Christmas tips

gma........lor, you've reminded me of my ex-MIL she cooked everything either in a really ancient pressure cooker of a chip pan, if it didn't go in one it went in the other!!!

Just had the chance this year to do all my own baking . The cakes ready with a half bottle of Brandy in it just needs to be iced. Sausage rolls, cupcakes, pies for the Boxing Day party in the freezer.Just the mince pies and quiches to do in the next few weeks.Hope the freezer will be able to take the strain.
At least I know what's gone into everything .

Can I please reincarnate this thread and go off in a different direction asking fellow GNetters if they tip bin men, postmen, milkmen etc and if so what is now considered to be the "going rate"

No, never see my binmen, and the postman is different every couple of weeks. Long ago, we always had the cost of a pint each for the gang of binmen or the postman ready by the front door if they should knock. We put it in an envelope with their Christmas card.

My milkman would get a tip if he put the plastic container I leave out every day on the milk bottle to stop the birds pecking the top off. He doesn't so he doesn't. Don't know the binmen and, as they've taking to inspecting our bins weekly in case we've put something wrong in them they wouldn't get a tip..although it's a thankless task and I'm sure they feel bad about doing it. But my posties get £5 each because they're the best posties in the world and they really go out of their way to be helpful.

If I can catch my postie I will certainly give him a Christmas box. If I am out, he always leaves my mail where I want him to leave it and has taken to coming to the back door because he knows I'll be in the back of the house at breakfast time. Best postie I've ever had.

Postie and binmen can share special offer on bottles of wine 3 for £10.00 one bottle for each of them and the odd bottle for my wine rack !! sorted.

No I don't tip binmen [they come at 5.45 in the morning one week and around lunchtime the next] because it's never the same crew. Same with the postman - they change with the wind and never come at the same time. I don't tip my hairdresser during the year but give her a small sum with a Christmas card on my last visit before Christmas. No, the only people I tip are taxi drivers - when I use them and occasionally in a restaurant for good service or when I'm with a crowd and we decide to include a tip. My mother always tipped everyone including the paper boy. Those were the days!! Noone tips me either!

Our wee postie is a gem. He never lets us down with deliveries of parcels etc, leaving them in a pre-arranged place, or letting his colleagues know where to leave things for us if he's not going to be around. So, Jockie gets a tenner in his card from us at Christmas. The binmen are 4 to a lorry so they get a 4-pack of beer because they're not always the same crew all the time. They're the only ones, really. My hairdresser has her own business, and she does my hair, so I don't normally tip her, but at Christmas, if I have an appointment just before, I give her a wee bit more and tell her to buy her little girls some sweets!