#Blogmas 4: Friday Favourites

Today I am going to share with you my top 4 favourite Christmas films. The weekend is the one where I am finishing off my Christmas shopping and curling up to one of my favourite movies with snacks and hot chocolate. So here it is...

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My favourite film of all time, is of course ELF!

This is a favourite of the nation and I'm not surprised. It's full of Christmas charm, wit and love! It carries a special Christmas message and makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I also love how funny it is. Will Ferrell plays Buddy the Elf so well, I almost feel this is his alter ego for real. If you haven't seen it yet, download it now or buy the DVD as its one you are going to want to treasure forever!

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Number 2 on my list has to be 'A Puppets Christmas Carol'

This is a film I watched every year when I was a kid for as long as I can remember. It always seems to be showing on the TV during December and so I try not to miss it. I didn't get to watch it last year which stupidly upset me, so it is time to buy the DVD. Not sure why I haven't purchased it already to be honest.

It is a great alternative to the classic Christmas Carol and Scrooge films you might have seen. A story about a selfish man at Christmas who gets taken back to his past when he was a much nicer person, to the present day where he can see all the misery he has caused and finally, what will happen in the future. This leads to a massive change in personality for Scrooge and it ends on a happy note. This is a feel good family film with the addition of the well known puppets such as Kermit included to make it a little bit more fun.

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Number 3 is The Grinch

This is a great movie! Very much a family movie with yet another message similar to Muppets Christmas Carol. This is a story about a grinch who doesn't like Christmas as he is green and used to get bullied when he was little. His first love let him down and so it turned his heart dark, which led him to being very lonely with no one else but his dog. Cindy Lou is a sweet girl and loves Christmas more than anyone. She is the only one who isn't scared of the Grinch and through the film, warms his heart through a series of events. Its a happy ending where 'Who Town' where they all live is a much happier place. The sing, dance and enjoy the festivities together.

Jim Carey plays the Grinch in this, he is one of my favourite actors as I love his stupid ways. He plays the role to perfection so much so I don't think the film would be the same without him. Make sure this is on your christmas film list this year.

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Number 4 is Love Actually.

Its a feel good romantic comedy about love at Christmas. Through the film you watch peoples lives change for better or worse in love and friendship. You follow along a few stories at a time, which confused me the first time I watched it, but once you get the hang of it and figure out who everyone is, its a delight to watch. It has a lot of famous faces in it from Keira Knightly to Liam Neeson so you know its going to be good before you watch it. A few tears will fall and laughter laughed but its the ending which leaves a smile on your face.

I hope you liked reading about my top 4 Christmas films this year. There are still a few I have never seen like Arthur Christmas which I need to add to my watch list so I have a lot of snacking and hot chocolate making to do.

Leave your top 3 down below as I would love to add some more to my list this year.
Until tomorrow

Love Khrissie x

Blogmas Stocking Filler: Mello Mallo #Khristmas

Happy Sunday! The time has come where preparations for Christmas get underway and what a better place to start than stocking fillers? These are the gifts you can buy friends or family to open which are little presents to open before the main present. Now this year I am having a big family christmas and there are a lot of people to buy for but although money can be tight, you can still give gifts which are meaningful and cost a fraction of the price.

Here are some marshmallows* and a couple of hot chocolate sticks* from a new start up company called Mello Mallo who hand make these tasty mellos in a small town called Bedfordshire. This started with a 'desire to spread happiness through the love of taste-tingling treats', and I can tell you they definitely do that! Here are some of the flavours that Laura (the chief Mallo maker) sells on her website here.

Now when I received these in the post I was so excited! Especially as there was raspberry and white chocolate, orange chocolate and a white chocolate stick! My favourite! You can enjoy these on their own as a cheeky snack or add them to a hot chocolate using the sticks. What a perfect idea!

All you do is fill up a cup of milk of your choice, pop it in the microwave for a few minutes or heat it up on the stove until hot. Add in your stick and swirl it around until all the chocolate has melted off the stick! How delicious does this look?

