Tag: christmas

Blogmas Day 23: Festive afternoon tea 🍰

Yesterday afternoon I hosted festive afternoon tea, at our flat, for my mum and two sisters. The kiddies came along too.

I thought it would be a fun way to start the Christmas hols and we all love afternoon tea so why not!?!!

What was on the menu?

Sandwiches

Egg mayo

Ham

Cakes

Mums ‘Blasts from the past’

Victoria Sponge

Mr Kipling Candy Cane slices

Jam tarts

Mini Mince Pies

Savoury

Cheese pastry Christmas tree

Pigs in blankets &

Quorn cocktail sausages (Veggie)

Crisps

Drinks

PG tips Tea

Yorkshire Biscuit brew tea

Coffee

Fruit Juice

It was really yummy and fun to think of ways to make normal afternoon tea festive.

A tasty & fun family afternoon.

Happy Christmas Eve eve!

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Blogmas Day 22: My cheese pastry Christmas tree 🎄

Since I have done a few sweet recipes posts this Blogmas I thought I would share a super quick, and very easy savoury recipe with you.

It’s got a lovely festive twist in its appearance and is perfect for a Christmas buffet table.

This cheese pastry Christmas tree looks great on a party table, very festive and super tasty.

You don’t need much to make this recipe either!

Ingredients

•One or Two (Depending on the size you want to make) ready rolled puff pastry sheets. I used one for mine but for a buffet I would make a larger one using two sheets.

•Grated cheddar cheese

•Cracked black pepper

•An egg to brush over the top

Optional festive extras: Caramalised Onion Chutney or Cranberry Sauce.

Recipe

Lay the puff pastry out flat and cut into strips that are 2cm wide. I made 11 out of one sheet.

Take a strip and push some grated cheese into the pastry. If you are having the chutney spread this onto the strips first then add the cheese.

Crack some black pepper over the top.

Roll the pastry up from one end to the other to create a pinwheel effect.

Put to one side and repeat with the other strips.

Once you have made them all arrange them as you see above, to create the Christmas tree.

Use some left over bits to create the pot and star on top.

Brush the pastry with a beaten egg and place it carefully into the oven until it is lovely and golden.

Serve & enjoy.

If you don’t add the chutney into the recipe you could serve it on the side for dipping.

Let me know if you had a go at this.

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Blogmas Day 21: Our Festive Snack table 🎄😁🍴

As I have said previously, the festive food goodies are one of my favourite bits of Christmas.

It’s great to enjoy some yummy treats, surrounded by friends and family.

There are a few treats that we get every year and this year we (mainly me haha) have taken that a bit further and have been creating a ‘Festive snack table’.

Everytime we’ve gone to a supermarket or seen a tasty, tempting snack we’ve picked it up for the table and it’s starting to look rather good.

This is great for cosy evenings and if any guests come over during the festive period.

Here’s what we have included on our snack table…

Chocolates

Festive chocs are a must! Especially for a chocoholic like me!!

A Christmas classic is the matchmaker style chocolates. I picked these up in Aldi in both the chocolate orange and mint flavours.

I also got a selection of truffles.

We have the new Malteaser truffles that are amazing and, my husband’s favourite, the Lindt Lindor truffles. I picked those up in the original milk chocolate flavour and the new Mint flavour, they look so festive 🎄

You have to have a tub of chocolates at Christmas time, it’s a must. Whether your favourite is Heroes, Celebrations or Quality Street these just feel so Christmassy.

My favourites are Heroes (Cadburys ftw!) Where as my husband’s is Celebrations.

Biscuits

Shortbread is my absolute favourite biscuit and a Christmas must have. I love those festive tins too. I have my favourites, the Tesco tin, and I’m also trying out the Aldi shortbread too.

Mince Pies

I’ve really been enjoying mince pies this year and I’ve been testing as many different ones as I can (It’s a tough job but someones gotta do it!!)

Co-op have come out on top so far but I’ve also been trying the Tesco, Aldi and M&S ones, just to be sure! Haha.

