The £75 stocking dilema - thoughts please

[Deleted User]

We are terrible overspenders on gifts at christmas and as a family have decided to cut right back this year to a £75 stocking each.

The mother is already asking if I'll stick to this and wont it be a bit boring not having much to open ( it was her idea she has many horses to feed lol )

So as I am planning to stick to this I was wondering how bet to play it

Do I buy a big gift and a few bits or loads of bits to make uo the £75,

firebird082

£75 for a stocking sounds like loads to me! We just buy lots of little bits for each other - masses of presents, not much money. Are you buying for adults or children?

missbiggles1

BBH123 wrote: »

We are terrible overspenders on gifts at christmas and as a family have decided to cut right back this year to a £75 stocking each.

The mother is already asking if I'll stick to this and wont it be a bit boring not having much to open ( it was her idea she has many horses to feed lol )

So as I am planning to stick to this I was wondering how bet to play it

Do I buy a big gift and a few bits or loads of bits to make uo the £75,

"The mother"?:eek:

[Deleted User]

HaHa the Mother is meant in an endearing way lol

Yes for adults

DigForVictory

Bits all the way. That way you don't need to have one lush infant sock, but can have an intriguingly squishy rugby sock. And the volume need not be grossly expensive - a long can can extend the foot whereas a nice bottle can fill out a calf. Possibly devote £5 to fun bulk & £70 to the lush gift, then prowl charity shops, pound shops & car boots with a mischievous sense of humour.

Traditionally we have an apple or orange in the toe of our stockings - which can be an Aldi super 6 or something exotic depending on your choice.

Don't forget a string "stocking" haynet for the horses...

[Deleted User]

The dogs and Horses all get stockings and the dogs have a full christmas lunch aswell lol

Thankyou everyone, I like the idea of maybe one or two larger things and then have some fun with the remaining money.

The only thing the mother has to remember is that some of her expensive branded stuff will go so I'm not sure she has fully thought this through. It'll be interesting to see if she cracks ( or I do , I am a marketing dream as I love / fall for all the festive goodies and displays, all the special packaging etc )

I think it'll be fun trying to be creative and possibly more thoughtful in what I choose. And keep out the shops.

I thought I could arrange the gifts and bits in a horses new feed bowl and present it like a hamper with the selophane and ribbons and that way she gets something useful rather than spend £5 on a gift bag or £12+ on a knitted sock.

7roland8

Sounds plenty form my point of view - I wouldn't get one thing but lots of bits and pieces. We always have loads to open at Christmas but don't spend that much on adults. There are bargain books you can get - or horsey scarves on Amazon for under £4 also bags for under £10. You could make cheap stockings - with a nice horsey fabric - its just a basic shape.

ERICS_MUM

I love buying smaller items rather than one big gift (unless it's 'sensible' ). I spend ages wrapping and making them look pretty, then arrange in a large gift bag, box, basket etc as appropriate.

I usually include items from one or more categories:
Books, Jewellery, Cosmetics/Perfume etc, Clothes, Accessories, Food & Drink, Hobbies, Toys

For my brother and sister I will buy more expensive items, but scale down the cost for nieces and nephews, in laws etc. Now we have grandchildren in the family I have more shopping opportunities (claps hands in glee !!).

PasturesNew

£75 is more than our family have ever spent, in any year, on a "full blown Xmas".

We've cut it back now to about £5 or so of "token gifts" as anybody/everybody has enough time/money to buy their own stuff, just what they want, when they want it ... without having to wait until one arbitrary date in the year when somebody else "wastes" their money buying something that's "sort of, but not really, what I wanted"

DigForVictory

When all ideas fumble a bit, fall back on the nursery staple "Something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read"...?

PlymouthMaid

£75 sounds like a big spend to me. We are more in the region of £20 except for my daughters who I spend around £50 on including the stocking gifts which are mainly toiletries and household bits as they are adults now.