotic ingredients. Chocolate chips are not to be found everywhere, but big bars of chocolate are at this time of year. Attack one with a knife, and you have some rustic looking chips. I actually always make my chocolate chips this way as the chocolate used tends to be better, and you get a more 'homemade' feel due to the uneven size of the chips.
Failing that, there's always shortbread. My basic recipe consists of 250g flour, 175g butter and 75g sugar. This is possibly the most basic biscuit recipe in the world, so if you can't drum up those ingredients, you're onto a loser.
Make up your biscuit mix according to instructions and roll out flat on either a greased baking tray or one lined with greaseproof paper. Roughly half way into cooking, take out the tray and cut up the biscuit into a jigsaw puzzle! The trick is to make simple jigsaw pieces not the traditional ones that you find in puzzles of 500 pieces or more. If you have too many little sticky out bits, your jigsaw puzzle is inevitably going to break before anyone finishes it.
Put the jigsaw back into the oven, finish cooking it, and then when it's done, attack it with that knife again. (I say this because with most types of biscuit, the mix tends to spread out when cooking and you will have to attack it one final time to make sure nothing's stuck together.)
If you're lucky, you'll have access to icing sugar, butter and milk (or even just icing sugar and water), but if not, don't fear, the gift of the edible jigsaw is still pretty neat without icing.
Putting the 'puzzle' into a bag is probably not the best option to keep all the 'pieces' intact. I would suggest getting a nice thick piece of cardboard (maybe one of the delivery boxes your online present shopping came in?) or failing that, a couple of pieces of cereal box taped together, and covering it in wrapping paper or tinfoil. Place the puzzle pieces on top and secure with clingfilm on top. If you can get hold of a plain huge freezer bag, you could try cutting it up, putting it under the piece of card, gathering it up top and securing with ribbon or an elastic band.
Make a little tag saying "EDIBLE JIGSAW" and secure into place. Lovely little last minute gift that will appeal to all!
Links
Gingerbread recipe: http://members.dooyoo.co.uk/recipes/baking/1039884 /
Rum & raison cookies / peanut & cinnamon cookies: http://members.dooyoo.co.uk/recipes/baking/1017892 /
Chocolate cookies: http://members.dooyoo.co.uk/recipes/baking/368676/
Shortbread (my version): http://members.dooyoo.co.uk/recipes/baking/1035844 /
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IDEA 3: REINDEER POOP
What you will need:
* Chocolate
* Raisins
* Paper
* Tin foil / clingfilm
* Scissors
* Printer / felt tip pens
* Freezer bag
I'm sure you've all seen those tasteful 'pooping reindeer' in the shops, but it's too late to go and buy one of them. This idea is slightly less offensive and because it's homemade, you can argue it has a little bit of charm. To make reindeer poop, you will need some raisins and some chocolate. That's the entire recipe.
My preferred way of melting chocolate is the old fashioned way, with the chocolate in a Pyrex bowl sitting on top of a pot of boiling water. I have also tried putting chocolate into a tall mug and placing it into a wok of boiling water, but I don't think this method is as commonly used. If you own a microwave, that would be a more viable alternative to bowl and pot of water method.
Dip the raisins into the melted chocolate and carefully place onto tin foil or clingfilm to harden. Whilst you're waiting, prepare a gift tag with a special poem on it.
"Santa checked his list not once, but twice,
and he found out you've been naughty, not nice!
Since coal is so expensive, here's the scoop:
he's filled this bag with reindeer poop!"
If you're using a printer to make the tag, you can add a nice reindeer picture. Alternatively, you can always draw one yourself!
Links
Toy reindeer photo: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/209559
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Merry Christmas everyone! Have a lovely holiday season:-)
Shona xxx
Summary: Three ideas for last minute homemade gifts using materials that can be found in your house already.
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DanLondon - 08/01/07 Well done you, excellent review! Myabe next year... too late for the xmas which has just been. Dan |
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