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

lavender_girl

Name of present - Cyclamen in sparkle pot
Do you make it or buy it - Buy it
Total cost - £2.99
Details - Buy From Haskins Garden Centre

Suggestion - buy a little gift bag and place put inside with a little tissue paper.

lavender_girl

Name of present - personalised cushion
Make it or buy it - Buy Cushion and transfer paper, choose photo from
collection and print.
Cost - £3.00 for cushion, £1.00 for transfer, £1.00 ink
Details - Buy a cushion from Tesco or another supermarket,
Choose a special photo of the family.
Print mirror image onto transfer and iron onto
cushion cover. When dried put cushion insert in.
Makes a really special gift for a family member or
friend.
A great idea for a grandparents gift with a photo of
the grandchildren on...

cheepskate_2

name of present: what i love about you book.
make or buy it . buy a plain a3 note pad or if you can find a cheap fancy notebook from the poundshop.

cost about £1.00
details. buy the notebook and decorate the front with whatever picture you want, be it handmade heart or picture of loved one.
write in each page what you love, like or admire about that person, this can be done by all the family members little photos can then be stuck onto the same page to highlight whatever fact has been said.. If children are putting in their little facts, say about daddy they can add their own little pictures to go with the words this makes it extra special in years to come for both parents and children to look back upon.

Freebs2008

Name of present: Blueberry plant
Make it or buy it: Buy it but then decorate pot with cheap Christmas ribbon
Cost: reduced at Homebase from £8.99 to£4.49 or even cheaper on 10% day!
Details: Decorate tree with cheap Christmas decoartions and either decorate pot or wrap nicely in brown paper and tie with raffia or ribbon. Blueberries cost a lot when bought from a supermarket so will save the person money every summer when they pick them.

Name of present: Strawberries in hanging basket
Make it or buy it: Make it by growing on strawberries from plants in the garden from trailers/trainers and plant in big hanging basket and decorate with ribbon
Cost: Hanging basket reduced at Wilkos to 89p, soil costs about £1/£2, basket liner 50p reduced at Wilkos strawberries free from plants producing babies in my garden.
Details: Strawberries cost a lot when brought from a supermarket so will save the person money every summer when they pick them, and they will get more new plants from the parents.

Mrsdjt

Present: Customised mixed CD


Made/bought: Both


Cost: Anything from free to £5

Details: Everyone has special songs and modern technology enables us to choose songs and compile them in our own way. Choose your songs from your own collection or buy a couple from downloadable sites such as www.tescodigital.com songs start as little as £0.59 each. Burn your CD then design and print your own CD & label. Special, personall and fun to do.

Lazy_Daisy_2

Name of Present: Recipe Book

Made/Bought: Both

Cost: £2-3

Details: I am always being asked for my favourite recipes by female family members so this year I have bought small photo albums from Tesco costing £2-3 each with space for 100 6X4 photos in slip in pages. I drew up a simple template on MS Word and typed up each of my favourite recipes with one to each page giving each a recipe number on the top right hand corner to make indexing easy. I have of course included the lovely "HobNob" recipe!
It's very simple, costs very little and I know will be appreciated by the recipients.
Would love to put a photo in here but don't know how!

redundantsurveyor

Name of Present: Seeds for the garden

Made/bought: Made

Cost: £1-£3

Details: This is a present from a keen gardener to a budding gardener. Take some seeds that you have saved throughout the year (there are still some that can be collected now e.g. runner beans, flowers, pumpkins) and put them on coloured envelopes (or make your own 'packets' from old paper bags or wrapping paper), label them and give them to people as presents. You could also produce a personalised 'planting schedule' either on the computer or by hand - possibly laminate it - and give it with the seeds.

claraki2000

Name of Present: Mixed CD of memorable songs.
Made/Bought: Made
Cost: From 50p.

The first Christmas me and my boyfriend had together we were both really poor so we agreed that we wouldn't spend more than £5.00 on a gift.
I didn't know what to expect so when I opened my present on Christmas day I was so touched.
He had made me a mixed CD of all the memorable songs. The first song we danced to, my favorite dancing song, my favorite mushy song and so on and so on. Most of us have Itunes or the like so alot of the songs might already be in your collection but if not the cost is on 79p per song.
All in all it cost him the price of a blank CD probably less than 50p and it is one of my most treasured presents.
You know what us girls are like guys the thought counts so much in gift giving.
Good shopping!!
Clare

sheyo

Name of present: Home made chocolate
Do You make it or buy it?: buy the chocolate and bits then make
Cost: Approximately £2.00 - £3.00
Details (more the better):
Using an ordinary tupperware container (rectangular works best - but experiment) break up the chocolate (usually 200g bar) melt the chocolate in the microwave. Then the fun comes in - you know the recipient and their likes - so chuck in perhaps - marshmallows, unsalted nuts, make a caramel layer etc the choice is endless. Put the container in the fridge, leave for a couple of hours. You now have the choice
of adding another layer of chocolate or demoulding. To add another layer, break up chocolate in another bowl and when melted pour over original and return to fridge for another few hours. Then demould - quickest to do this in a bowl of water, place tupperware container in bowl (water touching bowl not chocolate). Then the choice to decorate is up to you - I recently did this for a friends' birthday and iced (using white choc) her name and happy birthday. Return to fridge, then wrap in cellophane.
If you want you can then use the remaining money to buy a miniture bottle of wine and gift box/ribbon.
Also works well for kids (without alchohol) instead put extra sweeties in the box/bag - but beware of allergies

higgy66_2

Name of Present - £5 Stocking
Made/Bought - Bought & made
Cost £5.00

Every year for the past 18 years my parents, brothers and sisters and partners and now children have all got together and drawn a name out a bit like secret santa.

We have to fill a stocking with presents which can only come to a total of £5.

Rules - ALL £5 must be spent which in itself provides entertainment when somebody gets 1/2 pack of polos to make up the final balance. :rotfl:

A minimum of 3 parcels must be included - usually it's been rare for a stocking to have contained less that 8.

If you've bought a raflle ticket for 10p and won a prize this may go in and be counted as 10p - as for other similar scenarios.

Hand made/baked gifts can be included but evidence of calculations must be provided!


As there are now 20 of us we have added a game where you have to guess who purchased the stocking - the average correct guess is 2/20 per year! Sometimes ploys are made such as rubbish wrapping to make somebody think it was a younger person etc etc

We have more fun with our stocking both buying and opening than anything else given or recevied! And on Jan 2nd when you return to work and have a handy shoe shine (59p) you realise how handy those stockings really are!