* Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas * - It's the 2019 Christmas Chatter Thread

noodles86 · 19 July 2019 at 9:12PM

Evening all,

Amazing how a few weeks can just fly by. Last few weeks at work (I work in a school) were tough and I needed the upcoming break. Just came home from Butlins Bognor (lovely part of the world, makes a difference from Leicestershire!) where four nights weren't enough and now feeling re-energised for the next five weeks!

Christmas front, I bought quite a few bits in the Argos sale. My little girls loves these https://www.argos.co.uk/search/popteenies/?clickOrigin=searchbar:home:term:popteenies and I've bought some as Christmas presents for the young girls in our family. Also good for anyone whose little one is invited to a party as the boxes are massive. I got a hoodie reduced to £6 in the Sainsburys sale for a boy who will be nearly thirteen at Christmas (& I've no idea what thirteen year old boys are into on a budget of around £5!).

What survey sites are everyone using to earn vouchers? Sounds intriguing.

Nic2075 is savers the shop that sells toiletries? I think my ASD girl would love a neck cushion with a hood to keep the world out! Will have to keep an eye out.

Free is the outlet village worth going to? keep saying we will go (hubby loves Crew clothing and I know there's an outlet there.

Spendless · 20 July 2019 at 8:14AM

Morning everyone.

I'm off out shortly to check out the Sue Ryder CS in the hope of finding a dark waistcoat for DD to play the role of Philip in the Greatest Showman at her drama summer school next week.

I found a white ruffled shirt in a CS yesterday for £1 :money:

We already have a cravat and boots from her doing Les Mis a few years ago.

Once found all she'll need is some black leggings, which she needs for college/drama class anyway.

Joyfullyfestive · 20 July 2019 at 9:03AM

Thanks girlinayellowdress, going to check those out now

mrsinvisible · 20 July 2019 at 9:28AM

Morning all. Good to see the pages are still filling well. Sorry it has been a long time since l posted, (although like many of us, l read daily).
Well l think l have come to the end of the fruit for jams, but the veg and stuff for the chutneys are about ready, l am seriously running out of jars!!
Found a wasps nest in the 'eave' of the front porch, so DGS was volunteered to spray the entrance of it with wasp killer and then bung a sponge into it to keep the in ones in and the out ones out; then we had the task of getting rid of the ones trying to get in. Not environmentally friendly l know, but ……… wasps.
My printer has run out of ink, £36.98 for a back and a colour cartridge, but only £29 for a new machine with 5 months of free ink how is that possible? do they WANT me to be un- environment conscious or do they want me to throw money away? Answers please on a postcard or the back of a £20 note, thank you.
Rant over, and b-r-e-a-t-h-e.
Lots of the baby birds have fledged, and are being shown how to feed themselves, except for one mammy blackbird who keeps on feeding her chick even tho it is able to do its own thing! Lovely to sit and watch them all.
Spendless, l hope your CS has dark waistcoats for your DDs role, she must be very talented.xx

sammy_kaye18 · 20 July 2019 at 1:36PM

Well I was just looking through a sale page for a local store and trying to find some cheaper bits for my little girl (shes 9) and she has just said she doesnt really want toys this year - just craft stuff! :eek::eek:
If anyone finds my baby, can they please send her back to me? Im not ready for her to grow up yet!
So looks like I will be on the look out for lots of craft sets and accessories that I can add into a big box for her to rummage through and then she can have lots of things to do , make and craft for the coming year instead of cluttering the house with junk. I have seen some sets which I think she will enjoy making too.

I will get a few board games though from the charity shops as well to keep us all entertained.

Nothing much going on here, its raining again so we are house bound for the minute so have just had a bit of a lazy day although I may bake a cake in a minute to have with custard for pudding later.

Does anyone have any ideas for this please..

I want to make gift bags for the women in my family - Im thinking a candle, some bath smellies, some sweeties, a picture of the kids and maybe comfy socks or slippers.
The only problem I have is my mother in law - she has pet budgies so as a result wont use candles/air fresheners etc but Id still like to include something nice......Im thinking maybe a battery powered candle or a light up ornament (she loves robins) - has anyone any other ideas though?

Spendless · 20 July 2019 at 3:19PM

sammykaye - what about the fairy lights you can get with just a few lights on them? I bought my daughter some like this a few years ago, they spelt out her name and the idea was they went around her headboard. I bought them in a Clinton's outlet.

