student daughter needs gift ideas for rich friends

cazpumpkin

Hi

My daughter age 17 is studying at a 6th form college for her A levels and has £10 a week spending money maximum (EMA) , as a family we made an executive decision to let her study instead of taking a part time job at the weekends which has paid off in that her grades have improved considerably over this last year,

my daughter is very good at managing her money , however christmas is coming and she wants to buy presents for her Dad (my ex) his partner and her half brother , she has ideas for them so her problem is what to get her friends

she is a very sociable girl and knows a lot of people , she thinks she will have to buy presents for just 5 people in particular from college.

she says they are all very wealthy kids from rich families and also very materialistic unfortunately , and would turn their noses up at poundland offerings ( my suggestion lol) so she was wondering what to get them , they are all age about 17/18 , most of them either have saturday jobs and the ones that dont have parents who dish money out like water


so she would like suggestions for presents for the 5 girls, homemade preferred and also how much per girl


thank you in advance
carol

moneysavingmumofone

How about a home made chocolate slab. Could pipe their names on them or make them look really posh decorated with nuts/dried fruit.

littlenicki

could she suggest a secret santa thing with the 5 girls? that way they could set a reasonable budget and she wouldnt have to buy lots. Other than that sock monkeys have gone down very well with my 18 year old friends (who prefer to put his tail somewhere it shouldnt be, and re-name him) and they have all asked for one for xmas. They are very cheap and easy to make

hth

nicki

EMminently

Sentimental's good on the cheap! How about something to do with photos - like a framed pic of the group of friends or some sort of scrap book of memories of their friendships. When i left school my friend gave me a frame with 6/7 pics in that she'd put together and printed out on one sheet of paper - then she wrote about treasured times and how our friendship had progressed from when we were 11. It was so thoughtful and i've still got it now - a few years on!!! I wouldn't try to compete in terms of monetary value if they can afford all they want anyway.

Alternatively, you could do home-made choc truffles or Thorntons do choc that you can write a message on. Or little plant pots, hand-painted by your daughter with special seeds in like forgetmenots...

**MissL2**

I definitely second the secret santa idea... we used to do these at school and it was so much fun and cheaper!!

If not do you have a TK Maxx nearby? They have loads of designer cosmetics/body stuff for heavily reduced prices.

For a homemade idea what about a friendship scapbook with some pictures,poems, song lyrics etc

Inkedkitten

Tell her to get new friends! lol I'm kidding!

I think the secret santas a good idea too, then she can spend money on one person rather than buying expensive things or smaller cheaper things. Kids eh!

foxxymynx

We did a Secret Santa at school. There was 20 of us and most people came from rather privilaged backgrounds much like your daughters friends.

How about making individual toiletery gift baskets if she's not doing secret santa?

Gift baskets from ebay and muffin cases, with cellophane should be about £5-£10. After that she'd need face cloths for the face cloth muffins (have a look for "how do I make flannel cakes" thread in Special Occasions ) and general toiletries, - most are on offer in supermarkets, she could get bits from poundland and other cheap shops and before you know it she's spent under a fiver on each and it looks alot more!

Other than that, Christmas Mugs full of sweets wrapped in cellophane with a little Christmas ribbon on the top? (That's what I've done for my nieces friends, worked out less than £2 each, including a face cloth to look like cream, - we filled the mugs with celebrations, put a face cloth roled up as per the face cloth muffins, with a truffle celebration sweet on the top) You can get novelty cups quite cheap too - like winnie the pooh one in Morrisons for £2 or whatever)

cazpumpkin

thanks for all the great ideas so far!!!!
xxxxxx

SugarSpun

She could name stars after all of them - $2 on the freenameastar.com website clears off the "free" bit on the banner, and pretty frames shouldn't be expensive.

Adding a chocolate slab or home-made truffles would also be nice.

Poppy9

If secret santa is out looks like you're buying:D

DD only 13 so I stock up on Claire's 10 items for £5 in the sales.

Primark is great for bargains that don't look cheap. Thinking fluffy slipper boots which are £2.50 with some over the knee stripy socks.

Re her Dad, partner etc. could she just ask if it's okay to buy just for 1/2 brother and to provide two free nights baby sitting for them over Christmas/New year as a gift.

shellsuit

EMminently wrote: »

Sentimental's good on the cheap! How about something to do with photos - like a framed pic of the group of friends or some sort of scrap book of memories of their friendships. When i left school my friend gave me a frame with 6/7 pics in that she'd put together and printed out on one sheet of paper - then she wrote about treasured times and how our friendship had progressed from when we were 11. It was so thoughtful and i've still got it now - a few years on!!! I wouldn't try to compete in terms of monetary value if they can afford all they want anyway.

Alternatively, you could do home-made choc truffles or Thorntons do choc that you can write a message on. Or little plant pots, hand-painted by your daughter with special seeds in like forgetmenots...

That is an excellent idea! :T :T