How to do Christmas on the 'cheap' when you're a struggling DFW thread

petrafyde

Hi Painted Lady,

Would it be really cheeky to ask your recipe for xmas cake? I know there are loads on the internet, but I'd really enjoy making the fruit base myself

petrafyde

Good Morning!

Another thing I do do, which I hadn't thought of money saving but DOES take them a lot longer, is to put their main present (if it's small) is in separately wrapped boxes one inside the other - I just use boxes other things have come out of and try to wrap 'creatively'. It takes them a good few minutes to unwrap it all and they've no idea what it could be by having a sly poke/squeeze before opening!

petrafyde

bumpitty bump!

SC01

Luckily my family is small so I don't have to worry too much about presents - not that we do anyway! We're very much a 'presents as and when you need/want them' family so for example this year, my mum won't have anything to open from me but that's because I'm treating her to a weekend in London for her birthday in March (all done as cheaply as possible!!). We both chip in along with my uncle towards a hamper for my grandparents and DD gets LOTS of books and silly little things. She gets things throughout the year so there's no special emphasis on Christmas - I'm quite against it really!

When it comes to Christmas generally, my mum and I co-host either at mine or hers and just get buffet food which is always on special offer in the run up to Christmas and split the cost. We can have roast any day of the week so don't get why we should go to the expense!

Look forward to seeing others ideas though!

Bambywamby

Christmas is a very expensive time of the year...if you let it be.
Last year was the first time I didn't spend hundreds on the event and I enjoyed it more than ever...it felt like a very nostalgic, traditional Christmas.

Festive Stuff - We went to a wonderful carol concert at our local church, it was so festive, with a gorgeous tree, children singing and mince pies with hot coffee afterwards, it was totally free. (However we did give to the collection box at the end.)
*Before lunch we had a christmas day walk, we all worked up an appetite and enjoyed watching the children out on their new bikes, everybody we passed was in such a good mood wishing us happy christmas, bundling gifts into their cars as they went visiting, it had such a special feel about it.
*We walked to deliver presents and cards when we could, it saved on petrol and meant we could have a cheeky christmas bevvy whilst there.
*When A Christmas Carol and the Nightmare Before Christmas came on Tv, we turned the lights off, lit candles and settled down with popcorn and mulled wine for a Christmassy cinema experience.
*We took a hamper of pet food and doggy treats to our local RSPCA, not strictly money saving but it gives you a warm feeling helping a charity.
*We had a News Years Eve party, and it was bring a bottle and a dish. Family & friends provided the food and booze, we provided the music, the warm house and the cleaning up the next day. A good time was had by all.

Food - Nobody likes turkey in our family, so for Christmas day we had a huge gammon joint with white sauce. It tasted gorgeous and there was plenty left for the next few days for ham and pickle salads, sandwichs, quiches and ham and eggs (yum).
*I bought a cheap xmas pud and added my own booze.
*I bought nuts that had already had their shells removed, they are cheaper than nuts in shells and you don't make a mess cracking them open.
*I made lots homemade mince pies, kept some in the freezer for over Christmas and put the others in a pretty Xmas tin and took them around the family on Christmas eve.
*Instead of spending a fortune on Xmas booze, we bought cheap, nasty red wine (£1.49 from Lidls) added spices and sugar, warmed it up and voila gorgeous mulled wine for cold, winter nights.
*We bought a very tasty sparkling Italian wine called Moscato rather than having champers on Xmas day, it was just as yummy and only £4 a bottle.
*We didn't bother buying loads of sweet stuff and chocolates as the kids get that much stuff off other people, that by Boxing day everybody is fed up of rich stuff and just eating chocolate for the sake of it.
*A cheap, but really yummy pudd we had on Boxing day was tinned peaches (smartprice 12p a tin), heated up, a drizel of brandy and serve with vanilla icecream.


Gifts - *I bought two tins of Cadburys Roses, they were buy one get one fee. I saved one tin for a present and the other I used to fill little net bundles that I made to pop in the top of stockings. I used some red net fabric (bought for £1 from a sewing shop), cut it into squares, put a few choccies in the centre, bundled them up and then tied the top with thin green ribbon (saved from an old jumper earlier in the year.)
*I made some gorgeous onion chutney and satsuma marmalade in jars in September and then drew holly leaves around the name labels for Christmas gifts.
*I started looking for bargain presents (buy one get one frees, three for twos etc) as early as July, so I wrote my Christmas list in July so I didn't buy too much or things that were unsuitable.
*Any unwanted Xmas/birthday gifts from the previous year were recycled.
*I had a photograph of my son (in his prom tuxedo) laminated and then I stuck a little plain calendar at the bottom as a stocking filler for my mum. She loved it and it only cost me £1 all together. (My local library laminates an A4 size piece of paper for 50pence).
*I made a couple of toiletry hampers, using all pink toiletries for my sisters and all black for my brother. I covered the hampers in pink and black net fabric, again purchased from my local habadashary.
*Check Freecycle for possible gifts, pound shops, car boots and even your local classifieds.

Odds & Sods - I bought cheap and nasty crackers (12 for £1.99), carefully opened them, removed the rubbish inside and added my own personalised gifts, jokes that we considered hilarious, and little messages of love and positivity for the new year.
*I made a homemade wreath and table decorations from holly out of the garden and an old oasis or two.
*Christmas cards bought at 20 pence a packet in January and the previous years cards made into gift tags.
*Any christmas gift bags & ribbons were saved from the previous year to be recycled.

That's all I can think of at the mo. :rotfl: