* Step into Christmas * & 2020 - It's the 2020 Christmas Chatter Thread

vulpix

GTQ ,When I was a very hard up single Mum we only ever had fizzy pop at Christmas,a jar of Roses marmalade (DS wrote about it in his news at school!!!!!!!!) and hot chocolate.Oh we also had a chocolate orange.Other than that we just had a Sunday dinner with trifle for pudding as we don't like Christmas pudd.You already have the jam covered,how about stuffing mix,gravy granules,bottle of fizzy pop.Nice breakfast cereal,tea bags,coffee,long life milk.All of these things would have been a blessing to us years ago.
 We used to buy groceries every week for a family at the school I worked at.They asked for no more tins of tomatoes because they didn't know what to do with them as they didn't know how to cook.I think tins of beans would be a favourite and tins of soup.Oh and mince pies.
Vx

freespirit66

Morning everyone, well from what was said yesterday it looks more likely we won’t be able to have family gatherings at Christmas 😥

ADAMP it’s hit and miss this early for Christmas stuff, you just have to keep checking their stock. Or keep an eye on here, we do say where we have found Christmas bits

VULPIX I’m long overdue a nosey around The Works

CJ oh dear I have filled a basket too! It will have to wait a few days as I have overspent lately. Some fab stocking fillers on there!

GTQ bless you, you really are a lovely person! How about Hot Chocolate that you make with water not milk? They did a test on bbc1 the other day and the cheapest ones came out on top. Marshmallows are cheap, you could do a bag to go with the chocolate maybe?

Treasurequeen

Home bargains have got the  red Christmas jar candles in again this year £2.99 there is some new smells that have been added too. The Halloween ones are in to and again a new scent in jar range too. Also available as votives, tea lights and pillar candles. they were on the end of an aisle in my local one so were a bit hard to find. 

sammy_kaye18

Princess Kitty - yep been a member of the site for years now - since just before my son was born - in fact some members of the group will remember my birth announcement when I had him as a young mum at 19............ well now that little bouncing new baby started college this week! 

Im getting there slowly - my vertigo seems to be made worse with looking at screens so I can sit on computers too long now like I use to but I do flit in and out form the site. 

As far as christmas prep goes.....
Son 
We decided to get our son Ben a new mountain bike which my husband has been slowly building himself so its been a lengthy project but the expense has been spread out so we haven't missed it too much. We just have the gears and brakes to buy now which is about £100 each so we will do those over the next few months and then that is his main gift so he will get a few other little bits and pieces. 

Daughter 
Holly asked for a Nintendo switch for Christmas and I found a deal the other day which meant it was £279. I have gotten slightly nervous that if another lock down comes our way then things might be out of stock or hard to get so I brought that straight away. I figure I can get games nearer the time and it would be a good fun thing for all of us to play come Christmas day together. So I will just get her a game, maybe a protective case and some clothes and a few little bits to go with it. 

Husband
I have brought him a new Go Pro. It was suppose to be £380 but I found a deal online which made it £279 and it arrived within about 3 days of ordering it. Hes a keen mountain biker, motocross rider and motorbike rider so I know it will get plenty of use. It also means his older Go Pro can go to Ben as well so they will each have one. The only other thing hes asked for is a decent helmet too which the kids have said they'd like to get him. Its about £80 but I dont mind spending more money on safety items. 

I've also been looking at the amazon lightening deals and managed to pick up a nice 12 pack of bath bombs for £9.99 - I cant decide whether to give them to my step mum for Christmas or whether to break them up as separate little gifts to go in gift bags for all the girls. 
I still have 5 people to buy for and 4 pets. 
Im getting there though and I have started my Christmas cupboard as well. I have pringles, shortbread selection, paxo stuffing in there ready to go at the minute but I will keep adding to it as time goes on. 

Also was gifted a new fibre optic christmas tree its just figuring out where to put it now though since I have new sofas and the space the tree was in has now been taken up :-/ 

Hope everyone else is doing well and I have a question 
Im wanting to make my daughter a hot chocolate hamper for christmas but I cant think of what to put in it. Any ideas? 
Also what do you buy a guinea pig for christmas? 
Stay safe all! 

Treasurequeen

Sammy: Hot chocolate Hamper ideas: coffee syrups to put in the hot chocolate like the ones costa use- orange, black forest flavour. Monin do a whole range and you can get a gift set of different syrups. Some companies sell flavoured hot chocolate in cute tins. Mini marshmallows or large mallows. A nice mug, a mini electric coffee/ milk throther to make chocolate foamy on top. 

