ideas needed for a cheap christmas presents

[butane123]

hello
well as the title says really struggling at the minute and looking for cheap gift ideas for my 5 year old .really worried im not going to be able to get him anything as after rent and council tax were left with not much still waiting for wtc to be sorted out hoping its done pretty soon and that they wil backpay in the meantime im planning ahead so any cheap presents that would be suitable for him please let me no last year xmas was awful we was on benefits and couldnt afford much thought this year would be different but just incase its not all sorted i need a plan so any ideas please tell me :)
were reusing last years xmas decs and tree so we have them its mainly gifts were struggling with everything hes asked for is not cheap lol all ben 10 and hot wheels

xx

[Nat38]

Have you heard of Freecycle?? Google it & see what you think!! I love it-1 for getting rid of things easily & for free & 2 for getting things for free!!
Perhaps you could ask for a few things to help you out??
Good luck

[3bunnies]

Also look in charity shops, go to ones in the nicest parts of town, people tend to donate at their nearest shop. Often you get things new or nearly new. Remember things like gloves etc are more exciting when Father Christmas gives them. Look on the bargains thread too, there are loads of ideas and tips there.

[mignonette]

Get a big jar or other container and fill it with these-

Little plastic toy animals/figures/packets of collectable stickers then surround them with sweets and other edible treats. Buy a few things each week and by Christmas you'll have a fabulous jar of excitement that he can put in his room and forage through at will. Discount stores are great for little cars/toys/ crayons/packets of art stuff and stickers....

Wrap it up with ribbon and paper.

Look online to www. BookPeople.co.uk/. They have great discounts such as a set of 3 rastamouse books for £4:99, 10 Moshi Monster books for £9:99, Lego pirate brickmaster book and 160 bricks halfprice for £9:99. Divide the book sets up into lots of parcels as that is what is exciting, not so much the contents.

The Big toy shed site has Hot Wheels Colour Shifters Piranha Attack Playset for £18:99 if that's any help

www.bigtoyshed.com/view-product.php?category=&product=2132

But keep a close eye on Argos and other retailers as they will all price competitively in the run up to Christmas.

also, our local newspaper runs a scheme whereby local people are asked to buy gifts and donate them. Local organisations then hand them out to families who have found themselves financially challenged. Can you see if your area has a local scheme like this? I know it can be hard to have to ask for this but please try, people want to help.

Does he like art? If so, you could build up a really interesting and bright art set by buying little bits each week- paper in different colours and types, crayons, felts, glitter, scissors, glue and collage bits. Find a container or box to arrange them in. Poundland has really decent art and craft supplies and don't discount independent art stores- they often discount ends of lines and have lots of little bits and pieces.

Look on Ebay for toys and look for local sellers who you can collect from. Gumtree is a good source too.

Don't forget cool little things for school that need not cost the earth- pencil cases, lunch boxes, gloves and socks, all these things can be sourced on sale at the moment- Paperchase aren't the cheapest but they do good sale discounts. And sets of things can be broken up and wrapped individually.

[butane123]

thanks for replying everyone some really fab ideas .
definately give me something to be getting on with

not sure if ours runs a scheme like that could look into it i just feel very embarrased at the moment about it all .

yes he does like art thats a fab idea was thinking something like that myself like a big art hamper type thing .


thanks xx

[3bunnies]

Right, just saw on bargain thread that Argos 3 for 2 is back on until tuesday. Is only in store, but you can reserve online tonight and collect tomorrow. There are some hot wheels and ben 10 stuff there, some are already reduced to 5-10 pounds, so for 10-15 pounds you could get 3 main presents of his favourites. Not sure if you can combine the offers, but they were offering a 5 pound voucher if you bring in an old unwanted toy or toys (doesn't matter what condition it is). You should be able to use that to bring the cost down further. If you have nectar points you can use them to pay too. On 3 for 2 it is generally best to get 3 things which cost the same, or at least make sure that your cheapest item isn't much cheaper than your second cheapest. Really hope that you can manage to find him a bargain. Home bargains also had a ben 10 dvd for 3 pounds.

