Christmas 09 Let's Get Organised!!

pretzelnut

My budget:

DF: £50
DS: £200
DD1: £200
DD2: £50 (newborn baby - clothes in sales etc)
Mum & husband: £25 each
MIL & FIL: £25 each
3 x brothers: £20 each
2 x BIL & SIL's: £20 each
2 x step sisters & partners: £20 each
2 nieces: £20 each
1 nephew: £20

teachers, creche workers and few neighbours £20 all together.

£860 altogether :eek:, but i have already bought loads in sales and made a fair bit myself so im expecting this to actually be around the £500 mark or less. :T I have even managed to get some stuff for free by entering competitions and writing a few letters.

So glad i havent left it all till november this year, ive been at this since july so i have been able to spread it out a bit, plus planning ahead has given me time to think about the gifts i buy rather than the usual - that'll do for.....

chaosweddings

Hi,
i dont have may to buy for this year and this is it!

dh £50 we are saving to go disney florida next year so have limited £50 each
ds £250 inc a laptop that he is paying £100 towards
mum £50
mum bf (who has everything ) 2 x expensive bottles of wine
Brother age 10 £50
Sister (who has everything) £30 ????????????????
brother in law (who has everything ) £20 voucher
and thats it

not too bad really already got dh 2 x life on mars dvd sets, ds wwe t-shirt and wwe figures, mum vintage perfume bottles and coffee lovers set.
havent got a clue what to get my sister hhhhhhhheeeeeeeelllllllppppppp!

ironman1

Ah right.

What is DH , DS etc? Obviously something to do with other half, daughter, sister etc but what do they actually stand for?!

I have to admit I don't usually budget, just buy what I can but this year I may do that. Say £100 for Mum, Dad, Bro.

For the missus I don't think I could have a set amount!

yippee_kye_yay

darling/dear husband is dh
darling/dear son is ds etc
other half is oh

chaosweddings

ironman1 wrote: »

Ah right.

What is DH , DS etc? Obviously something to do with other half, daughter, sister etc but what do they actually stand for?!

I have to admit I don't usually budget, just buy what I can but this year I may do that. Say £100 for Mum, Dad, Bro.

For the missus I don't think I could have a set amount!

Ds darling son
dh darling husband
dd darling daughter
oh other half
pita pain in the a**

lol

pretzelnut

Me and DF usually set each other a christmas day budget of say £20 mainly to buy a token gift as we know we prefer to buy most of what we want in the sales when it's half price after christmas. We usually make a weekend away of it as the kids spend time with the other members of the family between boxing day and new years, so if we manage to book a cheap hotel we do and then hit the sales and have a nice romantic meal out after all the chaos of christmas has clamed down.

The token £20 is so that we each have at least 1 surprise present to open on xmas day.

We usually set each other a little challenge to go along with it to to make it a bit more interesting.

Last year the challenge was ''something i have wanted but cant justify spending the money on!''

DF got me a bonsai tree i had been looking at for months in the garden centre and i bought him a wireless headset for the PS3.

I couldnt justify spending £20 on a plant, but i have always wanted a bonsai tree since watching karate kid when i was little.

We were both happy with our little gifts.

sophisoph

cdsmiler wrote: »

Oooooo what's the code for the free photo book? Think I might have missed that one!



i think its FREESMBOOK there is a jessops book post in the first few pages of freebies (no spend) bit

pretzelnut

Here is a photo of what grey goose sent me for my brother after i wrote them a letter about him.

Please excuse the darkness of the photo's it's nightime and our bedroom is quite dark.




This is DD ''in the night garden hamper'' - mainly bought from B&M.



This is DS ''ben 10'' hamper - the vast majority of which has been bought from B&M and tesco's.




his ''star wars'' hamper which isnt finished yet as i still have to put the free lego toys in and a few other bits like star wars DVD's. He's gonna love this as it has real astronaught food in it.

sophisoph

right next lot...i got a..
box of 2 small gold candles to split between pots of gold
whethers original, big pack for 99p

book on minis for about £2.50 from the works to go with mini coins if mine ever come!

7 bottles of bubbles for about 35p each from the entertainer (sons party bags)

Printed outlines of mr men for the bigger boys to colour in in their party bags and sorted crayons from a bix box full that has been sat doing nothing for years

A shooter toy thing with foam discs reduced in tesco for 50P!!! and a similar thing where you press a button and something flys off. also 50p (nephews xmas sorted)

printed out personal vouchers for my friends baby hamper ie. 'i will babysit while you have a bath' and vouchers for my other half ie 'Takeaway tonight'

Ive decided to do an 'xmas eve' pack for my friends little boy. it has instructions for mum to read out and contains:
a sign (home made) saying 'santa stop here ive been good this year' with a santa face for them to colour in.
A mince pie + carrot for santa,
bubbles which ive covered with a home made sign saying 'magic bubbles' so reindeer know where to go.
a bauble to kiss, wish on and hang on the tree to show santa where to leave pressies
'good boy toothpaste' the most important bit cause santa likes children with big smiles xmas morning and all year round
A big hug for mummy, a personalised letter from santa and thats it. cheap but it helps her get him to do things ie brushing his teeth and a nice thing to do xmas eve with little ones

ive forgotten the rest ill come back to it

Mrs_Ryan

I just have to share this - I mentioned OH wanted a multi-region DVD player that I was prepared to pay about £150-170 for as the only ones I had found were about this price.

Just done a bit of digging and found one in Currys for the absolutely fantastically bargainous price of £29.99!!! Have reserved it online and going to pick it up tomorrow. Unfortunately had to tell OH as Currys only reachable by car... but I had a little win on the quiz machine in the pub this evening (£10) so that will go towards it so will only have to put £20 on my card. Im so chuffed.... and feeling so MSE!!!