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

cherytree

Name of present: Sock Jam

Buy/Make both

Cost Between £2 and £5

Details. save a decent sized jar with lid, clean it and remove all labels. Purchase a pair of festive socks - primark sell nice ones really cheapily. Remove tags, and roll socks up. Place socks into jar and close the lid. Go onto your computer and creat an arty label that reads Sock Jam, print and attach to jar with glue. You can even decorate the lid if you wish to.

Name of present: Sock Monkey

Buy/Make Make

Cost Under £5

Details. Follow an online tutorial http://www.web-goddess.org/writing/tutorial/Image0.html You'll need a nice pair of socks, stuffing (an old pillow does the trick), needle, thread, buttons for eyes, scissors and any other decoration you might like to add. Made one for my dd and she loves it - my sister now wants one too so its not just for kids

SDH

Name of present? Bathtime hamper
Do you make it or buy it? Buy
Total Cost? £5
Details (the more the better) this isn't really my idea as i stole it from the grabbit board but no-one has mentioned it so far on this thread and i think its great idea ...

Buy 5 bath/shower/body products from the selection in the link below (Avon) to get the "buy 5 products for £5" deal and then using the code "birthday08" to get another 10% off and free delivery.
The final 50p is spend on decorative wraping - either in celophane / or grab a basket from a charity shop
Where possible please add a link if it's an online offer http://avonshop.co.uk/promotions_list.asp?promo_id=32891&pf_id=32891&s=welcome_site&c=Avon_uk_com&otc=

cherytree

Name of present: No Sew Fleece Blanket

Buy/Make Make

Cost £5


Details Keep an eye out for good deals on fleece blankets, buy one get one free or cheap fleece material. Primark and Ikea sell cheap blankets. You'll need two in contrasting colours or even one in colour and one in pattern. Basically cut slits all around the blanket so it ends up looking like tassles, do the same to the other one but make sure that its slightly more forward or backward to the other one (remember to use the same number of cuts) After this has been done you go around tying the sides together with knots. You end up with a nice tasled effect all around the edges. If you google no sew blankets you'll get much clearer instructions than this. I made one for my DD with Red and Blue so she now has her own in the night garden type blanket to carry around just like iggle piggle. Also babies and toddlers love this as they can play with the edges and gain comfort from the fleece - almost the same affect as a taggie blanket but much cheaper!

Can also make no sew pillows the same way, cut to size and after you've finished knotting really well insert stuffing or better yet knot around an existing pillow - that's if you want to make a matching 'set' for the recipient. Again just google for directions.

Roxy23

Name of present: Personalised gift box

Make/Buy: Bit of both

Cost: Under a £5 (cost varies dependant on choice)

Details: Like most people I normally really struggle at Christmas knowning what to get people.
Last year I thought of creating a personalised gift box and have been doing it ever since for all sorts of occasions!!

I used an old shoe box, covered it in wrapping paper and lined the bottom with coloured tissue paper that I had lying around. I then put a variety of small items in it. A personalised gift box shows you have gone that extra mile and thought abouut what that person would like. An added bonus is that it can be for anyone at any age. What you use is entirely upto you, See below for examples:

• A book (go to charity shops for bargains)
• Travel size smellies (available from most supermarkets at minimal cost)
• Chocolate or sweets
• Favourite magazine
• Stationary
• Make Up
• Hair Accessories

The options are endless!! :j

Kazbah

Name of present: Personalised pants

Make/Buy: Buy pants, design yourself

Cost: Under a £5 (knicker shorts £2 each from Primatk, glitter and glue - less than £1.50 from Woolworths)

Details: Over the festive season when me and my friends go out partying we tend to wear dresses. Living in a bit of a party town it can get busy so the best option is to wear some knicker-shorts under anything short you may be wearing so this year I have decided that i'll personalise my friends shorts to add that extra bit of glamour to her outfit and also make it so she has something that nobody else has!

They can be as (not) girly as you like as you can decorate them to fit your friends style!

gorgeousgirlie

Apologies if this has been done before - it was my idea tho LOL!

Name of present: 'Samples of Joy'

Buy/Make: Make

Cost: Free or just pennies!