In pets at home last year i saw christmas shaped treats for guinea pigs cant remember how much they were though. 

Beshki

sammy_kaye18 said:

Princess Kitty - yep been a member of the site for years now - since just before my son was born - in fact some members of the group will remember my birth announcement when I had him as a young mum at 19............ well now that little bouncing new baby started college this week! 

Im getting there slowly - my vertigo seems to be made worse with looking at screens so I can sit on computers too long now like I use to but I do flit in and out form the site. 

As far as christmas prep goes.....
Son 
We decided to get our son Ben a new mountain bike which my husband has been slowly building himself so its been a lengthy project but the expense has been spread out so we haven't missed it too much. We just have the gears and brakes to buy now which is about £100 each so we will do those over the next few months and then that is his main gift so he will get a few other little bits and pieces. 

Daughter 
Holly asked for a Nintendo switch for Christmas and I found a deal the other day which meant it was £279. I have gotten slightly nervous that if another lock down comes our way then things might be out of stock or hard to get so I brought that straight away. I figure I can get games nearer the time and it would be a good fun thing for all of us to play come Christmas day together. So I will just get her a game, maybe a protective case and some clothes and a few little bits to go with it. 

Husband
I have brought him a new Go Pro. It was suppose to be £380 but I found a deal online which made it £279 and it arrived within about 3 days of ordering it. Hes a keen mountain biker, motocross rider and motorbike rider so I know it will get plenty of use. It also means his older Go Pro can go to Ben as well so they will each have one. The only other thing hes asked for is a decent helmet too which the kids have said they'd like to get him. Its about £80 but I dont mind spending more money on safety items. 

I've also been looking at the amazon lightening deals and managed to pick up a nice 12 pack of bath bombs for £9.99 - I cant decide whether to give them to my step mum for Christmas or whether to break them up as separate little gifts to go in gift bags for all the girls. 
I still have 5 people to buy for and 4 pets. 
Im getting there though and I have started my Christmas cupboard as well. I have pringles, shortbread selection, paxo stuffing in there ready to go at the minute but I will keep adding to it as time goes on. 

Also was gifted a new fibre optic christmas tree its just figuring out where to put it now though since I have new sofas and the space the tree was in has now been taken up :-/ 

Hope everyone else is doing well and I have a question 
Im wanting to make my daughter a hot chocolate hamper for christmas but I cant think of what to put in it. Any ideas? 
Also what do you buy a guinea pig for christmas? 
Stay safe all! 

Well the piggies would be the easiest presents for me lol! Have a look on https://www.hoptoforage.co.uk/shop for lovely forage, they’ll love it. Their micro hay bales are also really fantastic quality and very reasonable prices. 

Beshki

I am putting together some mini hot choc gifts. Saw some lovely mugs in Wilko and couldn’t believe they were so cheap, so I bought a couple for friends & will add Lindt balls, sachets of hot chocolate & a stirrer. Was also hoping to add a miniature baileys in each but seems hard to find at a reasonable price - will have a look in the supermarkets closer to the time  

Gettingtherequickly

Thank you all for your idea's, was planning on porridge being on the list, as it will be filling and hot, but never thought about long life milk (admittedly, I grew up on a farm so would never consider long life milk to be anything other than artificial!), hot chocolate will be good. Did I see here that Tesco have Matchmakers on special, or was I dreaming it, if on special will get a box for each family also?

lazysheep

Gettingtherequickly said:

Thank you all for your idea's, was planning on porridge being on the list, as it will be filling and hot, but never thought about long life milk (admittedly, I grew up on a farm so would never consider long life milk to be anything other than artificial!), hot chocolate will be good. Did I see here that Tesco have Matchmakers on special, or was I dreaming it, if on special will get a box for each family also?

Tesco online currently showing Matchmakers at 75p each (from £1)

StokieBecks

sammy_kaye18 said:

Hope everyone else is doing well and I have a question 
Im wanting to make my daughter a hot chocolate hamper for christmas but I cant think of what to put in it. Any ideas? 
Also what do you buy a guinea pig for christmas? 
Stay safe all! 

Perhaps some stencils and the fine cocoa powder to sprinkle onto them?

If you buy her a tall hot chocolate mug then maybe a couple of the long spoons to go with it too?

Also maybe a snuggly fleece throw or a pair of nice thick slipper socks to go with the hanper so she can have a proper cozy snuggle with her hot chocolate?