[mignonette]

Matalan, Blockbusters, Asda all have really inexpensive DVD's- a few pounds for titles that have been out a few months. Just been to TK Maxx and they have lovely kids toiletries, gloves, nightwear with cartoonm characters etc, toys and art stuff for good prices.

ELC have gorgeous life like plastic animals that vary from £3 to £7 each. The jungle and safari and dinosaurs are so realistic and have great potential for imaginative play. Again, buy one a fortnight and you'll have the beginnings of a collection for him. Little kids like collections of things so wrap up individual little cars/trucks so he has loads of small gifts to open. That'll be magical for him and you-he doesn't know nor care about price. He'll just be lost in the excitement.

Don't forget to look out for dressing up outfits on sale after halloween. They aren't all monster ones- I've seen Superhero costumes and masks on sale in places like tesco/Asda.

[mignonette]

Another idea- Does he go to grandparents/aunts etc for sleepovers? If yes, look for a little backpack and in it put a pair of new PJ's, a toothbrush with cartoon picture on it, a little pair of slippers or socks, a new cuddly or little animal and wrap them all up. Tell him Santa sent him his 'Big Boy' sleepover kit - i did this with my two and they loved it.
PJ's only £3-5 from Asda/TK Maxx/Tesco/Primark etc. Slippers the same. Backpacks in cartoon designs are often on sale now kids have gone back to school.

[StateofConfusion]

If you have a £land nearby they have great books/art stuff/dvds/sweets and today ours had 'hexbugs' not the real thing but I got ds one last year and he LOVED it, so I grabbed him and dd one each for stockings today.

Facebook selling pages are fantastic, ben 10 and hotwheels are very popular so pop wanted ads on, someones bound to be shifting something.

[ENormaSnob]

Home bargains
Pound shop
Primark

All have cheap stuff thats great for kids at Christmas.

Check eBay, car boots, nct sales and charity shops too.

[Chottie]

Please don't feel embarrassed about looking into local gift schemes. There are lots of people who don't have children to buy for at Christmas, so enjoy being a 'secret santa' to someone else's.

[JoInScotland]

I found sidewalk chalk for 65p at the charity shop, as well as a little stand with egg timer to time your toothbrushing for £1 or so, a net that is meant for the tidal pool but DS has fallen in love with and plays with everyday for £1, a diary for 99p that was in his stocking and he likes looking in it, and we have written everyone's birthdays in it...... if you get a few bits and pieces each week until Christmas, you'll have some nice stocking fillers and can put together an art set, as someone else mentioned.

[hophophippidtyhop]

There's cheap hotwheels toys on the tkmaxx site at the moment. £17 for a set thats normally £35, plus some from £10 -£12 too.

[butane123]

hello everyone
thanks for all the wonderful ideas partner got paid today and have around £10 this week to get a few bits so going to nip into town and see what i can get
will report back later .
have googled local gift schemes and there doesnt seem to be any not that i can see anyway
thanks again for all the ideas xx

[stressedHEmum]

If you have a printer, print out a pile of colouring pages from somewhere like dltk or activity village, bind or staple them together into a colouring book. Buy some crayons/coloured pencils and parcel them together. You an do this with dot-to-dot and mazes as well. Then he would have a bunch of little activity books.

make some gingerbread men/cookies and put them in a tin with a bow on top. Give him his own personal Christmas cookies that he can eat at will.

buy a kids Christmas mug and fill it with a sachet of hot chocolate, a peppermint candy cane, a handful of mini marshmallows and a fun sized bag of chocolate buttons in a cellophane bag tied up with some ribbon. Snowman soup.

Charity shops are good places for kids books and dvds.

You could record yourself reading some of his favourite stories so that he can listen to them whenever he wants.

