Credit-crunching Christmas - please may we have your survival tips?

buy presents early so the cost is spread and think about what they actually need. if they already have 25 DS games they don't need another!

christmas food.. it is only one day.. how much can you really eat and drink.. and lets face it it's a roast dinner. You really do not need to spend hundreds of ponds on christmas food.. you will still have all the nice things.. you will still be stuffed, you will still have left overs etc! you just don't need to spend hundreds.

If your buying big electrical type things for pressies.. remember the shops want sales.. they have targets to meet.. so Haggle.. this works even more so if you are buying more than one gadget type thing.. so try and go to one shop and purchase them at the same time. If you don't get money off ask them what they will throw in for you.

It's not too early to look out for cheap deals/small toys etc now. If you buy them now it makes December a lot cheaper too.

(I've bought for everyone except DH already; all of my family, various nephews/neices etc have all got 'sale' presents).

Food, glorious food!

It's fairly cheap, it's yummy and it's easily re-gifted if the recipient doesn't like it.

For family gifts, drawing names out of a hat rather than giving a gift to each and every member of the family is a great way to economise AND avoid giving tatt something the recipient might give away, see charity shop thread.

And I agree with MP, save the Oxfam goats for tacky people who demand money as a wedding gift like the tasteless bourgeois they are .

Go to rich IL's for Xmas day - they will shower dc with crappy plastic tat lovely gifts and cook enormous dinner.

Repeat with own family for Boxing Day - or reverse if you prefer.

If you don't have any rich family, you're a bit fucked, but you can always try your dh's boss, who will hopefully reform from his stingy ways just in time to buy you a goose for Xmas dinner.

don't buy so much pointless crap

Focus on on getting together with family, friends and neighbours, rather than buying, buying, buying.

People generally prefer a mince pie and a chinwag over a crapola Boots 3 for 2 toiletries set!

Bung a satsuma in the stocking too

For young children, fill their stockings with normal things that they need - they are just as excited by unwrapping a new pink toothbrush or some nice pants as some plastic tat

at the end of the day

people will prefer a bottle of wine to a goat

and it is cheaper

sorry but there we are