Details: Throughout the year keep your eye open for free samples of skincare, shampoo, makeup, perfume etc in magazines, shops, websites - or better still the freebies from the newsletter. If need be you can also buy trial/travel size bottles of stuff in Superdrug, cheap bath salts/bombs etc, or get a joblot on Ebay. When you have collected enough, arrange in a square of voile or other scrap of pretty fabric, (or a bit of gift wrap/ pretty paper bag / tissue) gather into a bag and tie with a ribbon. I've done these a few times for my mum and sisters and they get so excited to try new products and love that its been lovingly selected and handmade for them. You could also try it with food or other samples; tea-bags, biscuits, jam etc - just watch the 'use by' date!

ih8stress

Name of Present: Personalised Soap
Do You Make It Or Buy It: Both
Total Cost: between 10p - £2
Details:

Get a bar of soap (this can be any sort, to suit the recipient).

Choose a suitable image. This can be a cut-out picture from a magazine or catalogue, a photocopy of a favourite photograph, cartoon character, football club emblem, car, animal, flower, printed message etc. The possibilities are endless!

Once you have got your image, glue the back of it with some pva glue and stick it onto the bar of soap (it doesn't matter if you use too much and the glue 'squishes out'.
PVA glue is poly vinyl acetate, it is a white craft glue and will dry clear.

Using a small paint brush, coat the whole of the image and also the top of the soap, leaving a border at the edges to prevent the glue running over (this can be wiped off if it happens). The image will be covered by a white film but don't worry, this will be transparent when it is dry.

Leave the glue to dry overnight (for quick results you could use a hairdryer on a low temperature).
Add further layers of pva glue and leave to dry, until you have at least 5 coats covering the whole image. The image will obviously last longer, the more coats of glue you apply.

The completed soap can be 'dressed up' in various ways to be presented to the person eg. wrapped in coloured giftwrap, put in a pretty box, placed in a facecloth tied with ribbon ................ Just make sure the soap and glue are completely dry and that the material used won't stick to the soap (perhaps use the protective wrapper it came in).

My favourite choice is to buy a plastic soap container, about 20p from Wilko's. This can also be decorated/personalised as required.

I got a large 500g bottle of 'All Purpose White Glue' from my local Pound shop.

I love this craft as it is quick and easy to do for 'non-crafty' people, is something that children can do under supervision, is relatively cheap but gives good results and is suitable for a wide range of tastes!

HTH

pinleycov

if you have young kids they might be interested in cubeworld.I found the large type (not the two in a box ,series 1,2 or 3 but one large single type)down to £5 from, i think,from £19.99.These are in the toy shop 'The Entertainer'.We have one in Coventry city centre and im sure there's quite afew more around the country

Spend_Less_Lisa

:j This is my first post, but I love these reindeers so much I have at last had to get myself registered to share them with everyone.

Name of Present? Candycane reindeers

Make or buy it? Make it

Total cost? one for well under £1, or a whole herd for under £5

Details- I made these with the school last year & they were such a success I am now spending an evening with the brownies & another with the beavers this month to help them to make some.

First you need to get hold of a box of small candycane sweets. These can be bought from Woolworths or Tescos for around £1 for 12, or even better at the moment Morrisons are selling 12 for £1.39, with a BOGOF, so 24 for £1.39.

You will also need some pipecleaners. The tinsel ones look great, but any will do. Some small wiggle eyes & small pom poms for the nose. If you want to do this slightly cheaper, or can't get all the stuff, you can use small circle stickers for the eyes & nose, or just a small piece of coloured paper with some good glue. The last thing needed is any thin ribbon. This can be any off cuts as you only need around 8-10 inches for each reindeer.

The kids can help easily (That's if if you are not making them for the kids!!). You will need to cut 4 x 1 inch pieces of tinsel. Use the remaining large piece to wrap around the top of the candy leaving 2 large pieces sticking up like horns, then twist 2 of the small pieces onto each horn making them look like reindeer antlers. Next stick on eyes just in front of the antlers, then the nose right at the end of the candy cane. Finally tie a ribbon halfway down the cane for the neck.

These look great to put in the stockings, or just hang from the tree. They give a new lease of life to a rather traditional christmas sweet, and taste great. They are also great for school kids to make to sell on at the Christmas fayre.:A

pinleycov

also meant to say if you already have some cubeworld this large one can be joined to and interact with the others.Also toys'R'Us are selling off certain Test Tube Aliens for £4.99,usually retail at about £12.99.