Stupid budget...how do I maximise, or cheat convincingly?

[WetDogLovesHubert]

Rather blindly DH and I set a £10 budget for buying each other something this year. Now I'm beginning to panic as I would like to get him something not tokenistic. Ideas would be most welcome, or suggestions on how to cheat, and spend more without being obvious I've previously bought him a cookery class, jumpers, books, but would like to do something different if possible.

What are his interests?

How about putting a £10 deposit down on something as a way of cheating?

I like the deposit idea, thank you!

In terms of interests, cooking is the main one but our cookbook collection is already too bloated (if you'll pardon the pun!)

Check out www.thespicery.com. Their sale section has little spice/recipe lots for as little as £1.50. You could get a bunch of these (well 6!) plus a £1 raita kit and it all looks quite a lot. I have three boxes of stuff from there for dh for Xmas! I bought a subscription for a friends birthday recently and she gave it rave reviews.

My best ever present for DH, when we were truly skint, was a coconut. He loves them but somehow not what you buy every week so a bit special -here anyway

Have a look in TK Maxx - they have all sorts of random things there for much less than the rrp.

Not sure how to maximise or cheat convincingly but what about buying a tiny amount of a really really expensive ingredient that you would never in the normal course of things spend money on as part of your grocery shop e.g. truffle oil / truffles / saffron / caviar. Maybe wrap it up in a jewel box?!

DH is into cooking and his favourite ever gift was a garlic press that peeled the garlic - it's either lakeland or pampered chef.

Or are there wine clubs or food specialists where you pay a monthly direct debit and get lovely things sent to you? So you could put the first month's payment down...

We loved the gift we were given from the spicery last year - but do be aware you have to buy all the non-spice ingredients so there may be some additional expense on top of your regular food bill.

TKMaxx have some nice leather belts and wallets reduced from IRO £30 down to £10 - might be worth a visit if you have one locally. That way you could also have a dig through their cookware. I got my DSis a lovely Le Crueset pestle and mortar from TKMass last year (she had asked for it) - that's the sort of thing you might be able to add some herbs and spices too to make the present look bigger.

How about a cheese making kit? He presumably wouldn't know you'd gone a bit over budget?

One year when I was specially skint I made some homemade chutney - I made 3 jars and tagged the bag with "Nigella saved Christmas" in fact the recipe was probably a Nigella/Constance Spry/Jamie recipe - together with a gourmet cheese wrapped in waxed paper with a cheese knife might squeak under a tender.

One year I bought a whole bunch of favourite things eg. Soap, moisturiser, chocolate, mini bottle of Baileys and put it in a Christmas sock. A variant of this was buying a bin (!) from Muji and packing it with shredded paper and doing the same like a lucky dip, except everyone thought a bin was a slightly odd gift to buy (it was £30!)

Have you looked on Groupon? Or you could always say you got something from Groupon?

Can you not agree to raise the budget a bit? He may be struggling to find you something nice too. Or put the money together for a shared treat?

An IOY voucher for something he really likes!

I love you guys The wine/food club idea may be a winner. Thank you! Please keep suggesting if there's anything else.