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

FeistyFidget

Mandco
You are so organised!

I have seen reports about the basic things children are asking for on the gift giving tress. It's absolutely heart breaking. 

Home bargains has some wonderful Christmas bits. I have to say I was very dissappointed in their Halloween selection though. 

Coxy11
I hope you got a nice treat from DH for all those visits!
I'm glad your DD had a lovely birthday 😊

Mrs_Ryan

Those are some wonderful bargains! I always forget about boots for sale items.

Spendless
So sorry to hear about your parents dog. It's such a worry. 

Afternoon tea is a lovely idea! I'm finding the older I get, the more I appreciate experiences over stuff. It's so lovely to have memories to look back on.

It must be a relief for you all to have a diagnosis.

How lovely to be eating out on Christmas day, no washing up either!

Beshki
That is a wonderful start! Shopping small and supporting local is wonderful, and you can usually get some really unique bits too.

Aldi have their Christmas bits in so we stocked up on the dairy free/vegan truffles and their dairy free dark chocolate hearts. It's not Christmas without them!

I've bought a few bits throughout the year, but still have so much left to get. Luckily I've put £35 a month away using hyper jar, so as we're cutting back, we should have all the money we need for Christmas.

I'm in a bit of a bind about DD. Turning 7 has seen my wonderful and caring child do a complete 180 and we're finding she is so careless with her toys that they get broken. We've sadly had a few items that she's willfully broken too. I don't feel like I want to buy her lots of things to go in her already over-stuffed with toys bedroom to not be appreciated. We find she will beg for something, get it, and then after a day or two not bother with it and ask for something new.

I may stick to the Want, Need, Wear, Read rule this year. Although I always feel guilty about the lack of presents just before Christmas and end up buying lots more 🙈

SkyeD

Long time lurker... I love this thread!!  So I hope you don't mind if I join in.
I've been squirrelling away 'bargain' presents whenever I've seen them throughout the year, mostly when I've spotted a sale on.  Maybe sad to sad to say but I keep a spreadsheet of what I've bought and who for, how much it should have been, and how much I paid.  So far, I've saved almost £400 by buying my bargains    
I think I'm going to try the charity shop route next - thanks for the great ideas you lovely posters.

FeistyFidget

Welcome SkyeD!

A fellow spreadsheet keeper! You can't beat a good spreadsheet to help keep you organised. It's handy for when I'm out and about and spot a possible gift, I can just pull the list up on my phone.

£400 is a great save! I'm very impressed.

Peppa537

I've been getting a few bits and bobs (chocolate etc) with my shopping each week. Practically got all my eldest daughters presents as well apart from little things for her stocking. There were some cheaper earphones on a Prime offer earlier this week I was going to get for both my daughters (they don't always like wearing their airpods on the bus to work) but Amazon's longer Christmas returns period hasn't started yet, it was still only 30 days and they will be on offer again. Does anyone know when the longer returns will start online and in the shops, especially for Primark? 

princesskitty29

Hi all, I’ve been away from the thread longer than I wanted recently, I travelled home the week before last to attend my uncle’s funeral and it’s just been busy since. Plus I’ve had another virus which I think I may have picked up at the funeral as my dad also came down with a cold afterwards. It’s going to be strange now, my dad is one of five brothers so our future family gatherings will definitely be different with one missing. Quite sad really.

I went to my new local Aldi, I’m going to try different foods and see how I get on, I’ve never shopped there before so it will be interesting to see if I can make some savings. And of course I bought something from the middle aisle! I always make the boys a little Halloween goodie bag so I got DS2 a Paw Patrol Halloween book for £1.99. I popped to Home Bargains yesterday and managed to get the 2024 Match and Minecraft annuals for the boys for £2.99 each, plus a bag of Mackies Pigs in Blankets crisps for BiL for £1.19. He loves crisps so I always pop a bag in, these pigs in blankets crisps are really nice – I got us a bag too!

My friend and I went to a local garden centre on Thursday evening for their Christmas shop unveiling, it was lovely and Christmassy with live music and entertainment.

Abbafan I’m so sorry to hear about your auntie. My uncle died mid August and his funeral wasn’t until the 5th October!

Fiesty I feel your pain, DS1 was very much like your DD, he’d always really want something and then not play with it after a couple of days, it was infuriating! He’s 9 now and obsessed with football so I find it doesn’t happen so often these days.

SkyeD Hello and welcome! Good to have you here. Oh I’d be lost without my spreadsheet! I’ve had one for years and always set up a new one in January each year. Mine has about 15 tabs on it! £400 is a huge saving, well done!

Peppa A lot of places usually start their extended returns periods in October, I’d be interested to know when they are too.

