my bargain christmas 2009

victory

Don't worry yourself we all do it, I always buy the annuals in the jan sales for next year so far he has not twigged as he is only 9, so they are 99p each rather than £7.99:D he has some ricky gervaise books the flannimals from the boot fair 50 p, he has two games from the boot fair 50 p each, he has loads of clothes from the boot fair, charity shop no more than £1 each time, he is young he is happy, he is not bothered where it comes from, I wash it, I clean it, I make sure that all the pieces are there, it looks clean presentable what is the difference? The only difference is that it cost me a lot less in cash and so he gets a lot more bonus:D:j

legio11

Thank you everyone feel much better hearing all your bargain stories as well, Victory my 2.5 year old is mad about flanimals all picked up from carboots and charity shops a very good friend has bought him the pop up one for xmas when it was half price in the sale and he is going to love it.
We have found this morning we need to tighten our belt even more as i have been turned down for my benefits so need to wait for appeal hearing before i get anything arggghhh but on the plus side i have a beautiful supportive loving family and some great friends xxx

victory

legio you know you are going to be fine, wonderful family some people would give it all up just to say those words, you are blessed, count them, you have many;)

happybargainhunter2008

A lot of my friends and family tease me for my joy in finding a bargain, but they all benefit as they get much better presents because of it. I have got my nine month old baby lots of toys from a recent NCT nearly new sale. The one near us is really good as they do a quality check on the goods before they are sold, so lots of things are still in pristine boxes. He is a baby. He won't know that they are not in any special packaging. As for our older boy, he's got things from the sale and as a result of glitches or baragins spotted here like the scooter from Amazon. I have made the mistake of buying something quite expensive for my son before and thought he would really like it. When he opened it and didn't seem that impressed, it was me who was most disappointed. Children are often very fickle and play with things for a maximum of 5 minutes.

Don't worry about other people. it's your special time with your family. They are lucky to have a mum as caring as you. That's the best gift.

tartantotty

I have quite a few friends who would rather die than charity shop/boot sale shop/do homemade (more fool them quite frankly :rolleyes:), so I take great delight in giving them their xmas pressie, which almost always charity shop/carboot/homemade, but they never guess! I often buy new bath/body stuff, which more often than not have bashed boxes, from one of my local charity shops which always has expensive brands, and make them up into hampers etc and they have no idea!:rotfl:

legio11

my mum has promised to take me carbooting this weekend to see what people are clearing out in preperation for xmas i really wanna get my son some batman or spiderman figures so hopefully will find a few lol

hob

i have 8 kids to get and then my brother criag (who is now living with me and is like a child in manys ways) i would not be able to afford xmas without ebay, charity shops, pound shop ect i dont think any one cears about the box and if they do they can have a 'new' gift but its not gonna be as good as i just cant. i dont see why i should have to eather isnt it the thought that counts? i would be so touched to get a gift that you can tell has thought nox a expensive price. so yay you guys.

cdodd

I got my DD a second hand DS off game for her 4th birthday, it's not a DS lite but the one before that so a little bulkier she doesn't realise and is very happy with it, just bought a couple of (new but reduced price) games and a new case. I dont spend much on either of my children for xmas - about 30-40 each, they get enough off other family members and at the end of the day there's only so many toys children can play with, well done to OP and all the other posters on this thread, the kids arent going to love you any more for spending a fortune on them

Mummyroo

Well done you¬:j I bought my ds a little tykes police car from ebay last year for his birthday at £15 it was a snip, I thought I would feel guilty about palming him off with second hand toys but infact I felt great, I was giving him a great toy for less money and helping the environment by stopping it going in landfill! He was only 2 so had no idea even if it had a few scratches, and it has many more now!
You have put so much more effort into getting your gifts for this christmas so they mean so much! Christmas is about the joy of being together as a family and seeing the magic when a child gets a toy they really want, not about how much money you can spend!
I hope you have a magical christmas!

crazy_girl

i think youve done really well indeed!

i was shocked at the bank the other day when the woman said 'the computers offering you a loan' i said (not trying to be smarmy!) that i didnt have anythign to spend it on and she said 'well with christmas coming...' i wonder how many people went for the loan only to start 2010 with a big debt hanging over their heads