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

Spendless

So in our family, direct descendants never stop in either direction. So we buy for my almost 100yo Nan, and she in turn buys for my parents, me and husband and both our adult kids. Likewise we  buy for my parents who buy for all of us. We also buy for FIL, but he is in a care home and has no money so none of us receive from him (which we're fine with) 

Siblings (and their spouses/partners) is a different matter and we eventually had a talk about stopping. At the same time I had a convo with my sister about the age to stop with the kids, which was after 18. It was more tricky as coxy describes for neice on Mr S side but eventually the opportunity to end buying presented itself. Whilst you have to remain tactful you do need to seize the opportunity to pounce if the subject comes up. 

Thats awkward  @Coxy11 if the bulk is on your husbands side and he wont have the convo. Looking at your list theres several 17 year olds, all 18 next year Im guessing? Just a suggestion but if you bought until this 'cohort' (for want of a better word) all reached 18 and then tried again with taking away siblings, any partners and niblings aged 18+, if my maths is correct I  make it a whacking 12 people off your list. I wouldnt remove parents (so if they still bought wouldnt make any difference  - you could possibly up the budget for them with savings made if you wished). Then youd just have 3 parents and 2 little nephews until they were 18, other than your own adult kids, husband etc. 

If my suggestion still hits a brick wall, then you might have to go for a Government special stealth tax tactic, by reducing the budget so much it becomes impossible to buy anything suitable - lol

Yesterday in TKMaxx I bought Nan a water bottle. Its pink (her fav colour) but see through with measurements on it and encouraging slogans and an easy flip spout. I steered away from ones with straws after reading they can be considered a choking hazard in elderly due to liquid going to the back of the throat. Also ordered her a shopping list with her fav animal on, hoping this encourages use of it, cos grocery  shopping is problematic unfortunately. Cost almost as much in postage as item was, but that was on clearance anyway so still saved. Then I intended adding chocs. Called in m&s on way to work but they're currently closing/relocating so no new lines in. She likes lindor so will look for them instead. 

Coxy11

This year has seen a few big birthdays - BIL 50, one niece and one nephew turning 18, another niece turns 21 next month. We have a nephew and a niece turning 18 next year. I'm thinking this could be the last Christmas buying for all of those.

It's not so much the cost of buying for them but the thought process and actually buying/wrapping the gifts that I get het up about. Think last year the older nieces and nephews got smellies from  B00ts as we were time limited with the move. One nephew is now a digital nomad and housesits the world over and works from wherever - currently in Cape Verde and 'making a ton of money' according to FIL. I have no idea when he will be back or whether we will see him at Christmas (haven't seen him since DS1's wedding in June last year). Serious thinking of knocking him off the list now - he is 25. The bulk of the budget is on our 3 children plus DIL who get multiple gifts. DS1 and DIL will sometimes get cash towards something in their house - stair runner/washing machine have been recent things of note. 

Two youngest nephews now bought for - got the Luke Littler magnetic dart board and a my first greenhouse kit from B&M. The greenhouse was on a 2 for £20 toy offer but I didn't need anything else. Also got two small Cadbury selection packs for them. I am expecting a delivery today of the 2 new electric toothbrushes for DD and DS2. 

One thing I hadn't factored in was where to store all these early gifts. In our old house I had a wooden chest/toy box in the loft which I put things in, plus a spare room if needed. Now the chest is housing my haberdashery supplies in the conservatory and the loft is not easily accessible as it has a loose ladder. We also don't have a spare room. Will need to have a think - maybe under the stairs might work....

Good that you managed to get the bits for Nan's birthday

mandco

Direct family our kids parents grandkids we always buy for extended family our brothers/sisters their partners nieces/nephews ect the list just kept growing so We initially agreed to stop buying for the adults and from there said we’d then stopped buying for the kids once they turned 18 ( we do still do milestone birthdays)- we did buy a small token family gift to cover the years where some were older so no longer brought for but the younger ones still got a gift. Does still annoy me a little that once we stopped buying for their youngest they stopped buying for ours despite ours being quite a bit younger I don’t think any of them have ever brought anything for taz due to the age gap? I’m glad we did its way less expensive obviously at one point I think I had 18 kids excluding mine to buy for   there’s so much less stress over the what to get wrapping it all arranging to drop it off ect too and tbh outside of special occasions we didn’t/don’t see them often anyway so it was more buying out of a sense of obligation as they were family.

