I cant afford goddamn xmas

[Melondramatic]

Its the first time i have been really skint, with the kids for xmas. I am pissed off. Will get a nice dinner in blah blah. But really, they do LIKE having presents to open!!

Am going to get them lots of things they need anyway...a sweep of Superdrug for nice toiletries. Any other ideas? I dont want to just buy a load of cheap crap for the sake of it. But pants and socks are a bit of a kick in the teeth too!

Ha! Minorphrophet it can vary depending on how old the child is so for example for my niece when she was 4 one of her clues was a dot to dot puzzle which when joined up was a cat and water dish and the clue was under the cat food bowl! Or simple rhymes work well with little ones - perhaps ending in a reference to their favourite cuddly or a Disney dvd.
Clues get more elaborate as they get older so code breaking becomes trickier etc.

My most elaborate one last year - I had taken a close up photo of an object in the house (a painting) so it was distorted.

I sent photo to my sister who placed it on her instagram feed. My sister's insta name references a tattoo which references a book.
So the clue (which I can't remember but was pretty cryptic!) meant Dd had to work out the book, then the character, then link it to my sister and her Instagram feed, find photo on feed and then work out what the photo was... which would eventually lead her to the next clue!

I do enjoy compiling the hunt but always get anxious when I'm distributing the clues in their locations incase I get them out of sync! But as I said it is a firm Christmas fixture which is fun, and very cheap to do!

Schpock, eBay, Facebook selling pages etc are your friends. You will be amazed at what people sell because they can't be bothered to take them back.

I got DD2 a 12ft trampoline, with enclosure and spare (unused, still in its packet) bounce mat for £25 off Facebook. They'd bought it when the kids were young, put it away for the winter and couldn't be bothered to get it back out. It was literally brand new.

You have to scroll through a load of shit but there are bargains to be had if you're patient enough.

What sort of budget will you have for each girl? That will help us come up with ideas and hugs being broke at Christmas is really shite

Boots has it's seventeen range of makeup with up to 80% off, I bought £40 worth for less than £10. And free delivery to store

Maybe going against the grain here but don't get into the trap of bits and bobs a fiver here and there really adds up.
I personally like the idea of voucher books - depending on age, a sleep over and movie night with a friend, pick of tea etc means you can spread the costs.
If its a short term cash flow - very do 6 months interest free?

For the 8yo hit an NCT sale. I did both my girls (3 and 1 at the time) for almost everything with £100 at our local one last year and I literally brought so much stuff that it was piled up around the tree at knee height. Even if you aren’t an NCT member you can still get in for a couple of quid entrance fee.

Years ago I was in a similar situation where money was tight. Posted on here and got a sound bit of advice I still like to do now.

Something they want
Something they need
Something to wear
Something to read

Doesn't have to be expensive stuff.

I can honestly say I can hardly remember anything I got as a child for Christmas apart from a handful of thoughtful presents.

Will your situation improve in summer?

My brother and I both have winter birthdays and my mother always said bikes were crap xmas gifts because of the weather. One year we both got bikes at the start of the summer holidays on the understanding we would only get a token present for our birthdays, a promise of a trip, or an outdoor toy or a shopping trip for summer clothes could be put on a voucher as long as you know you will be able to deliver.

I love the idea upthread of filling a water bottle with sweets, that make it look a good present.

Light up balloons have been ridiculously popular with some teens I've given them to. I have no idea why.

If they are into crafts and making things Baker ross do some great stuff www.bakerross.co.uk/arts-and-crafts/jewellery-making

Do either cook? A cook book and something of their own, even wooden spoons that cost pennies look good.

Do you have any jewelry you want to pass on?

Bake a cake or biscuits, make sweets with them. Do things with them that you may be wouldn't normally do.

Definitely look on Facebook marketplace. There are some absolute bargains on there sometimes

Could you cut corners with Xmas dinner a little bit chicken instead of turkey, loads of veggie sides?
Have a look at marketplace/eBay/freecycle.

Are you a member of Quidco?
They are a cashback group - so every time you spend with one of their selected retailers you get between 1% and about 15% cashback. Now the cash back doesnt come through instantly but it would help you for next Christmas. Also, rather than take your cash back as cash ( ie into your bank account/PayPal) you can ‘ upgrade’ it - for example if you exchange your balance for an M&S giftcard you get an extra 6%. And it all adds up !

Do you have a JD Williams account? Go through Quidco and get 8% cash back and apply for a credit account, they seem to start you at £200. PLUS if you use the code GET25 you get 25% off non sale items PLUS there is an interest free period till March , so if you pay it off by then you don’t pay any interest. A lot of their stuff is same/cheaper than high street prices. With the Quidco 8% plus the 25% discount you can save 33%. They sell pretty much everything - clothes, gifts, electrical,household etc.

I know it’s not great advice to buy on credit but if you pay it off by March it’s a short term fix to get you out of a hole.
Also, I would advise that you do as I do ( not intending to sound smug here but it might) and buy gift cards throughout the year. I have an M&S one that I add a bit to every time I go in/past the shop. It’s amazing how fast it adds up. I also do amazon ones too which means that I can buy pretty much everything that anybody might ask for PLUS I have all food costs covered courtesy of the. M&S card. Next year I’m hoping that my Quidco account will cover my M&S purchases.

I also vote for ‘ The Works’ for good value stocking fillers and books - they are on Quidco too and 8m sure it’s about 10% cashback.

I hope whatever you do you have a lovely Christmas.
After all, if you cook the kids fave foods , have lots of ( cheap) crackers and play lots of games with them on the day they will be happy.

