Christmas 09 Let's Get Organised!!

MummyYummy

wendyphant wrote: »

I am so excited been xmas shopping and got so much done.

Got my neice a sylvannian family house rrp £59.99 got it for £29.99 on the toyshop.com but got 10 % off today so cost £26.99

My son will be 3 on dec 21st (:mad:bad timing) he wanted a ''big boys big blue thomas bike'' tesco had it for £59.99 but the @~#'s put the price up last week to £89.99 I had £30 in vouchers and thought what the heck I'll double them up and get this bike........To my shock they'd reduced it to £70 today and with the vouchers it cost only £10 and I had it del free to my local store!

My sister works away a lot and misses my son terribley so off him I got a digital photo frame which is in a teddy's tummy from the toystore.com reduced to £10 and again 10% off

I need to find some nice big dinosaurs for my son for his birthday and a wooden fire station if anyone sees one about can you let me know.

I am also after a good deal for a photo album book for my dad any suggestions?

Merry Christmas all 77 days to go:j:j:j

My son (3) is having the ELC wooden fire station, from my mum, as someone previously mentioned. I've looked all over online and its the only one I really like and seems good value for money once you use the 20% off voucher to get it down to £80. It reminds me of a dolls house but for boys lol!

Sorry I've not been on for a while everyone - school runs, colds and waiting for pay day has taken all my energy from me :rotfl: Also trying to save a bit of money on the electric so not having the computer on as often :rolleyes:

I need to look back through my lists and see whats left to get.

Oh btw - I noticed Tesco staff beginning to put out wrapping paper/cards/tags etc yesterday! Can't wait to have a good look when I go again next week.

Jo xx

blushingbride_3

NickyBo wrote: »

I've finally got my Christmas wrapping paper out of the attic. I keep it in a speical wrapping paper bag and it had fallen right to the back of all the boxes and junk, I could only just see a tiny corner of it peeking out when I shone the torch on it.
I almost had to empty the trillions of boxes out of the attic to get it, but had a brainwave instead. I moved the top few boxes and climbed over everything else It must have been quite a sight but I got what I needed :T.

So tonight I'm going to be wrapping shoeboxes for the Operation Christmas Child charity that we're doing at school. I'm organising it at my school and we're aiming to collect 100 filled shoebox gifts!

Is anyone else taking part in the shoebox appeal this year?

I am!

But ours is organised by our local radio station and they take a lorry to romania (i think)
i;'ve got some crayons, hats & scalves, a lovely teddy for 50p from the charity shop & some sweeties

what else can i put in?

yippee_kye_yay

so much for me curbing my spending! a hobbycraft store finaly opened in my town yesterday and i spent £17 (was £21 but had a £4 off coupon) i wasnt supposed to spend anything, i was just looking! oops
i fell in love with all the wooden xmas decorations so got a few of them which i will let the kids decorate and hang in their rooms. i also got some of the paper mache boxes which i will cover with fabric and ribbons for little gifts.

also got a pack of 30 foam xmas trees which were quite a decent size and in different shades of green. they were half price at £2.99. i think i will decorate them with the kids and then hide them all for them to find in the house and garden, with a bag of chocholate coins when theyve found them all. this should fill a coupleof days in the run up to xmas; decorating one day and finding the next.

a little tip for anyone doing a craft hamper for a small child; in hobbycraft they had wooden cat and dog masks (may have been others) which has a handle to hold at the face rather than elastic for £1.25 each. my kids (1 and 2 years) had loads of fun painting them yesterday afternoon, they also covered them in glitter and sequins too and spent most of today playing with them. i'd reccomend them

they also had paper mache (strong ones) hatboxes and gift boxes in different sizes which were different sizes/prices. there plain so they could be decorated/covered in fabric for giving gifts.

managed to get some fabric to do my beaded canvasses too.
alsoo got a magic key for the xmas eve hamper.

yippee_kye_yay

blushingbride wrote: »

I am!

But ours is organised by our local radio station and they take a lorry to romania (i think)
i;'ve got some crayons, hats & scalves, a lovely teddy for 50p from the charity shop & some sweeties

what else can i put in?

have you put in colouring books/paper for the crayons?
little necklace sets or cars maybe?

Dorato

blushingbride wrote: »

I am!

But ours is organised by our local radio station and they take a lorry to romania (i think)
i;'ve got some crayons, hats & scalves, a lovely teddy for 50p from the charity shop & some sweeties

what else can i put in?

bouncy balls?

Sallys_Savings

Depending on the age shoebox you are giving;

I buy bits from car boots for my boxes and look out in the sales throughout the year and rarely pay over 30p for any single item.

These are the bits and pieces I have put in our boxes:

Small pallette paints, cars, bouncy balls, party blowers, hair clips punch balloons, toothpaste, toothbrush, bar of soap, note pads, colouring books, play clay, sweets ( 10p bags of haribos, flumps, chewy sweets, etc), playing cards (including happy families etc), skipping rope, hats, socks, mittens, glow stars in the dark, stickers, plain paper, finger puppets, teddies, mini jigsaws, snowglobe, crayons,threading beads, wind up toys, wooden flatpack aeroplanes, travel games, bracelets, necklaces, animal figures, flannel, make your own kits..i.e. purse, puppets, pom pets etc, jingle bells,

Dorato

Just found this from a website:

TOYS
small cars, balls, dolls, stuffed animals, kazoos, harmonicas, yo-yos, jump ropes, small Etch A Sketch®, toys that light up or make noise (with extra batteries), Slinky®, etc.

SCHOOL SUPPLIES
pens, pencils and sharpener, crayons or markers, stamps and ink pad sets, writing pads or paper, solar calculators, coloring and picture books, etc.

HYGIENE ITEMS
toothbrush, toothpaste, mild bar soap (in a plastic bag), comb, washcloth, etc.

OTHER
Hard candy and lollipops (please double bag all candy), mints, gum, T-shirts, socks, ball caps; sunglasses, hair clips, toy jewelry, watches, flashlights (with extra batteries).

jemtom

Dorato wrote: »

is there an age limit thing for ordering vouchers though? if there is, chances are i cant get them..

i doubt it if there is i have never seen or heard of it, you can either order them online or im sure you can get them from shops, supermarkets usually do them around the magazine/entertainment sections.

Dorato

jemtom wrote: »

i doubt it if there is i have never seen or heard of it, you can either order them online or im sure you can get them from shops, supermarkets usually do them around the magazine/entertainment sections.

Okay, I thought you'd need a paypal account though.. Which you can't get until you're 18.. And I'm not 18 yet.
If you can get them in shops though, that could work.

NickyBo_2

blushingbride wrote: »

I am!

But ours is organised by our local radio station and they take a lorry to romania (i think)
i;'ve got some crayons, hats & scalves, a lovely teddy for 50p from the charity shop & some sweeties

what else can i put in?

All the ideas already suggested are just what I was going to say

One thing I want to add - since I organise the collection at our school, I go through all the shoeboxes to check they have suitable/enough items in and I often find they are short of the toiletries items, things like a toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, flannel, sponge, soap etc. I would say to try to make sure your shoebox has an even mix of toys, toiletries, educational supplies and then a couple of other bits like a pair of gloves or a scarf.

One more thing, the charity I make shoeboxes for requests that no liquid items are put in, in case they split and ruin everything else. So this includes shampoo, bubble bath, blowing bubbles etc.