Win £200. Festive Fivers Competition 2008: The best Xmas pressies for under £5

MSE_Martin

THE WINNERS

Thank you so much for all your festive fiver ideas. There have been some wonderfully , innovative, unique ideas to give lots of people food for thought. While the competition is closed please feel free to keep adding your ideas.

The winners are listed below. Please PM MSE Archna (click on on her name and click 'send message') if you're a lucky winner. (If an idea was posted twice, the first one to post was deemed the winner).

The £200 winner!!

Bake At Home Kit - Lovely Lainie

Runners Up

Adults

The perfect man - vikki_louise
In an emergency - ih8stress
Name a star - silkkat50
Unique artwork - mintedby30?
Sand art brownies - Mrs_P
Top tips book - Joools28
Personal squash book - charmion32
Exploding photobox - jamtart6
Personalised diary - monkmorency
Vinyl record bowls - pig_let_cool

Kids

Kiddies journal jar - irchy_mum
England team football shirt - alicatsa
Children's crafty box - Lilyann
Personalised book - Foxy666
Edible art set - thevicster
Monster killy spray - anansi69
Candy cane reindeers - Spend Less Lisa

Back to the original post

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It's time for Festive Fivers 2008. The annual MoneySavingExpert.com contest to find the best, clever, weird, practical, thoughtful, romantic present ideas you can buy or make providing it costs less than a fiver (before delivery).

All the best suggestions will be published on the site, to help everyone have a less expensive or consumeristic Christmas, Chanucah, Eid and more. So even if you're idea isn't a winner, please report it anyway.


What's the prize?

For the best overall suggestion we will give £200 plus there will a signed copy of either The Money Diet or Thrifty Ways for the runners up.

Check out (but don't copy) past winners.

It's worth having a look at the previous Festive Fivers winners to see what's there, it may also give you some inspiration. Obviously any of those ideas will be excluded from this year's contest.

Deadline: Thursday 13 November

Get your entries in before Thursday 13 November. The winners will be announced on the site and in the email within a week or two from then.

You will then be contacted via this Chat Forums public message (PM) system, so please make sure you check to see if you've won.

How to enter?

Simply click reply below and enter the details on this thread (please DO NOT email your idea, it won't get counted). You can enter as many times as you like, both in just one post or in many (and of course it is free).

Please put your answer in the following format

• Name of present?
• Do you make it or buy it?
• Total Cost?
• Details (the more the better)
• Where possible please add a link if it's an online offer

For example

• Name of present? Personal gift vouchers
• Make it or buy it? Make it
• Total Cost? under £1
• Details (the more the better)? Simply draw or print up - on nice paper, some personal gift vouchers such as 'I'll do the ironing', 'I'll babysit', 'I'll make you dinner', 'I'll give you a massage', or perhaps some more creative and naughtier suggestions of your own! Then give your partner/brother/sister/friend the vouchers instead of a present. Giving vouchers is often more personal, rewarding and lasts longer than presents. You can give books of 5, 10, 100 or just a single one. You choose.

Good Luck!


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Lizbeth

Thought I'd start this off with this... :rotfl:

Name of present: Poo in a box
Do you make it or buy it? Buy it from Natural History Museum website
Total Cost: £5
Details: Odourless poo in a box with seed to grow xmas tree (raindeer poo), banana plant (rhino poo) or rose (elephant poo)
http://www.nhmshop.co.uk/gifts-for-h...x/product.html

brookeslay

Name of present: Whos Who ( cheap version of Guess Who)

Do you make it or buy it? buy it

Total Cost: £2.25

Details: Tesco own brand of games they also do twister, 4 in a row ( connect ) operation,megasketch, hungry hippos all the well known games under £5.00


Tesco Direct has additional 25% off until the 9/11/08 if anyone has other thing to buy. If not pop a game in with your shopping !

tifnstav

Name of present: Home made guess who

Do you make it or buy it: Make it from an old guess who from a jumble or car boot (costs pence)

Total cost: Pence plus some pics of your family and friends/old magazine clippings, depending on whether its family or celebrity Guess Who!

Details: My sister and I often used to make Guess Who funnier when we were younger by trying to think of someone real that the characters looked like (Sue Pollard and Rusty Lee were particular favourites, plus our old English teacher). This year I'm going to try to make her a personalised guess who game! Emphasis on the "try" part!

Fag_ash_lil

This is my favourite .... very moneysaving !!


Name of present .... A jar of nothing

Do you make it or buy it ... You make it

Total cost .... Maybe 30p at the most if you are adding a ribbon ...

