Crafting for Christmas 2010, lets begin again......

mum2one

Valli wrote: »

as an interested observer on this thread and a longtime reader of your posts Sammy
congrats on the new baby

and sod your sister

How much you love someone has no relationship AT ALL to how much you spend on them...

guilt guilt guilt is what she is trying to make you feel here. MUCH more sensible to spend what you can afford - and the thought YOU put into your gifts is much more an indicator of how much YOU care than the ££££ spent.

(and don't fall into the trap of what you spend on one you must always spend on the other)

*gets off soap box*

Well said, when I had dd she was 3mths old at Xmas,and literally slept through it.

Your budget is perfect, the way I look at it your daughter to be, would more be interested in a box, the box, the wrapping, in time to co me then yes their budget will balance. Most pron your sister was shocke your so organised xx

sammy_kaye18

(and don't fall into the trap of what you spend on one you must always spend on the other)

I do tend to do this with my step son (partners other son) and our son - or keep them relatively the same - step son is 9 so take into account that he wants the latest dooberry ferkin so his might cost slightly more but they do work out equal by the time I have made Ben a Christmas eve outfit and gotten him a few clothes. Otherwise we go sale shopping and he usually gets something but like last year my step son wanted a wii for Christmas so we came to an agreement with his mother that we (or I would bargain hunt) for a wii and get that and she could then buy the games / accessories which worked out well.

Have already told mother in law of my intent to get my boyfriend and ben a wii between them for Christmas but as boyfriend is on a health kick I wanted to find a good deal with a wii fit, and she has said to hold off on the wii fit and concentrate on the wii itself and then her and boyfriend would buy the wii fit as our joint present.

susan42

Well here he is after whats seems to be forever, my second knitting make:j

Meet SID SCARECROW


He has got faults , but as i told him no ones perfect....lol, only thing is a mate saw him and ordered one...I was doing it for me...:o

And sammy as regard your sister putting pressure on you, you have a budget, stick to it :T and using our money making tips and crafting, you`ll get more for your money than anyone else

Jo4

susan42 wrote: »

Well here he is after whats seems to be forever, my second knitting make:j

Meet SID SCARECROW

He looks fantastic! Can I ask where you got the pattern from?

mary-op

Love the scarecrow - sadly my knitting days are long gone............fingers aren't up to it.

Done no craft stuff today.........friend came up to help me sort out the spare room thats full of christmas stash. We ended up sorting out the wardrobe with my coats in and drawers............found curtains I forgot I had and some lovely material I'm sure I can do something with. She went home happy with bags of stuff...........loads went into charity bag and now I can see what I've got.
Need to attack the heap of 'pressies' now...............lol

susan42

Jo4 wrote: »

He looks fantastic! Can I ask where you got the pattern from?

I bought a Jean Greenhowe book of all the scarecrow family from a knitting shop in scarborough...

I had to follow something, thought i was learning a foreign language first...:rotfl:

monkeysallsayboo

Sammy kaye - my daughter was 8 months old for her first xmas, but we did was buy her things that she would normally need, like pjs, clothes, socks, slippers, plug covers, etc. so she still had lots of presents, but they werent necessarily xmas presents. but she can look back on the photos and see all the presents!

Giggles_Fairy

sammy_kaye18 wrote: »

I have managed to work out a budget though so far for their gifts - although my sister pointed out it was a bit cruel to ONLY spend that much - do you think these budgets are a bit harsh?
Ben (will be 6 by Xmas) ---- £150
Boyfriend ---- £150
Holly Bump (almost 6 months depending on arrival!) ---- £ 50

Im abit of a lurker on this thread but felt I had to respond!

Thats quite awful that your sister has said that! 150pounds is a HUGE amount of money! This is approx what I got every year growing up. Main presetn was usually amount 100 (or the cash) and then approx 50 spend on wrap ups.

It shouldnt matter how much you spend anyway its the thought that goes into it. I have no doubt that you will spend hours searching for gifts and finding them at bargain prices, and I bet you will probably actually have more gifts for your family than someone spending twice that amount who just went to the shops the week before!

Funnily enough the year before last myself and my boyfriend were going to New York on 28th Dec. Obviously christmas is the 25th, my birthday is the 25th Nov and my boyfriends is boxing day so it seemed stupid spending hundred of pounds on presents only to go to new york a few days later. So we decided to impose a 20 pounds limit on presents and then treat outselves in New York. I spent quite a few weeks lurking ebay, using discount codes etc and actually got quite alot for my 20 pound and he LOVED the gifts! They were all something that meant something to him, for example the complete Star Wars Tazo set from years ago, and a photobook of pictures of us together etc And it was much more satisfying for me to watch him open these gifts than when Ive spent 200 pounds!

Christmas is about love, giving selfishly and spending time with your family not how much money you spend so dont worry about your budget its spot on You just worry about when you are going to clean up all the mess hehehe

p.s. Monkeysallsayboo makes a good point : Just buy things your daughter needs anyway so your money isnt wasted on expensive presents that just gather dust!

mary-op

Jaunt into town today got me the embelishments I needed to completely finish off scrapbook number one -so now its all done..............:T
Having said that there's a square on the cover that needs something putting in.......don't want to put 'Family Tree' -doesn't sound very interesting somehow so any ideas are welcome.
OH came up with 'Your Past is In Your Hands'...........not sure about that though.

So, now it'll be on to scrapbook number two..........I've already started on it and just needs to be a copy of the first one -hopefully won't take me as long then I can get onto some 'crafty' stuff

elyphant

well done on finishing your scrapbook mary, bet it looks brilliant. No bright ideas on the title I'm afraid but will let you know if I have a moment of inspiration!