Christmas – The Funky Thrifter

Quick Chocolate and Candy Cane Fudge

December 23, 2019 by Keelan LaForge, posted in Baking, Christmas, Cooking

I have had so many fudge setting disasters it feels laughable I have a fudge recipe to share that actually worked out 🙂 But this is so quick and tastes pretty good 🙂 It is quite soft and should be kept in the fridge, or add more chocolate if you want it to be more solid in the centre.

Ingredients

1 can of condensed milk

1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

2 Candy Canes
Method

Grease a baking tray and line with baking parchment. I used quite a small, deep tin. If you’re using a larger one, you might want to double the quantities.
Empty the tin of condensed milk and all the chocolate chips into a microwaveable bowl. Heat for one minute. Stir well and heat for another 20 seconds until melted. Heat in 10-20 second increments if it needs extra time, so it doesn’t burn.
Whip the mixture with a metal spoon. Apparently using a metallic one helps it solidify.. I have no idea why.

Put candy canes in a ziplock bag and bash with a rolling pin. You can keep the pieces chunky or beat into tiny shards. I chose to leave the pieces a bit larger. If I had been in a bad mood, I probably would have opted for the latter.
Pour fudge mixture into tin and sprinkle candle canes on top. Allow to set on counter and when cooled keep in fridge. Cut into squares and serve. Give as presents to other people, or to yourself 🙂

An Old Fashioned Christmas Outing

December 21, 2019 by Keelan LaForge, posted in Budgeting, Children, Christmas

Today, I took the girls on an impromptu day out, planning on just having a walk around the Folk Park. It turned out to be the best Christmas event I’ve ever been to. We are members of the Ulster Folk Museum, so the day out was free. We arrived at the park and were greeted by an old fashioned Santa with a bell and a green suit. He had a long chat with my kids about Christmas time and what he “remembered” from last year. We had been given a page with a Christmas hunt and had to find the hidden clues to win a prize. As we started walking into the little town part of the folk park, I thought it had started snowing and the girls got really excited. It turned out there were bubble machines placed around the town that produced realistic snow. It was a misty day and the whole scene reminded me of a Dickensian Christmas.

Usually when we go to the folk park, it isn’t in full operation. There usually seem to be parts closed off or unoccupied, but everything was open today and staffed, and there was hardly anyone there 🙂 that’s my favourite kind of Christmas outing – one without hoards of people 🙂

I think they mentioned that there had been a candlelight carol service on the previous night, and maybe more people had attended that, so it was the best time to go 🙂

The pub was open and there was live Irish music being played and a choice between alcoholic and non alcoholic mulled wine. My kids had some of the punch and loved it. We sat at an old wobbly table and listened to the music and chatted. I’ve been becoming increasingly bothered by the consumerism of Christmas time. I don’t know if it’s because it starts earlier now and the build-up is heightens it, but I’ve just noticed the madness and poor manners have been worse this year than any I remember. (Maybe I’ve just blotted it out.) I loved the fact that today ran counter to that and I didn’t have to subscribe to the suffering for a little celebration.

We went a cottage where a lady had made vegetable soup on the stove and served some to us. I was surprised how quickly it vanished from the girls’ cups. Maybe I need to get a stranger to cook for us to get them to eat 🙂 It was already dark inside and the fire and candlelight were cosy.
Afterwards, we went to the old schoolhouse where the girls got to write Santa letters. A man in costume who worked there helped them stamp the letters to be posted at the post office later on our walk.

There is a thatched cottage with gardens that are beautiful in the summer. We heard music coming from inside and when we went in there was a group of musicians playing. They played Jingle Bells just for the kids and were making a wooden toy dance. The guitarist had a willow, woven star hanging from her guitar and they were dressed in fancy clothes. A lady had been cooking in a pot over the fire and we got to try a steamed Christmas cake filled with currants. It reminded me of a boiled cake my granny used to make.

In the printers, a man showed us the process of printing Christmas cards with a printing press. He also made bookmarks and pictures. He talked to us about the differences between now and then and said that Christmas cards used to be made of paper and folded twice to make them stand upright. He let the girls make simple cards of their own with traditional stampers.

We walked to the post office and the girls posted their Santa letters in the post box. Next door, in the house adjoining the bank, there was a lady making chutney and she offered some crackers and apple chutney to the girls. She told us about the two kinds of ovens they had, to bake and to roast in and talked me through how to make your own Christmas pudding. She had made her own pudding and cakes, decorated with holly.