Specialty items

I discovered my love of Panattone last year when I was gifted one, so this year I purchased one of Aldi’s Pandoro, I can’t wait to try it.

Savoury Snacks

Our savoury snack choices this year were of course Pringles and Aldi’s version, stackers as well as Twiglets and Mini cheddars.

Other

These cute Robin treats were part of Aldi’s Christmas range and we couldn’t resist. On the right is a hollow chocolate robin character and on the left is a chocolate orange celebration cake.

I hope I can bring myself to cut into them, they are pretty cute!!

So, that’s our snack table! What’s your favourite festive snack?

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Blogmas Day 20: Christmas Hampers.

I love getting a bit creative at Christmas and adding that personal touch to my gifts.

Hampers are a great way of doing that.

You can select things that are super festive as well as things that you know someone will love, thereby adding your personal touch.

My festive faves to add to a hamper are:

•Mince Pies •Chocolate •Savoury bits

•Stollen •Nuts •Biscuits •Sweets

To add a personal touch I like to add:

•Their favourite chocolate •Vouchers

•Bath bombs •Shower gel •Books

If you are making a family hamper I like to add:

•Chocolate Santa’s •Chocolate coins

•Mini games •Card games •Puzzles

•Their fave toy •Craft packs •Sweets

Food is one of the best parts of Christmas and making someone something they can enjoy and share is great if they are harder to buy for or if it is a shared, family present.

This is also a great present for older relatives such as grandparents, aunties & uncles etc.

You can pick up hampers from loads of shops:

•The Range •B&M •Home bargains •The Works •TK Maxx

They come with the shredded paper in the bottom, cellophane and a ribbon which adds that finishing touch to your hamper.

I always put my hamper into the cellophane diagonally, in the centre and then gather up the edges of the cellophane above the basket and tie with the ribbon. You can then neaten it out and rearrange the cellophane as necessary.

Getting the cellophane part right can take a few goes, YouTube videos are great if you havn’t done it before.

Happy Hampering!

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Blogmas Day 19: Rocky Road Bombe recipe.

Here’s another delicious, festive recipe for you guys to try over, the Christmas period.

Its super easy and quite quick to make, but it looks impressive and really festive on a Christmas buffet/party table.

This is a Rocky road (are you sold already!!!) Bombe, decorated to look super festive as a Christmas pudding.

I love this idea and it’s so effective!! As soon as my husband saw this recipe he wanted us to give it a go.

The great thing about the Tesco Real Food website is that it has everything you need to know to make the recipe, tweak it if you want to add an extra festive touch but also, if you are doing your food shop you can add all the ingredients that you’ll need to your basket in one go, no hunting for everything you’ll need!!

You can add or take out too if you don’t want to strictly follow the recipe.

I’ll leave the link to the recipe below for you, definatly take a look at the page and some it their other yummy recipes too.

Tesco Real Food recipe

1. Melt the dark chocolate over some boiling water.

2. Whilst it is melting crush up the biscuits, don’t crush it too finely.

3. Once the chocolate has melted, pour it into the biscuit mix.

4. Add the raisins and mini marshmallows and stir altogether.

5. Make sure everything is coated in the dark chocolate.

6. Pour into a medium sized plastic mixing bowl. Flatten the top.

7. Leave to cool down and harden in the fridge.

8. Once it has cooled for an hour or so, take out of the fridge and ease it out of the bowl. Turn upside down onto a plate and lift off the bowl to reveal the dome.

9. Melt the white chocolate over boiling water. Once it has all melted pour it over the top to look like the icing on a Christmas pudding.

10. Garnish with a little sprig of plastic holly, to add the finishing touch. Serve.

Yummy!

Let me know if you have a go at making this.

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Blogmas Day 17: Finishing my Christmas shopping 🛍

Hi guys!

I can’t believe it’s now less than 10 days until Christmas day!!

I love the build up to Christmas and I feel like it is going so quickly this year.

I’ve used the weekend just gone to get the last of my Christmas shopping done

I havn’t had time for a late night shopping trip this year, which is a shame, so I thought I would head into town on Saturday and finish up.

