Christmas shopping in London

I've just been very lucky enough to spend two days Christmas shopping in London. Below are my highlights!

1. Harrods
We visited Harrods as the sun was setting and the lights that covered the store looked very pretty indeed. They have a festive themed window at the moment which is based on Disney princesses - they've asked various designers to design a one of piece based on their favourite Disney princess. My favourite part was the diamond encrusted Laboutin stiletto!

Harrods wasn't as busy as expected but it certainly was expensive. I paid £8 for some tea bags and £7 for the harrod's 2012 Christmas bauble :-O we had fun people watching though, especially when somebody slammed a wad of £50 onto the desk of the Gucci bag department while his wife was browsing!

2. Hyde Park Winter Wonderland
This was the main reason for our trip - it is only a 5-10 minute easy walk from Harrods and was easy to find. We went when it was dark and it looked beautiful all lit up. I was apprehensive about how busy it would be but at 5:30pm on a Monday evening it was absolutely fine.

The atmosphere here was so festive - with Christmas songs being played, Christmas smells coming from the many mulled wine, gingerbread and candle stalls and all of the festive decorations with live music and open fires dotted about too.The items from the stalls were expensive but it is free to browse and soak up the atmosphere. I splashed out on a hot mulled wine with a shot of amaretto in a German themed bar (£5) and a ride on the Ferris wheel which didn't have much of a queue and had carols and christmas songs playing in our pod as we enjoyed the view (cost £8). We could have spent a lot more as there were various other activities on offer such as ice sculptures and ice skating but we were happy with what we did.

3. Covent garden
Covent garden looks very festive at this time of year. There is a large Christmas tree, a huge advent calendar. Giant baubles suspended from the ceiling of the indoor markets - a huge reindeer And a tower of Jack Daniels whiskey barrels lit up with lights next to a pop up Jack Daniels store. I bought my daughter a beautiful sketch of a ballerina which looks just like her for the bargain price of £8 from the craft market at the heart of covent garden.

4. Camden markets
Camden is certainly the place to go for some stocking filler bargains. I have been before and was impressed but the prices seem web cheaper now! We bought London pencils for 17p each, a hand printed coin purse for 70p, a London bag for £1.49, a watch necklace for £2.99 and a London bus toy for 99p. Even if you don't buy anything, the markets are a lovely place to wonder around. Make sure you stop for some street food or hot ginger wine and have a seat on the scooter seats by the loch.

5. Southbank markets
We visited these markets at teatime on Tuesday evening- it is a nice walk from embankment over the bridge and gives you lovely views of the London eye lit up at night. The market is lively and with many bars and restaurants nearby, it is easy to spend a night here. There are about 100 wooden huts joined with fairy lights selling fudge, nuts,candles, jewellery, hot food and drinks and other gifts. I bought a lovely giant Santa gingerbread cookie all wrapped up in cellophane and tied with festive ribbon - at £3.50 it was a lot cheaper than the £95 they were asking for a giant gingerbread house.

All in all we had a fabulous trip to London, we didn't buy Loads but thoroughly enjoyed the festive atmosphere and will certainly return at this time of year in the future.

Gingerbread tree decorations

If you have a traditional theme for your Christmas tree, gingerbread tree decorations are a simple and effective addition to your decorations and also fill the room with a subtle gingerbread scent.

I buy one or two new tree ornaments every year with a view to building up a collection of beautiful and individual decorations. I have only started this tradition over the past few years and gingerbread biscuits are a cheap way to bulk out my tree until I have a larger collection.

You can make your own gingerbread or cheat like I did and buy ready made gingerbread dough (£2 from sainsburys). This year I made snowflakes, circles and little gingerbread men using pastry cutters I already had and I used leftover ribbon from wrapping. There was enough dough to make 20 decorations which works out at 10p per decoration. Bargain!

Heidi was my little helper who enjoyed decorating the gingerbread men. What a lovely way to spend an afternoon! Can't wait to see them on our tree soon.

Making my own christmas cake part 1

Cakes have never been my strong point and it is only now that I've reached the age of 28 that I feel confident enough to attempt my own Christmas cake.

I scoured the Internet and my ever growing number of Christmas cook books for a recipe I felt comfortable with and eventually decided upon Mary Berry's recipe from her baking bible. I chose this recipe as it included both cherries and almonds (yum) and had precise measurements for both round and square tins of various sizes so I wouldn't need to buy a new tin especially.

The preparation started the night before with the traditional method of soaking your dried fruit in brandy overnight.

The actual mixing of ingredients the next morning was actually really simple, although I have to say, mixing flour, sugar, 5 eggs and spices with over a pack of butter took some strength (and help from hubby). Roll on the day I finally get my hands on a food mixer!

