Festive Fivers Competition: The best Xmas pressies for under £5

Jolaaled

• Name of present? PLAYDOH!
  
• Do you make it or buy it? MAKE IT..and BUY storage tubs
  
• Total Cost? About a pound for 6 balls if using Value ingredients
  
• Details (the more the better)

Follow one of the recipes on this site..the first one is the 'basic':

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Acres/7875/recip3.html

Playdoh is so fab for keeping the kids entertained. You can make it in advance..keeps well in the fridge for about a week...or let the kids help you make it and then have the joy of playing with the warm dough..very theraputic for everyone.
Make up differnent colours by mixing up different food colourings ..or get a 'marble' effect by adding spots of colouring to the plain dough, once it's cooked...or add glitter, or lavender oil. Lovely!
You could make it extra special by presenting the dough in separate pots or , just plastic bags!

• Where possible please add a link if it's an online offer.
  

computersaysdoh

Name of present? - Coronation St DVD Game
Make it or buy it? - Buy it
Total Cost? £5
Details (the more the better)? - I found the info about this on
http://www.crimbo-bargains.com/ - its an interactive DVD like many that were sold last year. Standout feature - it includes limited edition Coronation St. Quiz mats, which must be fairly unsual. You dont get may 'Newton and Ridley' mats in my local!

undermyhat

• Name of present?

Round the table post christmas dinner bracelet make-a-thon

• Do you make it or buy it?

You buy or scrounge the materials. But you don't have to pre-make anything. That's part of the gift - the making

• Total Cost?

Easy to set a budget and easier the more people you have. Anything from £1 - £5 pp

• Details (the more the better). Ok, you said more...
  

This is a bit cheaty but I think it would be a lovely thing to do after the christmas meal when little niece Emma is getting a bit bored, Mum just wants to sit down and rest and catch up on some drinking, and everyone else is feeling bloated and lethargic.

If you have a tradition of opening pressies in the morning, tell everyone that they will have to wait until after lunch for yours. Tell them not to throw out too much wrapping paper or sweetie wrappers from the jumbo tin of roses they've been gluttoning down since 7am.

Your pressie will be in a box (wrapped). It is a combined present for everyone who's going to be there on christmas day (so it helps to know how many in advance, although you will be able to have some room for unexpected visits from the Pope).

This is how it goes:

1) You tell everyone about saving wrappers and paper etc..
2) After lunch when everyone is at table, you get out your present and get someone to open it
3) In your box will be materials to make bracelets for everyone at the table. Also plain cardboard boxes, glue, scissors, a pen and some little scraps of paper.
4) You explain that your present is that everyone gets a homemade bracelet from someone they love
5) Now write everybody's names down, each name on one scrap of paper (like a raffle), screw them up and chuck them in the middle.
6) Go around the table and ask the guests to pick out a name. If they get their own name, they have to rescrew the paper and try again.
7) Now everyone has the name of the person for whom they are going to make a bracelet.
8) Share out the elastic and put all the beads in a pile in the middle. To make the bracelet, the guest has to thread their choice of beads onto the elastic and tie a knot. You can help littlies.
9) Then, each bracelet needs to go in a box. These can be plain cardboard craft boxes, or just matchboxes or containers you've recycled.
10) Each person decorates the box with the bits they've saved from the morning. If you are a complete magpie/hoarder like my family you may have available wrapping paper from the last 7 years, bits of gummed paper, old stamps, buttons, sticky stars.... If not you just have to use the shiny bits from the morning's gluttony and left over wrapping paper.
11) When everybody has finished making (you might want to set a time limit just in case you miss the Queen), then they take turns presenting the finished bracelet to the person they've been making it for. Aaahhhh...
12) Big brownie points for distracting the recalcitrant kids, recycling rubbish, getting everyone to think about another person, and giving a crafty gift without having to make the damn things!

What do you actually need to buy?


Multiply your budget per person by the number of people. So if you can afford £3pp and you have 6 (including you) then you've got £18 to spend.

Either go to a craft shop (like hobbycraft or smaller independents - anyone in Bristol know Creativity? I spent at least 5 years worth of pocket money in there and probably 5 years browsing) or look at online bead shops (links below) or ebay, or if you want to go vintage, and have time, look in charity shops and haberdashery stores for beads and elastic. Because you're using 1mm elastic, make sure the hole in the bead is big enough to thread the elastic through by hand.

