Gifts within a budget - Help please

[SPR1107]

The rule in our family is, siblings and nieces and nephews all get presents, until they have a child, then their children get presents.
The problem being, at the grand old age of 28, we have racked up 15 nieces and nephews, we have 8 friends children to buy for, plus parents (who say not to, but are more than deserving), plus our own toddler son.

Anyway, finances are somewhat tight, we're by no means 'struggling' but we have to be careful. So, we've decided to spend £10 per child (DH wanted £5, I wanted £15, we met in the middle).

Has anyone got any ideas on good presents, that won't make us feel a bit embarrassed to hand over, and more importantly, the children will like.

I've managed to get started on some, but the ages I'm currently struggling with are:

Boys aged:
17
13
11
10

Girls aged:
10
9
8
7
4

Any help appreciated 

-The 17 and 13 year old boys and the 10 year old girl would get something from Boots 3 for 2, you could probably bring it in at under a tenner each so they could each have a box of maltesers too!

• Lego? For the 7,8,10 year olds? Sainsbury and asda both have deals on lego at the moment and you can pick up smaller sets for under a tenner.

-The Book People, or something similar? You could literally got through and chose them a book each, probably more than one. -Sainsbury have Disney princesses at half price (you might have to be quick!)so they're £6.50 ish, 4 year old girl might like one?

Huge (unexpected) hit last year with then 9 and 7 year olds was a craft set called Cosy Cats/Dozy dogs - basically 3 little white furry cat/dog figures a bit like Sylvanian families, with pens so you could draw on their markings yourself, and then a set to make them all little sleeping bags and eye masks.
They looooved it, and box is quite big so looks like a reasonable gift. On offer in John Lewis at the moment for £7.49 so you could get some sweets/selection box and still be under budget,dog version here

I'd probably go with gift tokens for all eg toy store/book token for the younger ones, boots/costa/maccie d for the older ones.

TBH I'd look to cut the list at this stage. Surely you can't be the only ones who didn't anticipate 15 dns plus 8 more dc when this started? It's entirely possible other family members and friends would be only too happy to knock the gift giving on the head, often people are just a bit reluctant to be the ones to suggest it!

I'd normally suggest asking the parents as most will have a good idea of what they want/need, danger is that they ask for something outside your budget.
I suspect the 17 year old will be hardest to buy for - what about lounge pants? My son lives in his wen slobbing around at home. Something practical like hats and glove sets for the younger ones?

Apart from the 4 year old, Amazon vouchers.
My grandsons 9 and 7 love them. It's a bit like an updated Argos catalogue, also keeps them entertained looking for "stuff"
4 year old will get loads of things and won't be aware who got what. I bet her parents would love a voucher for Clark's shoes.

For the boys 10, 11, 13 I would go with something fortnite themed. There's t-shirts in primark or pop vinyl have got some figures. Or possibly graphic novel - marvel, adventure time, Simpsons, Pokemon or teen titans are all popular with my 10 year old. As is beano and joke books/prank sets.

17 year old I would go with a nice power bank for his phone, headphones or online currency for his games console.

4 year old girl - something glittery, unicorn or my little pony. Dd loved the fairy tale hairdresser set of books at that age. Or Sainsbury's had a walking unicorn, unicorn ponies half price in their sale. Otherwise busy books - Disney princess or moana are good.

Girls age 7, 8, 9 I would go with smiggle or scented stationary. Or cute notebooks/adult colouring books and nice pencils (or Sharpies if parents would be ok) possibly a keyring from smiggle with their initial - dd have been eyeing them up for her 10th Birthday. Flying tiger is good for cute bits.

Teenage girls some nice make up brushes - often the real techniques ones go on offer in Superdrug or on Amazon. Or there's lovely mermaid tail/unicorn/Harry potter wand ones. Or a tote bag from Primark wrapped with a voucher.

Sorry misread ignore teenage girls advice! My 10 year old dd loves books - especially wimpy kid, dork diaries and storey treehouse - there's new ones for all of these.

7/8/9 year old might like lol dolls - my dd is 6 and is starting to get into them. Loves shopkins and other blind bag type toys.

I have girls within this age range and these have gone down well in our house. The slime actually would work for the 7 and 10 year old and probably the 10 year old boy as well they all seem to be into it at the minute. LOL dolls are big at the minute as well with the girls. The boys I wouldn't have a clue sorry

for the 4 year old
for 7 year old
for 9 year old
for 10 year old

Thank you all SO much! There's some great ideas. Really appreciate it.. 6 of them also have a birthday in December and the first week of January too! So helpful for both!

