Too many gifts to buy...

essex-girl_4

Hi ya

Just need some advice really re present buying, i have soooooooooooo many gifts to buy and its doing my head in, basically this is who i have to buy for and i havent even started well apart from 1 present for my son!!:

My 2 sons ages 5 and 11 weeks -
My partner
Mum
Dad
Step mum
Step dad
Partners mum
Partners bro
Partners neice
Partners nan
Partners grandad
Step nan
Step grandad
Sisters x 4
Brother
Neice x 3
Nephews x 4
3 of sons schoolfriends
My best friend

I have cut back as i do not buy for my other brother (36) and his wife, but i do get for their 6 kids, and i do not buy for my other sister (27) and her partner but i do buy for their two kids, i do buy for my other brother (23) as he has no kids and he will buy for my two boys and i also buy for my other 4 sisters as their ages range from 3-16 years old. The other presents i have to get being my parents and step parents. I also get Joe (my sons) 3 little best friends a token gift and i will also get my best friend a token gift.

But with all these presents and my two sons (not really gonna get our 11 week old anything, only a couple of small bits as he will not have a clue its Christmas, but Joe i have got so far a DS and am looking round for cheap games, he has got a PS2 already and have bought a couple of second hand games from Ebay to give him for xmas - im sure he wont know the difference if they are new or not! But DS games are expensive if u get the new ones, but a couple of games and a ds to open on xmas morning isnt enough but that will cost us about £150 to start with will have to get him more than that, plus its his birthday 2nd January which means more prezzies and also a party!

It just seems there is no way i can cut back, it costs me nearly a grand each year and thats just presents, no food or drink or bills! And now we have just had a baby we just cant afford the expense.

Just wondered if anyone had any ideas how we can get round this and get the cost down, or even some links to some sites with some good but cheap prezzies!!
Thanks

C_J

Blimey, that *is* a long list!

I think my only advice would be to keep the expenditure down on the more peripheral people on your list so you have more to allocate on gifts for your own partner and children.

Perhaps you could take a nice photo of your two boys and give a copy of it to all your parents/step-parents/grandparents/step-grandparents in nice frames?

The younger girls might like some fingerless gloves, which seem to be all the rage right now - I bought some last week from a lady on ebay who sells gorgeous sparkly hand-knitted ones for only £2.50 a pair.

katiekittykat

Blimey that is a long list!!!!

Don't really know what to suggest really, but maybe you could get them from boots, or sainsbury etc where the gift packs etc are on 3 for 2?

Also argos have a gift finder where you can choose the amount you spend - (under a tenner they start at) http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Browse/identifier/8961691.htm?tag=HP1_sm4

Sorry don't really know what else to say.

Shoey1610

I can't help with all of it, but now I have an 18 month old and everyone we know seems to be having children my eyes have suddenly been opened to the joys of buying toys for all these new relatives/friends as well as the older children and we can't really afford to spend much on them all so this is what I did. I grouped the children into rough age groups, so I had under 1's, 1-3's and 3-6 (we don't know any older ones) I then bought little sets of things to divide up into presents between them. So for example for the 1-3 year olds I have picked up packs of playdoh as Woolies had 25% off and I managed to pick up quite a few tubs to split between them, I added a box of crayons you can get cheap ones but even the crayola ones are about £1.50 for six, a pad of multicoloured paper for 99p and then I bought a set of books from TKMaxx for £2.99 and I split them between them as well. They do great books on TKmaxx for children you can usually find ones that are still full price in the other shops. So between the 4 of them they are getting

2 Tubs of Playdoh worked out 74p each
Box of Crayola Crayons £1.50 each
Paper 99p each
Book 99p each equals £4.22 per present

In my humble opinion that is quite a nice little present for a 1-3 year old when you could spend £4.99 on a book and of course youc an adjust it to your budget, so you could just get the craft things if you want, or cheaper crayons etc.

I do this with presents for the adults to some extent too, for example, my brother always asks for a set of lynx toiletries for xmas as part of his present. Rather than buy the overpackaged sets they sell just for xmas, I have bought him some buy one get one free ones so he ends up with twice as much for the same price as the christmas set.

I hope this helps and have a lovely 1st christmas with your newborn x

celyn90

They have some great crafty things in the ELC and in the Works bookshops too if you have one near you which might be of use of the younger ones.

DS games are horribly expensive, but it's worth bearing in mind that GBA games will work in a DS lite (which is what the slot in the bottom is for) and you might be able to pick these up cheaper than the DS ones.

There are some great ideas for token gifts on the festive fivers competition thread. cel x

Sallys_Savings

I have a large family (and its still growing) so I know what its like. I do prepare all year though, so it does make it so much easier.

You could buy duplicate pressies for people you dont see one another? i.e. your ohs side of the family and yours as they wouldnt realise (I've done this lots of times before and it saves on time and ideas ) i.e. your brother and his brother - the two grandads etc.

How about panto tickets or cinema tickets for everyone or on your/his side of the family? ...our local panto sells them for approx £5-£7 and then do a big hamper with crisps, tins/bottles of drink/sweets in and say its to everyone? It can be a great evening out and it will all be on you
I did this one year for my side of the family (over 30 of us) and they all said how great it was.
It such alot less hassle than going out to buy everyone something and you all spend time together too.