Thanks, there is some excellent advice and ideas here. Unfortunatrly it is not a short term problem. I will be sk8nt for ever! Its ridiculous. I earn above average wage but i am a single parent and after household necessities, there just isnt disposable income left.

I love the idea of the treasure trail. But the other thing i am short of is time. I work FT hours and have a debilitating disability (barrel of laffs, i am!)

I am definitely going to do Quidco yorkshire and you made me remembee my Tesco clubcard vouchers. I have discovered the Works already....they have suprisingly good stuff dont they

Ive seen lots of little hamper ideas

A few little smellies for pounland bulked up with flannels (wilkos have bright pink ones for 50p) or those puffy scrubby things

We wrap a smellie set, a calander, chocolate selection box and a few other similar things to bulk out the amount of presents

Nice pjs...primark seems very good for that and little slipper socks

Check out charity stores for good quality books and poundland is great for dvds

Ive also seen homemade cookie sets, so all the ingredients measured out into a jar...with maybe a cute cookie cutter or something

Last year we attached cinema vouchers to bags of popcorn...they werent real vouchers so you could say they were for next year to be used for a big family trip when money might be a bit less tight

Sorry melon

Ive just seen your latest post

Ignore the cinema voucher idea...although as my children have memories like sieves they forgot they had them and didn't use them

Your children are probably a lot more on the ball

I always think of this YouTube family. Most are probably from advertisers but still - where do they put this stuff?

I think for the 13 year old l would get one big thing with as much money as l could afford. They are more likely to compare presents at that age so having one decent present is important. 8 year old is different so stuff from the Works etc is great. My gd8 said she could buy e erything in that shop..she loves it. But a teenager is different.

Could you give them a guide book (say trip to London or whatever) and try and save a tenner a week towards a trip.

(Maybe that's still a stretch but would buy you time)

For next year, if you don't already, use topcashback for all online purchases and use that money for Christmas. I try and integrate non peeiahable food items into food shopping between July - Dec to spread the cost a bit - again that's for next year.

For stockings get thee to poundland - I noticed last October and November they had some lovely things in for girls (bath bombs, bubble bath etc all in lovely packaging).

For the 8 year old I would get - stocking:
Chocolate (£3)
Clementine (with food shopping)
Chocolate money 50p
A couple of bath things £2
Nice notepad (£1)
Fluffy pen (£1)
Bubble wand (£1)
If money permits and you need to fill the stocking you could get a magazine.

For the 13 year old I would get - stocking:
Chocolate (£3)
Clementine (with food shopping)
Chocolate money 50p
A couple of bath things £2
Nice notepad (£1)
Fluffy pen (£1)
Hair ties 50p
Bed socks £1

Obviously you could branch out if money permits. Are you able to manage £10 for each stocking or do you need better ideas?

Around here we have several free cycle Facebook groups with excellent quality second hand things - it's definitely worth keeping your eyes peeled or doing a shout out.

Honby craft is selling things like ceramic money boxes and trinket boxes that come with paints that are only £2 I have got a couple for children onjave to buy for as it's a gift and something to do. That might be nice for an 8 year old and possibly the 13 year old (if she likes crafty things).

www.hobbycraft.co.uk/advancedsearchresults.aspx?query=money-box

OP if you like the treasure hunt idea ( which I love too, totally going to steal that), here’s another couple of games we played last year.

1 Mean Santa. Wrap a bunch of stuff where it’s hard to guess what it is, make most of it non presents. I did things like a new ironing board cover as I needed one, box of headache pills etc. include a few good things that people will like ( I just did biscuits sweets etc that came in packages that my kids wouldn’t know. Put them all in the middle. Then everyone takes turn rolling a dice. If you roll a six you choose a parcel from the centre but don’t open it just yet. If you roll a one you can steal someone else’s parcel. Keep going until all parcels have been claimed. Then open them and see what they all are.

2 story game. Find a left/right story on the internet. If you google Christmas left right story you should find one. I can link but there is a good one based on “‘‘twas the night before Xmas” Everyone starts with a mystery parcel (I just used biscuits sweets again- my supermarket has a foreign food section that I got them from or Asian grocers have things too that your kids are unlikely to be able to guess what they are). Then read the story. Every time you say the word “left” you pass your parcel to the person on your left. Same for right. Go the whole way through the story and everyone gets to keep what they ended up with.

Lots of fun, not expensive and we all had fun

Can’t link, not can link

Sorry

Remember they also get presents off relatives. I was skint for years. I hated it but the kids still enjoyed Christmas. They still got stuff off relatives.

One thing I learned early on is pay for things weekly in advance. It won't help you for this Christmas but it might for next year. Things like get a pre-pay credit card and pay £5 a week on it or buy an electrical from Cash Convertors. You put a deposit down and pay weekly until you've paid the balance. Then there's park hampers and the like.

A few of the girls at work are skint. They're running bonus balls to get a bit of extra cash. They're upfront about the cause. They sell the numbers for £5 each. The prize is £250, they get to keep £45. They sell all their numbers.

If you look up Ipsos online, it's an online survey company doing research into how people use the internet. They ask you to install something on your phone and any computers/laptops/tablets you have which tracks your internet use and in exchange they give you a £10 Amazon voucher each month. That's £120 over a year you could use towards Christmas. If you're ever bored on a night swagbucks also do online surverys and pay in Amazon vouchers but its generally a lot of work for very little in return.

I'd whizz round charity shops and carboot sales you might find some good presents there and cheap too!!