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

princesskitty29

I’m pleased as I’ve picked up a few more things from the charity shops recently; a lovely brand new box of 3 chenille socks for my mum for £4 (I may actually keep these for her birthday in March), an Orchard Toys pizza game for DS2 for £1.50, an interactive Where’s Wally book for DS1 for £3 and a brand new festive spoon rest for my MiL for 50p. I also picked up some really lovely brand new metal fillable baubles for 50p each to make some little gifts for the boys friends.

I also popped into Aldi yesterday and picked up a Hey Duggee Christmas book for DS2 for 99p (another thing I’m clinging on to – he still enjoys Duggee) and I picked up a lovely bottle of pomegranate and cranberry gin liqueur with edible gold leaf specks in it, £13.99 reduced from £16.99. My auntie lives in Sheffield, we’re going to my parents this week so I have to take my auntie’s presents with us as my auntie is visiting my parents in a couple of weeks and it means I don’t have to post them!

I’ve got a lovely afternoon planned today, my friend and I are going to an old watermill that now houses little shops and a café, we’re going for lunch and then a look around the Christmas shop that pops up there every year. I’m really looking forward to it and will hopefully find a few more bits there.

Coxy you are an absolute genius! Thank you so much for the suggestion of an air fryer cookbook, it’s perfect! It turns out my MiL has bought one anyway (things there’s been crossed wires) so we will just get her a voucher for something for her birthday and a book for Christmas. That’s so disappointing about the pyjamas, you wouldn’t expect that from M&S!

mandco where are you going on holiday again? I’m sorry I can’t remember. I had a look at my Christmas gift bag stash which I thought was abundant but it appears the only ones I really have left are not all that useful, either tiny ones, lots of bottle ones or gigantic ones! I may need to pick up a few normal sized ones at some point.

Spendless oh bless your dad walking through the garden with his chips! As a child of the 80s I do remember there being slight grease stains on the wall and the occasional chip pan fire! Perhaps he thinks the potatoes themselves are somehow greasy even when cooked in an air fryer? I bet you were so disappointed when you found out they had one as it would have been an ideal gift. And baffled by the garden chip walk!

Mrs Ryan We spent Christmas with my parents last year, they live 100 miles away so we had to take all of the presents in one go (including all of the boys presents) – our car was packed! But DH and I left ours for each other behind as we didn’t have enough room and I have to say it was lovely coming home and having our own little Christmas all over again that evening.

mandco

Spendless sounds like you had a great trip. I do love a random walmart shop I'm hoping to pick up some xmas bits & lots of different treats while we're away.
What about some nice path/garden lights for your parents? if your dad insists on cooking in the shed at least it would make getting to/from a bit safer.

MrsRyan you've done amazing with your xmas presents. I'm sure they will appreciated the thought & effort you have put in

Coxy that's annoying with the pj's. Its funny how we still have to sneak and buy things for xmas even when they are adults. 

I have nectar points I was going to put towards a headset for ds but got an offer in the app for double the value if spent in sainsburys so thinking its probably better to do that for the xmas shop but Does mean I have to find the extra cash to pay for the headset now though which isn't ideal.
Ordered the new uno quatro for taz - also looked at the new uno no mercy but I think that's a bit too extreme for him as he not great at losing. It could be a great game for adults to play over xmas.if your looking for something.

Xmas tree is decorated  taz did most of it himself dd passed him decs and gave him suggestions and he hung them. He actually did a really good job this year so I don't have to go behind him and slowly tweak it like usual. Hoping to get the rest of the decs up in the next week so its all done before we go away but not sure it'll actually happen as I have so much to do still.

anyone used the N01 lounge at heathrow before?  debating booking it as our flight has been changed to the afternoon but not sure if its worth the extra cost? which we could keep for spends. Never flown from heathrow before so not sure what the airport is like.

Spendless

@mandco = Really love the idea of garden path lights. We returned home to discover parents both have a cataract in each eye. Mum's can be left, Dad's needs operating on before Christmas but yet he's trailing up the path with his chips. I will visit theirs when dark this weekend and observe just to make sure they haven't already got some they refuse to use or something like that! 

mandco

Princesskitty  some great CS finds. I'll have a look in aldi for the gin this weekend as that would be ideal for someone I know. 
sorry I missed your post this morning -We're finally going to florida we were meant to go in 2020 obviously that didn't happen and I've had to reschedule a couple more times since due to various health issues so fingers crossed we actually get there this time - just over a week to go so thinking positive thoughts and super excited to be going during the xmas celebrations.
hope you had a lovely afternoon 

spendless - must have been a shock finding out they both have cataracts fingers crossed your dad gets his done quickly 

my displate club free plate code came today- I've ordered one tonight so that's another thing for ds ticked off my list. hoping it comes before we go though not a huge issue as he will still be home if not.

Spendless

Have a lovely time mandco . Florida (Orlando) is where I've just returned from. I've never been away someone warm in November before - the weather combined with the shops having different Xmas gifts in - bliss for me! 

