Tips needed on Presents

sophistica

Just wrapping up my Easter presents and I was wondering how people save money on present buying. I have been quite extravagant in the past and I am looking to cut back. Recently I have paid more attention to wrapping the present. I did in an insane moment of extravagance buy a book on present wrapping which has inpired me to make the gifts look absolutely beautiful before they are opened (at little cost) and my friends and relatives have been more delighted with the cheaper gifts than before.

Noozan

We don't give presents or cards for Easter, Birthdays, Christmas or any other occasion. The only exception is a small token gift for DH's parents at Christmas as they are "set in their ways" as it were.

We do however, give presents to various people throughout the year if and when we happen to see something and think "Oh X would love that!" or we see a suitable bargain.

We sat down with step daughter once and asked if she'd prefer to have gifts randomly or if she would prefer to wait for birthday and Christmas and she chose randomly. I actually thought this was a wise choice as she gets pressies from other relatives etc at birthday and Christmas and gets lots of other stuff through the year too!

I hate seeing my mum stressing at Christmas because she can't think of what to get for XYZ and feels obliged to get them a gift!

lynzpower

I am not quite as organised as I should be on this front, but aim to be better in the future. I buy for 2 mates on in Jan, other in March. This year I managed to get one of thems prezzie n the jan sales, footspa for £6. My mother buys random things from mexx clearance, next etc all thier girfty things, but shes got boxes full of random stuff that never gets given.

I bought a roll of b'day wrapping paper, has lasted ages. Ikea do a patterned paper for a roll for a quid too.

Costco do a "job lot " of 100 cards- all very good, some blank pix, some wedding, some baby, few birthday, but majority pictures of flowers/vistas etc, that can be used as b'day, thank you etc. Think that was a fiver last year, I split with mother and have LOADs left.

Also save money by not buying for the world and his wife - most of my family need nothing, its me that needs LOL

thriftlady_2

I didn't know people exchanged presents at Easter.I don't even buy my kids Easter eggs(grandparents do that ).

I buy something my kids really want (as long as it doesn't run to over £50) for their birthdays.If it is something really expensive then grandparents and aunts contribute.For Christmas we get them less extravagant gifts but more of them for stocking fillers.My ds aged 10 still believes in FC because he doesn't think parents would buy all those stocking fillers as well as other presents,bless him.

For adult family members we either don't exchange gifts or we keep it cheap and cheerful or I make something edible.

sophistica

My parents are in their 80s and not very well so I don't know how long I will have them for. So I am making an effort for Easter which is not costing me very much. I bought some Cinnamon scented candles which were reduced to 50p each in Waitrose and put his together with a lemon coloured teddy bear (cost 99p reduced from £7.99 from Clintons cards and for my dad I have bought him some sweets from Lidl which I will put in a pretty jar. I amamged to get yellow wrapping paper and some of those yellow furry Easter chicks in the pound shop for decorating the presents.

nearlyrich

I have never bought Easter presents either, used to swap eggs with all the cousns but decided when they were about 12 that too much choc not a good thing so now it's been added to Xmas pressie budget.

We don't buy birthday or Xmas pressies for adults with children so just buy for sister, bro & sis in law and my mum his dad. usually give cash for birthday and a pressie for xmas. I also buy for a couple of friends birthdays but not too extravagant. The exception to the not buying for adults is waved on big birthdays 30, 40 etc and we all contribute around £10 to buy a significant gift without breaking the bank.

I was shocked to see "Easter Crackers" in Tesco, my thoughts were the buyers must be crackers LOL, they had a lot left on Friday evening.

Boomdocker

My family do not exchange Easter gifts as we are all adults with the exception of my 8 year old nephew of course.

My saving grace is for Christmas. I do a planner in the new year and then buy what I can through out the year either in the sales or as and when I see it. Then I stick it on my planner so I do not double up or miss anyone. This allows you to take advantage of BOGOFs and offers when they happen.

In addition I save my Boots advantage points, WHSmiths clubcard and Sainsburys nectar points to use as well. If at the end of the year I only have 2000 points on my boots card that equates to £20. Now Boots have 3 for 2 at Christmas which means I could in theory buy 6 £5 gift sets for no cash, just the points. Hey presto, 6 gifts. Same with WHSmiths if I can get a 1000 points on there that will just about cover me for 3 books on 3 for 2. I save me Nectar points for my food shopping which always helps.

I use the threads on here to maximise my point gathering but I am nowhere near as good as some of the others on here.

Oh yeah and lastly I joined the £2 savers club and already have £30 in the pot for Christmas that I will use in M&S/Next etc that don't have a points system.

For me spreading the cost in valuable especially as we usually holiday in early January.

Penny-Pincher!!

Hiya

I keep a pressy box and buy good quality items when greatly reduced. Boots are very good when they have sales and you can find vouchers on this site to cut down more. I also have recycled pressies bought for me-but just make sure you dont gove back to the person given it to you..LOL.

DD & I make HM cards so that saves quite abit and more personal too.

PP
xx

CAFCGirl

I'll admit I have bought Easter pressies, egg for OH, and for parents, however did manage to pick up some Easter gifts from where I work, £45 worth of stock for best part of £8.So that took care of 6 gifts, and included a book to add to the christmas present box.

I'm aiming to have most of my xmas presents in by oct, so then it'll only be OH to buy for.Have spent far too much money in the past! Am also going to try for HM edible gifts in future too. What Grandmother doesnt like a nice moist fruitcake for xmas!

Any other ideas for HM gifts, I'd be grateful! I've got a little notebook so I'm keeping track so that I dont just buy double over a longer time period!Thinking maybe I could jot down some tried and tested gift ideas too, first time round at all this you see

xx Happy Easter xx

Gingham_Ribbon

We've never bought Easter gifts. We don't give our 2 year old much in the way of sweet treats either so we didn't get him an egg. Next year he'll probably be old enough to paint a face on a boiled egg and we can have an egg rolling race.

I don't think anyone else expects anything.

apple_mint

We don't buy Easter gifts either. I used to get Easter eggs for DDs ... but they are both weight watching at the moment.

Since joining MSE I have made a point of producing edible gifts for relatives and they appear to go down well e.g. lemon curd, oat biscuits, flapjack, chutney, jam, marmalade etc. We are now making our own wine, so we are making extra bottles as presents for family (having tested the batch they are from of course ). I make an effort to wrap them well.