For those who suggested discussing not doing presents... I've tried it and it got blown out. I tried to suggest some form of secret Santa, but we couldn't think of a way to make it fair

Secret santa we do one where a budget is set per family for the kids. So if only child then they have all the budget but otherwise it's split between siblings. Each family spends the same. This year I am leaning towards a joint gift of a board game plus a little stocking filler each with my secret Santa budget.
Much better to have 2 to buy for than 10! Better quality gift, costs less all round and kids have too much anyway. Plus we always have a little get together with everyone there to swop gifts. Happy days. It's the fairest way we could think of, once the families kept growing and the lists started to get overwhelming.

We've managed to stick to under 10 for our niece and nephews this year. Nieces have got a small make up set each (£5 in the sale in Claire's), a notebook, stationary set and fluffy Pom Pom pen each. They're 5. Have got some football related bits for nephew.

Debenhams have a good sale on Toys at the moment, lots of nice things for under £10.

I’d go for variations on a theme - and I’ve got to say vouchers are probably the winner. If any of them are siblings I’d double up and do a £20 cinema voucher and add a couple of selection packs or popcorn.

For £17 year old £5 or £10 Costa/Starbucks/Nando’s or Amazon voucher.

For smaller ones maybe £5 book token plus selection pack etc.

Just make it easy on yourself!

https://www.debenhams.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prod107011100011713002799999-1 - 4 year old

https://www.debenhams.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prod107011100011713002793999-1 - 2 year old

https://www.debenhams.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prod107011100011713002498999-1 - one of the older boys

https://www.debenhams.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prod107011100011710708305999-1 - younger boy

https://www.debenhams.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prod107011100011713003213999-1 - 10 year old girl

https://www.debenhams.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prod107011100011711001046999-1 - 8/9 year old girl

https://www.debenhams.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/prod107011100011713001051999-1 - younger one

Not a gift suggestion but just to say my dd’s have both got travel art easles (with different characters) that GandalfTheGoat linked and they love them, they still use them 2/3yrs down the line.

For the 10 and 9 year old girls what about a nice notebook and some gel pens or scented pens. Or possibly something like a Harry potter / beatrix potter / unicorn / beauty and the beast adult style colouring book and some crayons or felt tips

4 year old an Orchard Toys game or maybe uno or something similar

Boys are harder for 10 and 11 year old maybe guineas book of world records or ripleys believe it or not

For that many kids I would definitely be trying to get items for closer to £5, at least for the younger kids. There are plenty of nice things for that price for little ones.

For the oldest two boys I would 100% send them a tenner in a card. If you really can't do that then give a £10 Amazon gift voucher.

For the youngest girls there are some nice craft sets by galt on Amazon for around £6 each. Or some secret diaries for around £7.50.

Another option might be to choose a book for each of the for around £5 and add a list choc reindeer to each.

For the 10 year old and under I'd look on The Book People website. There are great sets of books on there for different age groups. A set of books looks lovely and is a thoughtful present.

Amazon vouchers for the older ones - maybe throw in some chocolate with it?

The Book People have some amazing bargains for all ages...
Fortnite Pyjamas for boys ? Amazon have some good "Floss like a Boss" ones which my son loves...
Amazon vouchers for older ones ?

I am in a similar situation to you OP. Millions of neblings, as my friend calls them ;-)

I would normally be in favour of vouchers but a £10 voucher can feel a bit stingy for the older teens (especially if they work PT) whereas younger kids will probably be thrilled with £10 to spend on whatever they want. So you could do vouchers for the under 10's and gifts for the older ones from Boots 3 for 2.

Or even if you want to get presents for all, the Boots 3 for 2 is still a good idea as you can make it look like you've spent a bit more - could get three £15 items for £30. Or like a pp said you could get them all a £12-13 item in the 3 for 2 and then bulk it out with a selection box each which are a hit with any age. Even though the older ones would still be able to work out that you hadn't spent that much it does make it feel like a bigger gift IYSWIM.

Start looking on wowcher and Groupon in their shopping/products sections.

There are loads of awesome kid gifts under £10. I got a pair of walkie talkie spy watches for £9.99 and slime making sets for £4.99 and loads of other stuff.

Something from Lush for the older girls - a bath bomb and a bath melt or soap in a nice gift box for about £10 (you can make your own gift if works out cheaper than buying one of theirs)

You can get good stuff for girls in Tk maxi if they are into bath stuff or lip balms etc