Christmas 09 Let's Get Organised!!

stokegal

helyg wrote: »

OK, this isn't strictly Christmas it's for a just-before-Christmas birthday... but I was thinking of making my friend a pair of lavender bags to hang in her wardrobe/on a door. I would make them out of red gingham fabric, sewn into little sacks with a white fabric panel with a cross stitched heart design on the front, then tied with some nice ribbon. Do you think this would make a nice pressie? I can't afford to spend a fortune, and tend to always fall back on the same bottle of wine/smellies gift, so I thought that this would be something nice and a bit more personal? She is having a homemade foodie basket for Christmas so I don't want to do her a basket for her birthday as well.

What do you think?

That sounds like an absolutely lovely present and if she doesn't want it then you are more than welcome to send it my way. How about stitching her initials on it in someway then she knows it's truely personal to her

stokegal

yippee_kye_yay wrote: »

well ive been shopping today and have just about finished my 2 off! just need to get ds a tank and a shop thingy from argos for them to share and thats them finished! i will b getting them next week!:T
next step is tackling the birthdays i have before xmas. i have 8 to buy out of 11 and i have half of my mums and half of my stepdads and eldest brothers so happy with that!

i am hoping to get them finished by the end of august then from september onwards i can fully concentrate on xmas; although im likely to get the xmas pressies 1st and rush about last minute to find something for the birthdays!

i had a look in bookzone today for my artists supplies for nephews hamper but their wasnt any! tescos had a lot marked down but the packaging on everything was damaged - there was even pages torn in sketch pads! but wilkinsons did have a few good bits in, so i will go there next week hopefully and pick a few bits up.

really long post this lol but im after suggestions for the following

god daughter aged 6 - likes high school musical, hannah motanna budget £10
My nieces love HSM and Hannah Montana and they always have good bargains in B&M, I have however bought 1 of these each for my 6 & 7 year old niece (Just noticed that the HSM has gone back up to full price but the Hannah Montana one is still half price)

nephew aged 2 - budget £20 he is a little behind in speech and he has no attention span, so really looking for something which will encourage him to try to talk maybe? and something that will stimulate him for longer than 2mins (need ideas for bday and xmas) I like this - it's on the elc website and it says that it instills confidence and maybe that's a reason why he doesn't like to talk, also maybe if you can't get him to talk you could get him to sing

little brother aged 10 - budget £15 loves making stuff, experiments, xbox, rugby (altho he supports my rivla team :mad:) I'm really sorry I don't have a scooby doo!!! My cousin is 10 and I have NO idea what to get him for christmas, he'll probably get HMV vouchers

friends daughter 10months - budget £10??? If you can stretch to £12.99 I think that this is pretty cool

i think thats all! phew!

Hope that helps!!!

Edit - I've found the guitar I suggested cheaper here and you get advantage points (I'm just about to order 1 for my DS) So thanks for asking and making me search!!!

yippee_kye_yay

furrypig wrote: »

yippee kye yay I found this HM watch on amazon earlier is it any good??? Seems like a bargain!

thats great and so cheap too! thank you i dont get amazon tho? can u pay by debit card? im probaly just stupid, but i find the site very confusing!
can any1 shed any light for me?

yippee_kye_yay

thanks stokegal
another friend has just bought my goddaughter the teeny meenz thingy!!!
my nephew has been on ds's guitar and he has no interest in it!!! he doesnt really like much!!!
the camera tho, i am very bery impressed with!!! i think she may be getting that! my dd may also need 1 lol!!

its officail! i am really stupid, it took me ages to work out that scooby doo thing you said lol!!!

pretzelnut

yippee_kye_yay wrote: »

nephew aged 2 - budget £20 he is a little behind in speech and he has no attention span, so really looking for something which will encourage him to try to talk maybe? and something that will stimulate him for longer than 2mins (need ideas for bday and xmas)

2 years old - is that just turned 2 or 2 but almost 3.

That would help as a lot can happen in a year. And what is suitable for a just turned 2 year old is boring for a nearly 3 year old.

My DD isnt 2 yet but she is going on 5 most of the time when it comes to playing with toys, so if someone bought her a toy suitable for an under 3 she would probably wouldnt even play with it. Yet she has some toys that are for a 6 month old that she never puts down.

I think toys are very difficult to buy for kids this young.

Does your nephew have 1 thing that fascinates him or grabs his attention, my DD is obsessed with balloons, if someone bought her a balloon it would keep her running round screaming with excitement for hours.

I know this is an obvious one, and will take some parental involvement but books with big pictures where mum & dad can point and say - ''look xxxx - its a ball, can you say ball'' etc etc are always a good buy,

I have bought some good ones that have everyday objects, foods, colours etc and my DS used them to point to what he wanted when he couldnt say the word, i would then say ''oh you want an apple, can you say apple''

If you got the everyday object one maybe you could make a hamper out of it by adding a ball, teddy, car, etc items from the pictures that are in the book itself, i think it's called a story / toy sack.

