A Jolly Holly Christmas - It's the 2022 Christmas Chatter Thread!

Coxy11

Hi all,

Glad everyone is rallying around your cousin and family @Gettingtherequickly. When my nephew died by suicide the ripple effect was profound and is still felt now. Thinking of you all xx

I spoke with DH on Friday about presents for his family. He agreed that buying ‘things’ rather than trying to second guess their availability for events would be the way to go. With that in mind, I went to Aldi for my weekly shop on Saturday and picked up some things from their Specially Selected range for SIL and her husband – Florentines, 2 small pannetone, fudge, truffles, biscuits for cheese plus a bottle of raspberry and blueberry gin. I will add some chutney and also one of the Yankee Candle tins and buy a nice box to put them in. It’s not about the money (although this has proved considerably cheaper) it’s about not wasting money! Hoping that as these are things with long dates, they will enjoy them over the course of January too.

Will do something similar for BIL and his DW although they don’t drink gin and she doesn’t like chocolate – I mean, who doesn’t like chocolate!! Will probably do a nice bottle of red wine, cheese biscuits and fudge, the other Yankee Candle plus some savoury snacks. She gets a hamper from work every year (from Aldi) so will need to be from a mainstream SM I think.

Also got FIL some fudge and maple pecan brittle from Aldi and am ordering him a book about Shackleton’s ship. He is very difficult to buy for as has no hobbies and doesn’t wear scent. Birthday and Fathers’ Day gifts usually comprise of jigsaws, wine, or an M&S shirt! Not very inspiring!

I also picked up the 1m long jaffa cakes box for DNephew and his partner. Will be buying them a joint gift for their flat – maybe some houseplants/pots and a scented candle.

Slowly getting there!

Coxy

Coxy11

Forgot to say that I also ordered two candles from M&S - they are the city scape ones. I got the Paris one for DS1 and his fiancee and the London one for DNiece and her BF. I'm hoping to pick them up tonight. They were £10 each but I had a £10 voucher from the BPme rewards scheme.

I'm going to order FIL's book from Amazon using a £20 voucher I got from the Shoppix app. 

Every little helps!

sammy_kaye18

Hi All

Im still here just currently trying to house train a puppy and to recover my house after the half term. 
I feel like I have done nothing for christmas yet so I think my sister is coming up tomorrow and we are going to sit down and make lists of presents for people so we can work out a budget and go half on some gifts to save us a few pennies. 

Im also busy saving crafts and recipes on my Tiktok and Pinterest so I can handmake a few gifts too. 

Spendless

The last water bottle I bought turned up. I've been buying these on clearance. 

https://shoreusable.com/products/sho-original-2-0-clearance

I've bought 3 of the larger size 500ml which are patterned ones (you have to click on the size to see them) for DS, Dil2b and Dad, which are £9.99 . Mum I've bought the smaller one at £7.99  as she only uses bottled water to take tablets in the house, whereas the rest  of them use them when out. Delivery is free but I waited maybe a week before receiving them. 

I received the same brand as a birthday present. You don't chill the water in the bottle. You fill the bottle with water from a jug etc in the fridge. The SHO bottle then keeps the liquid at the temperature you put it in at. I can confirm they keep cold for hours and hours.  

I also bought some room sprays from this company https://valentte.com/organic/room-mist-bundle/#configuration    3 for £15. Then I added something else to take the other over £20 to qualify for free delivery. I've bought from this company before and the candles smell amazing, but I've decided not to order any more candles. Both me and DH forgot to blow out candles recently after we'd finished WFH and we work from a wooden summer house. Mum doesn't like them and the kids are in rented/student accommodation where they're banned, so thought this a better option for room freshness.  

Picked up DS rucksack on behalf of my parents. It looks good, so glad it got ordered! His new place overlooks a canal and he loves the swans that swim on there. So much so he irritated his gf by giving them some bread that she'd ear-marked for his packed lunches - they're eeking out their money till DS gets paid. He's giving his meals to the birds! He knows it's not an ideal food for them, he tried them with lettuce first that they wouldn't touch. Yesterday I bought him a bag of swan food from a pet shop to solve it. I never knew they sold it. That's something I might have bought as a stocking filler for the kids when younger. I loved taking them to our nearest big park that has a lake. It was always a way to fill up several hours in a school hol for free or minimal cost. This is what I bought also suitable for ducks and geese.  https://www.google.com/search?q=duck+goose+and+swan+food&rlz=1C1GCEA_enGB933GB933&sxsrf=ALiCzsafotXrJcMWgRvVA2xQ9U0Jl_hp8Q:1667893681453&source=lnms&tbm=shop&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjOxZ-TjJ77AhUGUcAKHUAGCfoQ_AUoA3oECAEQBQ&biw=1745&bih=881&dpr=1.1#spd=2151568918124800044

Just thought it might be an idea for an additional gift for those of you with younger children. I think I'm going to buy DS a book about swans too. 

My car was in for MOT yesterday. It needs a new exhaust and brake pads, but they're wear and tear items so not too worried. DS should be getting some money back that was deposit on his last student accommodation plus some council tax refunded. As we paid for both these things, we've said we'll see what the total is, let him keep some towards his first rent and then we'll have the remainder to go towards my car bill.   

