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

Trow

Name of present? Doggy bag! (AKA Precious puppy)
Do you make it or buy it? Buy it
Total Cost? £3.50 depending on how you purchase
Details (the more the better) A gorgeous cuddly toy dog bag, with some white chocolate bones. If you order from a distributor/at a party then postage is free.
Where possible please add a link if it's an online offer
http://www.chocolate-parties.com/index.php?p=product&id=6&parent=1

jg66

:j
Name of present: 3 month subscription to a magazine.
Buyit!
Only £1.00 [Value over £10.00]
No catch, just click on link and enjoy www.letssubscribe.com
Happy reading.

AllyH

Cover a shoebox with leftover wallpaper or wrapping paper, and fill it with an assortment of things that everyone needs all the time but can never seem to find. You will have many of these around the house; others can be bought from pound shops. Ideas include: sewing needle and thread; scissors; needle threader; spare buttons; safety pins; iron-on mending tape; tape measure; pencil sharpener; eraser; spare fuses; bottle opener; adhesive tape; small packet of tissues; toothpicks; tweezers; aspirins; adhesive plaster; cotton buds; emery boards; a tiny notebook; toothbrush; batteries; set of small screwdrivers; paper clips; stamps - the list is endless.

I have made several of these, sometimes as wedding presents, and they have always been very popular. If you happen to have a small wooden box or basket around the house instead of a shoebox, so much the better. Contents can be varied to suit the recipient!

windinthewillows_2

Name of present? Electric Shock Game for four players
Do you make it or buy it? Buy it
Total Cost? £FREE FREE FREE
Details (the more the better) Someone was giving this away on freecycle - i thought it would make an ideal secret santa gift so went and got it and wrapped it up (Already I know) in a HUGE box so they have no idea what it is ....COOL EH.......

pete-in-london

Name of present? Microwave rice cooker
Make or buy? - buy
Total cost - £3.29 (+ postage £2.97)
Details - this was an impulse buy from ebay (seller has no connection to me) - the rice cooker works like a pressure cooker and makes lovely fluffy rice far quicker than a saucepan. Really good quality. All you need to add is some water and a few spices (cinnamon, cloves, bayleaves, cardamon pods) and you get really nice aromatic rice - easily as good as you'd get from a takeaway/restaurant. Currently my favourite gadget!

You can find the rice cookers here (yellow lids):

http://search.ebay.co.uk/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=microwave+rice+cooker

pinkmaxsmum

Name od Present- Personalised Chocolate Bar
Make or Buy? bit of both
Total Cost about £1.00

Details- Buy a bar of chocolate ( I've found lidles do great bars for under a £1,) then take off the wrapper and then using your computer and it's photo software customise a wrapper with photos graphics and festive messages.
I did this for my childrens teachers last christmas and they went down wonderfully. The teachers loved the personal messages but also got a bar of chocolate, far better than another candle!
But anyone adults or kids just love them and all for under a pound!!!

Mrs_Dawn

Name of Present: Handmade Christmas decorations
Make or buy? Made by the children
Cost: approx £1.50

My two youngest are making Christmas decorations for everybody this year.
They bought some 3D peel offs at 69p per sheet. Put the peel off on to some acetate they got for free, put pva glue on the back of the design then covered it in glitter and let it dry for 24 hours. then I used silicone glue to decoupage the designs. Then they printed off a little verse on the computer and popped it on the back and hey presto individual Christmas presents for all the family.
And you can customise them to co-ordinate with their individual colour schemes.
They had fun making them and cheap as well.:T

mrcolley

Name of present? - Personalised Christmas Crakers
Make or buy? - Bit of Both
Total cost - £1.00 - £3.00
Details- Buy some christmas crakers and open them up then personalise them by adding names, personal messages, sweets, chocolate, small toys and lots more. Be creative add what the reciver of the gift likes! :xmassmile :santa2:

Rachangel_2

• Name of present? Personalised wedding horseshoe
  
• Do you make it or buy it? make it
  
• Total Cost? £3.29 for paint and 60p for paint brush
  
• Details (the more the better)
  

Slightly random and not my scene (in true moneysaving expert style, it's all a bit pricey!!) but you can contact any nearby horse riding club/stables and beg, steal or borrow any used and discarded horse shoes. Then rinse thoroughly at home, steel brush off any rust or muck, and paint according to personal taste. I made one for a friend's wedding present recently, and painted it Kath Kidston 'shabby chic' style (baby blue with cream polka dots) and she genuinely loved it! Lots of potential to decorate according to the recipients style and taste and can be used for any occasion requiring good luck (new job/new home/wedding etc). Had loads of 'orders' from friends since! Enjoy x

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

whitevan38

• Name of present? Any item
• Do you make it or buy it? Either

Total Cost? FREE!!!!!

• Details (the more the better)
• Find out what your friend/family/child want and post a request under Freecycle.org which is operated via Yahoo and see if there is anyone in your area that has one they no longer want! It's a fantastic way to obtain items that you need, clears unwanted items from others homes and prevents things being sent to landfill so you can enjoy Chritsmas feeling you did something for the environment AND saved a fortune.

• Think it's a bit strange? Let me tell you what we have received from kind Freecyclers in just three months - 4 large rolls of loft insulation (reduces our heating bills), a large bag of baby boy clothes, a large bags of girls toddler clothes, a TV, washable breast pads, washable nappy wraps - need I go on....you get the idea!!
• Debbie