I posted a message on another thread on how I work christmas out (probably a little too late for you this year though) and how to make it cheaper....this is what I do; (sorry for some reason the link wouldnt come out so i've copied and pasted)

Carry on buying for everyone but drastically cut down on how much you are spending. Doing this in several ways throughout the year to spread the cost, which is how I do it.

Make gifts....sewing (buy newish clothes from jumble sales and car boots to use the fabric), crocheting or knitting (cant knit to save my life though ) etc or cooking cookies, jams, pickles, homemade flavour vodka etc. (loads and loads of hints on the boards)
and
Using car boots throughout the year...I've saved literally hundreds of pounds by doing this. I only buy items that are packaged or are in such excellent condition you wouldnt realise they were second hand. Many gifts are resold at car boots (you'll be really surprised once you start looking) when they are still in boxes, cellophene wrap etc. Buy toilteries that are out of boxes (or in tatty boxes)to put into your own hampers. I have bought so many books that look untouched too, especially after christmas. Recently I've bought all under £4...M & S travelling jewellery case (with tag), Next silver notebook and pen (in box), Boxed childrens height chart, boxed new baby book (the sort you put in their first words etc), clothes with tags (I always just say if you dont like it I'll take it back then I'd resell at a car boot or give to the charity shop..but this has only happened once), Jamie Oliver cookery book, tagged soft toys and beanies, really old classic christmas tree baubles (bought for my sister who knows I buy from car boots), craft book for kids, craft bits to put with craft book, tagged next purse, etc. etc.
and
the Sales....grab chirstmas gifts in the sales, I dont normally buy the first lot of items that come out in the sales but hang around a couple more weeks when they are more desperate to get rid of everything. I bought lots in boots last Jan...fcuk gift sets for £3 when they should of been £12, fcuk makeupbags £2 instead of £8, Pretty hanky sets £1 instead of £6, Chocolate fondue set £3 instead of £12 (just took the chocolate out and put new choccie in this year as it would of been out of date), keyring games £1 instead of £4.50. Scarf and glove set.
Jewellery from Dorothy perkins and new look all under £2 and were between £5-£7
and
If you normally set a price for a pressie at £10, set it at £8. Over a few people you will have saved a little bit and no one will really realise.;)
and
Good old tesco deals ...which I've used for ferrari drives for sons and oh, rally driving for sons, indoor sky diving, meals out, magazine subscription etc. If you keep an eye out for tesco points on mse too you'll gain evenmore points. I have £125 vouchers already (equals £500 in deals) and the next points dont come out till February so hopefully I'll have lots more.
and
Keep looking on MSE ..... especially the grabbit it thread as I managed to buy an england top for my daughter a few months back for about £8 using different codes etc from Littlewoods (I think it was). I also bought my daughters a mobile phone each last year, it was a misprice in a catalogue and they honoured it. Argos were advertising the phone for £199 yet I bought them for £99 each.

BUT as i have posted before on another thread...if you save money on an item DONT be tempted to "top" up the pressie to make up the difference.
If you normally pay £10 for someones pressie and you've bought something for £2...that is how much you spend, dont add items (as I used to be tempted to do)

C_J

Don't forget that half the secret is the presentation - even the most inexpensive gift can be made to look more lavish if you wrap it nicely (i.e. a mug from Poundland with a couple of sachets of instant hot choc etc looks great when wrapped in cellophane and bows, and makes it seem like you've spent far more!!)

I have a few friends/relatives with young children that I buy "family presents" for, rather than for each of them individually. Last year I bought sets of glass sundae dishes (I think from poundland, or instore, or somewhere like that!), added a small book on ice cream desserts which I found in The Works, and cellophaned it all up with a few packets of sauce toppings and sprinkles from the supermarket - the whole thing didn't cost much more than a tenner, but everyone who got one absolutely raved about it.

In the past I've also bought cheap hardbacked notebooks from The Works and then re-covered them with padding and silk material which I embroidered with the recipient's name.

Last year, for my daughters' school friends, I bought a remnant of Cath Kidston floral material and made pocket-pack tissue holders and heart-shaped padded keyrings for each of them - they cost hardly anything, but you'd never have known

celyn90

Oh, and I forgot to say if you have a Next clearence store near you they are always worth looking in for accessories - I bought some really nice scarves in there the other day

Horace

Have a look on the Grabbit while you can forum on MSE - there are loads of ideas on there. Why not make hampers for your grandparents that contain things they will eat etc? Hamper ideas can be found in this forum.

Sallys_Savings

ohh I like the idea of covering books CJ ...think that may be on my todolist for next year.

patentgirl

If you live anywhere near Sainsburys all of there toys are half price at the moment I think it is on till the 28th, I picked up quite a few presents yesterday they had plenty of boys, girls and baby toys all named brands, for older children someone on here sorry cant remember who perhaps someone else can, who brought cheap mugs and filled them with goodies really looked effective ideal for teenagers