Xmas retail.

[tamimac]

Whats the best way to wrap up products for retail? I ususally use polythene and ribbons withglitter/pot pourri/ choccies inside. This year I wanted to try clear pvc bags or baskets or something that can be used afterwards. What do u geeks think? What do u use?

 

[avivajoy]

You could use little baskets with pretty shredded paper inside and put in a scented tea light, shells, little dried plant things, slices of dried orange/apple/lemon. You could take a slice of the dried fruit and 1 or 2 peices of cinamon stick, a ribbon (gold/siver etc) and tie it all together (use a bit of wire first to get it ot stay together and then use the ribbon more as a decorative item than practical) adn spray it with a hint of glitter (or if youve got a glitter nail varnish youre not keen on, use that). YOu could make a sort of xmas ornament thing to put on the package as decoration which can be taken off and put on the tree. Buy xmassy shapes or make your own (cardboard, salt dough, clay, copper foil etc), decorate (nb glitter again) put a peice of ribbon on them and with another peice of ribbon tie it onto the parcel. Good luck and have fun but dont drive yourself insane with it (like I usually do!)

 

[Sassy Hassy]

I use a lot of florist suppliers to get my stuff, wicker baskets, celophane, ribbons, padded boxes, tissue paper etc. I put some of that confetti you can get for cards now and some choccies to make it more christmasy. Does anyone have a recipe for drying orange slices? I had one and I've lost it, but it must be cheaper to make your own like you say Avivajoy, and add some cinnamon sticks, would look great with some Scentsations in a basket wrapper in celophane.

 

[avivajoy]

I found this link which explains things better than I could
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/dc_furnishings_other/article/0,1793,HGTV_3433_1382384,00.html
xx

 

[Sassy Hassy]

Oh cheers, I guess the temp is in fahrenheit as 200 degrees for 2 to 8 hours at centigrade would burn them to a crisp. Wow I can't wait to have a go, I know what I'll be doing on my days off now, I love doing stuff like that!

 

[tamimac]

OOOOOhhhh! yummy, Im off to the florist on monday, definately gonna have a shot at this. Can see it now... I used to make handmade decorations , so Im going to ransack my old folders and craft box and have fun. thanks geeks, any more ideas?

 

[tamimac]

Update. I went to a car boot sale today and found two really nice baskets and some gorgeous beaded organza bags. all new. also a bag of shredded iridesent(?) tissue, some sparkly pebbles and some lovely hand blown glass xmas decs - again new. Im going to have fun tomorrow putting it all together. Who would have thought all of that at a car boot. and it cost me less than a fiver for it all. Maybe its cheating but, it will look lovely.

 

[Sassy Hassy]

Just bought my oranges, lemons and limes ready to dry, and my cinamon sticks, so I'll let you know how I get on.

 

[tamimac]

Just bought my oranges, lemons and limes ready to dry, and my cinamon sticks, so I'll let you know how I get on.

Yep, doing some of those as well tomorrow. we used to do those differently years ago in south africa. Get a tub, empty a cellar of salt into it, lay out the orange slices, cover with another very thick layer of salt and leave for a week. only thing is, the never used to smell very orangy. (But I always burn them in the oven.) will have another try with the oven. I am really enjoying this.

 

[dee]

on that link it says you need a dehydrator , without sounding like a div what is one of these i have never heard of em ,
i was gonna just put em in oven to dry out but maybe this is wrong
any help would be great !!! cheers

 

[avivajoy]

on that link it says you need a dehydrator , without sounding like a div what is one of these i have never heard of em ,
i was gonna just put em in oven to dry out but maybe this is wrong
any help would be great !!! cheers

forget the dehydrator thingy. If you read the instructions PROPERLY then you will see that you can also bung them in the oven at 200 degrees for 2-5 or 8 hours I think. Put it this way, if theyre soggy, not in long enough, if theyre small, black and smoking, start again! Another xmassy thing Ive done is get whole oranges or tangarines and stick cloves in them, leaving space for a ribbon, you put the ribbon on in a way that divides the orange/whatever into quaters (you leave the space for the ribbon when you are putting the cloves in) wrap 1 ribbon around and fix with a pin and then wrap the other ribbon around and tie in a knot on top of the whatever/orange and make a look to hang it up with. Then leave it in a warm dark place and it will dry out, smell nice and look really fabbo. It looks gorgeous with gold ribbon. xx

 

[Sassy Hassy]

My citrus bits are being done!! Fingers crossed I don't frazzle them!

 

[scattyfox]

Hi sassy

how did they go and did you dehydrate them? I want to give it a go now lol
x

 

[Sassy Hassy]

They're still in the oven, they may have to come out for a bit so I can get my baking done! I think I cut the oranges a bit too thick, I was worried they'd dehydrate so much they'd end up looking like crisps!

 

[Sassy Hassy]

I've put some pics in my gallery of some of my retail stuff - sorry I'm not going to win photographer of the year so hope you can see them okay!

 

[scattyfox]

Thanks hun much appreciated you have given me some good xmas ideas now and as its half term and im home i can see a bake up happening as well, sure olly will enjoy it even though he cant eat the bits, looks like i need to go back to the factory shop for some boxes now lol.
x

 

[kateyork1]

I've put some pics in my gallery of some of my retail stuff - sorry I'm not going to win photographer of the year so hope you can see them okay!

They look great hun. What is 200 degrees on a normal electric oven? - I know I'm thick but don't do temp conversions (should know - I was an analytical chemist before this!).

 

[Sassy Hassy]

I did it on my lowest temp which was about 100 degrees. Getting the thickness is key, have a look at Avivajoy's link. I also turned them a couple of times to allow them to "cook" evenly. Make sure you have them on a shelf, I put one of my trays on the bottom of the oven, and I have black lemon slices!!!

 

[tamimac]

Hey Sassy
had abash at making my baskets up today and they turned out great. I got the contents all together and my local florist cellophaned them for me and added really nice bows and gift cards???? for the price of a mani. She was there for aaages as well and now we have a deal... shell help me out every so often for a mani. not bad considering shes saved me a fortune in cellophane ect. Shes given me loads of ideas for valentines....