@Coxy11 just as well you budget all year that’s an expensive Xmas when your buying for so many. It’s gotta be hard when you can’t get dh on board with the cutting back I know with some family members it can be a hard conversation to have but it could make such a big difference to you both financially as well as mentally if you could cut back now they are older. Unless you’re really close are they are even really that bothered about what they get from you anyway unless you’re gifting cash?
keep a lot of my Xmas gifts in our empty suitcases currently have 1 residing on top of the wardrobe for easy access as don’t have much brought for Xmas yet I used to padlock it to stop anyone peeking or eating the Xmas chocs early  
Xmas dinner disasters are the worst fingers crossed for a less stressful Xmas day this year 
did You manage to find the dr paw paw set?if not I know tkmaxx sometimes have them maybe not quite that cheap but I know it was under £5 last time I got one for dd 

@Spendless glad you found something for your nans birthday I know you find her hard to buy for though not surprising given her age 
Sounds like dd is doing well - don’t think I want to know who much the socks were though - oh how the other half lives 
While I don’t blame your dad for wanting to keep it for best mine used to be the same to worried he break/lose it I do get your frustration things are meant to be used it’s kinda if the point and why I brought it for you. 

@beshki some great deals there 

still no shortbread lindts to be found so I’ll keep looking hopefully somewhere will get stock In at some point.

just back from the dentist as I broke the back off my tooth yet again either 3rd or 4th time so far - they keep rebuilding it but where its right at the back and goes down to the gum line it keeps breaking off again so they’re pushing me to get a crown instead- it doesn’t hurt when it comes off just leave a sharpish edge and irritates the gum so loathe to fork out for a crown guess I’ll see how long it last this time.

taz birthday tomorrow and off to Butlin’s next week after that it’s full steam ahead for Xmas 

ordered a Daewoo 4 Litre 8 in 1 Health Grill and Air Fryer For a bargain £32.24 at George (takes 50% off listed price at checkout) it is bulkier than I expected but should be very handy at Xmas as I never have enough oven space for everything.

forgot I ordered a Harry’s razor starter set via Iceland bonus card total cost £5.40 for a razor, shaving gel & bonus moisturiser you did have to set up a subscription to order it which I hate but you can cancel free at any time so I simply cancelled that as soon as the set arrived.

Spendless

Yesterday I bought a small box (137g)  of assorted lindor  chocs from Asda and it cost £4.48. In future though I think I'll buy direct from the website and select which flavours and gives me scope for diff packaging. They do have the new flavour on there @mandco but depends on how much you're willing to pay. 
https://www.lindt.co.uk/shop/gift-ideas/pick-n-mix?product_list_order=low_to_high

I'm now just waiting for the grocery shopping list to turn up to put in the gift bag I bought also at Asda. It has cockapoos on it. No point in finding a hamper  to put items in as Nan would bin it!  My dog is 50% cockapoo 50% another breed (accident between household pets) but looks like a small cockapoo (so many people query what he is when they see him). Asda had got quite a few items with cockapoos on, including some drinking glasses that were only £1 each. That gave me an idea for my Dad to put with the flat cap I'm thinking of getting him ,, buy 2 glasses (should I get 4 and say I have replacements if they break to stop them becoming ornaments?) and add some nice non alcoholic drink to it (only cos they don't drink in the house). It would need to be zero/low sugar as Dad is diabetic. Thought these looked nice. https://www.sanpellegrino.com/uk/sanpellegrino-zero-added-sugar
and find a way of displaying them to present? I know you mentioned your Mum liking items with cockapoos @princesskitty29 don't know if you've looked in Asda? 