The girls danced in the pretend snow again and then we passed some people roasting chestnuts. My daughter loved pulling the outer shell off and trying them. We called into the picture house where they were showing silent movie clips about preparations for Christmas. It made me realise how much calmer things seemed then and today gave me a glimpse of it. I think modern society has ruined the traditions of Christmas by going overboard and it just makes people feel rushed and angry. When I looked around the streets, none of the houses had elaborate decorations. The smaller houses had handmade wreaths and pillar candles and the wealthier homes had simple Christmas trees with a few decorations on them. As I was noticing the small signals of Christmas, I also noticed how much simpler life was with fewer possessions. We have so many and I get overwhelmed by the clutter everywhere. The experience has put me in the mood to further simplify life and made me realise how excessive it all is. Happiness has nothing to do with things; in fact I think the presence of too many things and the pressure to buy them makes us a bit miserable.

The day ended with the girls getting a few chocolate coins for their efforts in the Christmas tree hunt and I’ve never seen them happier.

A Christmassy Day without the Chaos

December 19, 2019 by Keelan LaForge, posted in Budgeting, Children, Christmas, Uncategorized

Today I was talking to my mum about cutting out all of the Christmas chaos. There are so many Christmas events you could be signing up and paying out for, and parental guilt struck me when I realised I hadn’t booked anything for the girls over Christmas. Then I arrived at the conclusion that there are few of them I have actually enjoyed. Unless it is off the beaten track and not overly populated, most Christmas events are overwhelming, so I might stick to making salt dough at home and going for Wintery walks in the countryside instead.

I’ve been trying to walk my kids to school every morning. It’s about a mile from our house and it just feels calmer than fighting our way through traffic to struggle to find a parking space. Along the way, you notice more than you would in a car, like the cheerful lollipop man, the window displays, the fruit shop hanging out wreaths and mistletoe and the Christmas lights. There is a house my kids love to stop at every day because they have a festive display along with lots of toys in the front yard. They call it “our favourite garden.” I noticed a holly tree while we were walking and I think the icy air clears your head before you start your day too. I actually talk to my kids properly on the walk too, which rarely happens when I’m stressed behind the wheel.

Today, I decided to bypass my writing and coffee date with myself and stay in instead. I turned the Christmas lights on along with the National Lampoons and made some costa coffee at home with mini mince pies. (I had to have two because they were small :)) I tackled some of the present wrapping I had left to do and enjoyed it with the absence of demands and interruptions while my kids were at school.

When my younger daughter got home, we made some chocolate fudge with crushed candy canes in it. I’m hoping it sets properly because fudge always confuses my brain, but my daughter enjoyed making it. She had the job of bashing the candy canes with a rolling pin and she’s an expert on tray greasing 🙂

Tonight, once my kids were in their pyjamas, I surprised them with our drive to see the Christmas lights. They brought milk and gingerbread men in the car, listened to Christmas songs and enjoyed driving all over the city and looking for the most over-the-top light displays 🙂 If I knew how to climb ladders and hang lights properly, ours would probably look like a Christmas grotto too 🙂 I always loved multicoloured fairy lights and tacky Santa’s and some things don’t change with age 🙂

Ways to Keep Christmas Calm

December 17, 2019 by Keelan LaForge, posted in Budgeting, Children, Christmas

Like most introverts, I find the build-up to Christmas a bit overwhelming. Once you have kids it seems to quadruple the number of events you can’t talk your way out of. Sometimes I just need to hear the quiet and calm down the frenzied festivities. Last weekend, I made a point of not signing up for any Santa-themed, city-centre based activities and we just did our own things before my head exploded like a Christmas cracker 🙂

I’d planned on staying in for most of the weekend, but as always, the idea of that was easier than the execution of it. I stopped at the pound shop before collecting the girls and picked up some Christmas activity packs, DVDs and baking things.

When my kids got home, they painted ceramic snowmen, did scratch pictures, coloured and played with stickers. My friend had sent me some hot chocolate bombes as a gift and we used those. My kids were amazed when they erupted in the cup, producing mini marshmallows. I put on calm music and they didn’t even ask to watch TV (which is rare!)

My daughter decided she wanted to write Christmas cards for her class. I usually avoid this tradition but watching her do it made me realise how it could be therapeutic and a good way to focus your attention on something less brash and materialistic. I always saw the obligation side to writing cards before and thought it was just a box ticking exercise, but watching how attentively she did it slowed my mind down and helped me see the thoughtful side to it.