Or how about wooden bricks: these are ageless IMHO i still play with them now, :rotfl:there is no right or wrong way to play with them, they dont annoy the parents with endless noise and kids feel a great sense of achievemnet even with the smallest tower, plus they get to take great pride in knocking it down again. I think these are a great price for the selection of shapes and colours that you get.
http://www.treasureislandtoys.co.uk/Toys/TreasureIslandToys-2D5799.aspx

ELC do them too.

http://www.elc.co.uk/toy/wooden-bricks/

I am old fashioned and love wooden toys. They never break and dont end up in the bin a few weeks after xmas, and once taken out of the box there's stila toy to play with.

pretzelnut

yippee_kye_yay wrote: »

thats great and so cheap too! thank you i dont get amazon tho? can u pay by debit card? im probaly just stupid, but i find the site very confusing!
can any1 shed any light for me?

I struggle with amazon too at times so your not the only one.

Yes you can pay by debit card.

I tend to only buy stuff that is direct from amazon and not the merchant sellers, as this keeps my postage down. And a lot of the time its free is you readh the qualifying spend.

queenb1981

yippee_kye_yay wrote: »

thats great and so cheap too! thank you i dont get amazon tho? can u pay by debit card? im probaly just stupid, but i find the site very confusing!
can any1 shed any light for me?

you can pay by debit card just add items then go to checkout that is on right side of page, add another item to watch so delivery is free you need £5 for free delivery. Make sure you select free delivery at checkout. There are cheap books for £1.49 at moment to make money up to £5

yippee_kye_yay

princesswoo wrote: »

2 years old - is that just turned 2 or 2 but almost 3.

That would help as a lot can happen in a year. And what is suitable for a just turned 2 year old is boring for a nearly 3 year old.

My DD isnt 2 yet but she is going on 5 most of the time when it comes to playing with toys, so if someone bought her a toy suitable for an under 3 she would probably wouldnt even play with it. Yet she has some toys that are for a 6 month old that she never puts down.

I think toys are very difficult to buy for kids this young.

Does your nephew have 1 thing that fascinates him or grabs his attention, my DD is obsessed with balloons, if someone bought her a balloon it would keep her running round screaming with excitement for hours.

I know this is an obvious one, and will take some parental involvement but books with big pictures where mum & dad can point and say - ''look xxxx - its a ball, can you say ball'' etc etc are always a good buy,

I have bought some good ones that have everyday objects, foods, colours etc and my DS used them to point to what he wanted when he couldnt say the word, i would then say ''oh you want an apple, can you say apple''

If you got the everyday object one maybe you could make a hamper out of it by adding a ball, teddy, car, etc items from the pictures that are in the book itself, i think it's called a story / toy sack.

Or how about wooden bricks: these are ageless IMHO i still play with them now, :rotfl:there is no right or wrong way to play with them, they dont annoy the parents with endless noise and kids feel a great sense of achievemnet even with the smallest tower, plus they get to take great pride in knocking it down again. I think these are a great price for the selection of shapes and colours that you get.
http://www.treasureislandtoys.co.uk/Toys/TreasureIslandToys-2D5799.aspx

ELC do them too.

http://www.elc.co.uk/toy/wooden-bricks/

I am old fashioned and love wooden toys. They never break and dont end up in the bin a few weeks after xmas, and once taken out of the box there's stila toy to play with.

hes 2 next month. his interests are food and telly! there the only things he has any interest in. he plays with my 2 kids but will completly ignore any adults, even his parents unless he wants anything, a lot of the time its like hes not in the same room with the rest of us.
my mum says my brother was the same - sort of in his own world and he didnt talk until he was almost 5 (except 1 word; !!!!!! we thank my nanna for that 1!) but my brother is deaf in 1 ear and that was the reason for it.
we know my nephew has no trouble with his hearing as due to my brothers problem he has his hearing checked every 6 months and has always passed with flying colours.
i personally believe he has some symptoms of autism, but havent brought this up with his parents, its not easy!

i have bought some of them flash cards and i see him once a week which we do together, well i say we, my 2 will happily join in but he just watches and joins in the clapping when the other two say the words.

i wouldnt like to buy him them sort of things as when my dd whos 18months is saying things or singing or asking questions and doing what u ask her my bro will always comment 'shes so clever' 'i cant wait for him to do this' i'i cant believe she can do that' and other things along those lines and i think he is quite embarrassed.
i have tried to explain to him that my dd is just really clever as my ds who is 13onths older wasnt as advanced at her age, but i dont think he believes me. my sil makes the same comments but not as much.

he is quite liking to watch mickey mouse clubhouse on tv so could mayb go down that route.
the blocks are good (my ds has them! we've been making castles today) but i got them last year in boots 3 for 2, so may save them for xmas see if theyre in it again. but i do need something for his bday next month

yippee_kye_yay

thats good, ill see what else there is on amazon to make it to £5

stokegal

As I'm suffering with insomnia, I'm bargain hunting, I have found the following if anyone is interested

Rory The Racing Car Travelling Art Set - Reduced from £14.99 to £4.50

Disney Princess Light Up Puzzle - Reduced from £15.99 to £4.80

Fluffy Pens x 24 - Reduced from £47.84 (:eek::eek: Who would pay that!!!) to £11.96

There is also loads of other offers on the website in their clearance section (Plus don't forget Cashback from Quidco)