Help needed with a cheap Christmas hamper

bylromarha

Hi all

I've been asked by my church to put together some Christmas hampers for some families we are working with.

I've got some ideas, but would love to tap into all yours too as you guys are much better at this stuff than me

The budget - including packing it all up to make it look pretty - is £10. I suck at prettiness, so PLEASE give me some ideas for that too!

I need to do 6 - one hamper needs to accomodate children aged between 1 and 6, the others are single people or couples.

Guidelines: No alcohol or perishables - can include seasonal food and drink. Seasonal clothes for kids as well as sweets and toys for them. And that's all the info I have.

All ideas gratefully received :D:D:D Thank you!

swampduck

Seasonal clothes - can be cheap hats/gloves/mittens from any Poundshop. Ditto for Toys, colouring books, crayons etc.

Tea, Coffee, Tinned Fruit, Tinned Vegetables, Baked Beans, Rice Pudding, you can get a fair selection of own branded products from any of the big name supermarkets which can make up a sizeable hamper.
Soft drinks can be bought on 2 for 1 in most supermarkets and shared between a couple of hampers.

As for pretty? wrapping a brown box in christmas wrap is good enough - it's the content that's important here!! Otherwise £10 per hamper won't go far.

Have fun!

Swampy

paulineb_2

Get to home bargains or poundland/poundworld if you can. Loads of kids stuff, colouring books, art sets. Home bargains do cans of soft drink for 25p a can. I agree, a box with wrap should be ok, its what is inside that matters.

Home bargains also do cheap boxes of christmas type chocs as well.

RAS

Get some plain brown paper (or even lining paper) and a potato.

Cut the potato in half and draw a rough star on one half and a christmas tree on the other. The basic idea is here https://www.pinterest.com/happy2012/potato-printing/

Use these to decorate your basic paper. Cover large shoe/boot boxes (ask the shoe shops for freebies).

Shred colour magazines to make packing.

Consider a pack of crayons and either paper or a colouring book for kids (Try B&M rather than the pound shops as everything in Pound shops is £1).

Lidl do some very decent chocolate bars for 39-49p. Not christmassy but good and good value. Raid them for a pack of biscuits and a jar of halfway decent grain mustard (49p).

Also go for their tinned fruits (some are cheap enough), tinned fish and check tinned ham.

Poundshops or discounters for hats and fleece scarves.

LEJC

are the hampers to reflect basic needs or to be seen as a treat?


if its to be seen as a treat,then if it were me I would possibly try to make it fit together rather than use basic food stuff...


eg...a breakfast hamper could contain tea,coffee,biscuits,maybe jam or marmalade...

pasta rice and spaghetti teamed with either a jar of sauce or chopped tomatoes,puree,and kidney beans could also form the basis of a meal in a hamper again well within budget.


or a specific chocolate hamper if bought from somewhere like lidl or aldi could get quite a bit of decent quality chocolate


How about a bathtime hamper,shower gel,soap bubblebath flannel and even shampoo with a scented candle could come in well under £10


Agree with covering an old box and think that the idea of shredded paper in the bottom is an excellent one!


maybe pots of bubbles for the childrens hamper as something a little different to colouring....
christmas straws and a multi pack of something like j20 split
Wilkinsons do a pocket money/stocking filler selection of small toys all of which are around £1 which might be suitable...
Dependant on the age and ability of the child then you could get a pot and a packet of seeds such as sunflowers for them to plant and watch grow....the pot dependant on size could then be the container for that hamper.

Packs of candy canes are really cheap too and can be split a couple into each hamper for a festive feel

poorly_scammo

In addition to what the others have said, I'd get down to the local £1 shop for stuff to add to it. This is the Poundland site with ideas: http://www.poundland.co.uk/

If your specifically working with families because they're short of money, how about laundry and cleaning items? Not very glamorous but still...

Other ideas - charity shop books, toys - I assume they don't have to be new items.
Baby items
The odd DVD - http://www.poundland.co.uk/leisure-and-entertainment/entertainment/dvds or similar for Christmas Day
Also, do you know anyone who makes stuff like jams and chutneys for example?
Could you hustle any local businesses to donate stuff? Worth a try.

poorly_scammo

As for decoration: I'd cover a box both inside and out with wrapping paper and put shredded paper from magazines inside.

fabforty

bylromarha wrote: »

Hi all

I've been asked by my church to put together some Christmas hampers for some families we are working with.

I've got some ideas, but would love to tap into all yours too as you guys are much better at this stuff than me

The budget - including packing it all up to make it look pretty - is £10. I suck at prettiness, so PLEASE give me some ideas for that too!

I need to do 6 - one hamper needs to accomodate children aged between 1 and 6, the others are single people or couples.

Guidelines: No alcohol or perishables - can include seasonal food and drink. Seasonal clothes for kids as well as sweets and toys for them. And that's all the info I have.

All ideas gratefully received :D:D:D Thank you!

It's a shame that we can't offer practical help. I know that it is frowned upon on here, but I would happily buy a few basic items and post them to a church or other recognised organisation (as opposed to an individual poster). This post has got me thinking and I will definitely check with my local church and Salvation Army to see if they need things - shame I didn't think of it sooner.

RAS

Other things that could be added if you share them out between several hampers

1. Sugar canes
2. Balloons
3. Packs of small baubles
3. Christmas "coins"

Toto

RAS wrote: »

Other things that could be added if you share them out between several hampers

1. Sugar canes
2. Balloons
3. Packs of small baubles
3. Christmas "coins"

Yes this!


Candy canes and chocolate coins are great for children and not expensive at all. I would try to add things which are seen as seasonal treats not basics like tea and sugar. I'd put in some mince pies and a tin of salmon, maybe some Christmas cake or a mini Panettone which can be picked up fairly cheaply.

RAS

Toto wrote: »

Yes this!


Candy canes and chocolate coins are great for children and not expensive at all.

Personally I would add a few to the adults hamper as well; we were all children once and some may not have had much first time.