is anyone else worried......?

Lara44

Aww poor you mrs lawrence.... I've been doing a few mse things for the past few months to get pressies ready for xmas -

I did the freshdeli 2 handmade soaps for £2.99 p&p from the freebies board, combining that with boots BOGOFs and trial samples for 1 pressie

I also did an amazon purchase, their paperbacks are down to £3/£4 so 4 presents for under £15 there...Free delivery and also got money back through Quidco and pigsback 85 and 5% I think.

Also my friend is blind and she can't get very good audiobooks, I downloaded some from the internet (librivox copyright free for free) and also did the audible.co.uk 1 book free trial which I got paid £4 through Quidco
I have designed covers for them and artwork for the CDs which OH does for me in work

Also going to do a CD compilation for sister and her family, she keeps saying how old and out of touch she is, lol she's only 30!

Also got my friend who likes old things an amazing 3 tier cake plate for £4 in a junk shop, it's a 1950s beauty.

So that's 8 presents for under £25 - not too bad!

Storm

If your OH's family is in Portsmouth (where I am!) could you organise your trip to visit them a couple of weeks before Christmas? That way you could come visit our wonderful outlet stores at Gunwharf (no, I don't work there, so not an advert!) :rolleyes:

Bargains galore - I buy costume jewellery for £1-£3 each to give to friends on their birthdays - they appreciate it as it's nice stuff, and would normally cost loads more!

mrslawrence2003

Storm wrote:

If your OH's family is in Portsmouth (where I am!) could you organise your trip to visit them a couple of weeks before Christmas? That way you could come visit our wonderful outlet stores at Gunwharf (no, I don't work there, so not an advert!) :rolleyes:

Bargains galore - I buy costume jewellery for £1-£3 each to give to friends on their birthdays - they appreciate it as it's nice stuff, and would normally cost loads more!

ooooooooo i love going to gunwharf!!!!!!

yes could try and do that...

Lara44

Also I think the Grabbit forum might be good for you too if you need to buy something more substantial than token gifts?

mrslawrence2003

LaraHoust wrote:

Also I think the Grabbit forum might be good for you too if you need to buy something more substantial than token gifts?

well i keep looking there and also the freebies board to get whatever i can. am hoping to get enough pigsback points for i can buy peeps cd's and enough money thru quidco and ebay to do things like book tokens (dull i know but at least it's something!)

all_hours

Some nice ideas Lara.

I've applied for the Amazon credit card. £15 voucher the first time you spend on it. I plan to put the shopping on it and then pay the full balance just to get the voucher - that's a DVD or a few books.

poppycracker

I've been thinking about Christmas for a few months now. Even though we only buy present for my parents, brother and grandmothers, and OH's mum and step dad, we still ended up with nothing for each other last year.

So, this year, everyone is getting something homemade. I'm wizzing through little cross stitch pictures to stick on anything I can think of (!) and I'm planning on doing lots of baking as well. I'm going to go on the scrounge for nice biscuit tins and do them up in tissue paper or something. I've read a lot of good ideas on the Christmas prep thread on the OS board. Everyone is so creative over there, and they're all willing to give ideas.

It's sad how we all feel like we have to give people big presents at Christmas, and feel guilty when we can't afford it.

Emmzi

I played the 'I'm not a Christian so I'm not playing' card last year, and generally it was fine (only minor sulks). I gave parents wine and food but that was all. This year closest mates get home made cake; people who have been evil get things I have knitted

Murtle

There is a whole Christmas gift thread in OS - have a peek at that and see if there are things you can make. It really does make Christmas cheaper. 3 for 2 or other deals are great for building up gifts, especially from Boots for the ladies!! Try 2nd hand shops for containers to put them in, some tissue paper wrapped up and they look great. You can do it for all different types of hobbies. Try planting some bulbs now in containers, and give those as gifts, either Christmas plants which will come through fairly quickly or spring bulbs so they will flower in the spring. Keep an eye open everywhere for bargain offers, ensure they are bargains and think what you can do with them!! Christmas doesn't have to be expensive. A board game for a family? A bottle of wine, look in oddbins type places and then look in their oddbins...they are end of line wines, often some good quality wines at a fraction of the normal price. Importantly, if you always thing of how much you would spend, and you get things on offer ie I'd spend £10 on wine and you get it for £3, it doesn't mean you need to spend the other £7 on them, no matter how tempting it may be!!!

Mastini_2

i buy friends and family nothing, and they do likewise. its the perfect situation. I don't want their (well meaning) crap and they don't want mine.

give it a try.