Thread 6, where we all slurp drinks from the new Tassimo's whilst buying up the entire frozen stock from aliexpress

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New thread already. Uselessly not updated from last thread

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10storey Do a search on ebay for curling ribbon 500m - it's the thin ribbon that you can twizzle. It costs about £2.50 for 500m - whereas if you buy the small 10-20m rolls in the shops it costs about a pound so it's significantly cheaper to buy it in the big rolls - then you can use lots to create big twizzlers and for parcels to look nice (and it's also handy for all sorts of other stuff). There are loads of colours so it's worth looking through if you want a particular colour or two - it can look great when you use 2+ colours together. Plus they have different delivery times, depends how quickly you need it. We also have a party shop that sells balloons and the helium to blow them up - they sell this sort of ribbon for a couple of pounds for 500m too.

Typical seller (disclaimer - I picked the first one I came to that was about £2.50 and had lots of colours to give you an idea - I haven't tried this particular seller) - curling ribbon

Also do a search for Florists Ribbon 100 Yards - which is for the wider (50mm) curling ribbon that florists use and you can make great decorations and twizzlers from it - again seems to be about the £2.50 mark and you can get loads of different colours. Hobbycraft also sell this ribbon for about this price.
Typical seller (same disclaimer as above): florist ribbon

Ebay's great for other sorts of ribbons and present decorations - type in appropriate key words and see what comes up - and remember that sometimes it works out much cheaper to buy the bigger quantities. My mum was using the florist ribbon to wrap up parcels when I was little (40 years ago) and it lasts forever, I'm sure some of hers are still the same rolls that I was helping her use all that time ago (although she might well be onto her second rolls of red and green by now as she uses those colours more at christmas!).

Washi tape (aka paper craft tape) is another one to search on - it is a sort of masking tape that has pretty patterns on or is coloured and designed to be used to decorate presents and all manner of other things. Very popular in Japan so might be better deals on Aliexpress - although I've never bought it from there. price can vary - from 10 rolls for a pound to several pounds for a roll, depending on design, supplier etc. if you do your search then sort by buy it now and lowest cost & p&p first it will make it easier to find the better deals (but not exclusively as there may be bigger packs that are more expensive!)
Typical seller: washi tape - mix pack of cartoon style
or: washi tape patterns

Ok. I jusr caved in to ali express. I want to buy the toothless pillow pet but it says it doesn't ship to this country. What am I doing wrong?

306235388 Just cut in half and then using a knife carve out some potato leaving a raised triangle. Then you just have to dip it once on the paper and then turn it around and repeat IYSWIM to make a star

Forgot to say regarding the washi tape (and indeed anything else that you order on ebay that is coming from China, Hong Kong, Korea etc with free shipping) - it's worth looking on ebay.com rather than ebay.co.uk - as things are often priced at the same price in $ as £ - so 99c instead of 99p, $3.99 instead of £3.99 - which can make them much cheaper.

I just looked at washi tape again on there - and there was a set of 50 rolls 2.5m long for less than $5
There were also 5 lace tapes for $4 (£2.50)
and single rolls for 99c - which is about 65p - compared to the same things for 99p on ebay.co.uk

I know last year I made significant savings buying these sorts of things via the american site - I still paid by paypal and it sorted out the transactions - and to be honest, even if the conversion rate wasn't great, I was still benefitting - say it might work out at 70p for a dollar rather than 65p - still a big saving to me and no more effort than ordering from ebay.com

lucysmam same problem here so normally get vouchers to cinema or perhaps theatre. Check out travel zoo for some really reasonable gift experiences too.

I will get off here in a minute and do some ironing but these pyjamas are £4.95 delivered www.ebay.co.uk/itm/380941618185?clk_rvr_id=692825189114

Thanks MrsBacon, dp's mum wouldn't go for an experience type thing or theatre but my dad would so I'll have a look around and see what I can find.

At least the kids are easy to buy for atm...lots and lots of Frozen goodies and scooters will do them nicely

Gatekeeper - they're called Flip t-shirts and sold by Play.com

Flip tshirts on play

If you don't need them in a hurry, it's worth signing up to their daily offers mailing list as they regularly come up on offer with 25-50% off (or buy one get one free type deals).

mrsbacon oh yeah that makes sense!

zipzap thanks for the tips re wrapping stuff - great ideas.

Today groupon has a £20 tk maxx voucher for £12. You can buy lovely towels, frames, stationery, kitchen ware and kiddies toys/ books there...

Another wrapping idea is to buy jingle bells. I bought 500 mini ones, all different colours a few years ago. They were cheap as chips on eBay, though aliexpress might do them too.

Thread them onto coloured thread/wool/thin ribbon and wrap as normal and they look great and of course when people give their present a shake they get the tinkly sound.

Just done an amazon order and got,

The maps book
The scarf
The cheese board
An ice cream shaped memory stick
Banana rubbers

Well chuffed!

Also I found this morning a pair of earrings that I'd bought from HiHo Silver for my niece last year!

Their stuff is good quality silver at good prices btw.

oO jingley gifts sound fab! I'll be off to hunt down some super cheap jingle bells

Does anybody have a free delivery code for The Book People? I would like a couple of things from the flash sale. TIA

running try DELIVERY for free delivery on orders over £10. Not sure if it's expired yet, as I got I in an email from them which said expires soon, but no actual date on it

Book people code AFDEL10 free delivery if spending over £10

Interested in hearing if anyone finds cheap jingly bells too, fab idea!!

Also just checked my receipt and the pre-filled Disney pencil cases I got were 75p each in asda not £1.50 as marked! Chuffed x

I've just had a Joules booklet delivered and it says they are giving 25% off everything in store and online 11th-14th September. Online code is BIF25.

thank you Nickdrake and zipzap, will hang on a bit to see if any offers

Interested in hearing if anyone finds cheap jingly bells too, fab idea!!

I didn't realise it before, but me too please!

Also tartan wrapping paper and stag tags too, please :)

I can't seem to find any bell shaped jingle bells on amazon. I have found these mini jingle bells though. They're in red and gold as well from a quick look.

Off to aliexpress to see if they have anything different & will post back any finds

Estone 50Pc Vintage Bronze Color Alloy Small Jingle Bell Pendant Charm Jewelry Findings

Copy the above into amazon and it brings up 50 mini bronze jingle bells for 99p with free delivery x

My elsa dress arrived today - my niece will love it. Thanks x

Oh, and the Map books are sooo good. Thank you to the poster who posted about them!