The Gift Cupboard!

misty

I do put gifts away - although there in a suitcase under the bed and a big storage box in the wardrobe. I find that certain people are easy to buy for and I have enough for them for Xmas and birthdays for the next 3 years. Whereas others (usually men) are difficult to buy for and I'm still hunting around in late December.

Maisie

I keep a big box with lid and when I see something in the sales or craft fairs etc I usually have someone in mind for it. The drawer under the bed also holds bits and pieces.

Look for rolls of plain coloured paper in sales . You can jazz it up with ribbons and bows and it looks good for either birthday or Christmas presents.

At Christmas gifts wrapped with white paper look stylish . Just tie with coloured
ribbons.

Only about 13/14 weeks 'til Christmas not long when you think Christmas trees start appearing in shop windows early Ocotber.

Penny-Pincher!!

Hi

I have a box under the stairs that I put all cheapie/freebie pressies in. I generally buy in January sales mainly from Boots online as they normally knock them down by 50-75%, then you can normally find a voucher code and spend £40 and receive free delivery

January just gone some things I bought were:

Jamie Oliver Granite pestle & mortar-reduced from £28 to £7 x 3
"" "" knife set-reduced from £21 to £5.25 x 4
Posh Anniversary Ceramic picture frame-reduced from £10 to £3 x 4
20 rolls of wrap paper-reduced to 50p a roll-10 meters
DKNY mens smelly sets-reduced to £4 x 4
Kids toys all 75% off
Girls party boxes-75% off
Shaving posh kit-reduced to £2.50 from £10
Different Botanic stuff all 75% off

Lots more but cant remember all...lol. Think I spent about £100 after discounts etc but still have quite alot still. I have saved a fortune! I will do the same this January. M&S and Argos are also very good. John Lewis is my fav but its normally bedding I buy from here for me

PP
xx

Happyroly

Penny-Pincher!! wrote:

Hi

I have a box under the stairs that I put all cheapie/freebie pressies in. I generally buy in January sales mainly from Boots online as they normally knock them down by 50-75%,
xx

Hi Penny-pincher, I usually buy some gifts in the sales to put away but hadn't realised there were such good reductions on line so will take your advice :T
Last Christmas I found a few reasonable priced items on Ebay which were a bit different from what I could find in the shops.
Reminder for anyone buying from M&S sales - they now have 90 day return policy so if the bargain-priced (our store had some items down from £30 to £3 last week) clothes bought as Christmas presents don't fit ......!!!
I do cross stitch so I make things during the year and look for frames in the market, charity shops etc. for any cross stitch pictures which need framing.
I don't keep a note of what I have tucked away (try to rely on memory :rotfl: ) but I do keep a record of what gifts we give at Christmas and Birthdays.
Happyroly

DSmiffy

I always spend the Boots £5 Gift vouhers that they give out when you spend at Boots on some Botanics stuff and have put them all in a cupboard. When I have a birthday coming up I put some Botanics together with a Body Polisher Cloth (39p Wilko's) and a white flannel (25p Wilko's) and a tea light candle (a bagful for a £1 in Wilko's) in a little wicker basket (four for £2 Wilko's) and if it's really special I have a stash of Baileys Mini's (4 for approx £4.48 Tesco's) and I bung one of them in too. I call it a bathtime relaxation kit and they go down a storm. You just have to remember who you've given one to before!! Not a bad pressie for between £1.15 and £2.15.

jazzyjustlaw

DSmiffy wrote:

I always spend the Boots £5 Gift vouhers that they give out when you spend at Boots on some Botanics stuff and have put them all in a cupboard. When I have a birthday coming up I put some Botanics together with a Body Polisher Cloth (39p Wilko's) and a white flannel (25p Wilko's) and a tea light candle (a bagful for a £1 in Wilko's) in a little wicker basket (four for £2 Wilko's) and if it's really special I have a stash of Baileys Mini's (4 for approx £4.48 Tesco's) and I bung one of them in too. I call it a bathtime relaxation kit and they go down a storm. You just have to remember who you've given one to before!! Not a bad pressie for between £1.15 and £2.15.

