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

nee-naw

Name of present? Personalised cotton shopper
Personalised and eco-friendly, plus saves paying for carrier bags
Do you make it or buy it? Make and Buy
Total Cost? £1.50 plus artwork time OR
£1.95 with iron-on transfer
Details (the more the better) Buy 3 cotton tote bags for £2.99 + £1.50 p&p (Ebay seller ukprotective) - you can do some artwork individual to each person or you can buy 10 A4 sheets of Iron on transfer paper for £3.50 +£1p&p and you can iron on a photo of a child or friends or animals etc
Where possible please add a link if it's an online offer

sarahs1912

personal spa date
make it and buy a little bit
£4-£5
get a little box from your recycling and cover it with christmas paper. The lid must be able to lift. decorate the front and on the inside of the lid put the instructions something like:-
Personal Spa Date.
this box contains all you need for a relaxing rejuvernating spa like date with yourself!
1) lock the bathroom door
2) Light the candle
3) run a hot bath and use some of the products providedto refresh your body from head to toe.
be creative and try to use professional wording etc.
inside the box put a tea light or 2 - holders are something like 10p in Ikea go to somewhere like body care or superdrug and buy the travel size bath products like shampoo, bath fizzers, hand cream, face mask . add a small chocolate like the small packets of after eight mints for 99p or one large quality streets that you see at the check outs. If you have been able to buy really cheaply you could add one of the one person bottle of wine

lillyyyy

Hi All you Lovers out There. Try this one...

Name of Present....Love in a Box
Make It/Buy It....Buy or Make a small pretty box (approx 4" x 2-3"). Type a message stating that
"This Box is Full with My Love Please Do Not Open and Let It Go" Now place or stick this to the top of the lid. Tie a ribbon around the box with a small bow on top and Hey What else do you Need on Christmas Morning.
Total Cost....Approx £1
Details....This is a wonderful Gift as it is totally personal and cannot be brought anywhere.

sunshine2000_2

Three ideas that I have done before and worked a treat:

1)Name of present: Hug voucher

Make it or buy it?: Make itTotal Cost: Cost of paper and printer ink (less than £1)

Details: Design a hug voucher for your family or friends. Say a 3rd of an A4 portrait page. On the voucher you can state when it is valid, how to redeem it (i.e. signature from the person), put a pretty border round it and hey presto!

2) Name of present: Samples of beauty products

Make it or buy it?: Free via shops

Total Cost: 0

Details: Lots of high street stores have free beauty samples to give away especially new products that have come out. Just ask for free samples..... I've got lots of new fragrances and lancome beauty products. Put a few together in some lovely tissue paper .....

3)Saved the best for last...............Name of present: Personalised pens, t shirts, business cards and calendars (with your own pics)etc
Buy it

Total Cost: Pay only for P and P- about £2 depending on product. This is for slow delivery 21days. Faster delivery and the price goes up. But there is loads of time left until xmas!!!

Details: Purchase items via Vista Print(link below). Lots of free offers on their website but you get lots more via their emails and all you have to do is pay for p&p. Just make sure you check the expiry date for each offer on the email to make sure you get your free products.... I have just got a personalised t shirt for my dad, pen for my mum, post its for sister and a calendar with pics on for my boyf..... all really good.....Personal quotes on them that they will really cherish......If you sign up for their emails, you'll get loads of offers on free products. Then all you will need to do is check on the shipping costs- go to link below, click on Help, then what are your shipping costs, then instant quote tool. Select the product that you are interested in and your delivery costs will appear. Not had ones any more than £3...:j

Website:http://www.vistaprint.co.uk.

Hope this is of some use, happy shopping....:T:T:T:T:T

flipitphil

Name of Present : Romantic Song

Make or Buy : Make yourself ( sing ) & Buy Backing Track

Cost : 0.99p & some time & effort

Details: Select romantic song which has special meaning / association for your recipient e.g. my wife & I love " Come What May" from film Moulin Rouge - if Ewan McGregor can sing it - so can I.
Record your version of song with backing track playing - ( might get a bit of help from a friend - who can sing Nicole Kidman's female part )
Burn to CD & wrap up - she'll love it.

Online Link : sheetmusicdirect.com Downloadable backing tracks @ 99p.

searchingforlight

Name of present: Magical Reindeer Food

Make or buy: Bit of both

Cost: 1p per cello bag (can recommend a good supplier!), handful of oats about 1p, sprinkle of glitter about 1p, strip of ribbon about 2p and a homemade label or note about 2p - total cost about 8p plus time (many of these items will already be around the house so total cost could be less!)

