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

wornoutmumoftwo

• Name of present? Home baking (Biscuits/cake)
  
• Do you make it or buy it? make it
  
• Total Cost? Under $5
  
• Details (the more the better)

I have been on a mission to find the perfect biscuit and sponge cake recipes, after weeks of trying different recipes I've found them. As I am on a major budget this year I am going to bake a big batch of christmas shortbread cookies, decorate them and wrap them up nicely.

Shop brand flour, sugar, eggs and butter, works out at about £2.00 and from that I can make One large cake (or fairy cakes), and two biscuit batches.

Decorating is extra but depends on your choice, I would just use icing sugar or chocolate/cocoa power, but whatever the choice, it will be well under £5 and ALL my family love home baking, plus gifts can be personalised easily.

whitevan38

Free

• Name of present? Colouring/sctivity book
• Do you make it or buy it? make it
  
• Total Cost? £less than £2
  
• Details (the more the better)
  

Go onto to CBeebies website and print out all the make and do and colouring activities onto any paper you may have at home, bind into a book with cotton or glue or one of those clever plastic things we all get at work and present with a packet of crayons/pencils from Wilkinsons (cheapest art materials I have come across). Keeps the little cherubs out of mischeif on Christmas day especially whilst you are charging around trying to get dinner ready.

Debbie

stellabgh

Name of present? Letter for loved ones
Do you make it or buy it? make it
Total Cost? £0!
Details (the more the better)
Write a letter to your children/parents telling them what you like about them. You'll be surprised that they don't know that they have so many good qualities!

Knightowl

Name of present? :- Little book of the Soul by best selling author Ian Lawton
Make it or buy it? :- Buy it
Total cost :- £10 per box of 8 + p&P
Details :- Strange but true stories that could change your life forever (author makes no profit)

LINK :- http://www.rspress.org/

tward

Me and my friends have a pact to buy each other the cheapest and tackiest presents we can find for under a fiver.

This is great because we don't have to worry if thr presents will be liked, a lot of effort goes in to choosing them, it's cheap and we get a really good laugh from it. More and more people are joining in, which means we're all getting more presents and more laughs because whatever we get we have to wear, use, eat or display on christmas day.

Last year I had banana socks and a reindeer hair band. I bought a curly wurly pencil when I visited Cadbury World.

This year I am buying "a bag of laughs" for my best friend for £2.95 from https://www.iwantoneofthose.com. This is just a bag that laughs when you walk past.

I am also thinking of buying "nothing" for the friend who has everything from the same website for £3.49 as a nice reminder that they have evrything - however I feel that this present would be much better to make.

fmb1980

Name of present? E-Bluey
Make it or buy it? Create it
Total Cost? Free
Details (the more the better)? The perfect Christmas gift for my man this year will be an e-bluey with a photo of me on it. The whole thing is for forces personnel on operational tours in BFPO areas and rather than posting a letter with a photo in it, you can send an e-bluey, write whatever you want and then attach the photo. The letter is then downloaded at the BFPO location, printed out and posted to your other half wherever they are serving. He absolutely loves getting them.

The other good thing about e-blueys is the speed of them. Currently, a handwritten bluey sent from the UK can take up to 12 days in some areas to get to the location. I sent an e-bluey yesterday morning and he has received it this morning!!

They are the perfect gift for your loved ones who want a reminder of home when they are away.

Go to https://www.ebluey.com

Parcels are also on free postage for certain BFPO areas, so get them sent too!!! (watch on weight restrictions though)

Knightowl

Well you have to balance the serious with the funny:rotfl:

CAR STICKER

GIVE ALL YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY A SAE.

