40+ Christmas MoneySaving tips

24

Comments

  • rainmac
    rainmac Posts: 7,063 Forumite
    Home Insurance Hacker! Cashback Cashier
    How about a pot of gold for a bloke Secret Santa - a bowl filled with chocolate coins and a scratch card or two. I've made these for my sons teachers and a couple of people for little Xmas gifts. You can choose how much to spend on it by what bowl you buy, how many coins, scratch cards etc. There are some pics on the gifts for teachers thread and crafty for christmas. My bowls were deep so I shoved screwed up tissue paper in them to bump them up so I could use less chocolate coins.

    HTH
    :wave: If you want the rainbow, you've got to put up with the rain :wave:
  • verity2
    verity2 Posts: 2 Newbie
    Bluewater in Kent has a free Santa this year with Gift and you can book a slot on line so no 2 hour queue!!
  • Aaagh
    Aaagh Posts: 181 Forumite
    sandy2 wrote: »
    I hate 'secret Santa'

    Me too. I joined one for a baby club I was in on line, bought a gift (an Anne Geddes calendar, which I thought was nice and appropriate to the group), paid the postage to send it off (not recorded as I'm an MSE) and then got slated because she said it never arrived.

    Never again.
  • nuttywoman
    nuttywoman Posts: 2,203 Forumite
    Combo Breaker First Post
    Aaagh wrote: »
    Me too. I joined one for a baby club I was in on line, bought a gift (an Anne Geddes calendar, which I thought was nice and appropriate to the group), paid the postage to send it off (not recorded as I'm an MSE) and then got slated because she said it never arrived.

    Never again.

    How awful for you, and what a horrible woman! :mad:
  • iturner2
    iturner2 Posts: 21 Forumite
    Passiflora_Polar_Bear wrote: »
    You can buy cellophane in many designs from florists for about a quid a metre (my florist was even more generous as he'd never been asked before- though I dare say that will change now!)
    P.s. Just to add that this cellophane is not recyclable- looks nice but horrible to the environment.


    Cellophane is made from cellulose (wood etc) and is compostable, so put it in the compost and help your garden if you have one.
    ==========================
    Won a Lego minifig
    Won a ET Bluray
    Won £1000 Ridley Bike
    Won 4 tickets to we will rock you, overnight stay at 4* Cavendish, meal and cupcake class
  • jsg2
    jsg2 Posts: 28 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    I think that the following section -

    Bah humbug! Delay Christmas

    Well, delay it for a few presents at least. Don’t feel forced into giving huge presents in time for Christmas. If the gift is likely to be one that’ll be reduced in the sales, eg, a new flat screen TV, computer or dress, why not simply send an IOU note with a promise to buy by mid-January.
    should include a reference to the fact that VAT goes up to 20% in January - so delaying purchases until January this year may not neccessarily be the best policy...
  • morgansmummy1809
    morgansmummy1809 Posts: 21 Forumite
    Last year i bought some blank calendars online (which were reasonably cheap but i am not sure where from) and i printed out photos of people in my family, cut them out and put them pictures on the month of that persons birthday, for any months that there werent any birthdays i just put pictures of all the family with a theme of that month .... eg everyone dressed up for halloween in october, opening xmas prezzies in december etc etc.
    Jazzed it up a bit with glitter and they looked lovely. My family loved them and said that it was the most thoughtful prezzie they got. It did take some time for me to do, but everyone loved them and it was well worth it.
    :j Working hard to sort out my debts :beer:

    :money:Planning my wedding for 2012 the MSE way
  • tingly
    tingly Posts: 236 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Slightly off post, but definitely money saving. It occurred to me a couple of years ago that if you have to rack your brains to think of what to buy someone, the chances are they dont need anything anyway, otherwise it would be easy ie. buying a coat for someone who needs one.
    so on that theme, non of my family now buy anything ,except for the kids, and if I do feel like buying something, i have found a homeless charity near me, who really do know what they need buying for them, coats, hats , bathing stuff etc.
  • SurfBowlSC
    SurfBowlSC Posts: 459 Forumite
    Christmas shopping is almost complete.
    Just got 2 lego items to get for 5 year old and a netbook for 8 yr old daughter.
    Money already in place, so just a case of watching for price drops and grabbing.

    We make a point of saving a minimum of £50 per month for Christmas, starting from January each year. Ensures we can then get things as and when they are cheap and always know what's left to spend.
  • SurfBowlSC
    SurfBowlSC Posts: 459 Forumite
    Passiflora_Polar_Bear wrote: »
    Our office is organising a £5 or £6 secret santa - gifts to be opened at our Christmas lunch (which also costs!!) All this is unwelcome expense especially as I've just started working there practically voluntarily. I can make felt jewelry for a woman, but has anyone had the experience of buying secret santas for guys they don't know at all well?? :confused:

    Play.com are always good for £5 items.
    2 years ago I ended up pulling out a woman who had been in the company 2 weeks! Fortunately Play had those squishy cushion/next rest things......
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