If anyone is looking for sleepwear as a present. I can recommend this dressing gown from M&S   

https://www.marksandspencer.com/fleece-hooded-long-dressing-gown/p/clp60553958#intid=pid_pg1pip48g4r2c2

I was bought it (in a diff colour) last Christmas and because DD constantly 'borrows' it she has been bought  her own this year by my parents. 

Peppa537

I've managed to get quite a few things sorted this week and I've got both my daughters presents now. My youngest chose a Nike hoodie yesterday that she wanted but our JD Sports didn't have it in store. I ordered online yesterday and paid extra for DPD delivery, I didn't obviously need it here today but the last JD online order I placed with free Evri delivery went 'missing' between arriving at the local depot and being given to the driver. Thankfully JD were good at sorting but it's put me off using Evri for JD Sports orders as this happens here a lot apparently. I did get 20% off the hoodie anyway using blue light discount and it's already been delivered. 
I also got 4 Christmas themed scratch cards for my daughters, Mum and brother. Some Gordons gin premixed cans for my Mum from Tesco on a clubcard deal, a Nike sports top for DD2 boyfriend from Amazon (had a delivery issue but it eventually arrived), and a Jeep style cap (woolly hat with a peak) from eBay for my husband. We still need to get something else for my ILs, but whenever we ask them my Mil will say dull things like hairspray and FiL will look on Amazon for music dvds,however these will either be unavailable or from a different country/region so won't play on his player. We decided last year to think of something ourselves. They like going out for meals so maybe a voucher for a cream tea somewhere or my husband thinks you can get a restaurant voucher that covers different places. 

Mrs_Ryan

Thanks so much for your kind words everyone ❤️
So- an update on the heated clothes airer. Mum mentioned the other day that she’s struggling to dry her clothes (she lives in a 1.5 bed flat and there’s very limited radiator space, and no space for a tumble dryer) So I told her about my idea. I said we thought that might be a good idea but we would struggle to get it in the car. So we agreed I would buy one off Amazon and have it delivered directly to her. I told her I had seen one for a certain price and I would arrange it when I was paid on Friday. 

She called me yesterday and told me not to get it as ‘she had looked at it and it’s not heated’ I told her I don’t know where she was looking but it definitely was- she said there was only one and it wasn’t heated- there were multiple for the same price and all definitely heated! I sent her a screenshot of the one I was looking to get her and she had to concede. I suspect she was trying to throw me off the scent so I didn’t buy it for her but I wasn’t having it and I told her so! 

 She kept saying ‘don’t get me anything else, I only want a cheap pair of pyjamas’ I don’t dare however as I know if I did she would go mad at me for a) spending more on my mother in law and b) not knowing to completely ignore whatever she tells me. And I would also get abuse off my brother for not spending enough on her. So I’m arranging the heated airer for her, and I’m going to bring her a mascara back from duty free. (Mainly so she doesn’t use mine 😂) And also a mug to go with her coffee. 

Picked up some hamper kits in Aldi which I was pleased at as the ones I got off EBay took forever to arrive! FIL’s sugar free goodies finally arrived, I was going to buy him some coffee and alcohol free Guinness in Dublin but OH and I have agreed I’ll get them over here to try and help limit what I’m carrying. So I’ve got Morrisons bringing some posh coffee and Guinness later today then I can make up his hamper. That’s OH’s lot done. 

My friend wanted the Britney Spears book, so I got on Vinted and I found it brand new, unopened, for a fiver. Even with postage and buyer fees it came to £8 something and still nearly a fiver cheaper than in the shops. Also got OH another unintended gift- if anyone watched Big Brother this year it was heavily sponsored by Vinted, and at the end of the show they started selling off some of the housemates’ stuff. I spotted a lovely blue Next long sleeve shirt that had been worn by Dylan, and I snapped it up for OH. 

The tree is up, I put it up on Thursday when I was bored 😂first lot of gifts are going to be delivered Wednesday. I’m heading up home to go and see Tired and Tested Live with my sister- so I’m taking her gifts, plus the gifts for BIL, nephews and niece. I’m due to see her again before Xmas for an 80’s night but last time we had that planned she pulled out. So I’m not taking any risks! 

Spendless

I was going to suggest @Mrs_Ryan that you sent the heated dryer direct. I suspect her objection is she doesn't want to think you're spending your money on her. Wasn't she the same last year? Thought of your comments re making hampers up when I started to do mine yesterday. I'm not creative/artistic at all. I've resorted to watching YouTube videos on how to do it before!

I have 2 wicker hampers that I've decided to use up this year. I'm not waiting for the perfect moment to come up and storing them all year. Nowadays they are easily found if you need another. The shape can make all the difference even if it looks similar. Put Nan's stuff into the 1st hamper and it didn't look 'right' moved it into the other, same shape very slightly different depth and looks good! 

With my M & S card I picked up a small bottle of white rum to go with the cocktail mix decanter bought in the states. Returning home I discover it needs a full size bottle of rum. I'd bought a half size. There's enough money left on the card to get another half size and then all 3 will look nice in my second hamper and that's the card  used up.

