Santas challenge 2017

Happy_Kitties

Chanie I always say that I'm not bothered by surprises I would rather have something I want. I love body shop and DD has just bought me a glow in the dark ghost Halloween soap from Lush

Funny enough I've just asked DD to get me 2 little things from Lush and I need to look out for special offers for Body Shop as DD loves the banana shampoo and conditioner and while she has enough presents already for Christmas I need all the help I can get with her birthday being in Feb and she would be chuffed with those.

U can't go wrong with a hot water bottle either. A friend used to buy me one every Christmas because she knew it was always something I wanted and needed and I was appreciative of it.

Did plan to start writing Christmas cards last night but couldn't find a pen so gave up......abit too easily if I'm to be honest!!!!!!

Happy_Kitties

You remember I said I was going to have to change a person's present due to circumstances and get a gift experience and I was going to wait until black Friday.........
Well buyagift had a code for £15 off each gift experience so I ended up buying 3- two for Christmas and one for DD birthday. I opted for the e voucher as it was free and I can stick it in a card, so ended up saving £45 on 3 gift experiences. Didn't get the vouchers straight away, the system crashed at one point. I didn't realise that people were ordering 10-12 gift experiences at a time, and some thought some of the offers were too good to be true but my vouchers came thru fine and reading reviews so did everyone else's so really pleased and they were just what I was after......just alot cheaper.

The problem with finishing early is u do see items, picked up a little something up for DD stocking, reduced item so that will get wrapped tonight and then I am sitting on my hands, that's it.......no more spending!!!!!!

Happy_Kitties

Written two Christmas cards so far:D

The 6 birthdays this month nearly finished me off, if I wasn't dropping them off at a distance I was invited to join in the celebrations(which was lovely with one). One item was a nightmare to wrap and then DM just innocently said why didn't u just put it in a gift bag.........tbh it would have saved lots of stress and getting bad tempered with the wrapping paper:rotfl::rotfl:

Spoke to the lady with the link to hope shoeboxes, turns out she only lives 5 minutes away from where DD is studying so drop off happening this week, and will be doing it next year. I still have things left over from this year as I wasn't able to do box number 4 so definitely going to do them again

Picked up some Beyonce sets that were reduced in the B@@ts clearance........really chuffed as will be used for birthday presents next year and one person who I immediately thought of when I first saw them who just loves the sets will really be chuffed but I am determined not to overload the house with early bulky presents like I did this year, things were just a headache to find and I ended up basically digging some out. Unfortunately I haven't easy access storage I can use:(

Hope everyone's preparations are going okay. Time is speeding along now:eek:

chanie

I sent a text to my link to hope contact and they said I could drop mine next weekend, as they aren't being collected until mid Nov. That give me a bit more time to get a few more bits and pieces.






Today, I bought some Xmas gifts from Boots and got £10 worth of points as a bonus. I am going to save them up for my birthday next year, as its a big one (40).

chanie

Excluding OH and the children, I have two people left to buy for - 2 boys aged 6/7. I find this quite a difficult age to buy for as children of this age start to loose interest in toys, but too young for stuff that teens are into (fashion, technology etc). I have a few ideas but I havent given it much thought.

We have 20-25 people to buy for, so I think I have made good overall progress. I dont mind shopping into December as I enjoy the hustle and bustle, but thats because I know I am nearly done, by that point.

Happy_Kitties

I've just been sorting out a birthday present for a boy who will be 12 in January Chanie.

I pop his birthday present in with their Christmas presents but I know exactly what u mean, he is so hard to buy for. I've got him smellies for Christmas, thinking of something different for his birthday has been difficult.

DD is home from uni and it just so happened that our local garden centre had their Christmas opening weekend which DD really wanted to go to.
Their food area which is massive was so busy, me and DD just had tea and cake but we did spend on some decorations we liked which had a discount on them for the weekend opening plus I had coupons for an extra £6 off and DD bought a couple of presents aswell.

Christmas meat ordered from the farm shop at the garden centre.
Next job is to collect a few more boxes to send presents in. Have a couple, def need a few more it's just hitting the supermarket at the right time as they fly out now

Anglea

Hi everyone,

I haven't started on Christmas yet as I've now had plumbing problems, unexpected leak in the bathroom upstairs, I had one plumber last week who couldn't fix it, and I had booked another for this week and this one had to change the tap altogether and he was also going to change the kitchen tap (which was in a bad way for years) but he discovered that the people who had put my kitchen in years ago had done something peculiar so there was no access to the tap and it couldn't be taken out or even fixed without taking the sink out. As the sink was badly stained (beige sink/taps) I had been thinking for years it needed changing but never got round to it.

So it was all going to be done now out of necessity - problem no 2 - the new sink that arrived today was too small because the kitchen installers long ago had done something even stranger - so the plumber discovered as he removed the old sink, it had been fixed onto some kind of much larger than normal insert underneath and not visible normally when he measured up the sink, so he had to go and buy a new sink but said he won't charge me for extra travel time.

Either later today or tomorrow I'm going to have to clean everything and then put things back into the kitchen, he had to break the sink with a hammer in order to get it out - I never imagined one leaky tap could lead to this situation just before Christmas so no cards written so far.

I've still got stuff from the front room in the dining room so this situation had totally messed up with my plans for this week although I hope to go to a craft fair this weekend so hopefully will be able to buy some gifts.

I was thinking of you all when I was in the pound shop and saw lots of shoebox type gift boxes.

chanie

Angela I hope your plumbing is sorted.

I delivered my Link to Hope boxes with DD this morning. The person I delivered to lived much closer that I realised, so it didn’t take as long as I thought it would. I think I will do some more boxes next year and already have a few bits and pieces for those.

Happy_Kitties

Anglea I hope everything is getting sorted. I would be stressed as anything, do not like situations like that at all

Chanie I enjoyed doing the boxes. I just wish I had done my target of 4 instead of 3. Like you I've bits left over so will def do next year but the ones I sent I crammed full taking the lead from Katiehound.

I've been buying selection boxes while they are half price for a community group I am involved in. Have wrapped 8 so far and have only eaten 1!

Have picked up a couple of presents on a special price for 2019. I did the same with some black Friday deals last year but there is really nothing I need this year. I've even continued to pick up bits for DD birthday in Feb, more everyday items that she uses.

Need to really start collecting some boxes from the supermarket and packaging ready for sending out the Christmas presents next month.....not got round to this yet.......i hate packing up things so will definitely need to get sorted with this.

chanie

happy kitties, I did 4 boxes, but I struggled to fill them (didn’t realise how muchh stuff a shoe box can hold). Doing the shoe boxes was a good opportunity to declutter as we had lots of stuff around the house that was new and unused and waiting for a good home.

The best addition to my boxes was those free slippers you get in hotels. I have a relative who frequently stays in hotels and gives the slippers to my Mum, as she likes them. I found about 50+ pairs in a cupboard at my mums, so I grabbed 4 for my boxes.

I had to cobble together a last minute gift for someone and Im pleased to report that I managed to find a few decent things from my spare gift stash. I really need to replenish my stash now, as there isnt much left.