Thrify Gifty Santas Challenge 2013,

rufusdog52

mum2one wrote: »

Where does the time go, can't believe were in September already, 3 months today and we're be the most organised people (positive thoughts, wine bottle, chocs) and thinking of the year ahead.

Christmas Cards
Now is the time to start sorting those Christmas cards out, even if you start a list and break it down into sections, family, post, street, and size....... Time to buy any we need while theres still a good choice out and about. Once you have the list ready, then divide them into smaller chunkc, even if it is write 5 a week

I bought my personal cards in the sale in January. Cant remember whether I got the boxed cards too but wont be sending so many this year.

Where am I
Hopefully by now we will have a rough idea of whether your cooking Christmas dinner for 2 or 22, or your being spolit and having dinner cooked for you.
Grab the Other half, the family, etc and sit them down with diaries, calenders etc, get in there first and put your dates in there - add others in as as and when so you know that your not double booked

OH is sorting out Christmas dinner as he is off this year (hooray, last year he was on nights and it was horrible). We both have different dinners as I dont eat meat so I will probs have a bit of fish and I dont eat all the trimmings etc so he will only have to cook those for himself. I am happy with a couple of boiled potatoes and some veg.


Is there much extra you need to get - spit the dry items into the weekly shopping.

Things You May need
This may sound mad but......
Toilet Roll - if you have extra visitors
Air Fresher (small room)!!
Coffee, Tea, Sugar - these can go down so quickly
Batteries - remote controllers usually triple A, cameras double A

Dont have anyone extra coming I dont think so wont need anything, will have the family round one of the days but not sure when so will need OH to sort that out


kids toys - i know we can't control if anyone else buys them, but if we do check whether they need batteries as most don't come with them

Dont need batteries as kids are not getting toys as such this year.

Appointments
I'm not suggesting booking the doctors appointment just yet!!
hair dressers (get in before the queues)
Dentist - Is your 6 monthly check up due......

I am getting my hair cut next month, will last me over Christmas.

First Aid / Medicines/Emergency Kit
The last thing we want is any accidents or illness at any time of the year, but now the time to have a look at what we have in stock, everyone may need different items.. a few thoughts
Plasters
Paracetamol
Asprin
Throat Sweets
Lemsip (or alternative brands!!!)
Torch - Keep one by the fuse box, bedroom, - you can get the basic squeeze to charge for £1
Candles - (Romantic uses as well allowed!!)
Matches - If you have a gas cooker and the igntion switch goes
Tealights - Power cut

My doctor still wont let me have my prescription over three months so have to get it monthly so hopefully I will remember to get it in there in time.


There may be other things you think of that you need.

[COLOR="DarkRed" Cooking[/SIZE]
If you get chance, see if you can cook a double up meal, and put some in the freezer - whether thats a Shepherds Pie, Casserole etc - so that if your running late you can zap a meal in the microwave / oven.

=Miss Hoodies Corner
It wouldn't be a challenge without a Miss Hoodie clean - this time its the book shelf/dvd unit - not just a clean but a little clear out - have you kept the DVD just incase you want it (still there 6 mths later), same for books.

My OH collects dvds so he wont get rid of any, we have well over 1000 of them around the house lol on book shelves. I did go through the books the other day and got rid of a load of those. The hard back ones I took the covers off so I can use the cardboard if I am making something and the paper went for recycling.

Stocking Fillers / Christmas Eve Hampers
Whether you are doing a stocking or a Christmas Eve Hamper, share any tips or secrets, what do you find works for you and your family, is there anything you would change?.

I have only one stocking as such to do this year, will be doing some extra bit for YD too, not sure how many days she will be allowed out of her hostel over Christmas, she will have to find out.


As always please treat it as a pick and mix, hope there a little something for everyone xx

Thanks for the challenge Mum2one and Miss Hoodie xx

mrs-moneypenny

morning all

thank you for the lists

mum2one wrote: »

Christmas Cards
Now is the time to start sorting those Christmas cards out, even if you start a list and break it down into sections, family, post, street, and size....... Time to buy any we need while theres still a good choice out and about. Once you have the list ready, then divide them into smaller chunks, even if it is write 5 a week thanks for the reminder-must get my list written at the weekend. a tip my mum gave me last year was instead of copying a list of names etc of last years cards put them all in a bag in the attic WITH your card stock. then you can write off the details from last years cards etc. Also means i have a bag of cards up there to turn into gift tags:D

