Buying my kids chrissie pressies from charity shops?????

haylibo

Tibbie's mum, If you can treat yourself from your savings then try getting hold of a copy of the Tightwad Gazette for lots of ideas and support on saving money on pressies, kids clothes etc.
Hayles

Rikki

When my children ask me if something new, I say 'its new to you'. always worked.

li'l_p

Rikki wrote: »

When my children ask me if something new, I say 'its new to you'. always worked.

Love it... :beer:

madoldbat

This is a long tale so make yourself comfy;)
DS was 4yrs, DD 6 mnth most of that in hospital one 30mils away nother 300mils away due to illness from her birth (now 12 & a pain in the but:rotfl: )
Any money we had had that year -not a lot-was spent on travling ,child care and accomodation to be near/with DD.Also to keep dieing car on road:rolleyes:
We have no in laws either side & a sister each so not a lot of family.
OH & I not botherd re pressies we knew why we had no cash.
Aunts bought nice pressie for each child.
Me not worried about DD to young and still so ill as to not know about Christmas.But DS what was I to do about him bless he had been wonderful while tons of time had been spent on his sis,he was shunted around the country & left with child minders he deserved somthing special.
That year there were so many gifts under the tree:eek:
we bought him a go kart from the locle parish mag for 5.00 .
Freinds were wonderful they gave one or two small gifts instead of 1 big one.
But the bit he loved the best his Godfather and his wife & their son then 7 (they were even more broke than we were) had for months bought tiny things in charity shops,colouring pencils,cars,marbles,books,aidio tapes ect their son had gone through his stuff and found games,videos ect he no longer used .Socks,gloves,t shirts every item was wraped individualy:eek: It must have taken forever.
But DS had 50-60 pressies that year.Did he care were the items had been bought NO he did not but Oh boy did he love Christmas morning:T
To this day we buy from charity shops we also take to them but we check games and clothes first.Everything must be clean ,nothing missing .My kids know their stuff might be going to someone who has less than them and therefore need things to be in good condition because they deserve it.
Phewwwwwwwww!:o did warn you :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Lara

I take everything to charity shops and most of the clothes and toys are either brand new or nearly new. Last week I saw a wicker basket in the window and knowing all about the hamper thread I went in there and bought it - my very first purchase in a charity shop! It is brand new, just a little dusty. Whilst there I had a look round - it is a shop that doesn't smell - sorry but most charity shops do have that distinctive smell, to me anyway. I saw two soft toys, dogs, brand new and labelled at just 35p each, two beautiful little dolls at 50p and 70p. All of these have gone in my shoeboxes. I also noticed a GAP suede jerkin with a hood and fur lined with beautiful embroidery down the front for a 12-18 month old little girl. It was £3. There was also a beautiful real sheepskin waistcoat for same age group for £5. If I had anyone to buy these for I would have done. I doubt they have ever been worn. So after this experience I have vowed I will always check out charity shops for whatever I am looking for.

Go for it and don't feel at all guilty. At the end of the day they would like a present under the Christmas tree and it doesn't matter where it came from. Happy hunting!

PS Congratulations on your hattrick . I have one aswell and even though they are now grown up they are still wonderful!

Nanaof2

I help out at a charity shop and we have masses of decent items sent in.
Lots of clothes come in still with original tags on & so do a lot of soft toys.
I buy things for my grandsons - mainly books & clothes . We sell kids books at 3 for 1.00 and other month bought loads of Mr Men books. Also got a brand new top for the 4yr old for 1.00 My daughter looked up on makers web site and was selling for 20.00!
I am a charity shop addict. To anyone who has never bought from a charity shop, go have a look you'll be surprised at the bargains to be had

papworth

The NCT sales have always helped us. They have toy sales around this time of the year and you can check for local ones on the NCT website. My main advice is to get there before the doors open (always a queue) and have a strategy (toys and equipment go quicker than clothes)
My children never knew some of their presents were 'nearly new' especially when they were younger and you can't tell with some things anyway eg boxed games, jigsaws, books, DVDs.
I would still buy them a 'main' toy for Christmas then bump up the presents with the nearly new stuff. They loved having lots of things to open.

Jollygiantswife

When my now 7 year old son had his first Christmas, he was 5 months old. It really was pointless buying anything much for him. But, because we also had a 4 and a 1/2 year old daughter, who wouldn't understand why Santa came to her but not her brother, we had to do something..... but we were skint!

So...... we wrapped up her baby toys which we'd kept in the loft! We'd put them in the loft when she'd outgrown them, knowing we were going to have another baby at some point, and then wrapped them up for our son!

He was too small to understand anything, and the toys had been our daughters when she was too young to remember them!

Everyone happy, and no guilt at all!

LilMissEmmylou

I say yes go for it. Like you say they will know no better so why put yourself into a tight financial situation when there is no need I think in the long run it will be better for them that u easily pay your bills and are not stressed etc rather than being worried over money (which isnt good with a new baby anyway! - congratulations btw). have fun hunting down cool gifts while helping charity

buxtonrabbitgreen

20 years ago my DD was my little pony mad. I also had little money to spend but got her the stable second hand and bought her some new ponies. She was so happy. She got what she really wanted and had no idea it wasn't new. Now my 15 year old is asking for a laptop. Not that he will get one. but make the most of getting away with second hand while you can. Unles I find a laptop in the charity shop LOL