I am sooo cheap. I love the edible arrangement idea, but just can't afford it.
BUT I have a football shaped queso bowl from RoTel. We are going to dip our own strawberries in chocolate and arrange them.
I will do a separate arrangement with apples cut into shapes, maybe bananas, cherries and other fruit thank you can eat. If he eats the strawberries he will be in trouble. But he says they taste yucky to him (natural defense against allergies?)
Anyway, we have a yard full of pecans, and so do my parents. WE are going to have them professionaly cracked by someone who has a machine that cracks them and blows over 90% ofthe shells out.
I will then candy some of them, spice some and make gift tins.
We will send HUGE containers of shelled pecans to my relatives, simply because we have them and they do not.
Then we get back HUGE containers of cookies and treats. YUM all the way around.
I just cooked the steaks we got from ShareColorado. They were really good. It is the cheap food place I posted a while ago.
http://www.sharecolorado.com You can even order online and send them, if someone will pick them up.
The spiral sliced ham works out to about $2/pound and one flyer said it was a major national brand. So, that is our Christmas.
Thanksgiving will be low stress make-ahead stuff like Turkeybreast in the crock pot, potato salad,cheese tray, etc...
Unless my bro decides he has to have a big fancy dinner. Then it will be stress and 2 hours late. At least it is not a 3 hour tour.
These food sites are great! I love the ideas. I think I will make some jumbo caramel apples for husband's coworkers. They look pretty and are not hard to make.
I may even make some toffee covered caramel corn and drizzle it with chocolate, a la Dave and Tom's.
(If you haven't tried Dave and Thomas popcorn, it is yummy. You can order a sample (2 smaller bags) for the cost of shipping. Then, they send you a coupon code for $6 or something like that. (cost of the shipping, use on your next order.)
IF you ask for the free $20 gift code BEFORE you order the popcorn it will come in the email. Then order the free sample and pay for the shipping on that. you can then order the 6 flavor Sampler ($28) and use your gift certificate ($20) and the coupon code ($6 I think). Then add shipping andit ends up being rather inexpensive for high end gifty popcorn. We have wrapped several bags for thank you to give as gifts.
ALWAYS check for coupon codes and promo codes before you order. I usually google and yahoo search for them.
http://www.gottadeal.com usually has most of them.
Susie