OS Christmas Support thread & timetable

juliejim

I've bought lots of my Christmas presents already - I tend to buy things I see in the sales. I've also had some toys from Boots.com which were 3 for 2 and had 1000 points for spending over £75. A lot of Woolworths have now got Clearance sections at the back and I've bought wrapping paper and crackers very cheaply and good quality at that.

juliejim

Hi

Someone - I don't know who because I can't find it again now! - was making mince pies with gluten free or wheat free pastry. I'd like the recipe if poss as I have a couple of friends who have to avoid this.

MoneySavingSapphire_:D

tiff wrote:

How do you decorate the brown paper MSS? I dont have an artistic bone in my body so need all the help I can get lol

One year I just bought reels of red organza ribbon which I used over the brown paper (if you've got a market near you this is cheap) and then wrote the recepients name on in red glitter glue (about 40p a tube) - looked dead posh but v. cheap, and easy!

Or stick gold stars on. Or get a sponge/potato cut into a star/tree/angel shape dipped in gold paint and stamped on.

Or just leave the brown paper brown but make fancy tags out of gold/glittery/shimmery card and stick on with nice ribbon. I always think brown paper looks quite posh left alone...

Ooh, or get a thick gold marker and write out carol lyrics on sheets of the paper before wrapping.

Or - bear with me here - get a sheet of brown paper, laid flat reverse side up. At one edge, glue a strip of gold paper/tissue about 2 inches wide right side up. When you wrap the item, fold the side with the gold tissue on its back over last, and then fold back the edge twice (twice so as to leave a neat edge tucked in properly) to reveal the gold running as a strip down the centre of the present. This looks lovely, and you could do it with any colour of type of thin paper as the accent. I hope my instructions make sense!

rchddap1

Could also use some sprigs of holly to decorate it where the ribbon meets as well.

tiff

Well at least someone reads my posts lol

Thank you for that, I've got the brown paper from Ikea, they had some rolls of ribbon so might go back for that. Ikea also had some gift tags that I bought 99p for 12 made out of plain red, gold, silver and white card with ribbon attached. I like the red glitter idea, saw some the other day so might have a go at that and will sit down and work out your last idea too lol

Thanks

tiff

rchddap1 wrote:

Could also use some sprigs of holly to decorate it where the ribbon meets as well.

Yes, my husband goes to the cemetery near us every year with the kids to collect some holly so could easily do that.

Someone also suggested painting the underside of dried leaves and printing it onto the paper.

MoneySavingSapphire_:D

tiff wrote:

Well at least someone reads my posts lol

...and will sit down and work out your last idea too lol

Thanks

Aw tiff! The last idea is actually quite simple once you've got paper in front of you, but v. hard to describe!!

Popped into Acock's Green today and:

Wilkinsons have handprint sets (with clay to take imprint of kid's hands/feet and a stand) for £2.99 - nice for people with young children to make for grandparents etc. They also have gardening things (gloves, plant tags, kneeling mats etc etc) super cheap for anyone that was making a gardening basket/set.

My pound shop have lovely little "___ days til Christmas" blackboards with wooden frames and wooden decorations to hand up and count down - I bought one! They also had fairy lights, and a4 sized mirrors with plain wooden frames that would be lovely painted/with things stuck on. They also had blue and balck small storage boxes, about 4 inside oneanother, and whe I looked at the underside label they're from Sainsbury's. Didn't buy though as I couldn't think what I need them for!!

Rage_in_Eden

My holly trees are covered in berries so again this year the front door with have a "small branch" of holly hanging off it. I get a florists bow (the type that you pull to make the bow) and tie it at one end and artfully arrange the streamers through the branch-ettes. I do four in all (3 cemetries and the front door) and the bows are about £1 each - one wreath near us costs £4.50!!! Lots of people say how lovely it looks as well - may even go mad and put some yew behind it this year as well and some of those battery operated fairy lights I got cheap last year - who needs posh shops eh?

Squishy

I got a great deal on a kids 'art caddy' in asda this morning - they were down to £1 from £5, so a good saving! The box includes the following:

2 x dough; 8 x modelling clay; 24 x crayons; 16 x water colours; 4 x felt tips; 6 x jumbo chalks; 12 x colour chalks; 12 x white chalks; 6 x cutter moulds; 4 x closed moulds; 1 x tool; 6 x sponges; 1 x paint brush; 1 x palette; 36 x paper and all in a chunky plastic case! A bargain!

tiff

Brilliant, will look out for those this afternoon, thanks for posting.

I've challenged myself to try and keep the stocking fillers to £1 or under by finding things that have been reduced that were more than this, eg, got a Disney princess notebook from Asda for 50p reduced from £2, an Umbro water bottle for 65p reduced from over £1 something. Got a stationery folder with elastic corners for 25p and an Umbro one for 50p.

Today I got some glitter pens for £1 from Wilko's, a fairy princess water bottle for £1 (found a disney princess one in Superdrug after buying this, for 50p!) and a sponge and bubble bath for £1.