Details .... A used ( but washed ) empty jar with with a label attached saying ..

Did you say nothing?
When you were asked what you wanted for
Christmas.
Don't you remember saying NOTHING ?
Well this time someone heard you, searched
high and low and found this perfect gift for you ...

As taken from the Craftbits website .....
http://www.craftbits.com/viewProject.do?projectID=1087

( If i am not allowed to add this on here because it's taken from another website, please tell me and i'll delete it .... )

terri x

jackomdj

• Name of present? Photo Collage Jigsaw, 10" x 8", 120 pieces
• Make it or buy it? Make it & buy it!
• Total Cost? £4.49
• Details (the more the better)? I am currently making this for my Dad (doing the bigger one for him though!) I have made a collage of photo's using Picasa 3's free software. I am going to upload it to snapfish & get it made into a jigsaw.

The cost for a 10" x 8" (120 pieces)photo jigsaw is £9.99
Snapfish 20% off using code £2.00
Quidco money back £3.50
Delivery to a local store FREE
Making it cost just £4.49

I am doing a 16" x 12" (204 pieces) one which works out at £8.49 so a bit over the £5 limit on here.

Nicky

irchy_mum

Name of present? Child's Journal Jar
Do you make it or buy it? Make it
Total Cost? Approx £2.50 (I'm allowing for paper & colour ink,£1 for an A5 notebook & jar as a 'freebie')
Details (the more the better) This idea is from the Organized Christmas website. You take one clean jar i.e.- coffee jar and print off lots of quotes/prompts which you then cut up,fold and place in the jar.
Buy an A4/A5 book from somewhere like Wilkinsons , place folded quotes in the jar and give to a child with the book. The child then takes one quote/prompt a day glues/sticks it into notebook and then writes an answer to the question. This creates a keepsake book that's all about the child.
This can be repeated every year
Must add extremely simple to do

http://organizedchristmas.com/childs-journal-jar

vikki_louise

Name of present? Magazine cover card
Do you make it or buy it? But it by design your own
Total Cost? £2.99
Details (the more the better) Select the magazine style cards, they allow you to change all text, add your own photographs and captions while still looking like the front page of the magazine. Do them to celebrate 2008, from school photos to birthdays, add the highlights of the year. Anyone would like to receive one but very good for grandparents (who will be amazed that a card can be made with their grandkids pictures on
Where possible please add a link if it's an online offer www.moonpig.com

vikki_louise

I heard about this and decided to use it for gifts but it wasn't my inital idea

Name of present? Perfect Man
Do you make it or buy it? Buy but add a label
Total Cost? under £1
Details (the more the better) Take a gingerbread man and repackage him so it looks posher, print out and attach the following poem

THE PERFECT MAN
They say good men are hard to find
I know this to be true
But I hunted far and wide
And found one just for you!

He is no good at DIY
He cannot fix the car
But his socks are never smelly
And he doesn't stray too far

He always listens patiently
And won't pester you in bed
If you get fed up with him
You just bite of his head!

I think this gift is fantastic and I know so many women who would love it, and it would make them laugh on christmas day!

Where possible please add a link if it's an online offer

vikki_louise

Name of present? Fresh drop smell stop
Do you make it or buy it? buy
Total Cost? £4.99
Details (the more the better) A little bottle of smell stopper, just place a drop down the toilet before you "go" and it will instantly stop any embarrassing smells, great for use in the home (your family will thank you!!) or for when out in public as a lot of people worry about leaving behind a smell, this would take the worry out of that
Where possible please add a link if it's an online offer http://www.presentsformen.co.uk/product-PFM-Fresh-Drop-Smell-Stop-6842/

Badger_Lady

• Name of present? Christmas Pudding Vodka with Cocktail Shaker
  
• Make it or buy it? Both
• Total Cost? About £5
  
• Details (the more the better)? Make the vodka using the below recipe (you choose what vodka to use), and decant into pretty 30cl or 50cl bottles. Buy a stainliness steel cocktail shaker from Poundland (for £1!) and wrap them up together.

INGREDIENTS:
1-litre bottle vodka
1 tbsp dark muscovado sugar
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 cinnamon sticks
1 star anise
50g dried cranberries
50g almonds, roughly chopped
peel from one large orange,
peel from one large lemon,
8 cloves

PREPARATION:

1. Combine all the ingredients in a suitably large bottle or containers. Ensure all containers are sterilised by running through a dishwasher cycle or washing thoroughly then warming in a low oven.

2. Shake or turn the containers once a week for about two months.

3. About two weeks before drinking, strain through a fine sieve and/or coffee filter paper.