Once melted you can enjoy it on its own or pop in some marshmallows for some extra flavour. I melted the white hot chocolate stick and paired it with the white chocolate and raspberry mallows. It was so delicious and something I would love to enjoy on the morning of christmas when everyone is waking up and getting excited about the day.

Here you have it! A perfect treat for any of the family to enjoy! They are home made with simple ingredients, gluten free and best of all, they are so moreish! So 'take a moment to Mello out, you deserve it!'

You can buy different sets on the Mallo store with lots of other flavours available including some new festive flavours! You can purchase these little bags of mallos (4 per pack) for only £2 each or 3 packs for £5! The stirrers are only £1.50. A wonderful affordable treat that will surprise anyone when opening their stocking on Christmas morning! I know I want to get some for sure. You can check out the store here. Thank you Laura for sending me some to try, I can tell they are going to go down great with all my friends and family!

Here is my first Christmas post! I'm so excited!
If you would like to see more posts where I share affordable stocking and gift ideas as well as DIY decorations then leave me a comment below and I will get straight onto it.

I will be using the #khristmas, as I feel I have a fortunate name that I just have to use it so I will be creating a chat throughout December where we can talk everything Christmas..woo! Keep an eye out on my twitter.

Love
Khrissie x

Quick & Easy Halloween Snacks

Happy pre-halloween everyone! Only a few days away and I was itching to get into the spirit and I love things like this. I normally bake and decorate with my sister but as we are miles apart I thought I would do it on my own and show you guys.

Seeing as there are not many days left until the day has graced us I thought I would create a couple of tasty snacks which are nice, easy and cheap for you all! To begin with I have some marshmallow pops for all of you. Its a super simple recipe and oh my! they are super tasty.

What you will need is: A pack of Marshmallows / A bar or two of white chocolate / Green & Red food colouring / Bamboo sticks or straws / Coloured tubes of icing / Hot chocolate sachets / White chocolate buttons / Popcorn / Eyeball sweets

Extras: Plastic cauldron / Spider / Table cloth

Step 1: Melt a bar of white chocolate in a bowl above a pan of boiling water

Step 2: Add in a drops of green food colouring into the melted chocolate until you have reached your desired colour

Step 3: To make eyeballs add a dot of the green chocolate on top of the marshmallow. Add on a white chocolate button then decorate with the icing pens, creating two circles to make the pupil. For the ghost all you need to do is add three dots of black to create a scared face.

Step 4: To make a Frankenstein pop you need to put the marshmallow on one of the sticks to make it easier to cover it with chocolate. Use a blunt knife and once covered in a even consistency of chocolate you smooth around the edges to help stop it dripping and to give the pop a neater edge. Repeat this step until all the marshmallows are covered and set them in a glass and pop it into the fridge for 10 minutes.

Step 5: Once the chocolate on the pops has set you can now decorate them how you like. Add to dots for eyes. A straight line or a zig zag for the mouth. Some lines for hair and some bolts on the side of the head, not forgetting the scar on the side of his head. Get your friends and family to join in too as it can be a lot of fun, and quite funny to see the finished results.

Step 6: You can either decorate the bottom of a jar with some Halloween sprinkles or you can make a 'Bloody Popcorn Cauldron' to go with it. To make this all you need to do is melt the other bar of white chocolate, add in some red food colouring to make it look like blood, then mix it into some salty popcorn to make it look all gross. I found some eyeball sweets which I used as hidden treats in the popcorn and worked really well. Then just add the mixture into the cauldron for the full effect and there you have a great it! A spooky centre piece for your table at Halloween! oooooooh!

Cauldron, Table cloth and Spider are from Poundland

If you are feeling a bit chilly on Halloween evening you can actually add the marshmallows into a hot chocolate for a quick tasty winter warmer. All the colours will mix and will add to the gruesome effect of old hallows eve!

I hope you liked some of my quick and easy ideas for some Halloween snacks. If you have any please let me know as I'd love to try them out. I have some cupcakes and biscuits coming later in the week so keep and eye out for some more creepy cooking tips coming your way....

Love
Khrissie xx