Thread 12 - hampergeddon

[Reastie]

Couldn’t resist the title given the chatter about the hampers. Cross fingers they arrive and are fantastic or that refunds are fast and painless.

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Ooh is that tomorrow? I'll get dh to grab me a few copies from the train. Thank you.

@recklessgran as you say she's a young 10 then I would say she'll love it.

Thank you @imsorryiasked I really appreciate your opinion. I've got it in my basket and dithering because she's a really sweet little girl but has some special needs [?speech impediment, asd, dyslexia etc - awaiting assessment] which is all the more reason why I want to get it right. Also I don't want to upset her lovely parents by giving something that they might think is too babyish for her.

Cath Kidston 20% off when you spend £40 or more using code: HEARTS20 ends Sunday 10th November

Oft this year just isn’t for me I don’t think!!
Sorry I’ve missed a lot of posts, but a huuuge thank you to everyone who kindly gave me ideas for couples and teen boy presents, got lots of ideas now I’ll send over to dh to worry about!

@recklessgran being completely honest, my dd wouldn’t like that. She’s almost 11 but is disabled, autistic and learning difficulties too. She’s not the girliest at all though so I suppose if your lovely niece is then she might like it? Would it match in her room?
I’ve bought dd a counting money box, she played with one at school and absolutely loved it. Helped her try and count money too which she really struggles with, without being babyish, if that’s perhaps an idea?
Or what about a handbag/purse rather than a money box to put money in for her?

Does anyone know of any codes for build a bear?

@Sixp urban outfitters have a range of chillys bottles, and students get 25% off everything including sale with a code from unidays, would work out a lot cheaper than the 10% chillys student code. I can send you one from my dd if you like?

@Jammiebammie thank you for your honesty - I really appreciate that. What type of hand bag do you think would be good? To be honest I've never seen DGN's room. I actually don't know her very well as we only meet at twice yearly family get togethers. I am Mum to 5 DD's and Gran to 5 so I jolly well ought to be able to make a good job of this so don't know why I'm struggling!

@SheStoodInTheStorm my Amazon Christmas tree arrived last Friday. It's really lovely for the money and DD has claimed it for her room already.

@recklessgran my DD10 would like that. It's a funny age - some of them are splitting off into "cooler" groups and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't like it. My DD is still into Smiggle, stationery, reading etc so would love it!

I'm not sure I've helped very much, sorry!

@lifelongfrugaleer I’m an artist and have also bought equipment for DC and DGC. I think that the quality of most art materials from places like the works is very poor and likely to put off children.
The works paper is OK though. So are the canvases if they get into oil painting. They could use their canvases and acrylic paint which is much better than their oil paint. Be warned though that once dry it can’t be removed.
Oil paint best get 37ml size from Windsor& Newton, Daler Rowney. The small tubes don’t last long but you could get a starter set of 22ml Daler Rowney from Amazon to see how they like them.
Fabre Castell water colour paint boxes, best price I’ve found is Amazon, are cheap and very good quality paint. More like gouache than water colour though so not transparent. I use them myself.
I have very good water colour pencils from W H Smith but not sure if they still make them. Mostly their art equipment is OK.
I don’t know how much you want to spend but I would buy less of good quality than more of cheaper.
The best present I got as a child was a refillable water colour paint box. It lasted me all through school and art college. It was a revelation after the scratchy paints and crayons from Woolworths.
Windsor and Newton do good boxes which start at around £10. Not sure of the age of your DC. I would say best for a careful age 9 upwards.
Cheap paint brushes moult very frustratingly. I was delighted to find Daler Rowney Graduate brushes. They’re synthetic but seem like natural hair and are very cheap for the quality.. Most good art shops sell them or you can buy sets on Amazon.
Of course this isn’t an exhaustive list and there may be more equipment that I don’t know about.
Hope it helps though.

@recklessgran - how about a light box

I think that would go down well for most 10 year olds.

@recklessgran how about something like this, for relaxation?

@lazymoz I've just bought my mum the BaByliss diamond one, I have the same one though a few years older and it's been brilliant. I got it from Argos for £23 and when I went to boots they had it on their clearance shelf at 35

@recklessgran sorry if I confused matters more! Regards to handbags/purses dd would probably love an avengers one 😂 which would be no good to you! But when her big sisters were that age though, they liked river island/new look accessories. You can get some really cute pieces there for a good price.

Can anybody recommend a Bluetooth portable speaker? Being split between 3 so not necessarily a bargain but just want ones that people know are good - thanks

just a note for anyone who missed it in amongst the hamper chat, Hype clothing have a offer on where you buy a hoodie and get a pair of joggers free. would make a good gift for teens and tweens. link here x

@Jedstre and others looking for AirPods-esque - have a look on amazon or eBay for i12 TWS ones. They should be around £14. Mine a great. Charging case, work out of the box, connect really easily via Bluetooth. Decent battery life and decent sound too. No buttons to press. My advice is to try to find a seller who isn't wholly obviously in China as you will have to wait longer. But can't fault the earphones themselves.

Emma Bridgewater have 3 for 2 on pottery

@LutherRalph1 - check out the Ultimate Ears speakers. Ultimate Ears Boom 2 is very good (I have one and have used it daily for several years). We also have 2 UE Wonderbooms for the DDs. They are great too. They were £49.99 a little while ago on Amazon so worth keeping an eye on prices. DS also has a JBL Pulse which is now 5 years old and still going strong - no dip in quality. Really happy with them all.

Thanks for the new thread @Reastie, and all the rest!

Just had a offers leaflet thing through for b & m, thinking of making the other half's grandparents a hamper with some cheese/crackers/red wine as they seem to have some nice bits

Anyone know if I could still subscribe to get the white company brochure with codes? Was just about to order from there and it'd be a great help

@lifelongfrugaleer
Just seen the works has Windsor & Newton oil paints and oil brush sets with money off.
The only colours you really need are the primaries, red, yellow and blue, plus white and black. Then if you want you can add colours like greens, browns, ochres.
The oil brushes are bristle but you can also use the soft brushes.
They also have tubes of water colour but IMO they are wasteful and harder to use.

I have a body shop 20% off code if anyone would like it?

@recklessgran my 9 year old DDs would love a bag from Claires, River Island, New Look or Zara. Accessorise might be worth a look too. My two love wee handbags, but they also love mini backpacks and they seem to be very popular with their age group. Last time I was in Claire’s had some that looked good. Actually, M&S might be worth a look too - they often have cute things