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

Spendless

Received message from DIL saying she could give me ideas for DS for Christmas, to start off with he's short of undies.

Had to tell her not only have I almost finished Christmas shopping, most is wrapped too, but said I will add some underwear if he's short. Certain things make me think of my late MIL more, there was nothing she liked better than buying people socks for Christmas. If she was still with us I'd have passed that one on to her. 

princesskitty29

Hi all, I’ve been powering ahead with my Christmas shopping and feel like I’m getting somewhere now thankfully. As you all know DS1 is adamant he’s asking Father Christmas for the box of 70 football card packs and he also has a blaster box (another box of special football cards) on his list that he’s desperate for, luckily there was 20% off in the black Friday sale yesterday so I got the whole lot for £76 instead of £95 which I’m chuffed with as the 70 packs alone are £70 normally. They’re also sending a free special card so I’ll pop that in his stocking. I know some of you will think I’m mad and I do too sometimes spending that on football cards but it’s literally his only interest at the moment, he literally lives and breathes them! He’s always sorting out his card folder (which he takes everywhere), making teams with them and trading at school in every spare moment! I’ve got him a few other bits to open, some are second hand which he won’t mind and has helped keep costs down. The Calendar Club had a buy one get one half price offer on so I got DS1 a Luton Town calendar and MiL a RHS Gardens one. I also realised I had enough points from doing surveys to get a £5 Amazon voucher, DS2 wants an Optimus Prime toy that was already reduced in the black Friday sale and I got the extra £5 off which I was happy about.

I was unsure what to get one of my friends but I leant her Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club book recently which she absolutely loved so I’ve bought her the sequel. I got a free book mark cross stitch kit with a recent magazine so I’m stitching that to go with it, I already have a John Lewis candle I got in the sale and will buy her a bar of chocolate to go with it and that’s her sorted.

I finally got 5 TKMaxx treasure keys, they are offering beard wax or measuring spoons at the moment which I don’t need and I don’t know anyone else who does but I think I have a certain amount of time to use them though so will keep checking back.

We’ve got an exciting day here as today is Polar Express day! I hope the boys love it, I think it’s going to be a little bit stressful getting in and out of Birmingham on a Saturday at this time of year but worth it I hope.

mandco oh wow Florida, you must be really excited! When do you go? I’m sure it is stressful getting everything ready for that and for Christmas but it will all come together in the end and you will have a great time. Oh that’s a shame about the gin, it’s worth it to keep checking, they are lovely bottles. Great deal on the headset! I really hope it turns up soon for you.

Peppa parcels going ‘missing’ must be so frustrating, I imagine it happens a lot at this time of year so you did the right thing paying extra for peace of mind.

Spendless I bought a roll of cellophane from Amazon in the past, it had gold stars all over it so jazzed up the hampers a bit. I like your idea of using the Christmas shopping bags, they’ve got some lovely designs. I bought an Only Fools one for my FiL last year. I’m 41 and I would still like a stocking and a Christmas Eve box for myself if I could!

lazysheep oh good! I remember doing a Duggee themed birthday party for my DS2 when he was 2, and now I’m still buying him a book now he’s 6! The one I’ve got does have a lot more words in it though and is similar to the Mr Men books he likes.

SkyeD it’s always lovely to receive a handmade card and I’m sure a pleasure to make.

Coxy11

Morning all,

Everyone seems to be in full swing now. Tick tock not long to go!!

I have finished up at my current job and start a new role on Monday eeek. My first day I'm WFH as I have to join an induction via Teams and I've a funeral in the afternoon. Will be in the new office from Tuesday.

I've made some inroads into wider family gift buying and apart from the Amazon order which has books for FIL and BIL plus bedding sets for 2 nephews - I am about done. I have 295 Shoppix points to get before receiving another Amaz0n voucher, giving me £40 off the basket. I'm going to a big shopping town later to get some bits for DIL2B and DD so would hope to get at least £200 worth of receipts - it's not £1 per point as you get bonuses for snapping early plus for doing surveys.

DH has asked for some B0se headphones which at last check were around £200 - tbf we don't buy for each other, preferring to have a treat or get something for the house, although the last two years he has bought me a dress ring both Christmas's so he's due something personal. 

I got DS2 a PS5 controller yesterday from our local Argo$ - strangely it was sold out everywhere online in the colour he wanted but our local store just happened to have the exact one. The stars were aligned for me! 

Enjoy your trip @mandco - lovely to get some Winter sun!
You've done well with the footie cards @princesskitty29 - your DS will love you for getting the thing he's most into. Enjoy the Polar Express x
Thanks for the scratchcards idea @Peppa537 - I got a couple to pop into niece and nephews gift bag.
Hope you managed to get a good deal on a heated airer @Mrs_Ryan x
@Spendless - great idea to use the supermarket designer bags - I did a hamper for BIL/SIL last year and used the Emma Bridgewater robin bags - they were lovely and sturdy and of course re-useable.

