Old Style Christmas Preparations for Christmas 2013

sefilby

DH family live on Isle of Wight - so I'm thinking for the grandparents - family portait of us having fun on the beach (going for our summer holiday there at the end of August) then putting the photo in a frame that has been decorated in shells and sand mixed with glitter.

Does that sound sweet or tacky?!

double_mummy

you are all wonderful at ideas i have found a person who is amazing at doing all the photo thingys and is doing them up for me for a very reasonable price (one night babysitting for her kids) so she thought about doing a split canvass -photos of me n sis and of my kids and she is doing it all i have to do is provide photos and pay for it (she is an MSE lurker so will find me a good deal)

i have actually discovered a lot of my friends have useable skills to do my xmas pressies so a kind of skill switch is starting up between us - I am the bargain hunter I also do baby sitting and tutoring - friend 1 - very creative makes lots of things - freind 2 brill photographer - friend 3 amazing chef- friend 1 granny so crafty she is the one helping me make bits

so we are all helping each other out to make xmas as cheap as possible i cant believe that we didnt think of this before!

sefilby it sounds amazingly sweet my dad still has a tiny pebble on a leather strap that he wears every day from the first time he took his eldest grandchild to the beach

pavlovs_dog

3 for 2 on all toys in Argos, starts tomorrow and ends end of business Tuesday.

You can reserve items online tonight, discount will take effect when you pay in store to collect

noodles86

double_mummy wrote: »

Santa sacks are easier so im building up to the more complicated advent calender i have 3 months so that should be enough esp with her help

double mummy, could I ask if you have a pattern or anything for the santa sacks? Thank you! I have a rough idea in my head but not 100% sure on how to do the tops, open or drawstring but type of drawsting etc!

alja

Hello! I hope you've all had a lovely week!

Double Mummy - that sounds great about your friends each having a way to help out! I wonder if my friends could do that?!

I'm off to the shops tomorrow, so I'm hoping to spot a few bargains to put away for Christmas. Let's hope I'm fruitful!

double_mummy

noodles86 wrote: »

double mummy, could I ask if you have a pattern or anything for the santa sacks? Thank you! I have a rough idea in my head but not 100% sure on how to do the tops, open or drawstring but type of drawsting etc!

sorry i dont have a pattern i have her brain lol but there are loads on google if you have a quick look

i think the friends thing will work well and is definitely old style everyone doing a little bit - we have always passed on clothes for the kids used our cross knowledge for school projects (i am the volcano specialist!) but never really thought about it for xmas before

twofishes

noodles86 wrote: »

double mummy, could I ask if you have a pattern or anything for the santa sacks? Thank you! I have a rough idea in my head but not 100% sure on how to do the tops, open or drawstring but type of drawsting etc!

You could always use pillowcases! That's what we did as kids.

Pooky

Have ordered some fabric squares to make DDs a patchwork quilt each and finally found a tweenies duvet cover in decent condition. Last year I managed to find a nice teletubbies one that I then cut down and quilted with a patchwork back for DD1 (she's 17) she loved it and DD2 said shed love a tweenies one.

@sd@ had "famous names" boozy chocs for £2 a box yesterday (normally £7) so I picked up a couple to bulk out parents and Inlaws pressies.

We have an outlet shopping centre near by with a discount body shop, managed to pick up 10 little gift sets for DDs friends for £13, in exchange I asked DDs to dust and Hoover the house from top to bottom and Hoover out the car. Win win!

zippychick

I have bought Jammies for my best friends son, and got her lots of trinkets in the marksies sale

alja

Hello, I hope you're all well?! I popped to the shops yesterday and managed to pick up some lovely toiletries in the M&S sale for my mum and a pink basket from asda to use as a pamper hamper basket for my mum. The basket was like this... http://direct.asda.com/ASDA-Weave-Storage-Basket---White/001796019,default,pd.html
The pink and blue ones were down from £4 to £2