Presents on a budget?

[Roora]

Money's quite tight this year so I'm planning ahead with the Christmas shopping. We have parents, grandparents and adult siblings to buy for. Secret Santa or not doing adult presents isn't an option so I need some ideas that are cheap but still nice...I accept this may be the holy grail of Christmas.

None of them have any particular hobbies, age range is from 90 down to mid 20s.

Please wise mumsnetters share your ideas!

Tkmaxx is good for gifts especially ones that look more expensive than they are. I picked myself up a set of grey pearl earrings with sterling silver studs the other day for 9.99. Lovely handwash says..makeup for the teen girls. Silk scarfs etc

Thanks orange, I always forget about tkmaxx.

What do people think of hampers, possibly 1 per couple?

Sensible advice is really not to spend money you can't afford obviously.

But ...... You're not the only one guilt of that

If you buy jewellery, for example, from high-street shop, then take it off the plastic backing and wrap in tissue paper.

I was in a local shop which sold on behalf of several local crafters ..... Some great stuff that folk probably wouldn't guess the price of. But don't get hung up on the cost - buy something "nice" within your budget. Whatever you want to / can spend, spend it wisely.

What is a real waste of money is buying a cheap version of something you know someone likes. This isn't about being snobbish about labels / names ..... But if you know someone likes "X", don't automatically buy the "almost-X" version just because it's all you can afford. Buy something completely different.

Hampers are good ..... If you know it's something your recipient will appreciate. Same logic .... You could fill a hamper with, I'll be extreme here, cheap chocolate & sweets from the poundshop. But if your recipient isn't a sweet fan, only taking the odd square of dark chocolate once a year, then you've not spent your money well.

Not planning on spending money that I can't afford, just have a lower budget than normal and I'm crap at presents anyway

Doesn't help that they are all so hard to buy for would make it much easier if they had hobbies.

I'm thinking maybe a hamper with nice treats, chocs, biscuits and maybe some nice smellies.

The Book People do amazing deals, well worth checking out.

The Lisa Angel and Oliver Bonas sales have very classy things for cheap.

The Book People always have offers like extra discounts, free delivery, free gifts - and are cheap anyway. The Works and Book Depository are worth a look.

What sort of budget do you have in mind? What can you make?

You could do pamper packs if you have people who like that sort of thing - make up bag with nail files, face mask, nail varnish, toe separators, candle, bath stuff, chocolate, mini booze. Packed in a nice gift box you could do that for £10-12 easily. Pound shops sell branded nail varnish from Rimmel, Revlon, Max Factor, Maybelline etc.

For couples you could do a cosy night in hamper with a DVD (Amazon, Rakuten etc), fleecy throw (Wilko or Dunelm), bottle of wine, snacks stuff. £10-15 depending on how good you are at bargain hunting.

If anyone is a fan of Bake Off then the spin off books will be cheap in WH Smith at some point and Poundland do really nice baking stuff so you could get a mixing bowl, whisk, spatula, cupcake cases, sprinkle, oven glove etc - £10-12 all in

Right now you can buy two cheap skincare products (hand cream at 99p) and get a free nice Patisserie de Bain gift set from Superdrug (online or in store)

They might not have hobbies as such but they must have interests, likes/dislikes...

I second Lisa Angel's sale for lovely scarves at £4.20 with free postage. They come in a stylish gift envelop too. Saltdog also have men's T shirts for £5 (normally £20) at the moment too.

My sister in law does themed gifts for everyone. One year we all had hats, another year foodie stuff. Perhaps you could similar, maybe socks?

Poundland often do makeup brands (Revlon, MaxFactor, Maybelline, etc) if you have any women or teens to buy for. You could easily put together a little box full of pamper bits for under £10.

The Works often do a lot of very cool gift and book options and there is always voucher codes floating about making them even cheaper. I think if you spend over £30 standard delivery is free. I picked up a 3D virtual reality headset that's compatible with your phone for £7.00 when they had their 30% off code running. They also stock vinyls - a Christmas one for anyone who has a record player might make a nice gift

Lands End have a good sale on right now and I think code HELLO gives you an additional 20% off - might want to double check that! You can pick up all sorts of good quality clothing items and because they're quite an outdoorsy company, hats, gloves, scarves and socks are always available.

I'll third the Lisa Angel sale. Some lovely jewellery items in there and postage is free. Things always packaged nicely.

Campus Gifts is another great option and they have a big clearance section too. Free delivery on orders of £40 or more.

Keep an eye on Amazon Lightening deals and use the CamelCamelCamel Amazon price tracking website to see when items have been on offer and what their lowest prices have been.

Clinton Cards have a sale on in store right now if you can get access to one - up to 70% off some items.

Card Factory are selling 2017 calendars at 59p each or 2 for a £1.00 - the long, narrow kinds. Quality is lovely and the envelopes for them are behind the checkouts so be sure to ask for one. A tin of biscuits, bottle of plonk and a calendar always make a nice 'family' gift. They also sell ridiculously cheap wrapping paper, gift bags and cards.

The only trouble with hampers is that it can be easy to spend more as it all adds up. I think I would stick to one thing with a theme such as food or smellies rather than both.

One of dd's aunties gets us a £10 cinema voucher and some chocolates and popcorn every year. It's one of our favourite gifts as it means we book a baby sitter and go out for the evening.

I wouldn't do hampers, they aren't as cheap as you think once you add it all up

TKMaxx/Homesense have some really lovely things. I have done most of my shopping for women in Homesense with gifts ranging from £4 to £10, all of which are things I would love for myself. There are usually only a few really lovely and cheap things there at any one time, but if you have a mooch around every couple of weeks, you should find good stuff.

Saw some lovely calendars yesterday. They were on a stand in a local Shopping Centre. Prices began at around £5.00. The one I bought was around £12.00. Lovely quality and an amazing range to choose from , I think just about every subject, hobby, style etc was represented. I have bought several to send as gifts this year. And I've put one on my 'wish list' of ideas for people to get me.