Great "How to have a cheap Xmas if you've kids" Hunt

jackomdj

arthur_dent wrote: »

What site was this and what was the code, please?

Not alowed to post codes here BUT here is a link to the thread I got the info from!
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1285869

I ordered 2 of the new barbies which I have been looking for. They are on sale at about £19 in a few places. £22 on this site but after all my discounts less than £18 for both with an extra present thrown in too!!!:T

HTH
Nicky

inamess200

I have 3 children aged 3 8 and 11. Because we had our light bulb moment over the level of our debt presents have now been quite low key the last three years. We have alwasys told our children that presents come from Santa and mum and dad buy the food and presents for friends. When it comes to writing the santa letters they are allowed to pick 6 things from the various catalogues but santa then chooses 3 from the list as not every child can have everything they want and its not fair to the rest of the children if some have more than others!! Its worked - my 11 year old no longer believes but has still produced a list of 6 items - most expensive being £10 and said she will be happy with 3 items ( bless) even my 8 year old who does believe (well says she does ) has just done a second letter that removed the £50 polar bear she wanted and just put please can I have 'surprises' as her comment to me was - I don't really need anything do i mum? (we don;t have alot so i thought this was so lovely!) My 3 year old has talked of nothing but the Tower of Doom for months ( egged on by his sisters) and even that was reduced by a third last week in the elc - so I am really pleased.

Luckily I've been saving and so have about £100 each to spend so i think they will be pleased come 25th Dec especially as this year it is seeming to stretch as I find alot of offers on here.

solongmarianne

the key to christmas is planning well ahead of time and budgeting, simple
I start buying gifts about june time from primark wilkinson poundland etc etc.
I do not buy for adult family members as there are too many of them!!

I have a 12 yr old daughter and have managed to get her some nice presents for under £50 , I bought a big hannah montana box £2 and filled it with art stuff (she is MAD on anything arty) some hsm perfume which actually smells nice!!! a hsm cd reduced to £4 novelty socks and a ds lite game she wanted reduced to a tenner, also two dvds that she had mentioned, I got these off of ebay for a total of £5 . I bought all of this since june so it hasnt hurt my purse too much along with the other childrens presents .

you will also never catch me up the high street rummaging and stressing over presents I cant find / afford , did it once 10 years ago, learnt my lesson NEVER AGAIN!!!!!

we all know when christmas is, it doesnt just creep up on us, so plan plan plan lol. end.:p

dobbie82

My son's list is:

"A Bike and a Football, and a little bike and a little football for my little brother"

Which I thought wasnt bad till i realised kids bikes are about £60!! adult ones can be had for £70 so dont know how that works.

got the little one a lttle triike for £9 from argos so not too bad, on the look out for a bargain bike now :-)

Have been expaining over the past few weeks that things cost a lot of pennies, he's only 3 (almost 4) so this is probably the first xmas that he'll actually know what its about anyway.

In previous years we have always bought too much and suffered after. This year we are taking advantage of "t.he d0eal of the day" on many sites and the pre xmas sales and so we should be ok.

dobbie82

Also a couple ofthings I ahve bought have been from ebay, used but you'd never know.

Kids, especially youngish ones, wont even realise (nor care) that the gift is second hand, so dont feel any guilt for getting things from eBay/Charity shops etc. Ebay is great for Cheap recent release dvds.

One year when I was little (about 18 years ago lol) my mum knitted me a doll, and knitted some outfits to go with it, made me a jumper etc, my grandfather made my brother a wooden truck, then we had colouring books, few crayons etc. We were pleased with our toys.

I did feel bad that as I got older and started nagging for the latest Barbie set etc, that it must have been terribly hard for my parents. Sadly my mum passed away before I was old enough to know what its like running a house and keeping kids so I couldnt thank her.

OK I AM SOOOOO rambling now.

Anyways, Happy Christmas Everyone!

Susan_Frost

I'd just like to say well done to INAMESS200. You seem to have kept the budget under control and be bringing up thoughtful kids without stressing them out about money. Good luck to you. Have a lovely Christmas.

Susan_Frost

My sister is doing her best by her kids, but has certainly not the money to spend on relatively expensive things. I'm in a better position financially these days. Her DD aged 12 is desperate for something "named", preferably NIKE as she likes sporty clothes. So I said I'll buy her a "named" present for Christmas for up to £20. OK, it won't be top range NIKE trainers, probably some sort of top. It may be a vest, a T-shirt, or whatever. I dont know what's what pricewise. But whereas my sister would agonise that she could get half a dozen from Asda for the same money (nothing wrong with that, I get stuff there too, depending) I am not going to worry about it.

My neice will get something she really wants, will probably never have it off her back and .... it's Christmas so miracals may happen .... it may not get left on the bedroom floor !!!!!!

Happy Christmas folks

jellyhead

dobbie - I don't know what size bike your boy needs, but I've seen some half price tesco bikes mentioned on here, and there are also some half price bikes at halfords. halfords have an offer on this week where if you buy a kids bike instore or buy online and collect from a store (does not work if it gets delivered to you) you get a £20 voucher to spend on accessories like helmet, bottle, lights etc. Voucher has to be spent by november 23rd. Might be worth you looking at the halfords website

jellyhead

susanfrost have you looked at mandmdirect.com ? They sell named clothes and trainers cheap.

greent

We have 3 children (11 next month, 8 and 3 in Jan) - with 2 of them having birthdays either side of X day. (We're also expecting no 4 in May) DH is likely to be made redundant at end of the year.

The toddler is getting a few bits and pieces from the sales. The rest of his presents are actually toys which belonged to 1 & 2 and have been in teh attic. We will wrap them up. This actually isn't to save money (I'll put some money in his CTF account equiv to what we would spend) but to save on more stuff coming into the house - there's only so many toys a child needs/ ca play with!

DD is having a DS for her Dec birthday which I got as a great priced bundle and cashback on quidco. Some of the bundle will be tipped into her Xmas present instead. Other pressies will be pineapple tshirts (sale at Debenhams and bought using a voucher for using their credit card), Book People books (always good) and some No 17 makeup (mainly got as freebies)

DS1 is having a reconditioned camera from kodak for less than £50. It works with the printer we already have. Other than that he is having book people books, some pyjamas and some pokemon figures (bought abroad on hols - cheaper than in the uk)

They have always been told that FC only buys stocking presents - I've never wanted FC to take the credit for any big purchases! Stocking pressies are usually choc coins, a book, a small toy, something stationery related (and can be incredibly cheap - the items in there this year were 20p - 50p) and something else - fluffy gloves/ slipper socks etc. FCs stocking presents are always wrapped in different paper to any other presents too.

I've made some presents this year for people too - chutney, jam, soap - and I'll make some choc truffles closer to the day. I also have no qualms about recycling unwanted presents to someone else - although I try and make sure it is something which that person would like, rather than just giving them something strange just to get rid of it. I've always done that, I have to confess!

I'm not a fan of the children getting 2nd hand stuff, unless its pre owned games, and neither is DH - probably because we both came from poor households. This only applies to Xmas & bdays, not if they get stuff at any other time.

Oh, and whilst DS1 and now DD will have nintendo Ds consoles, neither has a tv etc in their room. And nintendos are to be kept and played with downstairs. We also have a huge pile of boardgames - in all 3 kids rooms & a cupboard full in our room.

greent