Where am I
Hopefully by now we will have a rough idea of whether your cooking Christmas dinner for 2 or 22, or your being spolit and having dinner cooked for you.
Grab the Other half, the family, etc and sit them down with diaries, calenders etc, get in there first and put your dates in there - add others in as as and when so you know that your not double booked will either be 9 or 11 for dinner, am waiting for DD2 to find out if they have partners children on the day. either way i will be juggling a meat, veggie and vegan option menu as usual

Christmas Dinner
What you add into the meal planning depends on what you need to where you are and any plans, but aim for a meal plan,
Christmas Eve
Christmas Day
Boxing Day
New Years eve
New years Day

Is there much extra you need to get - spit the dry items into the weekly shopping.
need to get lists and check them twice;)
also if you have kids in schools that do hampers or have local charities collecting make sure you add a couple of extra items to donate to those

Things You May need
This may sound mad but......
Toilet Roll - if you have extra visitors
Air Fresher (small room)!!
Coffee, Tea, Sugar - these can go down so quickly
Batteries - remote controllers usually triple A, cameras double A
will be adding those to lists from now till christmas


kids toys - i know we can't control if anyone else buys them, but if we do check whether they need batteries as most don't come with them

Appointments[/COLOR]
I'm not suggesting booking the doctors appointment just yet!!
hair dressers (get in before the queues)
Dentist - Is your 6 monthly check up due......
got an hair appt this week so will ask for appts for the rest of the year while im there

First Aid / Medicines/Emergency Kit
The last thing we want is any accidents or illness at any time of the year, but now the time to have a look at what we have in stock, everyone may need different items.. a few thoughts
Plasters
Paracetamol
Asprin
Throat Sweets
Lemsip (or alternative brands!!!)
Torch - Keep one by the fuse box, bedroom, - you can get the basic squeeze to charge for £1
Candles - (Romantic uses as well allowed!!)
Matches - If you have a gas cooker and the igntion switch goes
Tealights - Power cut

There may be other things you think of that you need.

[COLOR="DarkRed" Cooking
If you get chance, see if you can cook a double up meal, and put some in the freezer - whether thats a Shepherds Pie, Casserole etc - so that if your running late you can zap a meal in the microwave / oven.
freezer rammed full at mo but will be planning to do some of this

=Miss Hoodies Corner
It wouldn't be a challenge without a Miss Hoodie clean - this time its the book shelf/dvd unit - not just a clean but a little clear out - have you kept the DVD just incase you want it (still there 6 mths later), same for books.
slowly working my way through my tbr book shelves and donating after ive read, dvds are another matter Dh seems to hoard them but he is getting better and has been giving a few 'one watchers' away to people at work or friends

Stocking Fillers / Christmas Eve Hampers
Whether you are doing a stocking or a Christmas Eve Hamper, share any tips or secrets, what do you find works for you and your family, is there anything you would change?.
my kids even the older ones would be so disappointed if they didnt get a new toothbrush in their stockings so must start looking for nice ones of those:D. stocking get left by santa in the bedrooms and are fair game to open once they wake up (we usually get a knock on the bedroom door at around 7/8amish to have the bed invaded and get shown what was in there) but main pressie bags are left by santa down stairs and cannot be opened until we are all awake to go down together. (bacon sarnis either meat or veggie are christmas breakfast of choice in our house, so Dh is in charge of vid camera and opening the lounge door and i pop the grill on and nip in and out then when its cooked we all sit round with sarnis and the kids open the gifts santa left in the bags downstairs. when the kids were little santa used to decorate the tree and trim up when he visited so it looked magical when the lounge door opened, but as they got older they wanted to do that and i wanted them up earlier (as well as needing some sleep christmas eve;)) but pressies from friends and family are opened after dinner in the afternoon. so the gifts are spread over the whole day ad we get a chance to know whos got what bought for them and by who.


As always please treat it as a pick and mix, hope there a little something for everyone xx

had a nice surprise this morning was looking for a bag of broken jewelry to trim some bags and thought it was in a box in our wardrobe, got it down - no broken jewelry but a stash of gifts id forgotten so t shirts each for my 2 little nieces, lovely big jotter for brother and his partner, just need a bottle of wine and my sisters birthday is sorted (lots for her) keyring for my big nieces hamper, PJs for DD2s partners dd and a couple of house warming gifts for DD1:T

rufusdog52

Ooh nice find mrs moneypenny. Its good when you find things you can use, OH checked the loft the other day and found some bits up there we had stashed away.

mollsnan

Don't know if this is good idea for anyone,but when sons moved out I made "flu kits" hamper. Most items gathered up from pound shop, tesco offers, superdrug etc. Believe me they were very welcome when the colds,sore throats,flu etc hit!!