We baked some Christmas cupcakes. They had orange zest and juice inside them and cinnamon for a Christmassy flavour 🙂 They turned into mermaid cupcakes when my kids plastered them with icing and sprinkles but they still tasted good 🙂

Once the cabin fever set in, we went to the beach. It was bitterly cold and we seemed to be the only ones there, apart from a few dog walkers passing through, but I like going to the sea even more when it’s a wild than when it’s like a holiday scene. The air tired the girls out and they had the playground to themselves 🙂 I brought tea with us and some snacks. The tide was in and we spent a long time sitting watching the seagulls “surfing” on the waves. It reminded me that I need to allow myself more time to stare into space and watch things and tune out. I think it’s important for your mental health, plus that’s when the ideas usually come to you 🙂 The girls were really interested in watching the seagulls bobbing over the waves and it showed me how little time there is for stillness nowadays. But just because it isn’t popular or right in front of us, doesn’t mean we can’t claim it. After a weekend away from the Christmas rush, I felt (almost) refreshed enough to face it again.

Budget Christmas Activities with Kids

December 8, 2019December 8, 2019 by Keelan LaForge, posted in Budgeting, Children, Christmas, Kids

This weekend, I took my kids to an enchanted garden at Antrim Castle Gardens. There are so many Santa experiences and winter wonderland—type events on now; you have to pick and choose what to attend if you’re on a budget. So, I decided to turn the enchanted garden trip into a mini day trip and make it a spending day for us.
We drove to a shopping outlet with a park and ride at it. My kids get inexpressibly excited by bus journeys. I guess we tend to walk or drive everywhere, so it feels like a treat to them. We stopped for hot chocolate and gingerbread men before getting the bus. I have one daughter that always likes the idea of hot chocolate better than the taste of it so I spent most of the time trying to persuade her to drink it 😀 but it was a nice idea 🙂

We took the bus to the garden and I was impressed by how elaborate it was. We spent nearly three hours there. You could buy tokens for the various old-fashioned rides, one of which was a train to meet Santa. There were food and coffee stalls and we had some Chinese food at the picnic benches. It was surprisingly quiet so I think choosing to go early in December was a good idea. There were no interminable queues for rides or stampedes for donuts.

There was a Santa’s workshop where the kids were given selection boxes. As well as the main features, there were separate lighted woods and hedges, fairies and princes and princesses on stilts and Christmas music playing throughout the gardens. I’ve decided I find outdoor activities with my kids much less stressful – the walking tires them out and everything feels less crowded. It was one of those events where you spend ten pounds for entry and thirty inside the gates, but I think it’s excusable as a one-off day out 🙂 It will give me incentive to seek out free events and activities to do at home for a while 🙂

The next day we were in need of a day in the house, so we made some Christmas cookies and played board games. I like to look out for board games throughout the year in charity shops. You can find a wide range of them for a couple of pounds and build up a collection for wintry days. I got some Halloween sprinkles for 10p this week, so we used them. If you aren’t perfectionistic about that type of thing, it’s a good way to buy sprinkles etc for nothing. (I like anything with skulls on it anyway :))

We watched The Grinch with the Christmas lights on, on what was a dark afternoon before going out to a free lantern parade near our house. The kids had made lanterns a couple of weeks earlier at a workshop. The parade walked about a mile led by a Santa sleigh and drummers, and we bumped into everyone we knew 🙂 It finished with a fireworks display that I was impressed by for such a small-scale event. I think I’m ready for some hibernation now and no spend weekends ahead after the busy nature of this weekend 🙂

10 More Ways to Save Money at Christmas

November 27, 2019 by Keelan LaForge, posted in Budgeting, Christmas, Family

A continuation of my other post about cutting costs at Christmas time with the help of some creativity 🙂

1. Reuse Christmas decorations. Don’t feel the need to buy new items every year. If you want to update what you have, get a couple of unusual Christmas baubles or make your own wreath. You can do this without spending any money. Just go for a walk in a forest and collect natural materials.

2. Pick one event you want to go to and skip the rest. If you have one thing to look forward to it feels much more special than if you book every available event. It stops the kids getting overwrought anyway. Christmas is hectic enough without adding additional pressure.

3. Have Christmas movies and popcorn at home. Instead of going to the cinema, just recreate it at home. Give your kids pretend tickets, make a snacks counter where they can help themselves and turn out all the lights.

4. Have hot chocolate in the dark with just the Christmas lights on 🙂 If you have a fire, light it – as well as creating a Christmas atmosphere, it saves on heating costs 🙂

5. Bake your own shortbread, gingerbread men or Christmas cake. Give them as presents in little pastry bags. You can find these in the baking section in most discount shops.

6. Have an agreed budget for presents with your family and friends. Instead of buying gifts for friends, put some money into organising a day out for Christmas coffee and treats together instead.