Treasurequeen · 20 July 2019 at 9:44PM

I haven't posted in a while but I have been reading daily, SammyKaye I have seen some light up real wax candles in different shapes (Christmas trees, snowflakes). But for the life of my I cant remember where, I will have a look tomorrow. I bought my aunt a fake candle but made out of real wax as she has 5 cats and she was very pleased with it. Also you may find some craft sets in charity shops my local julias house sell craft sets. If you sign up to hobbycraft loyalty card you can get £5.00 gift voucher on your birthday. i use mine to put towards gifts, or things i can make into gifts.

Birthdays for the rest of the year have all been sorted cards and gifts wise so i can focus on christmas gifts now.

I am going to start buying non perishables and long dated tins to put in christmas cupboard to keep costs down in december. Can't believe how quick this year is going, its nice to see the thread filling up.

Hugs and best wishes to you all xx

sammy_kaye18 · 21 July 2019 at 9:45AM

Spendless wrote: »

sammykaye - what about the fairy lights you can get with just a few lights on them? I bought my daughter some like this a few years ago, they spelt out her name and the idea was they went around her headboard. I bought them in a Clinton's outlet.

Yes I think I might go the route of decorating her room for her. She saw me do her brothers for his birthday and now I think she might have the same idea :-) So that would be a lovely idea if I can find her some fairy lights to decorate her room with.

Treasurequeen wrote: »

SammyKaye I have seen some light up real wax candles in different shapes (Christmas trees, snowflakes). But for the life of my I cant remember where, I will have a look tomorrow. I bought my aunt a fake candle but made out of real wax as she has 5 cats and she was very pleased with it. Also you may find some craft sets in charity shops my local julias house sell craft sets. If you sign up to hobbycraft loyalty card you can get £5.00 gift voucher on your birthday. i use mine to put towards gifts, or things i can make into gifts.

I am going to start buying non perishables and long dated tins to put in christmas cupboard to keep costs down in december. Can't believe how quick this year is going, its nice to see the thread filling up.

I think I will sign up for the hobbycraft card but I am not sure where my local store is but I might see if I can talk husband into going and looking as they had some lovely sets from what I can remember too.

I think the fake candle sounds nice and yesterday I found a frosted white bottle that had fairy lights inside so it glowed and it had 'when robins appear, lost loved ones are near' and a picture of a robin on it - she is obsessed with Robins and has one that visits her garden every morning so I think she will like that.

I agree too - I think I will have to start thinking about a christmas cupboard before long. My son is now 15! :eek: and Holly is 9 and my husband Owen is a grazer so they eat me out of house and home on a regular basis so I think I will need to be well prepared this year especially since they both seem to be hitting growth spurts!

princesskitty29 · 21 July 2019 at 12:39PM

Hi all! Well a fair amount has been going on here since I last posted, DH went away on a stag do at 4am Friday morning and got home at 10pm last night so it's been full on with the kids. Somebody hit our car in Tesco car park on Friday whilst I was at a playgroup, damaging the paintwork and dislodging the panel, thankfully they had a conscience and left their details. Wiggle had his last day in Foundation, then yesterday when he was hoovering up the tiny playdough bits scattered on the floor he decided to hoover up his socks and now one is stuck in the pipe! I was grilling some food for breakfast this morning and the oven conked out, only to flicker back to life a couple of minutes later, so something’s not right there. And on top of all of that we found out yesterday that a notorious character well known in the press has moved into our road! I’m not going to go into details about who it is but let’s just say it’s not really the type of character you want living a few houses down, I don’t think they will give us any trouble themselves but we don’t know what type of people might be visiting them! They are not well liked. They’re currently renting it so hopefully it might only be temporary. Oh, and I was kept awake from 3am this morning by really loud bass, turns out there was an illegal rave going on in the woods a few miles from where I live! I’m hoping the rest of the summer holidays might be a bit quieter….

Welcome Joyfully! Nice to have you here, i've just followed you back on Instagram.

vulpix you are right! It’s one of those strange things where things can be quite stressful with little ones needing you for everything 24/7, but then one day we’ll miss it too!

Peppa ha I always think that too, I’d be pretty gutted if my turkey tasted like salmon! :rotfl: Soooo excited about the new one on Christmas Day! I love having a programme that I really enjoy doing a Christmas special.

Redrobin I love to hear what kids ask for for Christmas! I’m waiting to see what my two come up with over the years.

Sammy it sounds like you had a lovely time away. The Works always have loads of craft bits and bobs at good prices.

vulpix · 21 July 2019 at 6:11PM

My cousins 2 kids asked for a baby brother or sister for Christmas one year or failing that a dog! They got a dog!

* Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas * - It's the 2019 Christmas Chatter Thread

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