* Driving Home for Christmas * - It's the 2021 Christmas Chatter Thread!

kerri_gt

Tubs of Treelets, Twiglets, cheese ball things and sour cream and chive mini crackers, also poss mini cheddar tubs are currently 2 for £3 in Iceland now. I nearly got some in Lidl at 1.79 each and remembered I did the same last year and was cross with myself.

Three tubs each of treelets and twiglets bought for Dec now.

Treasurequeen

Simply Christmas 2021 magazine comes out on 18th September. Free gift with magazine is a  5-piece laser-cut wooden decoration set, made from sustainably sourced wood. £5.99 in supermarkets and online. 

skogar

Spendless - perhaps it would be nice to send your DD an advent calendar in the post when she is away at Uni. i know depending on what you perhaps normally get it might be more to post than the advent calendar. If so then perhaps you could leave a package with "not to be opened till 1st Dec" on it.

Spendless

It was DIL2b's birthday yesterday and today is one of my Nan's 96th birthday.  DS had mistakenly thought his student loan came in next week when it's actually the week after. He'd got mixed up between freshers/welcome week and term time though since this is his 4th year of Uni, you'd have thought he'd have figured it out!  It was looking to scupper their plans of having a meal out so we put money in a card and they went at lunchtime to their preferred restaurant when the prices were cheaper. I also went through my present cupboard for items for DS to give his girlfriend, as they aren't here at Xmas anyway it made sense to gift some now. Not being exactly flush myself due to the start up costs of DD moving away I gave Nan the whisky tasting set. I still think I'll get the £5 B & M afternoon tea set - dates depending and just add something to that for Xmas.

Exciting to start looking at the shop's xmas gifts ranges. 

mandco

Princesskitty glad you had a lovely end to the holidays. As a parent its always hard when your child starts a new chapter of their life doesn't really get any easier as they get older either the concerns are just different.

Spendless  goodluck to dd 

Went to Butlins at the weekend for Taz's birthday had a great time and the weather was lovely but totally knackered now. They are back to unlimited pool time so made the most of it but forgot how tiring swimming is he slept well though    
ds started college this week a few wobbles due to not knowing what to expect but he seems to be settling in and said its far better than school. 

Lots of xmas stock appearing online most places seem to have some xmas stuff in now and slowing arriving instore too. 
asda have some nice stuff online though not all of it is available yet. My local cardfactory has a 50% off section at the moment with some bits that might make good stocking fillers & lots of fathers day dad/grandad gifts reduced.

sainsburys have their freefrom xmas foods out - they have some interesting items if you can find them locally I quite fancy trying the mincepie brownies but oos by me 

Got Taz some supersoft fleece minecraft pj's in primark they have some really nice ids pl's at the moment £8-£12 a pair - not sure if its their sizing or he's just tall for his age but had to get him 11-12 years so might be worth considering if buying as gifts.

Gettingtherequickly

Christmas bits definitely coming in now, bought the Hero's tin, rather than the plastic one. Slowly but surely getting there on things, made easier by the number I need to buy for going down as the nephews & nieces get older.  On the one hand, it is nice not to have the cost, on the other, means they are making their own way in life  

Going to make up shoe boxes, there is a refugee centre near me, so will do up 6, adult, young teenage, child male & female. Just trying to think what can go in them, a friend is an Avon rep, so will get bits from her, which will help her also.  Was thinking about getting a Pandora type bracelet for the teenager from Aliexpress, they are only a couple of quid but actually really good value. I bought one when I was going away once, as if I lost it, it would not have been an issue.  Not sure what else to get, any suggestions would be appreciated!

mandco

GTQ that is a lovely idea esp as its supporting people locally 
Note books & pens , playing cards, hairbrush and scrunchies, lipbalm , beanie hat & gloves, drink bottle, rubix cube style puzzles, stress ball type toy

kerri_gt

How about those little reusable handwarmers?

Perhaps some little individual foodie things, hot choc sachets, gold coins or i saw Wilko had some small Thorntons characters for £2, coffee sachets, candy canes.

Yesterday I ordered the main bits for our Xmas dinner. I always order what i can from the same place (Cook!) and usually they run a 15% promo Nov time. However becasue of circumstances last year they didn't,  and they also ran out of turkeys early. So this year they've released the range earlier than usual to pre-order so that's what I did. We actually ended up with a stuffed chicken cushion last year (only 3 for dinner and OH is veggie) so i ordwred that again rather than the turkey for 6 as leftovers are great but it's just a bit much. 
Still a few bits to get elsewhere (i have a spreadsheet going back several years with what we had for xmas dinner,  where from etc which is helpful for planning) so that's sorted.

kerri_gt

How about those little reusable handwarmers?

Perhaps some little individual foodie things, hot choc sachets, gold coins or i saw Wilko had some small Thorntons characters for £2, coffee sachets, candy canes.

Yesterday I ordered the main bits for our Xmas dinner. I always order what i can from the same place (Cook!) and usually they run a 15% promo Nov time. However becasue of circumstances last year they didn't,  and they also ran out of turkeys early. So this year they've released the range earlier than usual to pre-order so that's what I did. We actually ended up with a stuffed chicken cushion last year (only 3 for dinner and OH is veggie) so i ordwred that again rather than the turkey for 6 as leftovers are great but it's just a bit much. 
Still a few bits to get elsewhere (i have a spreadsheet going back several years with what we had for xmas dinner,  where from etc which is helpful for planning) so that's sorted.

Spendless

I should have bought the B & M afternoon tea set! I went in yesterday and they'd all gone - sigh! It's been so expensive with DS going back to Uni and DD about to start at drama school that I'd not really had any money to divert elsewhere - even just a fiver. Now it'll cost me more to get something in the long run! Hoping it'll either get re-stocked, or I'll find in another branch.

This week has been several days of goodbyes as DD has met up with various friends for the last time before moving away. I'm going through emotions of being excited for her, upset that I'll have an empty nest within days and feeling enthusiastic that I can at long last tidy up and things will be as I left them.