a selection from Cath Kidston

Having a little look on t'internet today I saw these and thought I would share them with you:

Cath Kidston sale on website:
Lovely little child's oilskin bag £4

Star mug - £4.50

Coin purse - £4

Rococo chocolate - mmmm

Rococo is an small company based in London that specialises in amazing chocolate, with imaginative flavour combinations. Gold, Frankincense & Myrrh, Cardamom, Sea Salt, Cinnamon, Peppered Mint, Moroccan Mint, Crystallised Ginger, Chilli Pepper, and Basil & Persian Lime. They have 3 branches in London, Kensington, Kings Rd and Marylebone High Street, where they are very generous with the free samples.

My friend Caroline Pearce alerted me to the very useful 'gifts for under a £5' function on their website, featuring the following lovely treats:

Rose Floral Bee Bar £ 1.25

Sea Salt Organic Chocolate £1.25

School of Fish £4.95

My favourite (if anyone wants to surprise me with a bar) is the sea salt.

Make your own gifts - Part 1

The main point of this blog is to encourage us to spend a reasonable amount of money wisely on our family and friends at Christmas. You can't ignore the fact that lots of people are extremely adept at making attractive things (not me) so here is a recipe from our Shetland Isles correspondent Tim:

Cranberry Sauce‏

This is based on the Gary Rhodes recipe in his book "New British Classics" 

Some cranberries yesterday

 
Ingredients:
 
1lb (450g) of Cranberries
Juice of 2 large Oranges
1 finely chopped small shallot (1/2 - 1 teaspoon)
4oz (100g) caster sugar.
1 glass (125ml) Port
 
Method:
Wash the cranberries and put everything in a large enough pan and bring 
to the boil. Immediately turn the heat down and simmer gently for 15 
minutes or until the cranberries are beginning to break. Turn the heat 
of and transfer to a sterilised container/jar. You can make this a 
couple of weeks in advance and just refrigerate in a sealed tub or up to 
three months in properly sealed jars. If you prefer, heat gently just 
prior to serving.
 
When I last made this I made 10lbs of it. I'm a bit of a browser of the 
reduced shelves in the local supermarket, and when I saw that the 1lb 
packs of cranberries were 2p each I went nuts and bought them all. The 
oranges were cheap and they had a special on Ruby Port. I had shallots 
in the house - you don't need much - so the only thing I paid full price 
for was the caster sugar. For preference I use the "Streamline" reduced 
sugar jam jars sterilised by means of heating them in the oven and 
pouring the hot sauce in while still hot. That way when they cool, they 
seal nicely - you'll need to think about using proper jam making 
techniques if you're going to make a lot.
 
10 1lb jars cost me less than £8 in ingredients. I already had the jars, 
the lids and the time.

Etsy.com - treasure trove of loveliness - local makers - mostly on budget :)

smallbuttonbigheart on Etsy

Lobe on Etsy

Collete at home on Etsy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A guest spot - Svea - on Oxfam shopping online

Have you checked out the Oxfam website? they have quite a few things for under £5 - you can sort the website to only show you things under a fiver. love the accessories section and the crafting one - recycled cotton or sari squares for a crafty friend would be an ace present. and some of those purses are just too cute.

Bumper pack of recycled sari patches,

Recycled cotton squares

a cute purse

Reindeer poo Christmas tree kit

Plus the ever popular Reindeer poo Christmas tree kit

Local produce - honey

It's great to be able to support local food producers, but not quite so easy you might think when you live in central London.
There has been quite a resurgence in urban bee keeping lately, and we are lucky enough to have a bee-keeper working SE London.  Local lady Svea who has tested it says Brockley honey...

"Tastes slightly of anisseed/ fennel. Very delicate and nice.
Cannot recommend Catford honey though- very strong fennel flavour and could only enjoy it in cooking...."

Selling pots costing under £5 not only are you benefiting your local environment, your garden, you could also be helping your ability to fight off hay-fever!


If you want to find local producers near you contact The British Bee Keepers Association

Ethical gift wrap - Furoshiki

It is possible to buy recycled wrapping paper, but it still ends up in the recycling bin, but the Japanese have a rather lovely way of wrapping gifts in cloth (furoshiki), which can be used over and over again.

There is a brilliant video showing how to do it here
http://www.recyclenow.com/what_can_i_do_today/furoshiki_japanese_w.html

Bargain organic baby clothes

A subject dear to my heart, green baby and frugi always have excellent clearance sections of their websites where gorgeous things can be found:

GreenBaby toadstool T-shirt £4 reduced from £10

Toadstool T-shirt

Frugi poplin summer top £5 reduced from £20

Poplin summer top

Support the arts - museum shops

Ahhh, lovely stationery at the V&A, prints and toys at the Tate. Have had a little look around and seen this lovely William Morris Anemone Writing Set


Lots of lovely toys for under £5 at the tate, but don't seem to be able to link to them. It's a really nice site so not too much of a hardship for you to have a look around


Natural History museum has 'dinosaur', 'under the sea', 'garden gang' and 'animal safari'  biscuit cutters, all for £3

Handmade fudge

www.homemadesociety.co.uk

My brother-in-law's partner makes lovely home-made fudge in his kitchen in Vauxhall. Ethically sourced ingredients, hand-made and delicious, 200g of fudge will set you back £4. You can even go and pick it up for free, so no postal costs.

The challenge...

The economy is going to hell in a handcart, cuts and mass job losses are expected and Christmas is coming. Are we downhearted? Well maybe yes. But we can do something about it. We can take the pressure of ourselves by not spending so much. We can take the pressure off of the planets resources by not spending so much, and we can do our bit for small businesses and worthy causes by spending our money with them.
I have told my dear family that this year we will be spending £5 per person and buying British made goods, or fairly traded items from abroad.
I am going to post links to things I have found that fit the bill, but there may be some things that are suitable for couples that cost £10.
If you want to join me, please post your own finds up here too.