Six months till Christmas - how prepared are you?

DigForVictory

Thanks to the email (?last week?) got a dozen really gorgeous mugs - generous, bright & solid colours. A careful wash to remove price labels but leave House of Fraser markings, handfuls of sweeties or whatever I'm "wrapping" in a mug (earrings, lip salve, hot chocolate sachet with a handful of marshmallows, USB memory stick - my mugs vary a bit!) then drown the mug in no-longer-in-season-Interflora cellophane (just ask the florist - if you find a grouch, shrug & find *another* interflora florist! I usually plead for school & scouts & toddle out arms loaded....)

Now, if I can get to a WHSmiths early enough, I can add Gandalf minifigures to the Christmas Stockings.

Fingers crossed for passable weather in Portsmouth this weekend - the various Armed Forces Weekend events mean a pile of fun photo opportunities which can then adorn calendars, desks, windowsills, artscow purses (subject to the offspring actually grinning when I plead!) then a few bags to "wrap" (lug) assorted family members presents in (cousin got a pony & that year, all their presents delivered in a haynet) & I am going to hunker down & try to avoid the mad panic.

Twitch.:o

Ah yes &, when nudged, will buy the ASDA Christmas saving cards. Saved money And controlled How Much I Spent there in the last mad weeks!

Ladyshopper

SugarSpun wrote: »

I have one gift left to buy, it's for my Dad and will be some vouchers: one for a hot towel shave in a nice village about a half hour drive from them, and then one for a pub lunch for two in the same village. I don't want to buy those just yet, but I assume I'll be able to spare 35 pounds or so in November.

Wrapping is about half done, I need to do the kids' wrapping and also wrap up 24 books for Advent, then two gifts for my DH that haven't arrived yet need to be wrapped too. Everything else is done, and the stockings are filled (except mine, I will ceremoniously hand it to my DH at the start of December).

Decorations and cards are all bought already, I'm also going to donate or give away anything we don't use so we don't just keep acquiring more of them.

Food and drink, I think we'll buy a crate of Coke and some juices, some extra milk for hot chocolate and that's it drinks wise. We normally host a party on the 26th but this year will be booking a restaurant table instead so I don't have to deal with cooking brunch for 18 people - baby's due in September and I will be too busy

I like making a meal plan for Christmas really early, too, so I can see what we need to buy and then I can sneak the nonperishables in with the regular shop. I also like to visit it regularly and make all sorts of plans for how amazing Christmas will be, although at this stage we have so many family food traditions that I already know it looks like this:

Christmas Eve dinner: reindeer-shaped-pasta bake
Christmas breakfast/brunch: dim sum, frozen and steamed
Christmas lunch/dinner: roast [meat]and trimmings, cake for dessert
Snacks: nice bread, pate, fruit, cake, savoury and sweet biscuits, cheese
Boxing Day breakfast: toast
Boxing Day lunch: all you can eat
Boxing Day dinner and beyond: leftovers forever

I will need to be reminded not to buy the Thorntons grabbit this year; we still have loads of it from last year.

Do you use reindeer shaped pasta, or shape the pasta bake in the shape of a reindeer?! If its the first, please can you share where you get your pasta from?

SugarSpun

It's reindeer shaped, from Ikea

CountingPennies

SugarSpun wrote: »

It's reindeer shaped, from Ikea

Oh my god i need some!! :rotfl:

craftymummy_2

CountingPennies wrote: »

Oh my god i need some!! :rotfl:

You can also get Xmas shapes pasta in Lidl just before Xmas

CountingPennies

craftymummy wrote: »

You can also get Xmas shapes pasta in Lidl just before Xmas

I can't believe I've never seen any before. Where have I been??

whitesatin

Got all my table presents for the ladies - thanks to John Lewis sale. Little sewing kits, scissors, CK tape measures (they are all crafty, I am not being sexist). Also, a few months back I got some Emma Bridgewater fold up bags.

As ever, it is the men I am stuck over. I can never think what to buy them. CDs used to be so handy but not these days. I've done toiletries, stationery, booze, sweets, wallets etc. I just need something original. Their ages are mid thirties plus OH who is 55. To be honest, within reason, I don't have a budget, I will opt for anything suitable.

SugarSpun

whitesatin wrote: »

As ever, it is the men I am stuck over. I can never think what to buy them. CDs used to be so handy but not these days. I've done toiletries, stationery, booze, sweets, wallets etc. I just need something original. Their ages are mid thirties plus OH who is 55. To be honest, within reason, I don't have a budget, I will opt for anything suitable.

Charity shop paperback books?

Mini wooden puzzles?

Trivia games?

CountingPennies

whitesatin wrote: »

As ever, it is the men I am stuck over. I can never think what to buy them. CDs used to be so handy but not these days. I've done toiletries, stationery, booze, sweets, wallets etc. I just need something original. Their ages are mid thirties plus OH who is 55. To be honest, within reason, I don't have a budget, I will opt for anything suitable.

Retro mugs full of retro sweets. Go down a storm in my opinion. Loads of "oh my god i haven't seen/had these is years" comments, lol. There is a good website to buy sweets. I think its called "a quarter of" or something like that. A quick google search would confirm.

Its defiantly original in my opinion

GwylimT

I buy quite a lot in the January sales, cards and wrapping paper being the big ones as they do tend to be quite expensive really. Then I buy some presents, e.g. stocking fillers for the little ones and presents that will last the year and would suit most people.

I buy little things throughout the year as well, my mam for example uses elemis so I always keep a look out for things (three year shelf life unopened) like for example recently if you bought two elemis products from Debenhams you got a free kit which included 30ml of the moisturiser she uses if you buy that on its own it is £50, I bought a lip balm and face mits that came to £20 so that is a big bargain, then the kit also contained other things that she will like to use like an exfoliator and eye cream.

I have a few bits for our second one, school starts in January! So we have bought stationary etc for school.

We have a list of when to do what, e.g. order meat from the butcher etc so we do get it done in time as we hate last minute rushes.