What's the concensus on "freebies" as Christmas presents?

alanamyles

Thank you all for your opinions - I do feel much better now about cutting the costs =]

AnnaBeth wrote: »

I've had a few homemade gifts in the past that were horrible with the handmade part being the only good part, mouldy homemade chutney is not nice. So if good quality control go for it.

Totally agree with that one - I usually make my Dad a hamper for Christmas containing his favourite cheeses, biscuits and the like (it's become something of a tradition between us). One year I tried my hand at chutney, but it turned into an utter disaster so I won't be doing that again!

I'm good at cross stitch, so am making Mum a "keep calm and carry on" sampler, an "every cloud has a silver lining" one for my SIL, and a cute baby sampler for my newborn niece. They'll be colour co-ordinated to suit their homes, and I found some gorgeous unused frames in my local charity shop.

One Christmas, apart from my DD presents (and she was tiny so it was irrelevant).

1. I bought some poinsettia (sp) and wrapped them in a big piece of that shiny plastic stuff (like clingfilm, cant remember the name of it). Tied a big ribbon at the bottom, they looked like bouquets.

2. I made a load of homemade fudge. Different flavours.

3. I bought some of that quick dry clay stuff (not good with words this afternoon) and imprinted my daughter's hands and feet in it, for relatives.

4. I bought some really cheap mugs and some of that ink you can put on mugs, and decorated them.


Everything went down brilliantly. Everyone likes a present with thought in it.

I was thinking along similar lines to your Poinsettia idea - we have a few terracotta pots left over and as my daughter loves crafts we were thinking of decorating a few and filling with growing herbs or houseplants.

Also, the photo idea is wonderful. My children's school photos are extortionately priced and certainly not great, but luckily a friend of mine is a photographer and I'm sure he could get us some great shots which we could print and frame.

I posted on Freecycle earlier to ask if anyone had a child's bike, then as I surfed over to Freegle I saw someone had offered both a boys and girls bike in our town! Sent an email and am keeping my fingers crossed that no-one else has picked them both up already.

When I was 5, my parents bought me a secondhand trike which they had resprayed at a local car garage.

Doh! I hadn't thought of that! My brother specializes in bodywork on cars and buses, I'm sure he could help me out with spraying a bike!

My MIL's hammper consists of - A wicker basket i won as a vimto hamper, an andrex hot water bottle & slippers i won (facebook) some soap and glory goodies i won (facebook again) lots of make-up and body creams that either ive won, got through magazine freebies or free samples, everytime I go into the city I hit the beauty counters at HOF, Debs & Boots some promo goodies from The Mall which you got for signing up for the reward me card including a credit card box of mints, a trolley token, a lint roller (she has 3 cats!) and a small packet of tissues for your handbag! then I brought some of the recent tesco 1 for 3 on skincare, and there 3 for 2 mini gifts and 4 for £3 travel size things stuck them in a nice make-up bag and put the shower/bath stuff in a wash bag, total cost around £12 content price close to £100 BARGIN! Im so jealous I want to keep it for myself!

Wow, that sounds absolutely wonderful! I don't have enough time to get quite that much together, but am inspired to create something similar for my sister

Doozergirl

re: the bike. I know it's been said re:ebay already but if you can put together a few pounds then you can get a really lovely one from ebay that matches all her requirements, for very little if you are savvy with your bidding. I got my DD a virtually immaculate Disney Princess bike with stabilisers and handlebar tassles for £10.50. It took my breath away when H brought it home because it was near enough new and it was a Princess bike that she wanted. She was absolutely over the moon with it. She thought she was the bees knees!

I think your ideas sound lovely. I'd much rather have/give something that was provided with love and thought than something random pulled off the xmas gift shelf in the supermarket

Tulip09

OP, i am in north yorkshire so if you can get to my area easily give me a pm and i would be able to give you a bike worth (£148) which is brand new used once only last christmas day with a tyre that needs fixed (some automatic inflating device in tyre is faulty and cant be fixed and daughter hated the colour (purple & pink)) It is in my garage with daughter refusing to ride it.