DaffyDaisies

A long time lurker on this thread, I'm taking the plunge and joining in!! I love the run-up to Christmas, it's so festive and fun! 

I've not bought any presents yet - now feeling woefully behind compared to you all! - as work has been mental, but looking forward to it. I work in a university on non-academic misconduct and complaints, so with the start of the academic year, it's all been a bit full-on!!

My local garden centre has AMAZING displays for Christmas every year, and they opened last week - we welcomed my niece to the world this June, so my sister is looking forward to taking her there, as baby is obsessed with twinkly lights! I reckon it'll be November one weekend, or maybe during the week if I can wrangle some time off. I've got so many hours of annual leave left to take before Christmas - nearly 80!!  - but I just need students to behave long enough to take it!! 

One of my oldest friends also had a baby this year and I need to get something suitable for him - I got the baby some lovely classic stories from the 10 for £10 offer at The Works when he was born, as I'm book obsessed (I have a PhD in literature, and my friend's is in history, so we're very books focused!!), which my friend and his husband loved. Now thinking I might have scuppered myself because there are some lovely Christmas books in The Works now, grrrr!

@princesskitty29, your spreadsheet sounds very me!! Do you have a template?

mandco

welcome skyeD & Daffydaisies

Fiesty I think they all go through that stage at various points - taz still has a habit of asking for the latest thing he's seen on youtube then changing his mind or asking for something else a few days later when he see another video - kids are very easily influenced which is why there's so many many toy ads on closer to xmas.  My go to now is is if he asks consistantly for more than 2 weeks then I'll consider it as often if I leave it long enough he'll either have forgotten about it or decided he'd rather have something else. 
 
Peppa Primark  still had the standard returns policy at the weekend but pretty sure a lot of places it was late oct/early nov last year they swapped to xmas returns policy.

Princesskitty hope your feeling better soon. So many bugs doing the rounds at the moment everyone seems to be ill lately.  Aldi has some good buys I tend to buy quite a lot of my baking supplies from there but I do find stock Hit & miss depending on the store. My local always seems to have very limited options for seasonal items compare to other stores though did pick up a halloween haribo multipack I haven't seen anywhere else at the weekend for trick & treating.

SkyeD £400 is a huge saving

Daffydaisies how old will the baby be at Xmas? I generally go with something small age appropriate then something for when they are 3-6 months older as most people will gift for their currant age and they outgrow things really quickly.  I really like the its not my.... books for babies 

used my tkmaxx reward for a toiletry bag - either for dd or the donations box I'll decide when its come
Picked up a terry choc orange advent calendar for dd so that's 1 down but anyone else think they are really expensive this year? 
Ordered a dress for my other dgd so that's another thing off my list - will have a look when were away as will probably pick them up something extra then but otherwise apart from a selection pack each they are pretty much sorted.
B&M have some lovely budget xmas gifts/stocking fillers -I picked up a grogu lipbalm set for taz £3.50 and a couple of sanctuary spa minis sets a bargain at £4 as normally around £9.
Got ds a branded T-shirt & a scarf/gloves set to put away for xmas off vinted both new with tags even better cost me £0 as used money from my sales balance.  

do you think a razor would be an appropriate gift for a 16 year old?  One of my gift tags is for a 16 year old boy - requested a toiletries/bath set I have several different ones already and one has shaving gel/aftershave balm in so thought about adding a razor of some sort even if just a pack of disposable ones to that but not sure if that would be suitable? or should I just stick with one of the other sets that just have the usual shower gel/shampoo bodyspray ect .Ds was shaving by that age but he's always used an electric razor not a manual one.

lazysheep

Yay more spreadsheet users Love a good spreadsheet myself (also an accountant so kinda in the blood so to speak) and love seeing my savings (or not!) each year. I've made more progress than I realise I think as I got everything together last week from all their hiding places to update the sheet while I was WFH as it's the safest time to have everything out on the bed

@DaffyDaisies I feel you on the academia - I also work in a University and it's madness at the start of the new year!

princesskitty29

Welcome DaffyDaisies, I’m so glad you decided to join in! My spreadsheet is something I made up myself but I’m happy to send you a copy of mine if it might help?

mandco My feeling would be to give a set that doesn’t have a razor in, just because you don’t know who he is or his situation. Also whoever is organising it may not allow sharp objects and it may get removed which would be a wasted gift that you have that could be used for someone else. It’s such a nice thing to do though, I’ll try to see if my local Dunelm is doing it.

Good to hear from you lazysheep! It’s nice to know there are lots more spreadsheet lovers out there!   

mandco

Princesskitty - That's why I was unsure it if was suitable as technically its a blade and you don't know the situation of the person. I think I'll go with one of the other sets and pop the other set in my usual charity donations as they gift up to 18 years and do request razor sets so will have a suitable recipient.