Armed with my list and some determination to finally get it done I managed to power through and grab all the last little bits that I needed.

It was quite a chilly day which did make it feel quite festive and with the Christmas lights on and the Christmas market in full swing it was quite lovely.

So festive 🎄❄

Before I headed to the football with my dad I had enough time to stop at a coffee shop for a nice, warming caramel latte and a little read of my new Christmas book.

(The Christmas stocking & other stories by Katie Fforde)

I felt very Christmassy after this. All we need to do now is get the last foodie bits for a few hampers I am putting together and of course Christmas party/snacky bits. We are going to grab these when we do our food shop.

How is your Christmas shopping going?

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Blogmas Day 15: My Harry Potter stocking gift guide 🎁

As you’ll have seen from my early Blogmas post (Which I’ll leave here for you) I love a Christmas stocking.

I thought it would be really fun to do a post themed around Harry Potter and after researching merch this seemed like the best fit.

Besides, what could be more magical than a Harry Potter stocking!

Here are just a few Harry Potter themed ideas to make your own Harry Potter themed stocking, or to just add a bit of Harry Potter magic to what you have already got.

There are only a few weekends and late night shopping evenings to go!! It’s definatly time to get those stockings sorted.

To start ⬇️

Harry Potter Hedwig themed Christmas stocking Primark £6

Various Harry Potter stockings Geekcore £8.99

Various Harry Potter stockings Amazon From £7.99

Books

The Crimes of Grindelwald: The original screenplay WH Smith’s £8.49

Wizarding World pop up book of curiosities Amazon £12.81

Hogwarts library books: Fantastic Beasts and where to find, Quidditch through the ages, The tales of Beedle the bard (Indivdually) Amazon £4

The Harry Potter books: House cover editions Amazon £9.98

The archive of magic: Fantastic beasts book Amazon £14.99

Games/toys

Harry Potter Lego: Grindelwalds carriage Amazon £15.99

Harry Potter Trivial pursuit Groupon £8.99

Harry Potter top trumps Amazon £5.40

Wizards Battle game Very £14.99

Harry Potter playing cards in tin Tesco £4

Various Harry Potter Pop! Funko figures, varying prices.

Wearables

Harry Potter inspired necklaces Platform 9 3/4 shop £12

Harry Potter inspired bracelets Platform 9 3/4 shop £6

Harry Potter pin badges Platform 9 3/4 shop From £3.95

Harry Potter socks (adult) Primark £2.50

Harry Potter Cosy socks gift box (adult) Primark £3

Various Harry Potter night dresses (adult) Primark £5

Nightie & sock set (Kids) Matalan £10

Harry Potter socks (Kids) Matalan £6

Beauty

Harry Potter make up palette Amazon £13.99

Wand make up brushes Amazon £7.99

Hogwarts house bath bomb Amazon £8.99

Butterbeer lip balm Etsy £4

Harry Potter wash bag Primark £5

Stationary

Harry Potter 2019 calendar Tesco £5

Harry Potter notebooks Amazon From £5

Harry Potter stationary set EMP £12.99

The Harry Potter & Fantastic Beasts colouring books, available in most book shops or online on Amazon.

Hogwarts letter writing set Amazon £8.99

Homeware

Harry Potter mugs Primark £5

Harry Potter cushions Primark £4

Harry Potter egg cup & cutter Tesco £5

Christmas

Harry Potter Christmas character decorations (2 pk) Primark £5

Hogwarts house baubles (4 pk) Primark £4

Large glass baubles Primark £5

Other

Niffler Coin purse Amazon £12.98

Harry Potter/Fantastic beasts mini figures Most newsagents £1.99 each, lots to collect.

Magical Miniatures: Bowtruckle Amazon £7.99

Other miniatures are available too.

Fantastic Beasts and where to find them DVD Amazon £7

Mystery pocket Pop! funnko keyrings EMP £6.99

I hope this helps you to make someone’s Christmas magical ⚡

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Blogmas Day 14: DIY Christmas cards.