I need cellophone to finish them. Unsure where to look?  I remembered yesterday that for the previous 2 years I've struggled with either finding gift tags or wrapping paper that wasn't either foil or felt like craft paper. With Wilkos gone and our Poundstretcher  recently closed (I've seen nothing about them going into admin so guessing they've just shut branches?) I nipped to poundland to get some bits needed and then went to Tesco for my usual Christmas shopping bags. The lad on the till asked me if I was stocking up so explained I used them instead of gift bags, because they are stronger, larger, cheaper and reusable more times. He thought it a good idea. He's a young chatty lad so I suspect he'll tell every customer the same story and by next week they'll have sold out -lol. They didn't have any really big ones last night so I may need to get another for DS and DIL but some of the designs are lovely including Disney, Father Christmas drinking a Cocoa Cola  and a Cath Kitson one. 

I started wrapping yesterday and apart from some oddments needed like the cellophone to finish off, I've mostly just got DH and DD's to do. If I don't do those today I'll aim for during the week instead. 

I visited my parents yesterday, checked their garden path and stayed till it turned dark and nothing. They do not have lights so thank you so much for that idea. Definitely what we are getting them. DH has the option of turning some loyalty points from a hotel chain into a supermarket gift voucher, but it would pretty much wipe out what he has and usually his points are saved for personal o/n hotel stays such as when we pick DD up for Christmas.  Thinking of checking The Range and Online first for the path lights, then look in Asda see if they have them before making a decision about DH's points. 

So still to buy 

DIL   - A face pack.  This is because amongst the items I put in the toiletry bag (TK Maxx Treasure) is a face pack application brush and muslin cloth so needs the facepack to go with it - will be bought with Boots loyalty points.

Some cozy socks - This is just as a filler, cos I'm trying to roughly match in quantity what we get DS. Almost bought her some DKNY ones in TK Maxx last night that come in a little box. Was on my way to the till with them  when I remembered she's over 6ft tall and I don't know her shoe size - better check first. For anyone interested and just looking for a token gift for someone (or Secret Santa?) TK Maxx have several different brands of 1 pair of socks that come in a nice square box, prices started at a couple of £s. BTW I was shocked in there to discover security tags on items that were under £10!  I remember buying a Dolce and Gabbana phone case in there only a few years back for £12.99 and that wasn't tagged! 

We are also buying DS & DIL a blender as per their request. Once these and the extra bottle of rum is bought then they are done.  

We need the re-fill for Mum's pen plus a holder for her sunglasses. Once we have them and decide where we're buying the garden lights from then they are also done

DH has seen some T-Bags his Dad will love, I've suggested he also gets him a Mug. That will finish his present.

DH - I think he just needs some T-shirts/hoodies to finish, which may have to wait till my payday. He's also suggested a book he'd like. I might get that and either give it to him myself  or pass on if I get a last minute request to think of an extra something for him (Mum being the usual cuplrit of asking!) 

DD - The easiest but most expensive tastes one! Her coat wasn't delivered yesterday as it said it would be and was showing still at the depot. DH is chasing it up. I need to get out the items I've got - always harder cos in addition to under the tree  presents she still has a stocking (though this year that's mostly from TKMaxx Treasures) plus the Xmas Eve box she wanted back - it is now vastly reduced from what it used to be, just new PJs, a bath treat and a drink/snack. After this Christmas I will review with her what she wishes to continue. She asked for her Xmas Eve box back after I stopped it at 18 to then not use it last year and said that was because DS and DIL called. Well this year they're at DiL's parents 100 miles away from before Xmas eve till around 27th so won't be calling. Stockings was something the kids opened to allow me and DH time to wake up properly, though no longer needed for this purpose, we do have a dog who adores presents and opening them and as he gets free wander of the house on a night time, we can't put gifts out overnight, so she may still ask for this just to keep the dog out of the way.    

@Peppa537 - What about an Amazon gift card for your FIL and what about a haircare hamper o incl her hairspray for your MIL or just a hamper of random bits she likes/uses even if they are dull? My (late) MIL considered that all gifts given or received should be practical (eg usually everyday household items). Used to cause some (private) frustrations with me but I just went along with it as I wasn't going to change her

Mrs_Ryan

Thanks Spendless. You’re right but then if I don’t spend money on her she goes off in a huff. I can’t win really. She did concede that she really does need the clothes dryer so we’ve come to a compromise- I’ll buy the dryer and she’s going to pay for the cover. 

FIL’s coffee and Guinness arrived so I’ve done his hamper. That’s OH’s lot finished now. 

Also my friend’s book turned up this morning. I’m really chuffed as it’s absolutely immaculate and less than half the price that it would cost to buy in the shops. Although this year thankfully cost hasn’t really been an issue, I’m glad I checked out Vinted. I’ve saved a fortune and got some lovely things on there. 

Beshki

@Mrs_Ryan the Lakeland dry pod is on offer at the moment for just £69.99 which is a bargain.