7. Don’t be affected by other people’s choices. Just because your friend chose to spend hundreds on their children or paid for them to go to every magical event in the area doesn’t mean you’re a bad parent because you can’t. Kids appreciate the time you spend with them and it’s ok to say no.

8. Don’t buy every kind of everything. You don’t need to have a five course meal with every dessert option and nine types of party platter. Keep it simple and make what people will actually eat. Underestimate how much you need, because at Christmas time we are brainwashed into buying a feast for four hundred with every poster we pass. You don’t need everything that’s on offer. You don’t need every drink available in the shops. Take the stress off yourself and make less.

9. Save all your leftovers and use them in different ways so you don’t sicken yourself with Christmas food 🙂 Freeze whatever you won’t use right away. For example, use cranberry sauce in sandwiches, with cheese and crackers, with melted Brie. Fry leftover veg to make a stir fry, or blend them to make soup.

10. Keep cards and gift bags for kids’ crafts or to use for future projects. You could make your own cards for next year by cutting out the images and arranging them in different ways or add them to gift bags to make personalised ones. Reuse things you would typically throw away. There is so much unnecessary waste around Christmas time and I like to minimise it where I can.

Hope this post gives you a few ideas of ways to reduce spending around Christmas time and to use what you already have 🙂

10 Easy Ways to Save Money at Christmas

November 19, 2019 by Keelan LaForge, posted in Budgeting, Christmas

There is so much expense leading up to Christmas, particularly when you have kids. I was thinking of some ideas of how to save money leading up to the most expensive, I mean, wonderful time of the year. I hope these give people a few ideas 🙂

1. Make hampers. You can get a basket from the pound shop and fill it with whatever you like, wrapping it in cellophane and ribbon. You can adapt it to suit anyone – sweets, alcohol, afternoon tea, beauty products, manicure set, stationery, reading (eg, fill with books, bookmarks, a teacup, tea bags etc.)

2. Get your kids to make your Christmas cards/get supplies from the pound shop and make your own personal ones.

3. Get cheaper drinks. It’s easy to find mulled wine and Buck’s Fizz at a reasonable price and it doesn’t cost as much as spirits. Or buy own brand ones. I love the coffee cream liqueur from Lidl and I can’t tell the difference between it and a branded bottle.

4. Don’t go overboard. I think the reason why so many people end up with money troubles in January is that they feel pressured to overspend and spoil their kids. In my experience, the more thoughtfully you buy fewer presents for kids, the more they enjoy it. They’d rather have one thing they love and a few treats than half the contents of the nearest toy shop. By next year most of it will probably be in a charity shop or cluttering up your house anyway.

5. Make your own mince pies. Buy a large jar of mincemeat in a discount shop and make a simple pastry to encase it. Use it as an activity to do with your kids instead of taking them to an activity with charges.

6. Make driving to see the Christmas lights an event. The most magical part of my childhood was when we got into the car, went into town and drove in a loop around the City Hall to see the lights. Drive around your neighbourhood to see decorations or take the bus into town to walk and look at the lights. (If you live in Belfast, there are light projection shows for free across the road from Castlecourt from 4pm from 16th November until 10th January.) There is also a free Christmas light switch on in most towns.

7. Eurospar are holding free Christmas parties in various locations leading up to Christmas. Ask in your local one about the date for theirs. Select a couple of low cost events and turn them into special days instead of a catalogue of events that tire kids out and leave you penniless and emotionally spent.

8. Buy less meat. The most expensive part of Christmas dinner is the meat and if you’re living on a tight budget, don’t feel under pressure to provide turkey, ham and all the trimmings. Choose one kind of meat, chicken legs or lamb and make extra pigs in blankets or cocktail sausages – everyone in my house seems to prefer them to the turkey anyway 🙂 Alternatively, buy a frozen turkey crown and slow cook with lots of basting. It will taste just as moist as a fresh one. Serve smaller portions of meat and bulk it out with potatoes and stuffing.

9. Buy one Christmas food item on sale every week. If you save things up as you go, it’s easier to accumulate everything you need without noticing the dent in your budget. Just check the freezer and cupboards periodically in case you forget what you have and buy doubles 🙂

10. Go to a Christmas market with a set amount of cash. If you operate in cash and set a limit, you have to be inventive and think about what you really want to buy. I think a lot of overspending comes from always assuming everyone in a group or family has to have an elaborate meal/every available option. Simplify things. Get a hot dog to share with your kids, or some mini donuts for everyone to share. Have dinner at home afterwards.

I feel like I’ve reached the end of this post and this only glazes the surface of ideas for Christmas on a budget, so I’ll write a continuation of this post soon 🙂