Help! Wonderful Christmas but I'm skint

[bikerlou]

Hi everyone
This is going to be the best christmas ever. My christmas hating husband has left me so instead of his usual humbuggery I've accepted an invite to a big family do and it's going to be a,azing the full works.
Problem is I'm totally skint because of the separation and whilst my relatives will not expect much I do need to make a big but inexpensive effort with gifts.
I'm going to make some sloe gin for the hosts with sloes I picked myself and wholesale gin and get some pretty shot glasses, one each so that's one down.
but there are children and other adults too and I'll need to buy either inexpensive gifts or make things.
Any ideas much appreciated.

Obviously you have a tight budget but if you want to "buy" gifts, not sure if you have. Tiger store near you but they do so great kids stuff that is not hugely expensive? uk.flyingtiger.com/en-gb/catalog/toysandgames

Failing that always chocolate - always remembered by kids 😀

Should have rtt see tigers been mentioned already :) for adults they do lovely tea light holders and other stuff! Best Xmas present from dh last year from there was a week by week calendar that has ensured everyone got to the right place and was about £3 (ok I'll admit I bought it for me from dh 😂)

Camel camel camel the Amazon price tracker is your friend. As is the Xmas bargain threads on here. There is a lovely adult colouring book for £1.50 instead of £14.95 at the moment. Sorry can't link but if you ask on the bargain thread someone will. I have brought one to give to a tween and it is gorgeous and looks very expensive. But it would be a perfect present for a tween/teen/adult with an artistic flair

was just coming on to mention the colouring book!I posed it on the bargain thread yesterday. It is the Johanna Basford Secret garden artists edition. I got one for one of my dd4, it is lovely and would make a great gift for adults or older dc.
www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1780677308/ref=gbps_img_s-3_8647_a88feb2a?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_p=981978647&pf_rd_s=slot-3&pf_rd_t=701&pf_rd_i=gb_main&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_r=G1FGJMR8JBBKSEY9Z0FJ

B&M/Home Bargains have massive bags of Epsom salts for £2.50. If you add a few drops of essential oils, some baking soda and a drop or two of food colouring you can make lovely bath salts for very cheap. Loads of recipes on Pinterest

If you do breakfast hampers (tea/coffee, homemade jam etc) then homemade granola can be very cheap to make - tablespoon of nut butter, two tablespoons of honey, a load of rolled oats and chopped nuts, melt the butter and honey, stir in the oats and nuts, spread on a baking sheet, bake in the oven for 20 minutes, then when cool, break it all up and add in dried fruit. You can all the ingredients in Poundland or B&M and you can make it extra Christmassy by adding dried cranberries and a bit of cinnamon

If you look on Pinterest there are loads of ideas for DIY gifts.

If you post your budget and general info about the recipients (I.e. Family - 2 adults, 1 primary age DS) we could be more helpful

Also you could take advantage of the Hush referral codes and get a nice candle for £2 (use a referral code and then oct2016 for free delivery) and pair it with home made bath salts for a nice relaxation gift.

There's a really good Jamie Oliver recipe for home made hot chocolate powder so you could make jars of that and add home made biscuits, mini marshmallows, mini booze bottles...

If you can get to Superdrug you can buy 2 X little hand creams (99p each) and get a free Patisserie de Bain gift set - also available online. So you could give the gift sets as is and then make little manicure sets with the hand cream and cheap stuff from Poundland - you can get pretty nail files and brand name nail varnish in pound shops.

Movie night packs are really easy to do - DVD from Poundland, bag of pop corn kernels (I buy big bags and then split into self seal cellophane bags), a paper twist of cinnamon sugar for the pop corn, and a cheap throw/blanket (£3-4 in Superdrug, wilkinsons, B&M etc)

Baking kits are also easy - oven glove with baking utensils inside or one of the nice mixing bowls from the Jane Asher range at Poundland with some baking utensils or cake decorating stuff

The pound shop is your friend....

One of my friends is 30 this year and I am wrapping up 30 presents for her. The stuff I've found in the pound shop is brilliant. I've bought her a picture frame with a photo of us which would be a great present and shouldn't cost more than £2.00 for the photo and frame.

Like a PP mentioned, the Jane Asher baking stuff is great if you have a family member who is in to that sort of thing.

The Works had crafty presents for kids in last week and they were 2 for a tenner. So that along with a tube of jelly tots would be £6.00.

But definitely have a go at making homemade sugar scrubs, that would be a gorgeous present.

Have a lovely Christmas OP

I did movie night hampers last year for the adults.

I got cardboard popcorn boxes and filled them with a packet of microwave popcorn, an Amazon voucher, sweets and a candle that smelt like popcorn. You could stick miniatures in there as well. Wrapped up with cellophane they went down really well.

I've also bought 3 for 2 stuff from boots and split it to make a little mini hamper for token gifts for people I didn't know (partners family when we invited around) so the had a Candle, miniature baileys, baileys chocolates and a bath bomb. Wrapped in tissue and cellophane with ribbons and they worked out around £4 a head for 5 people I think.

I recently bought this from lakeland www.lakeland.co.uk/15263/Home-Cook-Marmalade---Prepared-Lemons-850g

3.59 and it makes 6 jars, bargain. Id also make some cookies or gingerbread for kids and wrap it in christmas celo, and maybe a banana loaf and ginger loaf for the adults. Ive also got a family recipe for scottish dumpling (clootie dumpling) if your interested although more effort required in making it.

Book people doe slots of great offers and some great bargains on there.

Your gin sounds fab - what about some homemade sweets ? The pound shop and matalan have some lovely cheap christmas mugs - you could gift wrap as they are or add some sweets for the children and cellophane wrap.

Tiger do cheap finger lights for kids and lots of fun stuff.
Depends on ages but last year I bought some sparkly nail varnish from Next on 342 offer and put it with a lipgloss for friends teen daughters,

Have a great time and enjoy away

Some great ideas on here. I'll definitely be using some.
Can I ask, where's the bargain thread please? I can't seem to find it.

notabee it's currently called "11B - not sure what I'd do with a crochet dildo" or something like that.

One cheap ish idea is a mulled wine kit for a household.

Buy the spices in bulk - Asian supermarkets are great if you have any near you.

Make up sachets at home - find nice recipes online (I do one from an Irish Times suggestion years ago that I have lost - involves something like 2 cinnamon sticks, 3 star anise, about 10 cloves, 5 peppercorns, a couple of cardamom pods and a dried orange peel (just peel from an orange you want to juice anyway using a veg peeler and dry in a cool oven) and some brown sugar - there may have been a suggestion to add a "glug" of orange juice when heating the wine with those spices).

If you get a small piece of muslin, cheap thin cotton (maybe even an old white or bleached sheet or pillowcase that is getting binned) or similar, cut it into squares and put the spices into the middle, tie with string.

Tie the pouch onto a bottle of red wine (can use pretty cheap wines for this as the additions and heat change it considerably!), and there you go.

Make up spice mixes to suit different households - so a curry mix, or a steak rub, or a medditeranean herbs mix. Buy the ingredients in bulk (not masses - just a decent sized bag of individual spices and herbs) and make up your mixes, present in nice clean jam jars (recycled and gleaming clean) with a ribbon and HM tag explaining the use.

I've done the movie night hamper before and it was well received - family friendly DVD, bag of popcorn to cook/pack of microwave popcorn, bottle of naice lemonade, all presented in a (cheap but colourful - Poundland type) plastic bowl that popcorn can be served in. I've also done it with family friendly board games, and a friend did an adult version with poker chips, cards, popcorn, 6 pack of beer and bag of posh mixed spiced nuts which went down very well with a grown up family.