Hello darlings,
This blog post was requested by a reader so I am trying to do it justice. I was asked to do a sort of follow up to a previous post. However, as I was preparing and taking pictures and what not, a slight problem occurred. I was asked to do a post on a home-made, DIY 'hot chocolate themed' and 'movie night themed' Christmas gift hampers (wow, that was a mouthful!), which I mentioned I would be doing in the future.
As I was thinking and making the hampers, I decided not to do the 'movie night theme' one as I didn't have enough people to give it to. I did do the 'hot chocolate one but I kind of mixed a bit of the 'movie night theme' one into it. So after that ramble, in conclusion, I have only one hamper to show you, not two, but it is a hybrid (sounds fancy) of the two.
Another problem: please do excuse my unorganised-ness, I feel deeply sorry and rather ashamed. I have already given away the hamper to my nearest and dearest (before taking any pictures), leaving me with no hamper to flash before your eyes!
I have been able to take the following picture of some home-made chocolate dippers, which I plan to give as a gift to another friend on their own, not as part of a large hamper. I'll try to describe everything I put into the hamper so you can know exactly all the details etc. so you will have some trifling (I feel like this is the wrong word) inspiration. I am so very sorry that I do not have more to offer!
As you can see, I've used the gift tags I made earlier on in November and a heart shaped cookie (bought from IKEA, iced, and then presented as being 'entirely home-made') to give the wrapping a bit of sparkle and oomph. I've tied everything together with an adorable, darling little baker's twine which I bought on eBay about six months ago. It has come in very handy when I've been doing crafting or scrap-booking and especially now that it's gift-wrapping time. I just love baker's twine!
I'll quickly run through how I made the hot chocolate dippers because I probably should do a separate post on them but I'm not sure if I will as I only have this one image to work with.
I melted chocolate - I am not afraid to say, they were the stores own brand, extremely cheap, nothing special chocolate slabs as I do not think you need luxury chocolate for this as it all tastes the same once you have melted it and added what not. I was lazy and melted it with boiled water from the kettle in a bowl and a glass bowl with the chocolate cracked into on top. You should really do it on the stove because it's quicker; but, you know, I have no objection to being lazy.
Then I poured the melted chocolate into little shot glasses (but you could pour them into the spoon bit of a spoon). I pushed a skewer in (but don't do this if you're using a spoon), and decorated with Christmas-must have mini marshmallows.
I left them to cool and then ran some hot water over the glasses and the dippers slip right out.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
In my hamper, I included:
- A pale blue mug (from IKEA)
- A good light read (I chose Katie Fforde's love stories)
- A pair of fluffy sleep socks (from Primark)
- The home-made chocolate dippers
- A milk frother (from IKEA)
- Snowmen shaped marshmallows (from IKEA)
- A fluffy grey and white throw/fleece blanket (from IKEA)
If I were to do it again, I might have included some luxury biscuits or a flavoured syrup for the hot chocolate.
I think you could easily change the chocolate dippers for some coffee beans or luxury coffee.
Sorry again for the lack of photos, I do hope you enjoyed this post and got some inspiration for your own gift hampers or at least now know how to make hot chocolate dippers.
Enjoy the merriments,
Joyeux Noel,
Dani xxx
No comments:
Post a Comment