Gettingtherequickly

Coxy11 said:

Hi all,

Glad everyone is rallying around your cousin and family @Gettingtherequickly. When my nephew died by suicide the ripple effect was profound and is still felt now. Thinking of you all xx

Oh Coxy, I am so sorry, I hope that I didn't dredge up emotions for you.

alja

Hi all, I hope you don't mind me joining in! I used to post quite frequently in these Christmas threads in previous years, and always found them useful to help keep me on track and get ideas too.

My parents and I have taken the approach this year of focusing more on edible (and drinkable!) gifts to reduce buying any unnecessary stuff that we don't actually need, as we all have quite a good amount of toiletries, beauty, clothes and so on. There are a few things I will buy, but these will be things I've checked they want or need.

OH and I are house hunting (in this crazy market), so I really am having to be really careful with what I'm spending to make sure we stay on track with that. I've been lucky to win a couple of things in competitions in recent months, so I've been able to tick a few things off with those and I'm entering quite a few in the hope that I can win a few more things instead of buying. Every little £1 helps us right now with our goal in this current situation.

I have a handful of close friends to buy for and I'm trying my best to spend as close to nothing as I can. I actually found a few items in my home that I had bought for myself, but never used, so I'm gifting a few of those because I really don't need them, including books, a tea bag tin set, lovely shower gels from a set. All items are from charity shops but are new, not opened, still sealed and in date etc, and you can tell the books have never been read. I also have a couple of prizes that I've won in amongst the gift bags too, which is so helpful.

We're going to go shopping after work tomorrow, so I'm hoping I can tick a few more items off. Ales/beers for dad, diary for mum, and a few more foodie treats for the hamper I usually do for them. I have some money on my Boots card, so I'm going to see what I can pick up with that too.

Looking forward to reading through all your plans and goings on. I'll post another update soon.

Coxy11

Gettingtherequickly said:

Oh Coxy, I am so sorry, I hope that I didn't dredge up emotions for you.

No worries @Gettingtherequickly - it never leaves me tbh xxx

Hi @alja - you sound very organised with the edible gifts and regifting some things from your stash. I love this idea and see nothing wrong with that. How are you planning to wrap your hampers? I've seen hamper kits in The Works but they are £5 or £7 and this seems a bit steep to me given I've then got to put the hamper into a gift bag or wrapping paper! I was thinking of getting a nice box which can hopefully be reused. If anyone sees anything reasonable please can you let me know?

I went to M&S last night to collect the two cityscape candles - one London and one Paris. They are lovely, and can be reused once the original candle votive is used up:
https://www.marksandspencer.com/london-light-up-scented-candle/p/hbp60567426?prevPage=srp

I also popped into TKMaxx and found a chilli growing kit - red metal bucket, compost and seeds, so might get this for DNephew and his GF. Was also thinking of matching onesies or PJs for them - anyone seen anything reasonable? The M&S and Next ones are quite dear imo.

alja

@Coxy11 thank you! I'm definitely trying my best to be as organised as possible. We have a UK break planned in a couple of weeks and work is going to be very busy, so organisation is key.

To be honest, I usually just use a cardboard box and fold the flaps inside, then wrap the sides and cover the top with nice wrapping paper or tissue for them to rip through. I received an order recently and it came in a really good quality, sturdy and low cardboard box, so I'm going to repurpose that as it's the perfect shape and size. I'll also put tissue paper underneath to place the items on in a neat and nicely presented way and add a few paper confetti pieces to decorate.

If I spot any options in the shops this evening, I'll be sure to let you know. Sometimes I've used storage boxes that people can reuse...

princesskitty29

I’m feeling pleased this morning as I got my sewing machine out and have finally got started on my bunting gifts. I’ve made one set and now need to cut out more triangles to make 6 more sets! As I haven’t done it in ages I was putting it off as it felt a bit daunting, but now I’ve done a set I’m back into it and remember how relatively easy it is. Hopefully I’ll be able to tick them off my list soon and I won’t run out of time like I did last year! I’ve ordered some Christmas cards from the school with my boys designs on them and I’d like to start writing my cards soon, that’s something I never start early enough and then it becomes a chore. I’d like to be able to take the time to write a nice message in rather than hurriedly writing them to get them out in time.

Skibunny oh how lovely you still have the tradition of giving your DS Frosties, I think this will be my new tradition too!

sammy_kaye house training a puppy is not easy! We did that at the start of the year. Thank goodness it doesn’t take as long as a baby!

Spendless what a good idea with the bird food, we have ducks near us so I will bear that in mind for my boys.

Alja welcome back, it’s good to hear from you!

Coxy I’ve really noticed how expensive the ‘make your own’ hampers are this year. We get given a food hamper every year from my parents and it’s always either in a Christmas patterned bag or a reusable storage box. I guess it depends on the recipient and what you think they will be happy with!

Spendless

@Coxy11 - I agree those wrap your own hampers can bump the cost up of the gift. In the past I have also saved boxes/baskets during the year including any that I receive gifts such as toiletries in. You could try chairty shops though at this time of year everyone has the same idea. I saw an empty Fortnum and Mason picnic hamper last weekend for £5 in my nearest charity shop. I was tempted but did think I'd be making a rod for my own back if I bought due to the amount of things I'd need to buy to fill it! At Asda they have lidded boxes, think I paid £3 to put my Mum's presents in because it was looking a bit naff. Decent size nice and deep, you don't need to use the lid, in fact the lid could become the base for another hamper if you wanted. They had a few different designs


 https://groceries.asda.com/product/christmas-gift-wrap-tags/george-home-festive-large-gift-box/1000299406324