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

leemarch

• Hamper of Home-made goodies
• Make it
• Spend up to £5 per hamper on ingredients and materials
  

Around October / November start collecting any flat boxes which can be covered in wrapping paper and filled with paper shreddings. Also collect any useful-looking reusable containers, jam jars, packaging or nice cellophane, ribbons etc. Then make whatever you are good at. In my case in October I make jars of apple jelly using the apples from our tree, and also nice apple chutney. Then in December I make batches of Turkish Delight (very easy), fudge and shortbread and pack these into cellophane bags or posh boxes that I have saved. A really easy treat is to melt some chocolate and add crushed bran flakes, raisins, coconut, nuts and seeds. Spread onto a tray and when set break into pieces, and pack into cellophane bags with nice ribbons. Look out for any cheap festive packaging, or in my case I have saved some from the previous year and made gift tags from Christmas cards. I use these to label each item.

When I make the Christmas pudding I make several little ones in teacups. These are then steamed in a slo-cooker and wrapped in cellophane to put in the hampers. Similarly with the Christmas cake I bake a few little ones in reycyled pineapple rings tins. These can be iced and decorated and sit in the hamper as the centre piece. Nearer Christmas a few mince pies can be packed in an airtight bag or tin and added to the hamper.

Just before Christmas day, assemble a selection of the home-made goodies into the recycled box "hamper" lined with paper shreddings and make it look as posh and individual as possible. People pay huge sums of money for a hamper from Harrods or Fortnum and Mason, but I don't spend any more than a fiver on each hamper and people get a largish box of goodies, all home-made with love and care. Any of the surplus items can be given away as smaller presents.

rowanblossom

My sister in law loves posh and expensive nail polish. So as Glamour is offering Nails Inc nail varnish worth £10.50 with every Mag which costs £2.00, I am going to get two magazines for £4.00 and my sister in law will be getting two posh and expensive nail varnishes worth £21.00. Result.:j

ladyemily

Name of gift- Scrapbook of the year that's passed

Make it or buy it: Make it

Total cost: Up to £5

Details: You can get cheap scrapbooks almost anywhere that sells stationery, i.e. WH Smith, Woolworths, Paperchase.
Then all you need to do is fill it with memories of everything that has happened in the recipient's life since last Christmas.This works especially well if it's a present for a partner, as you can include things like details of holidays together, romantic trips, private jokes, silly memories, and any things you can stick into it like tickets from things you did together, any photographs you have lying around, receipts (from things you bought for each other), invitations to parties you went to together, and so on.

I did this for my boyfriend last year and the reaction and gratitude was incredible. Works brilliantly for boys as well as girls. Plus, you can do one every year, as every year brings different memories.

Nefertare

Name of gift- Retro Paper Doll (name can be customised for the person)
Make it or buy it: Make it

Total cost: Cost of a couple of sheets of white card and a paper gift box.

Details: Take a full length photo of the person you are giving it to (one that is flattering - preferably a posed one). Trace/draw freehand onto a white sheet of paper so that they appear to only be wearing underwear - I tend to make this a slightly stylised illustration ala 1940s fashion illustrations. Scan into photoshop and colour using fill to their skin shade, hair colour etc. Print onto good quality card. Do the same with various outfits, being sure to add those little tabs that fold round and making sure the outfits match the shape of the body (maybe make a standard template in photoshop), colour and print onto slightly thinner card. Using a craft knife cut them all out and present in a retro-barbie style fashion in a brown paper gift box with printed label (you can download loads of free brushes for photoshop/clipart to make the labels look professional). Add a pink ribbon and voila - their very own dress up doll! For some reason my 25 yr old friends like this a lot more than my 8 yr old cousin, but hey who am I to complain? It's great fun and you can put them in the latest designer clothes!

Zimm190

This is one for the adults. I made it for my boyfriend when we were both students - when he asked what I was getting him for Christmas I said it was something a bit like an X Box. He absolutely loved it and we had fun with it for months!

Name of present Sex Box

Buy it or make it Make it

Total cost Depends how much and what you put in but around £5

Details: I took a largish box with a lid (shoebox, etc.) and covered it with sexy words and pictures cut out of Cosmopolitan and Ann Summers and other magazines. I glued the images overlapping all over the box so that it was completely covered. I sellotaped over the edges so that nothing would stick up or fray and then painted a thin glue-and-water mixture over the whole thing to make it look glossy and to ensure the pictures would stay on.

The inside of my box was already a dark purple but otherwise you could paint it black or red or any colour you fancy.

It's up to you what you put in it! There are plenty of cheap options and a lot of the things you can pick up from pound shops such as handcuffs and "sexy dice". I put in lots of different types of condoms, which you can buy individually in places like Ann Summers. Other ideas are playing cards (for strip poker- if you can get them with erotic images on even better), a blind fold, massage oil (baby oil is probably cheapest option), a thong (for girls or guys!), a picture of yourself in sexy underwear, "promise" vouchers, a homemade CD of you and your partners songs, and if you've got a bit of cash left you can pick up various little items from Ann Summers for a couple of quid.

