Frosty the Snowman - it's the 2025 Christmas thread!

mandco

@fionaandphil that’s a very good description.  both Walmart & target are similar very much one stop shops for most your shopping wants/needs. I do prefer Walmart but we always make at least one trip to target when we Go.


@princesskitty29 glad you got to go though sorry to hear ds stuggled - it was probably it was a combo of doing the 2 consecutive days out plus a stay over somewhere new and Easter coming up sometimes when Theres a lot of different things happening in a short space of time they can’t regulate as well as they normally would. We do quite a bit of pre trip prep to help minimise the unknown aspects of things now - I struggled a bit with that at first as felt it was taking away from the excitement from seeing things the first time ect but it’s what works for taz. having a visual of what to expect before we go makes such a difference to his behaviour- it’s never going to be perfect the most random things can be triggers but you will find the things that makes it more manageable for your family.
glad Easter dinner was a success the mini egg cheesecake sounds yummy 

we did go to the Easter event at the zoo in the end ( we have annual passes so free entry) but didn’t stay too long as the weather wasn’t great it was absolutely freezing but we did get to see the big cats out and roaming around so so taz was very happy. We did the interactive educational bits and taz got an Easter egg but ending up leaving before the later Easter activities started as it started pouring down.

Spendless

Unfortunately the Target we visited was quite small, so didn't  sell much more than general groceries/toiletries. I did wonder what the hype was about -lol. It wasn't the equivalent of our smallest size stores like Tesco express/Sainsbury's local but was the next size up whereas all the Walmart's we've ever visited  have been super sized so consequently we ended up back there for an array of products inc their PJs which are both soft feel and have pockets and cost less than $15, triple win for me. I now want to experience a larger Target. Our next visit/s should take us to Tennessee (Nashville) Autumn/Winter 25/26 and again late spring 2026. We are also hoping to visit DD in NYC when she's an exchange student there in the next academic year. After that our American adventure is likely to be over, unless we choose to holiday there but we have all of Europe on our doorstep and have only seen a tiny fraction of it, so am more inclined to explore further afield there in future.

I saw a brand of hair care I'd never noticed before and sent a pic to my Dad's Whatsapp as I thought it would amuse my Mum as it's called Carol's daughter and that's her name (and she's a hair dresser) got a reply to pick some up to fetch back. Gave them to Mum today, am hoping she likes them  when she tries it(she thought the ingredient list good). If she does then I will buy her a set of the products later this year and that's her Xmas present sorted. I can only see this brand available here on Amazon and at more than I paid for it. It will fill the issue of what to get as there's still the issue with parents helping out with Nan which curtails them doing much outside of where we live.

I forgot to cancel the subscription I signed up to for DD's birthday so have another handbag sized  perfume on the way! Will be saved for Xmas. I bought DD's fav perfume in duty free at a 30ml size, which I've never seen in the shops here. This too will be saved till Xmas.  Really pleased with that because it  means she gets her fav fragrance without it eating too much into the budget. 

I gave both kids 1 Easter egg each before we went away which they were happy with and I think going forward that's what I'll do considering their ages. They will be 26 & 23 by the time the next Easter comes. 

fionaandphil

Nashville is good fun too, we did a bus tour and boat tour during the day which were good but I didn't really think of it as a 'music' city. We went out later at night and it was so different. Lots of great bars and live music everywhere, and yes I saw 'Elvis'!!

Coxy11

Hi everyone,

I'm back from my final JoGLE hike. Exhausted but happy (and also sad) that's it's all over. We managed to raise c.£17k in DN's name which isn't too shabby. Not sure what's next but sure DSis will want to continue to fundraise in some form or another.

It was youngest DN's birthday whilst we were away. DH called to say Happy Birthday and SIL was upset because BIL has had a biopsy of a facial mole and it's stage 4 melanoma. So he's now had a CT Scan and PET scan and is awaiting the results. Not great. 

Other SIL (anorexic) is now home and back at work and it's like nothing ever happened (was on life support over Christmas/NY then sectioned). Saw them on Mother's Day at ILs. NGL SIL makes zero effort to engage with me, so I did the same and sat drinking wine in the sunshine and talking with others. Just CBA'd to get stressed about her health, when she clearly thinks she's fine. 

We took DD, DS1's and DN's eggs with us to Cornwall only to discover the DN doesn't like Creme Egg, so that was regifted to BIL(!). He will be 17 in May so only one more egg to go. His is the next birthday, so will ask DSis for ideas. He's going to be having driving lessons so maybe cash is the way to go.

Glad you had a good time in the US @Spendless - will PM you x
Good to hear you enjoyed Easter @princesskitty29 after a not so good Christmas x

mandco

@spendless that’s a shame about target sounds like it was more like an express store here vs the super target stores we’ve visited which have loads of stuff hopefully you’ll find a proper one on your next trip.
frustrating you forgot to cancel the subscription this month its easily done 

@Coxy11. Wow that’s a great amount raised.
sorry to hear about your bil I’m sure it was a huge shock for everyone. hopefully they’ll get the results back soon - the waiting is awful 
Driving lessons are crazy expensive so I’m sure dn would appreciate money towards them - depending on which company he choses to use some do offer gift cards which they can put towards a package booking.

