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

toniq

name of present: sweetie jar
make or buy it: Bit of both
total cost:less than £5
Details:last year i asked my newsagent for one of there old sweetie jars,She let me have a large glass jar for free, i took of label, bought all my partners childhood favourite penny chews( bazooka joes, white mice, cola bottles,etc) obviously at a penny a time in newsagent the jar filled up very fast, then i write a nice message on a label stuck it on , put loads of left over christmas ribbon on it.
He claims its the best ever present as it meant so much.

Haze1973

Here's a few suggestions for presents for a fiver and under:

1. Alot of people have already got next years holidays planned by Christmas, so you could buy a guide book or phrase book - its good to have something to look forward to after Christmas break. www.amazon.co.uk have a good range and start from £1.50 for phrase books and £2.99 for guide books.

2. Personalised gifts always go down well so dig out your favorite photos and get them put on coasters (2 for £4.99) or fridge magnets (2 for £3.99) from www.klick.co.uk (and as the 2 items include the same photo you could split them up and then it becomes even cheaper per gift).
Also, calendars are useful gifts and at www.VistaPrint.co.uk you can buy a photo calender for £1.99 or £3.99 and can add your own photos and text.
If you have a PC, printer and photos on your computer, you could always make your own calendar for free!

3. We all know people who either are impossible to buy for or have too much already - so go and have a look on www.oxfam.org.uk/shop - Oxfam Unwrapped have a range of gifts including 'Build a little bit of classroom' for £5.00 - you get a giftcard explaining what the gift is etc. I'm sure there are other charity sites offering a similar gift scheme. Better to give it to charity than waste money buying some 'novelty' gift!

IvorGlyn

Name of present? Book - Best Loved Poems Edited by John Boyes ISBN 978-1-90576-514-0.
Make it or buy it? Purchased from Wyevale Garden Centre.
Total Cost? £4.99
Details (the more the better)? A great big 662 page book of poems containing the one poem my friend says has to be there to be best loved - The Raven. It also contains an Index of Poets, Index of First Lines and Index of Titles.
This link (http://www.bookfellas.co.uk/scripts/browse.asp?ref=0572033281&source=J69) is selling it for £12.99 so Wyevales for £4.99 is a real bargain. I have purchased 2 for 2 different friends for Christmas.

honkingschnog

Name of present? - Memory Poem
Make it or buy it? - Make it
Total Cost? - Depends on 'extras' - can be pence
Details (the more the better)? :

Write a poem to include memories of times you have shared with somebody. A collection of short, four-line stanzas with a simple rhyming scheme work well. You don't have to be an expert poet...just make sure you read the poem aloud to yourself to check that it flows well. It is the memories, not the standard of the poetry, that counts. Include all memories; funny, sad, nostalgic, etc. End the poem with a stanza telling your friend/family member how much they mean to you...or something along those lines.

Type it up using a nice font, with a page border (Microsoft Word is a good option). Superimpose the poem over a nice photo of you and the person the poem is for. For the ICT illiterate, you could write it out onto nice cartridge paper and decorate (eg a collage border of photos) or illustrate by hand.

Options for presentation:

• Print onto nice paper and roll up, tying around the 'scroll' with a ribbon.
• Laminate.
• Present with a certificate (e.g. 'Best Dad')
• Put into a frame.

I have done this as birthday presents for my best friend and my dad and it was a hit on both occasions!:D

mooosh

• Name of present? Record Bowl
• Make it or buy it? Make it or Buy it
• Total Cost? under £1 or £3.00 - £4.50
• Details (the more the better)? For a gift that is unique, why not give a record bowl! You can use these for a fruit bowl, small change, keys, etc. It's simply a bowl made from an old vinyl record, either 12" or 7" - it will give you something to do with all your old records, or if you don't have any, you can pick them up easily at car boot sales or charity shops. Simply heat in the oven and bend into shape! If you don't want to get your hands dirty or your oven covered in vinyl, you can also buy them online at miso funky from £3 for 7" bowls and £4.50 for 12" bowls including free postage.

TinArena

Gifts under a fiver
Buy part and make part
Total cost:Around £4 max

This is good for a young child (or in my case 3 very closely aged nieces and nephews
Order some pencil crayons/fel tips/etc from somewhere (i got mine from Stuido (www.24studio.co.uk) for about £3.20 for about 24 and had them personalised too with their names on)
Include with them printouts from colouring and quiz websites. I am going to use the CBeebies website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/) and make into a booklet as such to accompany the pencils

This is great to keep them busy on christmas day as well as pencil crayons for them to take to school with their names on once the little terrors go back to school!!

bluebellwoods_2

• Name of present? Nourishing, Anti-ageing, Facial Oil Beauty Capsules
• Do you make it or buy it? Buy
• Total Cost? Just £2.74 at the moment in Holland & Barrett for a
• 2 month supply! That beats spending 10s of pounds on specific facial oils! All natural too!
• Details (the more the better) Just pierce the digestible capsule and massage it into your face at bedtime. Non-greasy, fights ageing and leaves skin plumped and smooth. Decant into a hand decorated jar for a pretty and useful gift
• Where possible please add a link if it's an online offer Any high street health store or pharmacy.

Haze1973

So for those of you who like saving money and hate wastage here's how to get your Xmas pressies for free!!!!!

www.freecycle.org lists things people are giving away!!
Also, www.swapshop.co.uk where you can get rid of those things you don't need and gain something you do - or can give as a present! My sister uses these sites and in the summer she swapped some tomato plants for a nearly new Ikea sofabed!! Bargain! You can search by area and there is all sorts on there. Perhaps you know someone who's trying to furnish their first home or student accomodation - get them something they really need!!

I'm sure there are other sites like this in your area, but have a look at these for a start - good eh!

Februarycat

bookmad wrote: »

Hello, although i have been lurking on site for ages this is my first post so hopefully it will be right. Yesterday i came across this great little shop on the web. I placed an order for a few bits & pieces and they arrived today (the day after my order was placed). I order a couple of bracelets & necklaces for my nieces and they are beautiful - the prices are fantastic too and throughout November they are offering free postage.

Name of present? - anything from Smitten Kitten shop
Make it or buy it? - Buy It
Total Cost? - under a £5
Details www.asmittenkitten.wahmall.co.uk - almost everything i could see was under £5.00 and postage is free throughout November. They sell beautiful jewellery (see above for my comments), candles, incense, soaps, bath bombs, gifts for all - loads and loads of stuff. I about to order a golf kit for dad & pool kit for son in law now.

Thanks for the link, its a good shop for gifts, have just placed an order for loads of bits for xmas presents for friends, all under a £5 and treated myself to a necklace too.

pieandapint_2

Name of present: Hand Decorated Lamp
Do you make it or buy it: Bit of both
Total cost: £5

Details:
Ikea sell their GRONO lamps for £3.59, these are a fairly decent size and are made from opaque glass. You can easily print templates on your computer and trace them through the lamp, a pencil works great for this. Then follow your outline and decorate with glass paints.

Another alternative way to decorate them is to glue those glass pebbles to them, I find a flower shape is simple but effective.

I'm sure others can come up more ways to decorate these lamps such as using ribbon, buttons or beads etc.

Link: http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/30029224

Edit: Here's a picture of one we made using 3 different sized butterfly templates traced through the lamp using pencil, we repeated the butterflys on the other sides of the lamp in different orders and colours.



(sorry about the poor quality mobile phone picture, it doesn't do the lamp justice, these really do look great and are fantastic when switched on at night!)

B&Q Also do a similar style of lamp but egg shaped for £4.00 (useful if you're not near an IKEA) http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=9380976