AIBU to ask what your best second hand / charity shop Christmas gift bargains have been this year?

[AdultHumanFemale]

I listened to You and Yours this afternoon where Winifred was talking about how desperately many people overstretch financially at Christmas. It was so upsetting! So much pressure to buy for large numbers of people, and buy things which are really expensive, even when money is tight.
I buy the majority of our Christmas gifts second hand and am pleased rather than embarrassed about it. So I thought I would start a thread about second hand gifting successes to celebrate thrift and the 'second R'; Reuse.
I'll kick off:
My best second hand Christmas gift bargains are
-two Wentworth jigsaw puzzles
-a gorgeous pair of barely used knee-high leather Converse boots
-a box of Magformers Curve (so excited!)
-a vintage trapeze
-a compact digital camera
-a whole set of 10 books in a series DC1 wants
-two ridiculously frilly and frothy Monsoon dresses for Christmas Day
-a beautiful whittling knife with a hard leather sheath
All stocking fillers apart from chocolate and activity books charity shopped.
Anyone else?

A boxed set of books by Mark Gatiss and NCIS series 1-8. Also got a pair of 1060’s printed music score books by Tom Lehrer. Oh, and the Kinky Boots scores that looks like brand new!

Not sure I would buy prezzies for others from Charity shops but love them for myself. This year I have bought a lovely party dress for my do, an elf T Shirt for ds’s school elf run and a Christmas pudding tea cosy. Love charity shops!

1960’s printed books!!!!!

Loads of Christmas clothes for my DD - all been worn once or twice I reckon!

No no. All those books from 1060 😂

Catsmother66 in the past I’ve little choice! Dd soon realised if her books and DVDs came second hand she got more presents for her money!

Some beautiful gin glasses for myself
A brand new silk scarf for elderly neighbour
Books books and more books

I saw a post where someone had put together a load of dressing up costumes for their child purely from charity shopping. Things like a skirt and floaty scarves, a cape and a waistcoat, and a fluffy animal costume. It struck me as a good idea if you've got time to go to charity shops

Not specificlly for Christmas but this year charity shops have been most excellent to me.
Duplo train set
Duplo dinosaurs
Loads of Lego Friends sets
Old Lego from the 90s
Baby Annabell clothes
Almost every book I have bought this year
Nintento Games
Futurama dvds
Un used craft sets
Un used Airfix sets
Playmobil sets
And loads more I could of bouI had space.
I love charity shops

4 Ercol ‘all purpose’ chairs from the tip shop

If you’ve got time to go to shops
Then you’ve got time to go to charity shops.
It’s a shop,

A fabulous railway book (RRP £30), brand new for £3 for my train mad Dad.

Unused White Company jumper £5 for myself.

DS got a pair of new Next trousers for his school prom for £5.

To be honest I only ever shop in charity shops all year round, if you’ve got the time & energy you will find nearly everything you want. Helps that I volunteer in one too

I bought a pair of Church’s Ketsby boots for DD for £3.

They didn’t fit her, so I sold them on eBay for £170.

Foslady, no offence intended. Most of my clothes, bags, household stuff comes from charity shops, I love charity shops and have converted Mum and DH. Don’t think my sister would be so keen though!!!!

No offence at all Catsmother66 -I’m just glad I’ve saved a fortune over the years!!!!!😂😂😂

Travis , I do most of my second hand shopping on eBay, Gumtree or local Facebook selling groups. It probably doesn't take much longer than ordinary online shopping, but granted, I probably start looking out for stuff earlier. I did a charity shop trawl in town for their stocking fillers last weekend, didn't take more than a couple of hours.
Symphony , well jel about your Ercol chairs. I would love to have a tip shop here, but our local authority doesn't do them. What a waste! Over the county boundary, about 10 minutes away, there is one, but one can only shop there if bringing proof of residence in X county.
Ragwort , I only shop second hand too, bar underwear and white poloshirts for the DCs' uniform. I suppose it helps if you live in a place which is well served by charity shops or local buying and selling platforms, but as I said above, however remote you are, there's always eBay.

travis that's true but whilst I can be certain of finding, for example grey boys jeans in a size 7-8 in H&M, I could look in 10 charity shops and come away empty handed.
I think it's a great idea though OP (it's just not for me)

I bought DS2 a littlr tikes activity centre brand new and sealed for 20 quid off fb marketplace.. also got him some click clack cars for £3 from our local charity centre. I'm also gifting him his big brother's rocking horse!

Travis , I just realised I misinterpreted / misread your post, thinking you were saying that it takes too long to visit lots of charity shops in search for a particular thing. Apologies.

travis I think your comment was aimed at my post where I said "great idea --if you've got time

-- I could have been clearer, save you using common sense

Creating a dressing up box from items found in charity shops is a great idea if you've got time to potentially waste by going into charity shops looking for a small child's waistcoat/pirate hat/white fluffy jumper/magic wand that they might or might not have in stock. Some people find it quicker and more straightforward to enter a shop where they know the likelihood of a particular item in the correct size is in stock or, indeed, search online and order the exact item they need.

It's not quite as catchy as if you've got time but I hope that has helped you understand.