What free gifts with magazines do you remember fondly?

[Takenoprisoner]

I loved the gifts that came with magazines. Some were of course crap, like no name mascaras and nail sets that had the magazine branding on them, utter rubbish.

Others were brilliant, I remember fondly:

Lipstick case with sugar magazine

A clear plastic tote with Elle, which I still miss

A small denim bag, again, Elle, which i still have

Various clutch bags with glamour magazine

Roomy beach bags with Red magazine

T shirts with Instyle magazine

Silk scarves, High st mascaras, bikinis

I really miss those little freebies. It's better for the environment that they don't do those any more of course.

Also, I really miss magazines from the late 90s, which is when I started reading them, they were great and many are defunct now.

I loved Elle magazine, 90s era
Real magazine
Company
More
Look
Glamour.

What magazines or magazine freebies do you remember?

NW had a free book back in 2002 that was a starsign book and it had all the starsign couple combinations in there e,g, like what Gemini Woman and Virgo man are like together etc...... that got well thumbed when i took it into the office i worked in at the time.

My most memorable gift was from Twinkle too @SirVixofVixHall - a lovely little bracelet made out of clear plastic rainbow-coloured beads. Wish I’d kept it!

A bracelet which you pulled apart to reveal a pen! It was free with Barbie magazine in the early 80’s.

I also remember the erotic novel! First time I’d read anything like that! I was hidden under my pillow for a long while.

Novel called Losing You by Nikki French. Got that free with Red.

Oh and decent diaries. Both New Woman and Red used to do them and give them away free with the December or January issues. Some of them were very pretty with expensive looking covers.

@queenjaneappro

I have that one too and use it everyday in the shower to comb my conditioner through, I was so excited to read your post

Sophies Bakery for the Broken Hearted. Got this novel free with Eve in late summer 2006

Have they stopped? I hadn't noticed! I only ever buy CBeebies magazine with their crappy toys that are such bad quality that they bend and almost always break immediately after opening!

I fondly remember getting Plasticine free with a magazine as a kid once. As an adult I think I once got a Mascara?

Mizz, Sugar, Shout- those were the days! I remember my favourite freebies being stick on earrings, glitter hair mascara, and butterfly clips. Aside from the clips, it was usually stuff I wouldn't be able to buy separately so it was really exciting to have it! Honestly the late 90s/early 00s were awesome.

I did get a load of free seeds with Gardener's World a month or so ago?

@PerciphonePuma

Have they stopped? I hadn't noticed! I only ever buy CBeebies magazine with their crappy toys that are such bad quality that they bend and almost always break immediately after opening!

I fondly remember getting Plasticine free with a magazine as a kid once. As an adult I think I once got a Mascara?

Some magazines do free skincare items, if it's a product I buy anyway or a nail varnish I'll use I buy the magazine, but they're so pricey now I don't otherwise! Freebies are definitely fewer than they used to be, I think if magazines paid smaller brands for their products it would be a win all round; great advertising and some money for a new brand, and something more unique for people who buy the magazines, but hopefully something most people would be able to use or gift so not wasteful.

I agree about most of the children's magazines, although I was pleasantly surprised with the peppa pig one as the toy was fairly robust and plenty of stickers etc inside too.

I spent a year sticking those freebies in mags along with the leaflets in Norwich

It was piece work, you had to do many an hour to get the full payment
happy days

Oh I used to love the free books in the 90s - great for holiday reading. I really used to like Elle and Marie-Claire way back when they had actual content - like long form photo journalism essays on global issues, and short stories. And genuinely interesting long articles on psychology, relationships and sex - properly informative and female-oriented, not just the pornified sex tips stuff that came later.

In the 2000s, I used to love those beach bags that came with Red and would use them all summer - they were properly sturdy, especially the ones with the rope handles. (I ordered a few things from Red Direct too, I remember some gorgeous mercurified candlesticks I bought from them!)

I also remember fondly a really nice soft (and surprisingly good quality) vest that came with Elle magazine some time in the 2000s - sort of pale blush pink with gold stitching and a racer back. Wore it as a pyjama vest for years!

It’s sad really, I used to enjoy magazines and I read Cosmo, Vogue, Elle and Marie-Claire regularly from about 14 to about 30. Especially on a journey or on holiday, they were a real treat. Then the quality and content really dropped and I just found them totally lacking in the interest they used to have. Obviously part of it is getting older and having different priorities - I’ve barely opened a magazine since I had my DD, and I care a lot less about makeup and fashion and what’s the in bar in London. But I also miss the fact that way back when, women’s magazines seemed to have actual interesting content, and now you can flip through them in a few minutes and find only ads, nothing of interest and nothing to read - no article’s more than a page or half a page!

It’s a shame as we were discussing on another thread the genuinely good female-focused sex and relationships advice those magazines used to have, and now there’s very little of that about, they’re all basically purely vehicles for selling luxury “product”. Women’s magazines as a source of advice and information seem to have died a death.

When my daughter was getting married we wanted small satin clutch bags for the bridesmaids. We had no luck until we saw Glamour magazine were giving away the perfect bag. We rushed round buying up copies ! I remember white stick eye shadow and plastic earrings from Jackie magazine .

Aapri scrub pads with MIZZ. Mags were great in the mid- to late 90’s and early 2000’s.

@irresistibleoverwhelm NW Eve Scarlet and Easy Living are all gone now. I was proper pissed off when Eve was discontinued That was a decent mag. You have just reminded me that i got a couple of decent tops free from NW in the 2000s ........including one back in 2005 which i also spotted someone on Corrie wearing at the time.

I still buy Red but its not as good as it used to be. I think it survives because it mostly comes in a double pack with Good Housekeeping.

I remember Red Direct. And the Red Women Awards they used to do every December.

I still have the comb from a Just 17 in 1985. It's been in regular use for 35 years!

@Duetorain

Spatulas from the Good Food magazine

I still have one!! Also a decent pair of kitchen scissors from them, but that was with a subscription.

Flexidisks with Smash Hits!
And I had a pair of flip flops from a magazine in the late 90s which I wore all summer until they fell apart.

girlscomicsofyesterday.com/

@Flomoon

Mizz, Sugar, Shout- those were the days! I remember my favourite freebies being stick on earrings, glitter hair mascara, and butterfly clips. Aside from the clips, it was usually stuff I wouldn't be able to buy separately so it was really exciting to have it! Honestly the late 90s/early 00s were awesome.

Oh I loved stick on earrings 😂

Y"all younger than me. I was Just Seventeen and Smash Hits after i came out of the comic phase, then moved onto More.

I also have a blue wide toothed comb. I also still have a supplement mini book that came with 19 (I think) that gave you life tips, like how to spot a bastard at 20 paces, how to make your uni halls room feel like home, basic packing list for a beach holiday. It's on my bookshelf still.