Can you knit? it's really quick and easy to knit a hat or a scarf. If you can sew, you could make a crayon storage roll ( a bit like a make up brush roll except for crayons)

Festive feety pyjamas from primark are cheap and have the added bonus of keeping kids warm in the winter.

Our Asda has a half price sale on some kids clothes and dressing up stuff at the moment.

[legalalien]

Hmm, I got rid of a lot of our stuff earlier in the year but I will see if I can persuade ds to part with the ben10 guessing game which I have just found under the other board games and which he hasn't shown any interest in a long time - will keep you posted. I have tasked a couple of my good mates with seeing whether they have anything in good recyclable condition - their ds's are a similar age so may well have some no longer loved ben10/ hot wheels / stuff for five year olds knocking around.....

[legalalien]

By the way mignonette, the sleepover kit is a great idea. Shame I missed my window of opportunity!

[butane123]

hi everyone i went to town yesterday had about 8 pound to spend after we got electric gas and paid what we needed to out

managed to get with that

jenga from b and m £1.50

4 story books from the charity shop £0.80p

ben 10 dvd £2.99 from home bargains

crayons and a colouring book £2.00


going to ring working tax credits again on monday hopefully they are a bit further on with the claim .thanks for all the ideas .
stressedHEmum thanks for all them brilliant ideas

legal alien thats really kind of you wouldnt expect that


xx

[butterfingerz]

Keep checking those charity shops, and definitely sign up for freecycle, you'd be suprised what people throw away! Especially at this time of year, people want to declutter to make room for new stuff.

Is there any carboots near you? They will be busy with people selling stuff this time of year to try and raise cash for xmas.

[butane123]

yes i will do and i think ive signed up with that now will have another look on there soon.

yes i think there is will google it in a minute and have a look xx

[butterfingerz]

Supermarkets are always full of cheap kids dvds at about £3 each, our local Sainsburys has lots of xmas themed ones at the moment.

Look at their childrens clothes in the 'sale' area, they have a rapid turnover of clothes so you can often pick up stuff for half price. Ours had loads of 'thomas' stuff at 50% off.

Do a cheap stocking (go to wilkos or poundland) and fill with cheap xmas sweets and chocolate, silly toys (bouncy balls, toy cars), bubble bath.

Wilkinsons are great for cheap stuff at xmas... I love wilkos all year round mind!

[butane123]

thanks will keep my out for some in the supermarkets he does love new dvds

i was thinking of getting him some pjs and socks things like that .

yes was going to do that just been looking as i no we have a lot of stockings so wont have to buy a new one so thats a bonus lol .

i did want to do a xmas eve basket but not sure at the moment but no he would love it some one near to me is selling reindeer food at 75p a bag so was going to get that for xmas eve for him

i love wilkinsons to :) xx

[PatTheHammer]

Was going to recommend Home and Bargins too if you have one. Loads of cheap branded kids toys including Playmobil,Polly Pocket, hello kitty and Ben 10. Board games, art stuff, dressing up and cheap kids DVDs. They also had spiderman pyjamas for £5.

[mignonette]

When DS was little we did a reindeer snack tray. My DH waited until children were in bed then chopped up a carrot into little chewed up bits and scattered them around the fireplace and hall. We crumbled up a biscuit and made a mess with it.

Next morning, the kids were both thrilled and appalled at the 'mess' the reindeer had made, spilling their carrots everywhere. Our 'naughty reindeer' reaction to having to 'clear it all up and why was a herd of reindeer in our living room' thrilled them even more. They talked about if for a long time.....

[racingheart]

Wilkos has fantastic art and craft stuff from £1. So do 99p stores. They even have large canvases sometimes, or those wooden animals you build and paint yourself.

You can request Hot Wheels and Ben 10 stuff on Freecycle. Make sure you sign up to smart areas you can travel to, as well as your local branch, as they tend to have lots more on offer, and could well be doing a clearout now in time for next Christmas.

[racingheart]

Primark has gorgeous PJs for £5. 99p stores have lovely scarves, hats, gloves, and lots of Christmassy stuff.