Help need ideas for cheap decentish gifts for my children!

[Donthugmeimscared]

Hi I have three children dd 13, ds 10 and ds 8 and only about £100 to spend between all three of them. I feel crap for not having more but that's my life at the moment. Any ideas?

another idea (if you will have the money going forward?) is to give them a home made voucher for a day out in 2019.
One year we did this and took DD to disney on ice, DS1 to a comicon and DS2 to a thomas day out at the steam railway. That way they had someting to look forward to but we didnt have to fork out the cash until later in the year.

Last year I gave mine vouchers as suggested here. "Invite a friend for sleepover", "breakfast in bed", "no chores for a week" and so on. It was the best gift by far - they loved them. Not in the moment mind you but when they used them they realised the value of them!
This year they have been first on their wish list!

Hi thanks for some great ideas. The £100 is for everything. I wish I had more but sadly not. My wages barely cover the rent so spare cash isn't a thing.

The book people have some fantastic gifts and bits online at the moment.
Paint your own unicorn is £3.99
Make a dinosaur world is only £8.00

Between this, primark, B&m and the works I'm sure it will be lovely.

I'm on a budget this year.

So far I've done a movie box - I found some clearance dvds and I'm going to add microwave popcorn, soda and vouchers for each child to choose a movie on Netflix for us to watch.

A sundae box with stuff to make ice cream sundaes out of.

I saw some cheap white frames so I'm hoping to find something I can personalise online and print out.

I'm going to personalise and print out a receipe for each child and get the ingredients to make it.

I'm going to hit the second hand shops in my area today to see if I can find some more ideas.

So far I'm enjoying the challenge of this!

I have similar budget but younger children. I appreciate its harder as they grow uo. My daughter likes Winnie The Witch. I found some books on Ebay second hand and they worked out at about £1 each. They are in good condition and DD will be none the wiser. She also wanted a jellycat pompom which I was able to get new with tags for not much money on Ebay.

Bought the toddler a second hand Happyland bundle on Facebook.

Just keep making notes, and browsing the web. Hang on in there. It is a challenge but Christmas isn't something you should get into debt for.

I always understood mum and dad couldn't afford to spend loads on tat.

Good luck.

£100 is £30 each and £10 for three stockings.

so stockings: satsumas/mars bars/pack of lollies/felt pens/paper etc.

Sorry if I've misread, but if youngest child likes board games you can get loads cheap from ebay etc/ 2nd hand. Deck of cards is a quid and loads of fun! (Gosh I didn't mean that to sound so bloody patronising lol).

If 2nd child likes computer games as PP said, if you go to CEX or something similar- you can exchange old dvds/ webcams/any old crap for consoles. You get a better amount of money for exchange, so you might be able to afford something 2nd hand? (I do this myself, it's checked and guaranteed and I've never had a problem). And if you can't afford switch maybe ds lite or something else retro?

For daughter, is she into a band? When I was 13 my parents didn't have much money to spend. They bought me a couple of tickets to see my favourite band and put them in a pretty but cheap wooden box. I loved it! Possibly my favourite present ever. (That was back when gigs were a tenner, but maybe cinema/alton towers/theme park/riding lessons/you get the idea).

Vouchers for lovely personal things is a wonderful idea.

Also, you don't have to spend the same amount of money on each child. Spend more on the older ones, the young one is still probably counting the number of presents over qu

Quality. Sorry.

Make a voucher to spend time doing somthing with each of them for example your dd might like to have coffee and cake at a cafe without siblings (about £10 total)my 14 dd asks for that sort of thing. Second hand shops/charity shops cam be great . Also small things (£1-3) from supermarkets,super drug ,pound land ect. Check free cycle and gumtree as well. If yo haven't maybe you could explain you haven't got much money all three c are probably old enough to understand. So much Good luck.

Flying tiger is worth a look especially for the one that likes games - I got their own versions of Dobble and Yatzhee in there for £2 each last week and they had lots of others for similar prices too. Really nice quality.

Agree with the PP that mentioned seeing if there is a toy scheme in your area - most do have them run by local charities. They really saved Christmas for me one very difficult year - I got a box with games and toys in, all unwrapped so that I could wrap them up and the kids have never known it happened. Since I've got back on my feet I've donated toys to them every year to pay it forward, and they say lots of their donations come from people they have helped in the past. It was hard to accept their help at the time but I am glad I did.

If that includes stocking fillers as well OP take a look in Poundland if you have one near you they have really nice books,dvd's and cd's all for £1 each they also have lovely stationary in there if any of your DC are into that.

They also have some lovely ceramic ring holders in there and nice bubble baths and body sprays and they have make-up,jewellery and nice sweets and biscuits so if you used somewhere like that you should be able to do they're stockings without spending a fortune.

I'm another one who's bought some presents from Studio and I've been surprised at how nice the stuff was.They also offer the option of paying later just like a regular catalouge.

I got a pony monopoly set in a secret santa last year. It's never been opened. If I can find it I'm happy to send it if you think your youngest would like it?

Look out for flash vintage clothes sales on twitter if you’re in a major city when all items are £1. But only buy items you can put on a 40 degree wash as they have a musty . Got myself a beautiful embroidered velvet jacket and cute angora sweater yesterday

I just wanted to say thank you to you all, I was literally in tears earlier tonight about Christmas, and I know this isn't my thread, but the links you have posted have just made me feel SO much more positive. I have done DS stocking I think from the toysforapound site, and I am going to look properly tomorrow at the other links and come up with a plan. Thank you everyone and op for starting this thread - may our next christmas's not be quite so financially scary eh?

OP
I sent you a PM

I agree budget £30 each and £10 for cheap stocking fillers.

Stockings I'd go somewhere like home bargains. Choc coins, chupa lolly, flump sticks, etc. Bubble bath/felt pens/ stickers/ 99p bath bomb/ cheap torch/ etc.

For their £30 each (stick it in named envelopes) I'd go places like poundshop, cex, primark, the works. They all do cheap gifts.

Things like headphones, slime, playing cards, dominoes, books, dvds, T-shirt each of something they're into, etc. My son is 13 and likes the men's primark licencsed stuff eg Mario socks, pants, backpack, tshirts, and so on.

I'd focus on family time having quality time with them eg board games together, movie and popcorn, geocache walk, that kind of thing.

The Works do book sets for around 10-15 each, usually 8 - 15 books in a set. e.g. Goosebumps box set for your 8 year old.

They usually do lovely colouring books, craft sets and stocking fillers too.