Christmas 09 Let's Get Organised!!

curlylou1986

Hey, have been keeping updated on all of the posts on here and i am very excited - i spent last night writing all the snowman soup etc ideas down in my present book. i already havea lot of things i have picked up but this has given me a few more ideas.

i am making a hamper of bits for my best mates little boy and girl and got character towels in Asda for £3! ben 10 alien force and a disney princess one too. realy great and cheap too so perfect!

also with all the going back to school bits everywhere its good to get some pencils and pencil cases ready to go with the xmas colouring books for stockings too - tescos had a great deal, i got packs of wallets for folders for 6p!

i am however looking for something to put the kiddies bits in - i have a idea what i would like but i can not find it anywhere! a kids coloured bin - like a waste paper bin i guess really - i seen some that have lids too (liek the old fashioned black bins we used to have for the rubbish) but i can not find the smaller alternatives or anyhting simular! i dont want to pay a fortune on them, but i dont want to just put the presents in a box that will be thrown away - has anyone seen anything like this?

pretzelnut

curlylou1986 wrote: »

i am however looking for something to put the kiddies bits in - i have a idea what i would like but i can not find it anywhere! a kids coloured bin - like a waste paper bin i guess really - i seen some that have lids too (liek the old fashioned black bins we used to have for the rubbish) but i can not find the smaller alternatives or anyhting simular! i dont want to pay a fortune on them, but i dont want to just put the presents in a box that will be thrown away - has anyone seen anything like this?

I think i know the bins you mean i have 2 full of plaster of paris. I got mine in the range for less than £2 each a few weeks ago. It is a red bin with a green lid. I havent seen any other colours around though.

I got 15 A4 silver effect picture frames in poundland yesterday for handprints of the kids to give to the relatives. I also got about 6 different types of alien gloop / gunge / gunk to put in my sons space hamper as well as some themed activity packs.

Also ikea are doing 3 packs of tea light glasses galeg they are called - (they are massive glasses for the larger tea lights) reduced from £2.99 to 30p per 3 pack so i grabbed a load of them to use for the pots of gold. This really annoyed my mum as they are the same glasses she used for her wedding a few weeks ago and she bought 50 sets at the £3 mark and now she's going loopy.

They also have some lovely planters that have 3 white galvanised plant pots - solig - that suspend on a frame in the air for 99p reduced from £5.99 so i got 2 of those. Even if you dont suspend them from the air the pots themselves are lovely.

Loads of big baskets are reduced if your making hampers.

I have tried to search for the names online but the search function is temporarily down for me so i have added the names above.

They have loads reduced at the minute as they have a massive sale on.

curlylou1986

Thanks Princess Woo - we have a range near here so will prob pop and have a look tomo night after work - fingers crossed they still have some! thats perfect price really too )
did look in mataland today but didnt have anything really - however as someone else has said they have a big sale - managed to get 4 rolls of wrapping paper for 50p each, had disney princess one too so am rather pleased! i also got a big valentines card too - 50p! ) they got reduced clothes too - the babies clothes are still really good prices, was able to pick up some bits for next summer in their size relativly cheap so can add the the xmas boxes they be getting.

Also princesswoo you are doing the space bits - in tescos they have sticker sheets of space things - there are names with all of them and are real photos - not drawings etc. they were priced as a £1 but trough the till they are 50p. was with all the drawing/craft bits! )

yippee_kye_yay

curlylou1986 wrote: »

i am however looking for something to put the kiddies bits in - i have a idea what i would like but i can not find it anywhere! a kids coloured bin - like a waste paper bin i guess really - i seen some that have lids too (liek the old fashioned black bins we used to have for the rubbish) but i can not find the smaller alternatives or anyhting simular! i dont want to pay a fortune on them, but i dont want to just put the presents in a box that will be thrown away - has anyone seen anything like this?

you can pick these up fairly cheap in wilkinsons, home bargains or tescos hths

helyg

Hi everyone, this is my first post although I have been lurking for a long time... lol

I am Christmas mad, but always on a budget. I always start my Christmas shopping in the January sales.

So far this year I have bought:

All of my cards, giftwrap etc from various places reduced in the January sales
A half price Baby Annabel for my daughter from Argos
A half price Disney Princess outfit for my daughter from the Disney Store
A half price Body Shop gift set for my mum
A half price smellies set from Boots for my husband
A book about rugby from The Book People reduced from £16.99 to £2 for my husband
6 x half price Laura Ashley Christmas candles for my work colleagues
Christmas mugs reduced from £3.50 each to £1 each for my kids' teachers (will fill them with homemade fudge and wrap nicely in cellophane)
Jars from Lakeland and cellophane and baskets from ebay to make my own homemade chutney gift sets for friends.
A Vtech Kiddizoom camera from Argos, saved £10 using a voucher they sent with my store card.