Throaties (or similar)
Paracetamol
Lemsip ( shops own brand)
Menthol nasal stick
Vapour rub
Tissues
Black currant herbal tea bags
Hot water bottle
Fleece blanket (primark sale bargain)

mrs-moneypenny

lovely idea mollsnan, i like the idea of a 'manflu' hamper

been in the attic, found another 2 carriers full of stocknig fillers and gifts id stashed. and a giant santa sack full of cards paper tags and ribbons, even some special people cards. i knew i ad some but not that many. LOL

mollsnan

Mrs moneypenny, my husbands "man flu kit" consisted of

Bottle of whiskey(for medicinal purposes only lol)
Latte glass
Bag of Demerara sugar with cloves added

He seemed to have flu pretty often last year!!!

Anglea

Hi all

Rufus, yes those are the envelopes that I want, C5.

I was reading your challenge answers - so you never eat the trimmings or roast potatoes? Have you always preferred plainer food?

Mrs Moneypenny - you've had a lot of good unexpected finds recently, it's a lovely feeling isn't it.

I was out all day yesterday, socialising with that 'texting' friend then met lots of others. I also went to the card shop just in case they did envelopes. No. But I did get an idea. Some of their boxed Xmas cards were the right size (nearly C5) that I wanted, so now wondering if it will be cheaper to buy them and use the envelopes for my collages, keep the cards to use for shopping lists, or maybe find some envelopes to match them in the charity shop. They were 10 cards for £1. The envelope packs I used to buy were about £3 + for 15 so buying the cards would work out much cheaper, especially if I had to get them mail order.

Miss Hoodies challenge - she must know I only have one shelf for books and they are nearly falling on my head as I'm typing this lol as mixed up, and the rest of the books are in piles on the floor.

Mollsnan, those are good hampers.

mrs-moneypenny

Anglea wrote: »

Mrs Moneypenny - you've had a lot of good unexpected finds recently, it's a lovely feeling isn't it.

i suppose there is a bonus to not being organised:rotfl:i buy stuff stash it and forget where ive put it or come wrapping time i realise ive double bought or over bought for someone so things get put back away for another time and then forgotten about.

who was it lost a large amount of cards a while ago, did they ever resurface?

have got a couple of nice baskets to use as hampers for sis and big niece for their birthdays in nov and early dec so will make a stasrt on filling them soon. sis is getting a wine related destress/after work hamper and niece is getting a success in your future/follow your dreams hamper as shes 16

saw on another thread morrys have some nice faux wicker hamper type baskets really cheap £1.80ish and were recently £5ish in sains will try and find the post again and link it but worth a out out for if you need baskets

rufusdog52

Anglea wrote: »

Hi all

Rufus, yes those are the envelopes that I want, C5.

I was reading your challenge answers - so you never eat the trimmings or roast potatoes? Have you always preferred plainer food?

.

Anglea, No I used to be a right pig and eat everything going haha, would have eaten the plate too if I could have. I stopped eating meat about 7 years ago after having a bad episode of food poisoning which lasted for about 6 months. Then beginning of last year I started my weightloss diet and since then I have just eaten less, not so much plain but I cant eat a lot at a time now. I love vegetables so would want a big plate of those but I am not fussed about potatoes, I would rather have a bit of pudding after or something and keep within my calorie count.

susan42

Angela - I was going to suggest buying card packs in wilkensons or card factory the works or similar, cheap, use the envelopes and cut the cards for gift tags.

Cheaper than buying envelope packs.

I like the man flu packs , made me laugh.

Rufus - you done well with your weight though, I was doing ok, then went on holidays put a stone on

Well today been an odd day, was a bit down so thought I'd goto home bar and get some stocking fillers . While I was there seen some dips 39p well in date til next year so picked them up for movie night hampers. OH phoned while I was there and said he was finishing work early and did I want to get tea out. Of course I said yes. Told him I was in HB and had got some bargains.

When I got home he wanted to tell me about his bargains. He'd gone with DS to get the tracking done on his car and they'd both bought a new car!!! We supposed to be economising ... !! They reckon they are , because they'll get more miles to the gallon. I'm not sure if there's a logic in there somewhere