I put in some shredded tissue paper, wrapped up the box in silver Christmas wrapping paper, tied it with a black ribbon, and stuck on a Parental Advisory Explicit Content sticker.

cloggy1

Name of present: Personal surprise with hidden gift+hand written rhyming poem

Handmade and bought

Cost;Anything up to £5

Details.Small groups of friends or family drawer a name from a hat.Once they have that persons name they have to make an outer casing for the real gift in the shape of something which is important to the chosen person .It could be from paper Mache ,from an old shoe box etc.Look to old Blue Peter footage for inspiration!The giver also writes a personal short rhyming poem hinting at the contents and about the recipient.The receiver of the gift has to break into the art piece to find his/her real gift.For someone who likes the cinema you could hide a cinema gift voucher in a handmade "Box of popcorn" or film reel.For a sweet lover hide favourite sweets in a large paper Mache bon bon , a cardboard cash machine filled with £5 of pennies taped together in a long strip etc etc.The possibilities are endless!.Get the kids involved, it's lots of fun and shows you have made a real effort.:money: :beer: Inspired by an old Dutch tradition (possibly the original money savers ?)

liz-paul

Name of present: Photo album

Buy/Make: Both

Cost: Up to £5

Details. Buy a dirt cheap photo album in £1 shop, chemist, wilko's etc & then fill it with photos. I get my digital prints in boots which are about 7p each for more than 100 which menas that if you were doing more than one album it would work out at £3.50 for 50 photos. I'm sure there are cheaper places to get them.... This is a great gift for relatives esp those who don't live near you; I do albums of my son & send them around the world for people (P+P not inc in price, buy a light album!).

Name of present: Gift hampers

Buy/Make both

Cost Up to £5

Details. Buy little gift baskets, bags, redecorate unwanted boxes & fill them with cheap little gifts like chocs, mini booze, toys, games, anything at all that looks a bit rubbish on its own! These work out much cheaper the more you do as you can buy wholesale lots from Ebay, & break down big packs of stuff to give more variety. Buy some cheap cellophane & ribbon for decorating.

Name of present: Repackaged edibles

Buy/Make both

Cost Up to £5

Details. Buy any edible things you like: sweets, chocolates, biscuits, nuts, glace fruit, marzipan fruits, crystallised ginger. Ideally buy them in big packs & hopefully not stuff that looks like it tastes rubbish. Then repackage them into smaller gifts in Jars with fabric lids, redecorated boxes, cellophane bags, fabric gift bags etc. You can either buy nice packaging stuff or make it. Makes a bag of haribo or a cheap box of chocs look lovely.

Name of present: Framed artwork.

Buy/Make both

Cost Cheap as you can buy a frame

Details. If your kids are anything like my son your house is coming down with paintings, collages, sticker pictures & drawings! Frame them in really cheap frames & they look great. Much better gift than just the pic on its own. Great for grandparents.

Name of present: Homemade biscuits, sweets, cakes etc

Buy/Make Make

Cost Very little for your ingredients, buy in make & make for several people

Details. If you have kids they can help you. Make shortbread, gingerbread men, chocolate truffles (surprisingly easy), christmas shaped biscuits, Mini Christmas cakes (make an ordinary square one & cut it in 4 rather than buying mini tins) etc & package them nicely. Baking is surprisingly easy but have a practise if its your first time. You can buy a cheap recipe book or google for recipes (bbc website is good for recipes). If you really love your cooking then a selection of homemade jams, pickles & chutneys is a good one to do. Especially if any of it comes from your garden! My MIL had a damson tree in her garden & we always used to make damson gin (very tasty, bit like sloe gin).

Name of present: Babysitting

Buy/Make Do!

Cost Nothing - unlimited!

Details. As a mother of a young boy I'd rather have some babysitting as a gift than a load of clutter for my house! Good one for you Aunts & Uncles out there. You can take the kids out for the day to the park (free) or to an activity you feel you are too old to do now (might be pricy but you benefit too!) or go round to their house one evening which is even easier as the kids will most likely be in bed by the time you get there!

missymoo3000

Name of present Message in a bottle

Buy it or make it Make it

Total cost Cheap corked wine bottle £3, papered message 10p - around £3ish!

Details: Great for either a stand alone present or as a present to lead to another. A message in a bottle. Simply de-label and wash a wine bottle and cork, write a message on a piece of paper and place it in the bottle. Don't fold or scrunch the paper, the more uncreased the message, the larger it will sit in the bottle.

As a stand alone - a message for a loved one - maybe a simple "I love you" or to mark an event "I'm pregnant" etc

As a lead to another present - same concept but maybe a "go look in the airing cupboard" or maybe " we are going on holiday tomorrow"

dave_r_burke

Name of present? Photo Calender
Do you make it or buy it? Both!
Total Cost? £4.67 when purchased in 3-for-2 (£6.99 each)
Details:

I did this last year for a few people and they all absolutely loved it - my Nan started crying cos she was so happy with hers!

OK technically speaking you do need to buy in bulk and get the 3-for-2 discount to qualify for less than a fiver per present, but because each one is personalised you have 3 very unique gifts for less than £5 each.

So, what you do is go to Boots and get their 2009 photo calendar (I'm sure other shops may have similar products cheaper, but I like Boots cos I get points!) and then get out your box of old photos and personalise the calendars with your photos for each month. So for my Nan it was lots of the family and us growing up, my Mum got one full of pics of the dog, mates have pics from holidays and nights out. And you can have Christmassy pics for December, Halloween photos for Oct etc, etc. It's a gift that lasts all year long!

It's fun, creative, personal, and if you do 3-for-2, it's less than a fiver!

The boots photo calendar is in Boots shops or you can get it online http://www.boots.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10052&productId=124714&callingViewName=&categoryId=34882&langId=-1&catalogId=11051

PhilOsiris

Lidl have a great offer for the gourmet in your family; whole lobsters at just £4.99 - hows that for a gift under a fiver!!