I poured and packed my cake mixture into my prepared tin and as expected, it fit perfectly!

Then I had to bake it at the low heat of 120C for 4 3/4 hours! The smell and warmth of Christmas has flooded our downstairs and the delicious smell was first thing the children mentioned when they came home from school.

When the time came, I carefully removed my cake from the oven. I had my fingers and toes crossed that it wouldn't be burnt (it wasn't) and that it passed the skewer test (it did). It looks and smells amazing and has definitely been worth the effort so far.

I am dying to taste it, but that will have to wait. I will be feeding it with a tablespoon of brandy once a week and then towards the middle of December will be decorating it with marzipan, icing and hopefully a little sugar craft. Watch out for Christmas cake part 2!

Things I love!

The lakeland countdown to Christmas catalogue has just landed on my iPad desktop and I could honestly buy the whole shop! However, 4 beautiful products really stood out for me.

1. Willow fruit heart £39.99
How beautiful is this wreath! It's made with dried oranges, chillies and apple slices so would also fill your home with a lovely festive fragrance.

2. Mulled wine gift set £18.99
I just love mulled wine! We drink a lot of it in winter. This jug is the perfect way to serve it. I can just imagine my wooden spoon poking out of the top.

3. Gruffalo's child mug and spoon set £8.99
I have seen this in real life and absolutely adore it! In fact I think I may buy it for myself.

4. Set of festive pails £13.99
These pails are a bargain I think and I can see them by my fire or on our stairs collecting bits and bobs or even housing festive plants and flowers. They would also be a lovely way to keep our festive books and DVDs together or to keep Christmas cards in.

Snowman soup

This year, our elf on the shelf shall be delivering a special gift to our children about half way through December in the form of snowman soup!

They are so easy to make:- take a clear cellophane bag/cone or small jar (baby food jars work well), layer with instant hot chocolate, mini marshmallows and a few sweets of your choice. Tie with a ribbon and attach a candy cane. Then attach a label with the following poem:-

Snowman Soup
Was told you've been real good this year.
Always glad to hear it!
With freezing weather drawing near,
You'll need to warm the spirit.

So here's a little Snowman Soup
Complete with stirring stick.
Add hot water, sip it slow.
It's sure to do the trick!

I may keep our Christmas mugs hidden and bring them out especially for this occaision.

This is the first year we've tried this but I know my children will love it! Going to save it for when it's a particularly cold and frosty night.

Christmas cards

Why do Christmas cards cost an absolute fortune? Just in our household of 5 people if everyone buys each other a card that is 20 cards!!! Which even if we buy £1 cards would work out at £20 alone!

Then there are family cards to buy, from both us and special ones from the children. Then friends, neighbours, colleagues, distant relatives, school friends, teachers, playgroup friends........the list is endless. I really struggle to spend less than £50 on cards every year - and that is when I buy them from the cheapest card shops!

£50 on cards!!!! (In reality it's more). This is verging on ridiculous. After all, they are only pieces of paper.

What is the solution though? Some people have now chosen to forego the giving of cards and instead give the money to charity. While I think this is a much better use of money, especially at Christmas time, this is not a solution for me. I LOVE giving gifts and cards, it is just part of who I am and I love receiving them, reading the messages and using them to decorate our house. Christmas and birthdays are the only times of year a pretty coloured envelope with a lovely card comes through our door. It is nice to receive something that shows somebody has thought of you and your family at this time of year rather than another bill or junk mail. For me, Christmas would not be Christmas without cards.

So this year, in a bid to reduce my card bill, I have decided to make my own cards. A friend pointed me in the direction of wilkinson's as the best value place to pick up card craft materials and I managed to buy enough materials to make 40 cards which is enough for one card per household for the people i really want to send a card to and it only came to £6!!! I have also bought 2 packs of 40 meerkat cards for £1 each for the kids at school.

The cards were really easy to make for an amateur and next year I think I'll try a more complex design. I'm really pleased with the results.

So that is how you reduce a £50+ card bill to just £8.

Garden centre visits

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas for me without a visit to our local garden centre. They are a nice and cheap way to spend a free couple of hours with pre-schoolers.

Garden centre's always seem so magical in the run up to Christmas with their fabulous selection of Christmas trees, twinkling Christmas lights and huge range of decorations.

We visited azzure garden centre in Cramlington yesterday and they have a train set that they set up every year which my young children adore and this year they had mechanical reindeers that were set in fake snow which were beautiful and again, my children loved watching them move about.

I couldn't leave without buying anything and although I am always tempted with the Christmas carousel and Ferris wheel ornaments these are a bit expensive so I settled with a 'santa's cookie jar' which was a steal at £6.99 and will look lovely in our kitchen filled with Christmas cookies and mince pies every December.