Some bunnies to love

EASTER can be crazily expensive. Cost-cutting tips can be a godsend. So can you save a bit of money with a homemade chocolate bunny? MIKE WARD felt certain he could...

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STANDING here at the till in Hobbycraft, I already know I've messed this project up.

The nice lady behind the counter is just confirming it. "That'll be £23.80 please," she tells me with a cheery smile. "Would you like a bag?"

"A bag?" I'm thinking. "Er, yeah, I guess so. But mostly I'd like a slap in the face for having been such an idiot."

Twenty-three flipping 80. Good God. That means I've already gone about nine million times over budget. And I still haven't bought the actual chocolate. Embarrassing or what?

This was meant to be a demonstration of how to do something special on the cheap. Specifically, how to make a cute chocolate bunny for Easter, without spending silly money. That was how I'd sold the idea to Meg, our Features Editor. The bunnies in the shops are ridiculously overpriced, I'd pointed out. I could easily make one of my own for a fraction of the cost, inspire our readers to do likewise.

However, I realise all is not yet lost. There are two vital points I'll still be able to prove.

The first is that making your own chocolate bunny, while maybe not as cheap an exercise as I'd imagined, is still great fun.