Spendless

@princesskitty29 - I think from what you're describing  for the enjoyment it fetches him, your son is always going to remember this gift. Let's face it how many of us  remember  all our childhood Christmas presents?  We tend to remember the odd ones that stand out for some reason. As us with older kids have mentioned it's still cheaper than the electronic gadgets they move onto. When you log into your TK Maxx account they will give a countdown for how long you have left to claim a treasure. My advice is to log in as frequently as you're able to (daily if you can) as offers come and go and if you see something suitable grab it. I've missed out before caused by dithering.

DD asked if she could have a keyboard for Christmas. We have ordered one on a BF deal that has got good reviews as a starter one. She wishes to learn to read music and play an instrument. She did have a boyf for 2 years who used to call at our house each week after his job teaching piano who could have taught her. He learnt music from an early age as his Dad works professionally as a musician. Why this never happened I don't know. The boyf was/is a toxic mess (not that we were aware at the time) but if he'd taught DD to play/read music at least he'd have given myself one redeeming memory of him!   Anyway that and the coat are her 2 main things bought. At the airport recently I bought her some body products that came in a plastic case  and then I got a couple of free samples for the same brand so I have put everything together. She also has Snow Fairy from last year's BD sale. That turned out to be a god buy, the rest of the stuff I bought that day wasn't! I will ask her if she wishes to continue with the stocking/Xmas Eve hamper after this year or she'd rather have the money on another gift under the tree.

I decided against buying DH some more tops, was only considering that as didn't know what else to get, but I'm so excited that I have just had delivered this https://shop.swan-brand.co.uk/collections/smart-kettle
bought on another bF deal. I always describe DH as having the house ran by robots and now he can get a cuppa the same way. Will also be helpful when he works from home. ,  

Last weekend I bought Dil the face pack I wanted and her and DS the 2nd bottle of gin using gift card/loyalty points so no real money used.

I bought Mum some branded sunglasses from TK Maxx earlier this year but they didn't have a case. I looked at buying separately but even 2nd hand was more than I wanted to pay. On pre-loved MT I got a bundle that included a glasses case, a bag (that I'm just seeing as a bonus cos it was the other 2 items I was after) and a large coin purse. I wanted the purse because of my disorganised adult DD (she has scored highly for a pre-assessment for ADHD which I think is a contributing factor). As she grew up we would be on our way somewhere when she'd invariably say 'I haven't got a <insert item>. It would always be an item that either she couldn't manage without eg feminine hygiene products or would have caused me to waste my time and money when she'd not got something. I used to say at that point she expected me to be Mrs Weasley and wave a wand to conjure said item. So some months back I started what I call the 'abracadabra case' I had this when she was auditioning, filled with items like a pen and hair bobble and I've already lost count of the number of times it's been used. Recently I saw someone using a large MT coin purse for the same purpose and thought I could do with a duplicate so I have one at home, to pack on travels and the other in my car.
 

Still got to go and have a look at garden path lights but I think that is the main outstanding item, all the rest are oddments to finish off

princesskitty29

We had a lovely time on the Polar Express last night but getting to that point was mightily stressful! We had originally considered getting the train into Birmingham but as our experience didn’t finish until 7:30pm it would have meant getting home really late so we decided to drive. We obviously knew the traffic would be quite bad going into a major city on a Saturday but oh my goodness it was far beyond anything we had imagined! Trying to get through the city centre was a nightmare, a mixture of queuing, having to push in with people beeping us and then being at a complete standstill as well as driving through the clean air zone that we had to pay for. We queued for ages to get to the car park only to find it was full! There were actually loads of cars coming out but as it was congested they weren’t letting anyone else in. The other car park they suggested wasn’t far but was showing as 30 minutes travelling time because the roads were so packed. By this point we were quite stressed, husband more so as he was driving and he declared we had to get out of the city centre, so we battled our way out and drove to Solihull which was nice and quiet and only a 9 minute train ride into Moor Street station where the experience was. Why we didn’t do this in the first place I don’t know – this is what we tend to do when we go to London. We then had an hour to get some food so thought of McDonalds as it is quick, so we had to battle through the huge crowds for the Christmas market then McDonalds was obviously packed! We ate our food standing up in a corner then battled back to the station. At this point I think DH and I were wondering why we bothered at all!

