A proper homemade Christmas!

I was given this gift for Christmas by my brother-in-law and I think it's the nicest present I received. He made it himself from an old fallen willow tree in their garden.

He commutes to London everyday - a 3 hour round trip on the train with a car trip to the station and a long walk or tube hop at the other end. He also has a pretty pressured job. The fact that he took the trouble to hole up in his shed with his tools and varnish to make this for me makes it a very special present indeed.

I asked on our facebook page who had been given handmade gifts and there was quite a response - although it seems more people made them than received them. Those who were lucky enough to be recipients of some homemade largesse certainly seemed to appreciate it. Here are some of the ideas:

• A little Christmas bag with sweets and a tiny bottle of wine and home made mince pies. Brilliant!
• Home made mince pies, gingerbread men and bath stuff. Lovely!
• Vodka infused with Indian spices & bottled beautifully.
• 2 jars of chutney...well done sis!
• My stepdaughter bought a plain T-shirt for me and hand painted a beautiful kingfisher on it! Lovely.
• My teenage son and daughter made myself and their dad promise books. One promise a month e.g our son promised that he would help his dad on the allotment in june and our daughter promised to cook all the meals for us (each weekend) through feb. So I'm a very lucky mum as I now have 24 different promises from my kids.
• My friend Fiona knits ipod covers and I received one in a lovely mixed blue cotton.
• My sister knitted me a lovely necklace, I crocheted her a scarf.
• I got THE NEATEST pillow and stitch markers from friends.
• Received fab earrings and made bath bombs, sachets and lavender pillows.

I used to be a bit embarassed about giving homemade gifts - would people think me a cheapskate? Being on the receiving end made me look at it very differently.

Why Kirstie missed the point with her Homemade Christmas

Some insights into the psychology of gift giving

Clare Flynn

Make your own summer soft drinks

The hot weather we're enjoying at the moment in the UK is just begging for long cool drinks in the garden, but that doesn’t have to mean long bills from the supermarket as you purchase increasing quantities of what are, more or less, bottles of flavoured coloured water.

Home made soft drinks, on the other hand, are far tastier and cheaper. Here are just a few great soft drink ideas that we found searching through the blogs and websites that we rate (plus one of our own). We’ll be offering a wider selection of soft drink links on our new website, which will launch later this summer. More about that soon.

Ginger beer – we'd completely forgotten about this almost lost craft, until we came across a great step by step guide to ginger beer making from Simple Green Frugal a writers' cooperative for sustainable living.

>> Ginger beer from Simple Green Frugal

Iced tea - we're also grateful to the Stocking the Larder blog for reminding us about iced tea. Any tea you can make hot you can make cold. You may want to brew the tea in a little hot water first before topping up with cold and popping the glasses in the fridge.

Experiment with flavours by adding lemon and orange slices, spices such as cinnamon and cloves, or herbs like mint. Tip Fresh green herbs like mint, which can bruise and go soggy, are best added just before serving.

>> Stocking the Larder on iced teas

Sherbets – The Victorians used to make sherbets, which involved mixing flavourings with ground sugar. This mixture could then be dried and stored.

We’ve also been exprimenting with making up small quantities of the mixture and then storing this moist in the fridge, for fresher flavours. Try pounding castor sugar with a combination of fresh mint, lemon and orange zest. This mixture is then diluted with iced water. (You can also use it to flavour a standard iced tea.)

Anne