Details: Mix a handful or so of oats with some sparkly glitter (red/green is very Christmassy). Place in bag and either seal with tape or tie with ribbon. Make up a label on computer or handwritten/drawing to place on the bag or use the ribbon to tie it on.

At the moment Vistaprint are doing great offers on Return Labels for free and I've used that system to get some lovely printed Magical Reindeer Food labels with my own version of a rhyme that is often used for this sort of thing.

It is a lovely gift for children, who can sprinkle the 'food' outside their door to help Rudolph find his way to their house!

mintedby30?

I've already posted but have thought of a couple more:

Last year I had a girl's night on the 20th of December and wanted to give everyone a small gift; I had about 15 ladies coming and didn't want to break the bank. Here's what they got:

mini bottle of rose cava- between £1.50-£2.50 each
5x fererro rocher- bought 2x 36 boxes for £5 so worked out at 34p for 5
Tealight in glass holder- holders were 25p/each in asda and tealights worked out at 15p/each (small note on tealights -please never buy asda chocolate scented tealights- I won't write down what they smell like but it's certainly not chocolate!!!)
mini teddy bear- bought in asda for 99p each

Whole thing worked out at about £4.50 per gift and were wrapped in festive cellophane to make a parcel, tied at the top with ribbon- bought 4 metres of cellophane from the florist for £2.

One more, just because I think it's a really good deal!

Name of present? Art box/ art tub
Do you make it or buy it? Buy it
Total Cost? £2.97
Details (the more the better) Asda are selling art boxes and art tubs full of crafty bits for kids (real kids or big ones who just like to play with glitter glue!) We bought the box a few weeks ago but when we went to get another it's been replaced by a tub for the same price. Tub has the following: Feathers, pipe cleaners, glitter glue, foam shapes, coloured lolly sticks, 2 packs beads with laces to thread them onto, keyring, googly eyes and pom poms. Great gift for a child or to buy for a child to make their own gifts for grandparents/ aunties etc.

moneymadjax

• Name of present? Referral for a friend/relative to Top Cashback
• Do you make it or buy it? Make it
• Total Cost? Nothing/cost of a stamp or phone call
• Details (the more the better) Register first on this website if you haven't already, and then go to the link to refer a friend/relative. Put in their email details and let them know what you have done e.g. a Xmas card or note in the post, phone call or email. They will receive an invitation to sign up. They will then get great money-back deals on all their online shopping.

Where possible please add a link if it's an online offer: if you have already signed up: http://www.topcashback.co.uk/inviteafriend.aspx
If not signed up yet – go to http://www.topcashback.co.uk

bexley

• Name of present? Ring tone
  
• Do you make it or buy it? Buy it
  
• Total Cost? £3
• DETAILS: If you have a mum or grandparents like mine who begrudgingly use their mobile phones, constantly moan about the harsh selection of ringtones that are available and jump out of their skin every time the phone rings then why not get them a ring tone! I came across this site today and it offers ring tones of lovely bird song - which my mum and nan will really love. I will be seeing them both on xmas day so I can help them with the technology. The good things about the present are:- their friends will notice and be impressed, they never would have done it or found out about it themselves, if you choose one they will like, they will be reminded of it everyday (or if you set it up so that it only comes on when you ring, every time you call!). Hopefully it will bring a smile to their face too!
  
• LINK: http://www.wildmobiles.com/wild-tones/
  

divergirl_2

Name of present - Various (see below)
Do you make it or buy it? - Free from other freecycle members
Total Cost-£0

This year I am going for free and recycling as my moto for xmas. As a single mum money is extra tight. I have discovered the joys of a site called freecycle where members post offers of unwanted items on a site that then e-mail these offers directly to your e-mail account. There are a number of groups all around the country just search on the parent site www.freecycle.org for your local group. The concept of the group is to stop usable items ending up in a landfill so not only can you find free xmas gifts you will also be saving the environment. So far I have recieved a toaster, kettle, microwave, childs car seat, digital card reader, steamer, garden chairs, bookcase, stairgates,garden umbrella, and a freezer. Some items were new and still in a box. You can also post wanted adverts as long as you have also offered some items. It is fantastic, you can browse through offers until you find something you are interested in, but you must be quick, my group alone has 5,000 members. I have seen laptops, ipods,furniture, DVD players come up so you can grab some fantastic freebies. Happy hunting!! :j