Thankfully when we got on the train it was lovely and we all had a magical time. The conductor,  waiters and driver were wonderful and highly entertaining with all of the singing, dancing and general interaction. We all had a delicious cookie and the hot chocolate was actually quite nice as well. Then Father Christmas arrived! What I loved about him was that he actually looked like Father Christmas, he had his own beard and the way he looked and talked is exactly how I imagine he would be if he was real. That’s always a relief as some as them can look a bit dodgy! He handed out little silver bells to everyone including the adults and they have a ribbon so we can hang them on the tree. So all in all the actual train experience was lovely, it was just such a shame that everything leading up to that point was so stressful as it definitely marred it a little bit for DH and I. We were also wondering during the chaos why we chose a 5:25pm slot instead of getting it done during the day but we chose it because we thought it would be more exciting at night and actually I do think it made it that bit more magical. We definitely learned a lesson yesterday!

Anyway sorry for such a long, rambling post! I’m off to enjoy some peace and quiet today with a quiet day at home. It’s our towns Christmas lights switch on this evening but I’m not sure if we’ll make it as I think we had enough of big crowds yesterday!

Coxy good luck with your new job, it’s always daunting starting a new job but I’m sure you will soon get into the swing of it. What a great stroke of luck with the controller, it’s great when things like that happens!

Spendless you are right, he will get so much joy and pleasure from them that it wasn’t worth spending our money on something else as it just wouldn’t be the same for him. I will definitely keep checking the treasures, hopefully something else will come up soon. I was having a ditsy moment when I started reading your post, I thought your DD was asking for a computer keyboard – I thought well that’s an odd present but each to their own! The abracadabra case sounds like a great idea.

Mrs_Ryan

Hiya all 

Update on the dryer situation- Mum spotted one in Aldi Specialbuys and bought it herself. 🤦🏻‍♀️So that idea is out the window. 

The Ireland trip is off. After Thursday’s incidents I had a talk with OH and he said he would prefer it if I didn’t go. I did read that there’s more police on the streets now so it’s safer if anything but it kicked my anxiety off so bad that I agreed with OH and just cancelled. Fortunately I lost no money on the hotel- I got half the money back for my flight which was fine. 

I managed to locate everything I was going for online. It did end up costing a little bit more, which included the stuff I was going to get in Duty Free but with BF deals and things it wasn’t too bad. I ordered tea and coffee direct from the manufacturer and that’s coming Wednesday. I found an online shop that sold everything else I wanted bar one thing so I ordered from there- that’s now OH’s hamper finished apart from the brack, which my friend is going to make for me nearer Christmas. My friend’s vodka ended up being more expensive for a smaller bottle- it was £14 for 1 litre at duty free but I paid £18 for 70cl on Amazon. Unfortunately that was the cheapest I could find it. 

I did get a good bargain with a mascara for mum though- I got a Maybelline Sky High lashes for £6 from Amazon. I also got a Lacoste scarf for my nephew for £45 down from £75- I sold the aftershave I bought him on Vinted and recouped some money (my mum bought him the same one but we decided to give the one she bought as it was a gift set and mine was just the aftershave) I have a £50 voucher coming for something I’m being part of so that’s going to go on myself- I’m going to buy some L’Interdit perfume and I’ll get my friend’s perfume when I see her so that then will be everyone done. 

I’m going down to London for a couple of days as I’m hoping to get to see my nephew. If not, I’m going to go and do some Christmassy stuff- go to Harrods Xmas shop, see the lights etc. It will be nice to see everything without getting horrendously worried about shopping etc because it’s all done now. 

Peppa537

After saying I'd got all the presents for both my daughters I decided to get them something else each as a surprise. They're 20 and 19 and have both been working so hard in their jobs. They will be working a lot of hours over Christmas as well (including youngest in on Christmas Day morning). I got my Eldest some Vans hi top trainers that I think she'll like, and I got youngest some Nike joggers to match the hoodie she asked for. Both BF deals, that's definitely it now though 😂 I've got this week off work, today I'm wrapping their presents up while they're out of the house, my husband is working from home today so his will be wrapped tomorrow when he's in the office. My youngest has some days off after today so we'll probably go out to look at Christmas decorations, she hasn't had a chance to yet. I won't be buying any though as our tree went up end of last week and I have a lot of baubles and bits I don't use. 

Spendless

I'll be  brief here and say my parents lost their dog in the early hours of yesterday morning. We'd called Sunday and she had been getting worse physically over the last week or so but mentally was ok. After we left she ate her tea but then started getting worse a few hours later. My Mum hoped she'd just fall asleep in her arms but she was deteriorating  so much they had to go to the out of hours vets to be PTS. 

Abbafan1972

@Spendless so sorry to hear this. xx

Peppa537

@Spendless I'm very sorry to hear this, it's so sad when you lose a pet as they're part of the family.