Rosanna79

Alana
If your children are able to understand the impact of your drastically reduced circumstances as a family it really is other people's problem if they don't get it! You sound a lovely family and the crafting / food ideas are great.

OH and I are now on a much stricter budget since I was forced to retire earlier this year. We tend to buy things we see during the year that are suitable for the children in the family and these have been supplemanted with some craftwork containers. I've made over 40 jars of chutney- all well sterilised beforehand to prevent the mould problem!

With more time since retirement I've started craft classes and have been learning to make something new from recycled materials.. This definitely stretches the imagination and makes for interesting and unsual 'one off' presents.

MIL is the original recycler circa WW2!!! She routinely gives away any presents that she receives. It used to really offend me when I was first married . Now I 'go with the flow'. So I either take her veg fresh from the garden which she loves or this year I'm making cupcakes to put in a beautiful cupcake box a friend sent me for my birthday.

People who have a problem with this tend to be either edited out of our acquaintance or kept on the edge of our lives.

It's just too exhausting emotionally to run around after them and very liberating just to be yourself, and stop worrying about what people think. All that's relevant in your current situation is that you and your children can pull together despite all that's happened and are able to enjoy being together as the most important thing.

You can only do your best in any given situation. I just wanted to wish you the best Christmas ever with your kids in spite of eveything. Good luck.

nearlyrich

We don't do adult gifts in our family, it's not just the money how many pairs of gloves can you buy your sister in law?

We don't do birthday presents except for birthdays with a 0 and we all chip in to get a decent present then.

In your position I would just buy for the children and don't feel guilty, and a secondhand bike is fine really!

Have a lovely Christmas x

gocurlygirl

Tulip09 wrote: »

OP, i am in north yorkshire so if you can get to my area easily give me a pm and i would be able to give you a bike worth (£148) which is brand new used once only last christmas day with a tyre that needs fixed (some automatic inflating device in tyre is faulty and cant be fixed and daughter hated the colour (purple & pink)) It is in my garage with daughter refusing to ride it.

How very kind of you.I agree with using common sense,homemade gifts can be lovely, thought means more then flashing a credit card at the computor and ordering impersonal things you can not afford.
I love Christmas but it is exhausting worrying about presents and most people are in the same boat in that we have no spare cash nowadays.I have been buying bits and pieces,have won a couple of small items I can put towards presents and look forward to seeing the surprised expression on peoples faces.(I actually entered competitions for the prizes I thought people would like!)

Mrs_Ryan

I've done a freebie pressie for SIL - OH bought me some Herve Leger perfume from Avon for my b'day and with it came a gift set of body wash, body lotion and a posh silver purse spray in a posh silver box so I wrapped it up for SIL - Mum agreed it was an excellent idea. I've also done a cross-stitch for best mate - I wanted to do something special to reflect something and hopefully that has done that. OP - you've had some good ideas and I hope everything works out

tigzem

We're cutting right back this year too and I've asked my Mum to do so also as I know her finances aren't great but being 'Nanny' to my 5yr old DD I know she'll want to spoil her so I've given suggestions that don't cost the earth. For DD's birthday she wanted a sleeping beauty dress so we found a perfectly good one on ebay for a fraction of the cost.

For OH's family we do a secret santa for the adults with a max cost of £10 so we each just get 1 present and this works well. And for the kids we limit it to £10 each (there's 5 of them).

I hope you have a fab Christmas.

ps - Tulip - what a lovely thought x

paddy's_mum

Perhaps the question that should be asked is this :-

If you (as the person receiving the gift) know full well that the giver is struggling at the moment to keep a family's financial head above water, what are you demonstrating when you sneer or get snotty over the lack of hard cash spent on you? Love ...?

I feel very sorry for anyone who knows the cost of everything but the value of nothing.

whiteguineapig

good post paddys mum