I have also bought lots of craft stuff in the docrafts website sale, including cross stitch card kits reduced from £1.99 each to 35p each.

I am really looking forward to sharing ideas and picking up tips from you guys!

pretzelnut

helyg wrote: »

Hi everyone, this is my first post although I have been lurking for a long time... lol

Welcome to the thread - wave goodbye to being a lurker this site is addictive.
I went and had a look at the do crafts sale - just spend a tiny amount and got quite a bit - those cross stitch kits are great value at only 35p - there's and angel and stocking one in the christmas section.

helyg

[QUOTE=princesswoo;23871555
Welcome to the thread - wave goodbye to being a lurker this site is addictive.
I went and had a look at the do crafts sale - just spend a tiny amount and got quite a bit - those cross stitch kits are great value at only 35p - there's and angel and stocking one in the christmas section.[/QUOTE]

I bought two of the stocking ones (one each for my sons) and one of the angel ones for my daughter, also two of the candle ones for my mum and my inlaws. Bough loads of stamps that were reduced from £6.99 for a 3 pack to 75p too, even if I don't use them the kids will do for making cards etc.

pretzelnut

helyg wrote: »

I bought two of the stocking ones (one each for my sons) and one of the angel ones for my daughter, also two of the candle ones for my mum and my inlaws. Bough loads of stamps that were reduced from £6.99 for a 3 pack to 75p too, even if I don't use them the kids will do for making cards etc.

Thats what i thought, since getting all the craft stuff to do my own cards etc - the kids havent left them alone but at these prices they can have their own little craft kits. Not that my cupboard isnt full of stuff already but i normally couldnt afford for them to have their own ink pads and stamps. Even the scrapbooking papers are cheap as chips.

My DS almost 7 - is obsessed with ink pads, embossing powder and the heat gun, i keep telling him there are only so many hand prints he can do.

Our kitchen looked like a bomb had gone off in it this afternoon, my DD - almost 2, had managed to get a pot of red glitter open and got it everywhere, she was making a butterfly at the time with scrunched up tissue paper so all the glitter stuck to her hands, the table, the floor, you name it, it now has glitter on it, im still trying to hoover it all up. And i bet im still finding glints of it in a weeks time.

I made my mum an emergency cup of tea kit yesterday. Using the small business card boxes i mentioned a few posts back. I put in 2 tea bags, 4 sticks of sugar and 4 cartons of the UHT milk. I put on a label and it looks really good.

She's always moaning when she goes out anyhere that so and so doesnt drink tea so she has to sit there parched, or if she's waiting at the hospital how those machine's dont know how to make a decent cup of tea. Well now all she has to do is get a cup of hot water and she can make her own. Or she can keep it in the car - just in case theirs a tea emergency that i havent thought of yet. I hope she see's the funny side.

I'm still struggling with the men of the family, well i have ideas but i cant keep them under budget. But i have a bit of time to get my thinking cap on.

Giggle

princesswoo wrote: »

I'm still struggling with the men of the family, well i have ideas but i cant keep them under budget. But i have a bit of time to get my thinking cap on.

Why not do the men pints of socks heres mine

http://jkhcrafts.blogspot.com/2009/07/pints-of-socks.html

pretzelnut

Giggle wrote: »

Why not do the men pints of socks heres mine

http://jkhcrafts.blogspot.com/2009/07/pints-of-socks.html

That would be way too easy.

Im trying to do stuff that says something about them and their personality. A bit tongue in cheek. Something that says - they know me too well.

I have:
1 who is a wine drinker and knows his wine so i cant get any cheapy stuff,
1 who only drinks grey goose vodka which is hard to buy in a shop and is nearly £40 a bottle, even a miniature is £5 a shot, and when asked thats all he ever wants but i cant stretch to cost as i cant do it for everone,
1 who doesnt drink at all - in fact doesnt do much at all - ever,
3 who drink way too much,
1 who only drinks blue WKD and even turned down the holiday of a lifetime as there would be NO blue WKD anywhere for 2 weeks, and
3 who are just under the drinking age.

None of them drink lager or beer.

Why are men so difficult. Plus new family members that im not too sure of as i havent known them that long or well enough yet.

My new step dad is a walker - but i know nothing about walking so wouldnt have a clue where to start, i could get him walking socks but his daughters get him them each year and i really wouldnt want to tread on their toes. What else do walkers need? He's pushing 60 is their anything i could get that might help if he ever gets into difficulty - he has a mobile and usually goes alone, he knows the hills like the back of his hands.