Spice Up Christmas with Top Tips from the Confused.com Team

Publication Date: Thursday, December 06, 2007

The Confused.com team were told that Santa wouldn’t be visiting them this year unless they could tell you some great ways to spice up the silly season. They’ve come up with some ace tips – but can you do better? If so, you could win a prop featured on a Confused.com advert – as seen on TV!. But first, let’s see what useful gift-wrapped pieces of advice the Confused.com team came up with:

Make your own decorations!

Sarah Crandon has some decorative tips to pass on – mainly revolving around oranges. “Slice up an orange, and put the slices in the oven at a really low temperature, like eighty degrees. Then bake them for ages, and the corners start to caramelise, but they keep their colour. Then if you thread some string through them, they make very pretty decorations for the tree.

“Sticks of cinnamon with ribbons tied round the middle are very nice too. You can use a glue-gun to stick three pieces of cinnamon together like a triangle, and then tie the ribbon around the triangle’s peak and dangle them from the tree. A glue gun is definitely the way forward here. Don’t try and tie the sticks of cinnamon together, believe me!

“Also find a tough-skinned orange, and drive cloves through the peel. Wrap it up in something like a brown paper bag, and keep it in your airing cupboard from the start of December. Then take it out at Christmas. It will have dried, and it will make your room smell festive and lush.”

Warm your cockles!

Owe Carter has a brill tip for making mulled wine. “Use a slow-cooker for keeping your mulled wine at the right temperature,” he enthuses. “If you do it on the hob, you risk boiling it if you leave it on for too long, and then the alcohol evaporates and the taste sours. But leaving it off for too long will cause it to cool quite quickly, and it’s much nicer at the temperature you might drink a cup of tea. So there’s a lot of to-ing and fro-ing involved. Leaving it in a slow-cooker on a low setting means it’s constantly at the right temperature.”

If you’re making your own mulled wine, here’s what you need:

• A box (or five) of wine.
• Orange juice, and maybe juice squeezed from a lemon to taste. This is preferable to using actual fruit, as slices of fruit will soak up the wine when heated, and – unless you plan to eat all of the fruit – this is slightly wasteful.
• Sugar or honey. A little of this is essential, otherwise the mulled wine can end up very sour.
• Mulling spices. You can either buy ready-made spice mixes, or make your own using your favoured selection of the following – cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, lemon rind – and put it in a pouch of muslin tied up with string. The proportions can be tinkered with to taste.
• Also, the mix can be pepped up with a spirit or liqueur of your choice. Brandy, cherry brandy, Cointreau or rum are all ideal for this.

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Curry your pudding!

Sarah Baldwin has a somewhat unusual suggestion for making Christmas pud. The curried plum pudding was invented when Sarah accidentally put masala mixed spice instead of allspice. This fortuitous error was only revealed upon tucking into the pudding. “It wasn’t just alright – it tasted nice! And it definitely had a kick to it. I should make it again this year.”

Sarah’s curried Christmas pud can be enjoyed with cream, brandy sauce or mango chutney.

And there’s more...

Heledd Jones implores “Do all your shopping in the last few days leading up to Christmas... Most of the shops will have started their sales by then, so all the gift sets etc will be reduced!”

According to Steven Williams “My top tip is to never look disappointed with any of your presents. I got a rather rubbish present and decided just to put it to one side... BIG MISTAKE. Afterwards I didn't get half what I did the year before. So even if you don't like your presents make the effort to give it a thorough look over and try lines such as 'I'd never have thought of buying that for myself... Thanks!'”

Hywel Bromby suggests “Take your mother, aunt or grandmother individually to one side and casually comment that their mince pies are not as good as one another's. Then suggest a mince pie contest to see whose are best - this will result in 3 times as many pies!” Although do bear in mind that it is still illegal to eat mince pies on Christmas day, and we at Confused.com do not advocate breaking the law!

Paula Oldham reminds us never to put the Christmas tree next to the radiator, and then hang chocolate decorations from the branches. Good call!

According to Gareth Kloet “Avoid overdoing it during the Christmas period. Use a timer for your Christmas light and set them to come on at 6am and off at 2.30am. If you see them off, you’re overdoing it! Those with children should adjust start times. Those without children should adjust end times!

“Also, buy yourself something you really want and ask a friend to wrap it and throw it under your tree. You will have at least one present you want, and it will be a complete surprise thanks to the wrapping skills of your friend!”

In the humbug corner, Greg Steel recommends avoiding arguments with the family by not inviting them round. Christina Dunlop takes it a step further by suggesting you fall out with all of your family just before Christmas, hence removing the need to buy them all presents. Ho ho ho!

Although Christina steps back out of the corner to impart one final gem. “Glue your baubles, tinsel and whatnot to your tree, thus preventing destruction by marauding children/animals, and saving the effort of getting it 'just-so' every year. Obviously only for use on artificial trees!”

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