Spendless

In anticipation of any interviews for jobs I apply for, I decided to look through my clothes for  what I had suitable (Ive spent the past year working in jeans, trainers and a company polo shirt).

Long story short, as what I needed was either navy or black, which are often considered 'winter' colours, there was not much stock this time of year, I ended up in Bon Marche thinking theyd probably stock the more 'traditional' items I was searching for.  Sure enough they did, my item was £20, but the store had an offer on spend £25 or over and receive 20% off. At the till a pack of mens hankies were £3, a foldaway bag £2. Picked both up and total bill still £20. Total freebies. Hankies will do Dad/DH. Bag will either go to Mum, or Ill keep.

princesskitty29

Hi all, sorry AWOL again as it was my birthday so I had quite a busy week. I was lucky enough to have dinner with friends, an afternoon tea with family, a shopping spree on my actual birthday (much needed as my clothes are very tired) and DH and I had a spa day at the weekend to celebrate both of our birthdays and wedding anniversary. So a nice week all in all. I’ve also managed to pick up a few more pressies for the stash:

-          An indoor football for DS1 for £5 from The Works, he constantly has one at his feet so he might be due a new one come December!

-          A pair of fairisle slipper boots for my mum, £22 reduced to £5 from Next.

-          Some cat tea towels for my auntie who is cat mad, £5.99 from TKMaxx.

-          A pair of Fat Face gloves for my friend, £20 reduced to £12 from Next.

-          3 bergamot and amber reed diffusers reduced to 50p in Primark for my friend, auntie and MiL.

I’m pleased with these finds and they are now tucked away. I’ve not got to focus on DH’s and DS2’s birthdays coming up end of May and mid June.

@fionanadphil gosh I think I’d like Target if it is a mixture of all of those shops!

@mandco thanks for your encouraging words, I think we will have to change how we approach things now as well. It never used to be a problem but it’s obviously changing with him getting older.

@spendless it sounds like your trip to the US was a fruitful one! Well done on your buys and your freebies in Bon Marche.

@Coxy11 well done on finishing your JoGLE hikes, great job! I bet you’ve seen some wonderful places. And well done on raising such a fantastic amount, I’d be happy to donate if you can PM me a link? I’m sorry to hear about your BiL, how worrying for everyone, keeping my fingers crossed they can find suitable treatment for him.

PennysIntoPounds

Happy belated birthday @princesskitty29 🙂
Some great bargains for the gifts stash there!

mandco

Princesskitty belated birthday wishes sounds like you packed in quite a bit 
some great bargains in your haul it’s always great  to see your stash building I’m woefully behind this year 

Spendless it was definitely worth picking the extras to get them free as you’d be spending anyway - work clothes are so hard to find at this time of year dd really struggled with finding age appropriate styles( translate as everything looks like old people clothes) for her new job where the dress code is much more formal than her old one.

Been frustrated with boots recycling as Ive had to go instore a few times to pick up stuff from the pharmacy and when updated the app a couple of weeks ago it wouldn’t recognise my local drop off point so havent been able to earn any boots points -they’ve sorted now and I do have a enough items for 4 drops off ready so that’s £20 worth of points to go on but it’s a little annoying you can only do 1 drop off per day as my nearest is not walkable.
have enough tkmaxx keys for a reward but there’s only been comps whenever I’ve looked has this issue last time too seems like they’re getting a bit stingy with the actual freebies now.
sold a few more bits on vint*d thanks to the sunny weather so withdrew my balance and transferred £50 into my Xmas pot. I did get some summer clothes for taz as he’s outgrown all of his shorts ect and an absolute bargain adidas tracksuit bnwt for just £10 inc postage which I’m putting away for his birthday those were all technically free as used money from my balance but took the rest out as there’s been some great bargains on there lately and it’s way too easy to keep buying stuff as fast as I sell it.

anyone have the Poundland app?I don’t yet but Apparently you earn points back per pound spent that you can exchange for money off vouchers 

Spendless

I should have hidden the Bon Marche freebies better, Mr S found the hankies and asked if he could have them now as his needed replacing. 

Think Im going to keep the foldaway bag for myself due to the news that Primark is going to start charging for their paper bags from Monday. I dont mind paying for plastic ones,  I dont want to pay for paper. I've refused them in Boots for years due to how flimsy I found theirs, several times the bag split with my goods in within minutes of walking out the store. Primark paper bags were more sturdy but if Im going to get charged Id rather it was on a plastic bag that is stronger and holds more. 

At least neither item cost my anything.

That was good bargain hunting princesskitty. I dont tend to look round the shops I once did now my list is smaller. Im still contemplating what we do for next months Father's day/wedding anniversaries. Still want an experience but need to think about dates if we also attend in case theres a clash with them and the next time we go to USA so need to check cancellation policies carefully plus condider the costs.