Old Style preparations for Christmas 2012!!!!!

Phoolgrrrl

August Bank hol will be spent...making Christmas decorations from crafty crocodiles!

lotti379

Hi everyone, just snuck over from the DFW board and chanced upon this thread, it is fab!

I wondered if I could call upon you for some advice? My sister, ma and I all do stockings for each other every crimbo, which is great, but this year I am really stuck for ideas of what to get my mum. She says she has enough bubble bath etc to float a battleship, and she's doing weightwatchers so doesn't want lots of choccy and sweets, and she is very well stocked for cute jewellery. So I'm a bit stuck!

I think Mr Lotti and my sis will probably be getting nice jars filled with a pick-and-mix of value sweeties, a little build-it-yourself toy and some sparkly stuff respectively, perhaps a miniature or two (we are all adults!) and some sort of bath stuff (last year I found gin and tonic scented bubble bath for the boy, he loved it!), (aldi) chocolate and the traditional satsuma. Maybe a book each, if I spy some Flashman (boyf) or roald dahl (sis) in a charity shop or similar...

But the mother is a lover of luxury, and my sis and I are on a budget. Help!!

Phoolgrrrl

Lotti - nail varnish and nail files, hand cream, fun socks, small candles, poundland/home bargains.play.com do cds and dvds for a few pounds.

lotti379

Hand cream and candles, brilliant ideas! Thanks

Possession

lotti379 wrote: »

Hand cream and candles, brilliant ideas! Thanks

I would have a wander round Poundland and see if anything catches your eye, there's all kinds there you'd never have imagined, LOL, great as stocking fillers! Also watch out for the Freebies board as over time you can accumulate a nice little stash (whiskey miniatures anyone?).

bossymoo

Little pocket diaries and small pens are great for handbags, or compact mirror etc. maybe a perfume atomiser?

loopychriss

Hi all, long-time lurker here.

My Poundland sells Weight Watcher goodies, so maybe some of these in her stocking would go down well? Does she have any hobbies, such as crafting or sewing? You can get bits for this in Wilkinsons quite reasonably. Otherwise, I'm always pleased to get postage stamps - boring but useful.

Hope this helps

lotti379

Thank you for the ideas, her main hobby is writing (on the laptop) which whilst a wonderful creative and MSE hobby, is not so good for present buying! Hum. Still, some cracking ideas guys, definitely have noted them all down!

Thank you so much!!

Possession

lotti379 wrote: »

Thank you for the ideas, her main hobby is writing (on the laptop) which whilst a wonderful creative and MSE hobby, is not so good for present buying! Hum. Still, some cracking ideas guys, definitely have noted them all down!

Thank you so much!!

Pretty much all writers like reading though, so some books (can often get like new v cheaply on Amazon) or e-book software and e-books? Although e-books obviously not very stocking friendly!

GFN123

Hello all May I join in?

I usually hate Christmas but since being with my lovely OH, who made our first Christmas together last year so special, I love it.

To add to the fun, we're moving into our new home in roughly a month's time, and our first job/big spend (among many!) is to install a wood burning stove so we can have a cosy winter.

Over the festive period, we expect a horde of visitors, including my 'Christmas Orphans' dinner for all of my friends who either don't have or don't get on with their families.

So, to keep costs down I have decided to make it a Handmade Christmas Not sure his family will be as into it but my mum and our friends will love it.

Today we foraged a huge amount of blackberries, so will be making up bottles of blackberry vodka to give out. As we are mainly foodies rather than crafty, I have thought of the following gifts:

2 best friends - handmade 'memory books' that span the 10+ years we have known each other.

Fancy pate and black olive & roast garlic tapenade to give out.

Chocolate truffles for all!

Soaps/bath bombs and home made lip balm for ladies

May add toffee vodka to the blackberry too!

Jams

I don't plan to go wild, just something for each person that arrives. The difficulty will be buying for his sister and her three boys (aged 11, 6 and 2) as they are used to being spoilt with piles of gifts and toys.

OH is a very good baker so will hopefully make lots of biscuits to share out as well. His mum is an even better baker so we don't need to worry about cake supplies :rotfl:

I'm really looking forward to this one :j
I just need something lovely to give to OH to show how much I appreciate him. I'm splashing out on his birthday in Sept and taking him to Budapest for 2 days, and he never asks for or wants anything. A memory book is nice but we will only have been together a year and a half come this Christmas, I could leave empty pages for the future, but that seems a bit lame and he will end up seeing me make the ones for my friends which takes away the specialness IYKWIM.

Any ideas on what I could spoil him with?