It's free but I'm afraid I must ask you to send an SAE

By doing this you're helping advertise the site and as such to say thanks I wanted to keep the sticker totally free - and I hope you'll be glad to proudly introduce others to MoneySaving. Unfortunately I am only able to do so if you post a stamped self-addressed envelope to get the sticker back to you, and with the new pricing regime the stamp for an A4 envelope needs to be a 44p stamp (if first class 37p otherwise - though do fold the envelope to get it to me and send that with a cheaper stamp

First come first served

It's purely first come first served basis. We've ordered 5,000 stickers, 2,500 more than last time as they were so popular but please only apply if you are actually going to put the sticker on your car - otherwise it doesn't justify the expense for me and the site. There are plenty of stickers available and we keep a tight track on this, if ever stocks get low, this will be changed so you know.

Send a stamped addressed A4 envelope to:

Car Sticker
MoneySavingExpert.com
G12.1, Shepherds Studios
Rockley Road
London W14 0DA

(only one sticker will be sent per envelope to make it fair)

englishmac

Name of present? 3 for 2 deals
Do you make it or buy it? Buy it
Total Cost? Maximum £5 per item
Details (the more the better) Boots and M&S (and other major stores?) offer 3 for 2 - cheapest item free - on products suitable for gifts. Often what you want from the choice available is limited and you don't want to purchase items for the sake of it. But get together with a friend or relative and browse the store to decide what each of you want to buy for Xmas pressies and you maximise your opportunities. When you have decided what you each want to buy, organise the purchases so that you spend no more than £7.50 each for the dearest 2 items from each 3 ie this works out at a maximum £5 per item - remember it is the cheapest item that is free. Purchase at the tills in batches of 3 (husbands/boyfriends come in handy at this point!). Any odd items left over, purchase separately so you still get your maximum cost saving. Also, if you buy at Boots you get points on your loyalty card as well! Tried this at the weekend - saved a lot and gained points too.

Skelch

Name of present? Family day out


Do you make it or buy it? Buy it


Total Cost? Various, but mine cost £3.74 per person

Details - Right this sounds compicated, but it's really simple. I will base this on my family, and you can work out the figures on your own family size and budget.
Our aim was to have a geat family day out with all the kids together and to reduce the cost of Christmas and prevent the kids getting to many toys that they really don't need (as a extention for a additional room just for toys is not in the budget) and also to save us buying the adults yet another silly gadget or smelly set.

1. I have joined forces with my two sisters and one brother who all have partners and children and including my own family that totals 8 adults and 8 kids.
2. We then looked for a local event that we would like to attend as a family but couldn't really afford to spend out on.
3. Our choice is the Snowdome in Tamworth for the Chistmas Santa Trail. The total cost per person is £11.95(off peak) or £14.95 (peak).
4. Right so here's how you save extra.... We have decided to go on boxing day, something to look forward to after the big day, and of course CHEAPER (off peak). Also CHEAPER as a lot of places (incuding our choice) offer a free place for groups over 10, which there is if all made on one booking.
5. Now we take the total cost of which is 15 x £11.95 =£179.25 (remember we only pay for 15 as we have a free place) and divide this by the no. of families involved (in my case four). The total cost per family is £44.81.
6. We will then put the tickets into a card and present each family with the gift of a day out as a joint present from the other three familes.
7. Basically we will spending £44.81 as a contribution to the 3 other familes which in our case is 12 family members. Thus spending only £3.74 per person and also recieving the same wonderful gift in return.
8. We usually spend £10 per person on adults and kids, so this has not only saved us about £75 (65%) but it will also give us a fun family day...SURELY THATS WHAT CHRISTMAS IS ALL ABOUT... Not just letting the kids think that they have a right to own every toy under the sun.

There are lots of differnt options to choose from, another we considered was a trip to the pantomine or even just a nice family meal.. the list is endless.

Please note the kids to get a lot as we have a very large family and I don't want to sound to much like Scrooge

englishmac

• Name of present? Cross stitch key rings / coasters / fridge magnets
• Do you make it or buy it? Make it
• Total Cost? Under £5
• Details (the more the better)? Buy a kit from a craft store for a key ring or a coaster / fridge magnet; prices around £3 and £4 respectively. Choose the kit design according to the recipient. Alternatively make it more personal by using a different design - free designs available online, just use a search engine - or even better, create your own design to reflect the character/hobbies of the person it is for.