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Win £200. Festive Fivers Competition 2008: The best Xmas pressies for under £5
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Last year the three of us who share an office said we would buy something from a charity shop for less than a fiver
I bought for Maggie- Name of present?pot purri in a dish
- Do you make it or buy it? bought it in the cancer research shop
- Total Cost? £2.99
1 bag of new festive pot pourri at £1.99
so had change for some choccies
the ceramic dish had lots of marks on it but I knew that my ceramic hob cleaner brings things like that up to looking new:j- Where possible please add a link if it's an online offer
0 - Name of present?pot purri in a dish
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Name of present: Ladies Messenger Bag.
Make or buy it? both
Total cost - approx £ 5
Details - Download free pattern from here :
http://www.burdastyle.com/patterns/show/3829
I bought fabric for £3.99 metre, paid about £1 for iron on interfacing, and used fabric i already had for the lining or you could use recycled fabric. The zips for the pockets i added myself bought for 10p from charity shop.
Note: you may have to sign up but the site is well worth it for other free downloads.
The metre fabric has up to now made 2 bags.0 -
Name of present? Personalised Book
Do you make it or buy it? Both
Total Cost? £3.59
Details (the more the better)
Buy a Where's Wally book - £3.59 from Amazon - and then customise it to be a where's (friends name) book, I recently did this for a friends birthday and i re-named it Where's Alli. Simply take 1 large photo of your friend and place it over the picture of Wally on the front of the book and then blank out the name Wally and paste over it with the name of your friend. Then count how many pages of the where's wally game there are and then print out the same number of small pictures of your friend. Then stick a picture on each game (obviously using your imagination so it's harder to see them) and voila, you have a personalised where's wally game for your gift recipient. Alli was very taken with this and i got much praise from the rest of the office for the idea.
:T0 -
Hi everyone,
I loved reading through these ideas last year so thought I’d add a few of my own this year.- Name of present? Various Artwork
- Do you make it or buy it? Make it
- Total Cost? £1-£5
- Details (the more the better) Buy a photo frame and create stunning and personalised masterpiece for the lucky recipient
Cigarette warning labels collage- My sister was given this and we thought it was a really funny gift that looks funky on her wall- great for a loved one who’s managed to kick the habit!
Framed art print- Buy an art print- www.allposters.com is good as is ebay and frame to make it more special- I’ve previously framed 4x Jack Vettriano print postcards in a “frameless” frame and it looked very stylish.
There are so many things you could frame; retro postcards/ a nice poem printed onto special paper/ one of the kids drawings as a pressie for granny/ Baby hand and footprints/- Name of present? Snowman Book and CD
- Do you make it or buy it?Buy it
- Total Cost? £3.99
- Details (the more the better) This is a gorgeous gift from the book people worth £12.99. My Daughter watched the video of the snowman over and over and over last year so this year she can follow the story in the book while the CD is on, it’s great for getting kids into the spirit of Christmas- not that many need the encouragement! - Will also prevent square eyes this year! The book people site has lots of really reasonably priced gifts, endless ones under £5 to mention!!!!
- Name of present? Message in a bottle kit
- Do you make it or buy it? Make it
- Total Cost? About £3-£4 but could easily come in cheaper
- Details (the more the better) Buy or save a small, pretty bottle- glass with a cork for authenticity, but this is not essential. Put into a pretty box or basket with aged paper (you can buy parchment type paper or age thick paper by soaking in tea) You could also add a coloured tealight/ some sand / some little stones. Add an instructions sheet and cover with cellophane
They can add their name and address details to the message asking for anyone who finds it to write a letter to them and release the bottle again. They could also use the internet to add several translations of their message. Although the bottle is not likely to go a great distance or maybe ever be found, it’s a thoughtful and inexpensive gift for children and will hopefully teach them something too!MARCH GROCERY CHALLENGE £118/ £2500 -
Name of present? Choc and Tipple
Do you make it or buy it? Buy it from supermarket and chocolate retailer.
Total Cost? approx £4 or less
Details (the more the better) Supermarkets sell small bottles of wine, Morrisons for example do 4 for £5 therefore only £1.25 per bottle. The bottles are exact replicas of their larger counterparts and are really useful for putting candles in later. Then go to chocolate retailers like Thorntons and buy their packs of variety chocs they cost about £1.99. They are also available at the outlet centres like Mcarthur Glen. Put them both in a pretty gift bag, these can be bought for pennies and hey presto a lovely gift.
Where possible please add a link if it's an online offer0 -
- Name of present? Pretty Shell Box for a little girl/auntie/grandparent, etc
- Do you make it or buy it? Made it
- Total Cost? under £1
- Details (the more the better) You will need some small sea shells (hopefully buckets full of them collected by the kids during the summer holidays!) - a large empty match box (or something similar), glue and paint. Paint match box any colour you like, spread glue over the top and then embellish with small sea shells - my kids also added glitter over the top. Auntie and grandmother absolutely delighted with their "keep sake" box - fun to make too.
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Name of present? Box Full of Love
Do you make it or buy it? Make it
Total Cost? from £0
Details (the more the better) - take an empty box which has a lid and get your child to decorate with whatever bits you have, paint, glitter, stickers anything will do really - once finished ask child to blow lots and lots of kisses into the box and quickly put the lid on so they dont escape! Tie with a pretty ribbon and attach this note;
This is a very special gift
That you can never see.
The reason it's so special is,
It's just for you from me.
Whenever you are happy,
or even feeling blue.
You only have to hold
this gift and know
I think of you.
You never can unwrap it
Please leave the ribbon tied.
Just hold the box close
to your heart,
It's filled with love inside.0 -
Name of Present - Box of handmade birthday cards.
Make or Buy It - Make it
Total Cost - Definitely under £5 - Just the price of the plain cards, envelopes, glue or sticky pads (Poundland) as everything else comes from recycling used birthday cards.
Details - Throughout the year collect used birthday cards from friends.
The ones with stick-on embellishments are perfect for this.
Print birthday greeting onto the plain cards using the computer.
Then just make new cards using the recycled embellishments & bits from the used cards.
Stick a paper insert (use computer paper cut to size) inside & add an envelope for each card.
Put them into a box covered with wallpaper (free samples from your local DIY store). How many you put in is up to you.
Everyone gives birthday cards & it will save the recipient having to buy any.0 -
Name of present? various gadgets
Do you make it or buy it? BUY
Total Cost? £4.95
Details (the more the better) This site sells all it's gifts for £9.95 but if you enter the code Moneynet at check out all the goods are £4.95. If the value of your order is over £30 delivery is free.
Where possible please add a link if it's an online offer
www.Giftxtras.com at check out put code Moneynet0 -
I have spent this year filling a nice hard-backed art book with tickets, photos, thoughts that have occurred to me to share and programmes from events. This is for my husband - it's filled with memories which otherwise might slip past. We have programmes from the kids' school plays etc, concert tickets and even a plastic bag from the Tutankhamun exhibition! I have found out answers to questions he's had over the year (like who Aristide Briand was and what gesso is) and put them in. I'm planning to end the book with the lyrics of a song - not telling you what that is!
The book £1.50, everything in it pretty much free, the memories - priceless.
I know it's too late for this year but you can all start in January for Christmas 2009! Hope you like the idea!
Linda0
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