A single Edinburgh council floristry night class a few years ago sparked a woman’s wreath and Christmas cracker production for MDUK.
Edinburgh festive fundraiser, Gillian Beaton, is aunt to Georgie, who has LMNA CMD, a rare form of congenital muscular dystrophy. In the last four years, Gillian has raised over £2,500 by making, selling and teaching others how to make Christmas wreaths and crackers.
She’s done this all for her brother’s family fund, known as Georgie’s Genes. Georgie's Genes | Muscular Dystrophy UK
“Everyone wants a more sustainable Christmas and crackers are such a waste, in terms of the plastic gifts and metallic paper.
“My crackers use empty cardboard loo roll-holders as the basis for stylish crackers, and I use twig bases for the wreaths.
“For the crackers, I buy brown paper wrapping, red and white string, and small wooden Christmassy items. We make Scottish tablet (a Scottish sweet fudge) to go inside, wrapped in baking paper. We also print out jokes to go inside them. I charge £10 for six crackers and £2 for any additional crackers.
“It is not a family tradition or anything – I was just inspired by the class I went to. It went from there. I did one virtual wreath-making class during the pandemic, but mostly I sell my packs for others to make wreaths and crackers.”
Gillian’s top tips for festive wreaths:
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buy online or make dry orange segments
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search for cinnamon sticks in Asian supermarkets or in the foreign food aisle at the supermarket
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buy floral wire
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tell all your friends about it on Facebook, and your other social media channels.