I went to lunch with a friend yesterday then we called in a nearby retail park and at the Cadbury shop found 5 bars of diff flavours Bournville in a display box for £12.99. Did work out slightly dearer than buying the bars loose so you're paying for the packaging but it looked a nice gift. My friend bought one for her Dad's bday. Bournville is FIL's fav choc so I am going to suggest this along with some clothing for him to Mr S as I leave him to get for his Dad (cos I refuse to add another elderly difficult to buy for relative on to my to do list).

I think this means when we return from our visit to see DD, I am set to go and order/buy most things ready for Christmas. Years ago when my list was bigger (around 16/17 plus any workmates if we bought or kids friends if they bought) and I used to do the round of looking round the shops looking at their gift range  when more 'big names' were open such as Debenhams or BHS or going back further Woolworths or Littlewoods and then return empty handed a friend used to say to me it was because I'd gone out with no idea of what I wanted and therefore struggled to find and it took a huge amount of stress away if you knew in advance what to get. So I feel your pain @Coxy11 if you're the one with the mental load of coming up with an item for your relatives as well as then shopping and  wrapping. I had the same with when to stop @mandco I didn't trust 1 relative not to stop buying for my younger kids if I stopped buying for that side, which is why I let it continue  until my youngest became an adult.

mandco

@Spendless the sanpellegrino drinks are usually really nice ( haven’t tried the sugar free ones) though they can be a bit tart? As they are citrus based 
The bourneville hamper sounds great for someone who likes it can be hard to find additional flavours in the main shops so I agree sometimes it’s worth paying a bit extra for something a bit more special & the convenience of it already being gift packaged.
that list of shops brings back memories shocking how many of the old go to stores are no longer around. I do kind of miss the old way of actually having to go to shops and wander around seeing if you can find something but it was definitely so much harder then it is now where you can work it out from the comfort of home & get a lot of it delivered too. I still prefer actually going and seeing stuff in person but a good chunk of my shopping is done online due to price matching & the fact there’s often way more choice.

Taz saw a Lego grogu set at LEGOLAND at the weekend £90  found it online for £63 so have ordered that for Xmas unless dd decides to put money towards it for his birthday instead.
Some decent discounts on Lego sets at the moment debating the milky way galaxy as a joint present for dd & her bf they are both into space & Lego and it’s currently 20% off which it the cheapest I’ve seen it. It is still a little over budget even with the discount but not unreasonably so and I know it’s one they’ve looked but not brought due to the price. 

fionaandphil

I saw the Lindor shortbread in Tesco today, they are on offer at £5.50 for a box with CC, but only a few of that flavour left

Coxy11

Thank you for the air fryer tip off @mandco. I too ordered one and it arrived today. Yes it’s big but I’m going to keep it in the utility. Think DD and DS2 will use it more than us but going to try it out this weekend with some chips etc. Will come in very handy at Christmas too 😊

We are at the IL’s on Sunday for multiple birthday celebrations and will also gift nephew some cash as he’s 18 next week. 

Great suggestion about storing early gift buying in a suitcase @mandco - will get DH to do that as the loft ladder isn’t a fixed one and I can’t reach!!

Enjoy your Nan’s birthday celebrations @Spendless - hope you all have a lovely time xx

PennysIntoPounds

I get stroppy and tearful if I mess up my own weekend brunch so my heart goes out to the Christmas dinners for others distress!

A nice candle, socks, and a B&H giftset is my ideal gifts received pile @Coxy11 😂 Add in some chocolate and wine and I am a happy lady indeed.

That is very annoying about the unevenness and lack of conversation willing, but I guess you just have to focus on your own budget, time, and energy and let everyone else get on with it as they wish. 
Maybe a tub of chocolates for each 'branch' of the family to share over Christmas so they know they've been thought of but you don't need to find individual gifts? We tend to do this in my family or it would just become ludicrous, and a nice bunch of posted winter flowers or a seasonal plant for older relatives who don't want 'stuff'. It only needs one time of feeling awkward and saying 'this is how I'm doing it from now on' to set you up for years more of an easy-going enjoyable Christmas!

@jaybee 18 is the ideal age as they're not so young they feel they're missing out but not so old they feel something that's always been there is being 'taken away'. A tenner in a birthday card if you can spare it, to 'raise a glass on me' is much more cherished than an obligatory thing lost in the chaos of Christmas