OS Christmas Support thread & timetable

MATH

I can't believe I've been secretly reading this thread for weeks and mentally checking off what I need to do. here's where I'm at so far

DONE:

Budget set, in high interest account and ready to spend.

Card list written. It's the same list I've dragged out for the last 15 yrs. Adding and deleting as appropriate. Everyone on the first two pages are all dead:eek:

Christmas cards bought (not written yet tho) a lot can happen to folks in 5months (see comment on first two pages of card list):D

TO DO:

Need to buy all year interest wrapping paper.

Must write gift list, will have another crack this year at tempting Mrs MATH to downsize it. Is it really necessary to send a gift basket to the hairdresser of someone we met in Toremolinos 12 years ago?

Go and buy stuff:eek:

Hopefully I will get this all done before the end of August and then will start stage two of the plan which i havn't even thought about yet.

pug_in_a_bed

I LOVE christmas!

We have just had christmas in july with some friends who are moving to australia in september. I frightened the postman as I was dressed as santa and hiding behond a bush waiting for my friends to arrive home from work (the night shift). It was brilliant, due to my total lack of weight loss this summer I make a brilliant santa.

Anyhoo, all we did pressie wise to make it fun was make christmas cookies and home made crackers with little best wishes messages from other friends and sweets. Then we had a turkey bbq.

Just thought I'd share that with you as I'm totally obsessed with christmas and finally here's a thread I can go on about it without being smacked in the face.

I've also been saving for a while in my penny jar, which occasionally accumulates interest from friends who don't value pennies and throw them in for me.

I'm a bit of a geeky card maker but its expensive to buy card and such, but I'm really pleased as a friends local school has just shut and she got me a huge load of mismatched scraps of paper, pipecleaners, glitter and tissue paper (which i can use for wrapping), which other local schools didn't choose to take on the closing day.

sarahe

Has anyone any ideas for 'family presents'.?
My sister has 5 children aged 2- 8 years old and it costs a fortune each time for presents that they don't really want or need.

So if anyone has any ideas of 'family presents' I'd be interested.

I did like the B&Q climbing frame but that's sold out.
We have thought about tickets to theme parks etc.
But I'd love ideas - we thought maybe adopting an animal in a zoo or something. Last year my parents bought us all 'chickens' from the Oxfam site - that was a good idea.
Thanks

pug_in_a_bed

What about adopting a dog from the ncdl? its about £50 for the year and you get regular letters and cards from your 'friend', you can send the pooch stuff and even visit most of the dogs up for adoption.

squeaky

sarahe wrote:

Has anyone any ideas for 'family presents'.?
My sister has 5 children aged 2- 8 years old and it costs a fortune each time for presents that they don't really want or need.

So if anyone has any ideas of 'family presents' I'd be interested.

We've got LOADS of ideas

Take a look at our Home Made Gifts Collection which you can find in our "Indexed Collections" sticky at the top of the forum listing, or you can follow the clue in my signature any time you see it or...

..you can use the Indexed Collections link in the Blue Bar at the top of every page which looks something like this:-




Edit: There are more ideas listed under Gifts in the MEGA Index sticky which can be found at the top of the forum listing here on Old Style.

pavlovs_dog

cant remember if anyone has posted links, but i know last year there were threads running about cheap stocking ideas for boys/girls, which i seem to remember going off on tangents about cheap and cheerful pressie ideas for the rellies

FrankieM

We tend to buy board games for family pressies. Last years fav was coppit. A game my hubby loved from his youth!. I think it was only about a tenner or so.

Chipps

sarahe wrote:

Has anyone any ideas for 'family presents'.?
My sister has 5 children aged 2- 8 years old and it costs a fortune each time for presents that they don't really want or need.

So if anyone has any ideas of 'family presents' I'd be interested.

I did like the B&Q climbing frame but that's sold out.
We have thought about tickets to theme parks etc.
But I'd love ideas - we thought maybe adopting an animal in a zoo or something. Last year my parents bought us all 'chickens' from the Oxfam site - that was a good idea.
Thanks

Hi, we only have 3 children, but one of the presents they enjoyed most some years back, was tickets for the whole family to go to Legoland. For us that was something we could not have afforded, so it was a real treat for the children!

chinagirl

This won't be much use this Christmas, but bear in mind for next Christmas. Join a Christmas Hamper Club. I am an agent for Home Farm Hampers, and I buy £300 worth of their Choice vouchers which you can spend in all High Street shops. I pay £30 a month for 10 months, and feel I have gained an extra £60 as don't have to pay anything in November and December. As an agent, I get a small commission if I have customers whose total orders are £1000 or over. This usually gives me a "free" month for myself.
I know I would never put the £30 by each month, so I am grateful to be able to tackle the Christmas money headache this way. You can also buy various combinations of food, drink and confectionary hampers, which I sometimes choose as a little treat for the family too, but I find the vouchers are a winner. You don't pay interest obviously either!

freshfield017

Well, I have surprised myself! I bought my first Christmas present today (20/07/05). Feel very pleased with myself.
I also have an allocated slot on the Next VIP Sale tomorrow morning and I have another 6 presents highlighted!!!!
Happy Christmas Shopping!