You will need 25cm 1mm round elastic per person (this is easy as then you don't need clasps and can just thread beads and tie a knot). Cost: about 20p/m or 5p per person

Depending on what size beads you get, you could need 20 - 50 per person. Say to play it safe, we want 300 beads for our 6 people. And we're going to be lazy and order online. From somewhere like here: http://www.mailorder-beads.co.uk/ (this is just the first place I came across on the net, never used them before) You could get some chunky wooden beads (10mm ones @£2.70 for 100, or mixed wooden colours: http://www.mailorder-beads.co.uk/wooden-bead-mixes.html £1.75 for app 100)

Or maybe some plastic beads in mixed colours and shapes http://www.mailorder-beads.co.uk/bulk-packs-mixed-beads.html (£1.95/100) and even some mixed letters so you can spell rude words: http://www.mailorder-beads.co.uk/bulk-pack-letter-beads.html#neon (£4.95/200). Might be worth checking with them beforehand that all the beads you choose will actually fit the elastic through them.

Let's say I got the 200 letters, bag of mixed wood beads and the stars (so more like 400 beads, would be heaps), plus 2m elastic. My cart is now £9.05. Postage apparently would be £1.70 so now I'm up to £10.75.

So that leaves around £6 to find plain little cardboard boxes to decorate (or as I said, matchboxes would do for nix), plus any glue or scissors that may be needed. Easy peasy. If your budget is more, then you can buy nicer beads. If it is less, then start haranguing your great aunt mildred for all those jumbo pearl necklaces she never wears anyway, or look in charity shops: once you start ogling all that tacky jewellery for bead harvest value not pret a porter, then you may well come up with some very funky beads indeed.

The best thing is that you don't have to be very creative (oh look, I just crotcheted a mirkin without even looking, simper), just a little bit organised. And all your tribe will feel united cos they'll all have groovy bracelets to wear for the rest of their lives. Er, the rest of the afternoon, then.:A

louby-lou-lou

Name of present? - calendar girls/boys
Make it or buy it? -mostly make it
Total Cost? -£1
Details - poundland are selling make your own calendars all you need to add are the photos and if you sign up to the many photo companys you can get all your prints for the calendar free. Add any other craft bit you may have to really personalise it.

countrymusicfan

I don't know if this is making or getting, but I have a best friend who sings country and loves old style country music. I have Limewire on my computer and have gotten quite a few songs I like, new style and old style on the computer. I will put these on disc, and give them to him for Christmas. This will cost me less then 20p. :money:

lizmoz

Buy a classic film or TV DVD for £5.89 from sendit.com (with free p&p included to UK and Ireland). Then sign your recipient up for a lovefilm free trial for a month via the sendit.com website and knock a fiver off the sendit price, bringing it down to £0.89. http://www.sendit.com/dvd/item/7001000128550. I like this one - Snakes on a Plane for £5.89, which also gives you 59 of their ipoints, which offer an extra 5% cashback on the film towards future purchases.

If you opt for the £3.99 lovefilm package (dig deeper on the site - bypass those 'most popular' offers), you get one month of two DVD rentals free, then an extra month on the same deal for £3.99. https://www.lovefilm.com/visitor/sign_up_3.html

Cancel the subscription after that, but you've given your mate 5 DVDs (or games) for £4.80.

Happy holidays!

louby-lou-lou

Name of present? - Personalised gifts
Make it or buy it? - Buy it
Total Cost? -£5
Details www.tshirtstudio.com has coasters keys rings and fridge magnets all for £5 and free P&P that you can put your own photo or designs on. Just up-load your image and you have your very own personalised gift. I bought myself and both sets of grandparents magnets and keyrings with photos of our newborn son on which are great.

JoyceB

Name of Present: World Vision Alternative Gift
Cost: £5 - Details: £5 will buy a mosquito net to protect a child in an African country from Malaria or £5 will also supply chlorine to sanitise a well in Sierra Leone. Go to www.greatgifts.org, select gifts by price and select £5-£20, this will take you to both and give further details.

wornoutmumoftwo

can i ask what freecycle is please..x

Not sure if anyone has answered this yet, it's a yahoo group that allows people to get rid of unwanted items - for free.

It works by area but the main site is here: http://www.freecycle.org/

ok_go

Name of present? - Mega Pub Quiz CD
Make it or buy it? - Make it
Total Cost? -20p ish
Details I am making some Cds up for friends. I have used some of the excellent Mashups available on line e.g.

www.dailybeats.de/index.php/2006/06/25/rhodes-54-bootleg-mix

There are usually a great range of classics oldies and new tracks included. The aim is to try and identify
1) The total numer of different tracks used
2) As many song names and artists as you can

The answers will be given only when I have been invited round for enough wine and mince pies.

I have knocked up a cheezy cover too. Am still working on the back lol




regards GO