I am impressed by that I know what some of my family are getting for Christmas

Sweet_Pea_2

I have a gift cupboard and have a few bargains in that I see when I am out and about, mainly for kids birthday parties. I also recycle pressies, if one of my girls has a party they usually end up with loads of duplicated presents which I recycle (I keep a carful nore of which friend gave which present so they dont get it back again!)
I recently ordered a couple of very funky alarm clocks from Avon, (pink with fluffy deely boppers) they were reduced to £5. If I have no time to shop for a party I have ordered book and tape sets from Choices direct online, (free p+p) my own daughters like them and they have been very well received, (ie, Roald Dahl or Jacqueline Wilson) quite good if the child is not much of a reader, and around the £5 mark.
Inspired by this board I have got loads of good stocking fillers for the girls already (M+S have really good reasonably priced things like flashing yoyos with a book of instructions of how to do tricks, books of magic tricks, and really nice story books) I have started a list of what I have got.
I also bought 80 sheets of good xmas wrap today for £2.
(OH said "80 sheets! You are not buying that many presents are you?")
Also found a good website yesterday which sells polythene wrap (for baskets I am now inspired to make up) and also oasis and other bits for flowers arrangements, (I did a hobby flower arranging course at college a few years ago, perhaps I should have a go again for peoples birthdays etc, hopefully friends will appreciate the effort and thought involved and see past the wonkiness of the arrangement)

competitionscafe

I keep a little text file (Notepad) on my desktop as I quite often see things online and think 'that would make a great present for ......' - then I cut and paste the url into the text file and add a short note - product name, price, etc... If the online shop has a newsletter I usually sign up for that too, so that when they next have a sale I can often pick up the present I was after at a bargain price!

That way when it comes to birthdays and Xmas I can just open my text file for a list of ideas. I find that if I write ideas on post it notes or bits of paper I can never find them, so at least having them on the pc keeps them all in one place!

The file also has a list of the charity gift sites eg:

http://www.OxfamUnwrapped.com
http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardian_jobs_and_money/story/0,3605,1365733,00.html
http://www.sendacow.org.uk/
http://www.greatgifts.org
http://www.presentaid.org/
http://nomoresocks.newscientist.com/Products/16/Charities.htm

Adopt an animal:
http://www.careforthewild.com/adoption.asp
https://www.rhinos-irf.org
https://www.davidshepherd.org
https://www.wwf-uk.org
https://www.mcsuk.org
https://www.ippl-uk.org
https://www.animalsasia.org
https://www.wdcs.org.uk
https://www.wwt.org.uk
https://www.donkeyrescue.co.uk/adopt-frames.htm
http://www.adoptafarm.com/adoptalambpage.cfm
http://www.bornfreetrading.co.uk/itmidx1.htm

Adopt and dedicate a tree from the Woodland Trust:
https://www.woodland-trust.org.uk
http://www.woodland-trust.org.uk/christmas/plantatree/index.htm

Dedicate a tree in Belize, Brazil or Chile:
http://www.tree2mydoor.com/stock.asp?TreeType=8

Adopt an acre of Patagonian Steppe / Rainforest from the World Land Trust:
https://www.worldlandtrust.org

Charity shops with products:
http://www.amnestyshop.org.uk/
http://shop.wwf.org.uk/store/Home.aspx
http://www.savethechildrenshop.co.uk/home

Fairtrade:
http://www.traidcraftshop.co.uk/
http://www.one-world-is-enough.net/
http://www.newconsumershop.org/shop/

Got loads of stuff from the sites above last Christmas - people really seemed to like the unique gift idea and the charities got some money, so (hopefully) everybody was happy!

Sofa_Sogood

Queenie wrote:

You sound very organised Lillibet! Good point on the pre-wrapping; it's not a problem I've encountered myself, but yes, it is a possibility.

Lilliebet was right Queenie .... everytime there's been a birthday since the last lot of posts were made, I've spent ages unwrapping the bloomin' things Total chaos lol

I'll try a different system from now on

Sofa_Sogood

Maisie wrote:

At Christmas gifts wrapped with white paper look stylish . Just tie with coloured
ribbons.

Thanks for that Maisie. I was thinking of brown paper and parcel tags on string for this year, but might go for the white look

Already have some white tissue bought from eBay, but if anyone can think of anything that's stronger, I'd be grateful for any suggestions