I love making cards. I’ve been doing it for probably 8 or 9 years now and it’s a hobby that I really enjoy.

Its definatly something I need to make more time for.

I think that it is always lovely to receive something homemade and I love coming up with my own designs and ideas too.

I usually stick to a traditional colour scheme of red, gold and green and I use this as my starting base.

I then like to get some papers that are in this colour scheme.

I then look at the designs on these papers to see what embellishments I need.

My fave places for supplies are:

  • Hobbycraft
  • The Range
  • The Works

I also love Pinterest for ideas and inspo.

Choose your papers wisely and carefully as these will be the base of your cards.

This is the paper I chose…

You can get some great selection pads of paper, for card making. These are great as they have different themed ones and you get lots of variety within that theme that you have chosen.

They are also better value for money than buying lots of single sheets.

Lets take a look at a few that I have made so far.

I like to keep it simple and just accentuate the paper designs with a few nice embellishments.

I always think ‘less is more’ but of course that’s personal preference.

I hope you have found this helpful and it inspires you to give card making a go.

Let me know if you want any more tips or if you make any cards, I’d love to see them!!

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Blogmas Day 12: Our Christmas panto tradition

Every year me and Tim go to the local theatre to see their Rock N Roll Panto. It is always on at Christmas time, running from November through to January.

It has become one of our favourite Christmas traditions together and it is a lot of fun.

The pantos are fantastic, hilarious and the people starring in them are so incredibly talented. They sing, act and play all the instruments throughout the show.

Their audience interaction always makes for a laugh too.

This year the panto went back to its roots, re doing the first show it ever did, Cinderella.

I love this story and it is a panto classic, which didn’t disappoint.

‘It’s time to Shake a Tail Feather and head Downtown to Ipswich Town Hall to meet the Mayor, Baron Hardup! It’s not easy being Mayor, with Prince Charming due in town for a Royal visit and a staff of only two – his beautiful, feisty daughter, Cinderella and the loyal and loveable Buttons. But when his lonely hearts ad is answered by the mysterious Rubella De Zees, who brings along her two dangerous daughters Hernia and Verruca, it seems he’s far more than Three Steps to Heaven. Thankfully, there’s a Fairy Godmother to make sure Cinderella is ready to Rock Around The Clock!’

It was lovely to spend the evening together and have some festive fun at the theatre.

I cant wait to see which show they will perform next year.

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Blogmas Day 11: Five fun, festive arts & crafts activities 🎄

Children love Christmas and they certainly make it even more magical.

I work with children and I have two nephew’s and a niece as well.

I love getting creative and having a bit of fun with them and these ideas are so simple and easy.

These don’t require lots of expensive resources, you might even already have some of the stuff. Plus, you can use some things for more than one of the activities.

Just have a bit of fun 🎄

Lollipop Christmas trees

We stuck our lollipop sticks onto green paper to save having to use a glue gun. If you wanted to make them without the backing a glue gun would be best to stick the lollipop sticks together.

Then you just need to add a stalk, a star on top and decorations.

DIY Christmas cards

These are a super simple and easy idea and are perfect for getting the kiddies involved in the festivities. This is not only fun but saves you a job! Who doesn’t love receiving a homemade card!?! Plus, you can do whatever you like so it’s open to you and your childrebs interpretation.

Cotton wool snowmen

This one requires a little bit of cutting out but after that it is just an assembly job so you could always try and cut out a few bits before hand or, depending on their age, get the kiddies to help you.

Paper chains

This one only needs strips of your chosen colour paper and some cellotape to complete. They look really effective and they make a great decoration once you are done. The kids love seeing their paper chains hanging up.

Cotton wool painting Christmas trees

This one is a little bit messy but good fun and they can get as creative as they like.

You can just use paint or add mini pom poms and glitter to the mix if you want some really jazzy Christmas trees.

These are all lovely, quick and easy ideas for a fun and festive arty session.

Let me know if you try any of them!

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

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