Jingle All The Way - It's the 2023 Christmas Chatter Thread!

mandco

princesskitty  what a lovely xmas eve tradition. I'm a red/gold/green traditional xmas colour fan too and I'll probably stick to that for the main tree/decs as the one year I went with a totally different colour scheme it just didn't feel right despite looking great but just fancy a bit of a change this year - maybe with the table settings? or add accent hints of another colour to the main decs. I'll have to have a look on pintrest for ideas but can lose hours on there.

TreasureQueen thanks for the heads up - had a quick browse on boots soo many pages of xmas stuff good to see the 3 for 2 is back I made a list of potential buys for when they have a points boost offer on- ds like superdry toiletries but the sets aren't great this year so will see if I can find anything elsewhere before I buy.

spendless wow that's a lot of rent money to find.   I still need 1 treasure key need to go into town next week so will finally have enough for my 1st reward - hopefully they'll have something good available  

asda - george have the proper xmas section live now

Managed to get hold of the new disney lorcana card game for Taz's birthday I was hoping to get some booster sets too as they weren't available to pre order but its like gold dust it literally sold out in minutes yesterday despite being max of 2 items per purchase. Hopefully I'll be able to add to it for xmas as there are meant to be new sets out around early December. 

Treasurequeen

Christmas magazines due out: On sale from 14th September and available for pre-order.

• Simply Christmas =  this looks good this year. I buy this every year and love reading it. 
• Country living Christmas special 
• Good Housekeeping Collection Christmas 2023 

There are some good fiction christmas books out this year too. I will do a list and post on here for anyone that’s interested. 

Peppa537

I love the Christmas magazines @Treasurequeen and usually buy about 4. Simply Christmas is definitely one of them that is worth getting. 

princesskitty29

DS1 has declared that he’s going to ask Father Christmas for a large box of Panini football cards, there are about 70 packs in there I believe. It’s £70, I thought it would be cheaper as it’s in bulk but it’s still £1 a packet which is what they are in the shops! It’s difficult because I don’t really want to spend £70 on football cards but it’s what he wants and I know how much he would love it. He’s not really into anything else and he got lots of football things for his birthday like a goal, rebounder, football kit etc. We shall see, he may change his mind before Christmas.

We’re off to do the dreaded school shoe shop today (I know, I know it’s late in the day!) but we’re treating ourselves to a McDonalds breakfast and I’m hoping to pick up a few presents in Boots using my points. I’m hoping to pick up some moisturisers and hand cream for my mum as they’re currently on offer and she always likes to have them in her cupboard. When they get the Christmas stock in I’m going to get a Nandos salt shaker for my BiL as he likes Nandos, I bought one for DH last year and he loves it. It’s gone up in price, it was £8.50 last year but is £10 this year and unfortunately it’s not in the 3for2 sale but I am using my points so still get it for free. If the boys aren’t driving me mad I’d like to pop into TKMaxx too, I still only have one key!

Treasurequeen thanks for the heads up about the Christmas stock being online at Boots and for the magazine dates, I actually had a little look in Tesco the other day as I remember getting one in August last year!

Spendless my goodness that’s a huge chunk of money. That’s why it really does pay to spread the cost of Christmas.

mandco they sound like good ideas, just adding in a bit of something else or yes, changing the table settings would be much easier. I know what you mean about Pinterest! Thanks for the heads up about George I shall have a browse.

mandco

Princesskitty goodluck with the shoe shopping I seriously do not miss that 
prices seems to have jumped a fair bit again this year but Like you say when you can pay with points/rewards so its technically free or greatly reduced it doesn't feel so bad paying a bit more for things. 
Been there done that with the football card(or various versions of collectable/trading cards)  as a parent you look at the cost and think what a waste and even How Much !!!  but if its what they really want then if its in budget its worth it to make them happy even if your secretly a little gutted at how much it cost inside. Is it a specific gift set type box he wants or just a large box of standard packs?  if its the latter could you maybe pick up a couple of packs a week Then make up the difference in number closer to xmas once you know its still what he really wants and make a hamper/gift box? that way it would spread the cost a little and if he changed his mind you could always use them as stocking fillers or a smaller gift 

Popped into B&M yesterday and they had loads of xmas stock out decorations, sweets, gifts - couldn't pick anything up as had Taz with me but saw a few potential gift ideas so will try and pop back sometime soon. Did pick up a bottle of wine to put away for xmas as its the one dd likes but hardly anywhere else sells it. She was very happy as she's been looking for it for weeks.

Spendless

I have a  blue and silver colour theme for my table each year. That's because my Grandmother (the one that died earlier this year) gave me a pale blue tablecloth that had belonged to her. The size and fabric, I doubt would be available today, we use it every Christmas. 

I still feel are you sure that's not going to be an expensive waste about some of DD's presents and she's 20! 

I only got part way through the Boots website, need to go back and look. Fancy getting some of the Christmas mags too.

Yeah DD's rent is £9800 for the year! (well 40 weeks) with just short of £4k to pay next month and again in Jan! Then the balance in April. She gets just short of £6500 to live on and only that because her drama school is situated within the M25 so comes under London allowance, which is higher. We've had to take all her loan and top up her rent and then give her monthly money to live on in order to make it affordable - just as well I'm back at f-time work. 

Once I've had my first pay packet and worked out the budget, then I'll go and have a nosey in B&M -lol 

Beshki

@princesskitty29 Wow, that’s a hideous amount to spend on football cards. I don’t think I could. Could you maybe make a box of say 20 packs and do a letter from Santa (depending on how old) to say that he wanted him to have some other gifts too & not just that..? 

mandco

finally got my treasure key - ended up going for the harry potter notebook & £2.40 donation to cancer research
Spendless - do you still earn keys if you reach 5 but don't claim a reward or do you stay on 5 till you claim one? I opted to claim a reward as I'm due 2 more keys and wasn't sure if they'd count if I didn't 

home bargains had a small amount of xmas stock in today 

Spendless

mandco said:

finally got my treasure key - ended up going for the harry potter notebook & £2.40 donation to cancer research
Spendless - do you still earn keys if you reach 5 but don't claim a reward or do you stay on 5 till you claim one? I opted to claim a reward as I'm due 2 more keys and wasn't sure if they'd count if I didn't 

home bargains had a small amount of xmas stock in today 

You carry on earning but they don't seem to show up till you've spent your (5) rewards on a treasure- I'd wondered same thing as it happened to me earlier this year - had 6 or 7 but hadn't spent any, when I claimed my reward and spent my 5 a day or two later it showed me the additional treasures I had. 

I've been paid today and the good news is I have enough already to pay DD's rent, the bad news is I only have £20 left over! Think I need to stay away from the shops for a bit longer!   

mandco

Spendless thanks that's handy to know and means I can wait on a picking a reward in the future 
Great news you can cover dd's rent already the cost must be a huge strain on finances but the £20 left over isn't going to go far - why does it always seem to be when there a good reason to go shopping your finances don't agree?

forgot to mention my local asda had a lot of camping type bits reduced to clear yesterday dd picked up a few bits including a couple of enamel type mugs for 50p each as they are going camping this weekend - don't envy them in this heat - we got 50p/£1 on the rewards spin not much but its better than nothing

sold a couple more bits on vinted. Its not much but it all adds up and boosts the xmas fund