Anybody else totally dreading Christmas present buying?

sweetpeas_2

im not too bad this year, i do love christmas so dont mind saving up the money to buy stuff. its just this year im trying to make the money go further so i dont have to spend as much! spent about £450 last year all in all, this year aiming for £200 altog...
i got 9 wicker baskets for £2.50 from a car boot, which im going to anti-bac spray then make hampers for everyone from them. MIL is getting a dove set-all made with half price dove stuff from boots (paid with points), sis and her fella are gettin a "his n hers" basket with dvd, sweeties, cider, wine, pot noodles etc. dh is getting a night in hamper-dvd, chocs, bottled cider, a nice book, candles. kids are both getting a box each: "boys box" wrapped up blue, and "girly box" wrapped pink, with bits of stuff in like books, dvd, jiqsaw puzzles, socks etc etc. each kiddie has £50 limit and most of this stuff ive already got put away so i dont need to get it out of my £200 budget. just using the A4 paper boxes left around at work to wrap up for this. blue for boy, pink for girl, and dh gets his teams colours. quite cheap and also nice to have them all run down stairs (dh included here) to find their own little box in their own colour!

dh's sis is getting one of my hamper baskets with hot choc set in-mug was 50p, sachets choc 75p for 3, just need marshmallows and a spoon. so she will be sorted for under £5! :T


hope this helps anyone feelin un-inspired

Spendaholic_Chick

Blimey, you're all so organised!! I always get my paper and cards ec in January, so they're sorted, thankfully. I also pick up bits n bobs thorughout the year, but when I do the shopping I seem to end up wiht loa for one person and hardly anything for another! Must gmore organised!

Love the movie hamper idea, and the gift of time idea!

toffeepennys

im stuck for ideas on what to give money grabbing gob****** called inlaws,
im really determined that after this christmas im hitting it on the head. we normally spend £500-600 on brother in law, wife and kids, and as its my husbands only family he feels obliged to keep spending.

this year however has been a joke, they drive pasdt our house twice a day and all year have posted all cards for relevent birthdays etc and i know you dont give to receive but their gifts really take the pi**.

any ideas people on what we can get them, last year i bought them a family ticket to see a great boxing day ice hockey match which where quite expensive asd well as thoughtful individual presents (bought because they do nothing together as a family), and found out in february by accident they didnt even bother to go


help please on gifts would be nice, im even thinking of getting them all delivered by post, so i dont have to see them for long on the day

pukkamum

For my lo's they will be getting one 'big' pressie and then a load of tat from the pound shop. In my experience if they get the one thing they are longing for then all the rest is just stuff to open. Also join your local freecycle you will find loads of people getting rid of stuff in time for xmas after all one mans junk is another mans treasure!!!

candygirl

I have no qualms this year of telling certain people not to bother swapping gifts, as I am sick and tired of going to loads of effort and expense to end up with rubbish from the pound shop.I am a lover of the pound shop for bits and pieces but would not dream of buying somebodys main gift from there, especially when they(me) go to alot of trouble selecting a nice gift for them.oooh vent over!!lol:D
No seriously I am not very flush this year as there's not alot of supply work about, the person in question is loaded but tight, so I am telling her not to bother this year.I am only buying for my family and best friend from now on as I have neither the time or money to waste any more.
Think £5 per gift is a bit low though, but not sure how much to spend.
I have just ordered my niece and nephews pressy from the early learning centre and used the 20% off discount so that's a good start.:D

toffeepennys

id really like to just go with charity gifts but i know my husbands family would die if thats what you gave them and i know we would be the topic of conversation for years to come and not in a good way,(although lets face it we porobably are anyway)
ity really bugs me beacause like us the can afford to buy whatever they like

pukkamum

I also do a lot of 'present recycling' my in-laws always buy me stuff i don't use (smellies mainly) so i leave them in my wardrobe and bingo this years pressies!!!!! But don't do as my sister did last year, her birthday is in december and she had a birthday party when i watched her open all her pressies only to find them 3 wks later in my stocking from her!!!! I had to laugh!!!!!!

Lucy1982_2

toffeepennys wrote: »

im stuck for ideas on what to give money grabbing gob****** called inlaws,
im really determined that after this christmas im hitting it on the head. we normally spend £500-600 on brother in law, wife and kids, and as its my husbands only family he feels obliged to keep spending.

this year however has been a joke, they drive pasdt our house twice a day and all year have posted all cards for relevent birthdays etc and i know you dont give to receive but their gifts really take the pi**.

any ideas people on what we can get them, last year i bought them a family ticket to see a great boxing day ice hockey match which where quite expensive asd well as thoughtful individual presents (bought because they do nothing together as a family), and found out in february by accident they didnt even bother to go


help please on gifts would be nice, im even thinking of getting them all delivered by post, so i dont have to see them for long on the day

I have family members like this so pity you. Only thing is we don't do gift. Have you thought about doing something different this year?

I work colleague did charity donations with her family last year. She gave her brother 10 chickens (well she paid for him to give10 chickens to a family in Africa) I imagine that this would be cheaper than £600 and someone else would benefit from the gift, even if you in-laws aren't impressed!

If not how about trying stockings? My best friend and I are making up stockins for each other this year. Her is going to consist of small fun and inexpensive items, perhaps some vouchers if I come across any freebies. We've talked about it and decided it would be good fun.

Good luck whatever you decided, it's tough when you know that whatever you give they aren't going to appreciate it.

Lucy1982_2

Here's the link if your interested:

http://www.practicalpresents.org/index.php

You can get them a goat for £15! I imagine the feel good factor would be wondering. You never know your in laws could realise something about themselves!

Shineyhappy

I am really shocked by how much some people spend on familiy members who dont seem to appreciate it. I have to say that my brother and I have a competition on who can spend the least on our biological dad and that is always under a fiver and usually about 2 pounds! He never bothers getting us any presents and never has, but my grandma gets upset if we dont get him anything


I would seriously suggest that some people are not worth spending a lot of money on, look out in charity shops for presents (some times they have gift sets that are brand new) or Ebay or maybe just be creative, take cuttings from posh plants and come Xmas put them in an expensive looking pot.

For those with kids, have you thought about making vouchers for them? Maybe this voucher entitles you to stay up for an extra hour (valid only on non school nights) or to have a sleep over or make up lesson from mother or a glass of wine and lemonade with dinner etc obviously depending on the age of the child it would vary but I always loved having my friends over and it would have been a real treat if we had had a midnight feast!