Thread 13 - I do not need a baby for Christmas! I do not need a baby for Christmas!

[Reastie]

Thank you @Barbarara for the title!

Just a reminder you can watch the thread by clicking on ‘watch this thread’ at the top of the first message. It’s much easier for everyone than so many place marking every time which can use up a fair chunk of each thread to scroll through

Referral link here . Use this to post any links where you can refer a mner and you or both of you get an incentive. For ease and fairness please don’t post these on the main thread.

Affiliate Advertising: Mumsnet carries some affiliate marketing links, which means we earn commission on sales of some products when users click through a link from the site. Our editorial content is NOT influenced by affiliate partnerships. You may not post affiliate links without the prior permission of Mumsnet.

Here’s Barbarara’s instructions on doing clicks links:

Open double square brackets
No space
Paste link
Space
Name of link
No space
Close double square brackets

Like this
[[www.amazingbargains.com bargain ]] but with no space after/before the brackets.
If I do it again without the extra spaces only the word bargain will appear in blue

For more links etc see message 2

@Coldilox m&s have a peter rabbit onesie

TOYS20 code might work with it for a bit extra off.

Pinkjam the Lego castle is £36 in Argos at the moment,may also work with further 20%off code-not in stock near me tho. Luxplus,the peppa camper van was a huge hit in our house and played with for a long time.

@rockabye
What about this powerbank for under a £10

Or a beard maintenance kit?

@Tigger83 What about some Lanka Kade animals from Yes Bebe? Could get a decent amount for that price! Code “babble” will get you 10% off too.

@Coldilox m and s have some bunny onesies-also 2 for £25 at the mo if you happen to need another makes it good value (I’m currently trying to see who I can legitimately buy a onesie for as a present as I need 3 for DS...)

Not a bargain really, but I saw a marmite puzzle in Waitrose today which I have ordered for DH who has suddenly developed an addiction to Marmite on toast - he is very hard to buy for but I think it will go down well!

Marmite puzzle

Sorry realised that’s already been mentioned upturead-hadmt refreshed page

If there's anyone else out there that, like me, wraps the stocking presents, and often finds themselves trying to do it quietly at stupid o'clock in the early hours of Christmas morning, there's a short cut that I've found really useful the last few years...

Buy a stack of little paper bags; the candy striped ones that you would get from the sweetie shop. I have some red stripe 5x7" ones and some larger green spot ones to be festive. Most stocking presents will fit into these size bags - once in just scrunch the present into the paper and it stays. You don't need to spend time cutting paper, finding the end of the sticky tape and so on - just scrunch it in, might need a bit of a twist and done. Occasionally there's a slightly bigger present that doesn't fit (say a ruler or a rolled up comic) but you can use two bags, one over each end and scrunch together. Might need a bit of tape to hold the two bags together but it isn't likely to be for many of them. And you can get bags in loads of different sizes so you know the sort of size of your presents so you can get bags to work right for you. And once the dc start to realise they often tease open the bags rather than rip them open, so I'm able to pick them up at the end of the morning and save them for the next year.

I just looked on ebay to get the best prices at the time for the bags - they seem to fluctuate all the time but a typical example are these 200 bags for £4 or these 100 7x9" bags for £3.75 - plus added discounts if you buy more.

I bought 200 small and 100 larger bags and do 2 kids' stockings and a couple of adult stockings every year, sometimes more. These have lasted 2 years so far and I'm not even half way through. Plus I have some to use again. I know it's not quite as cheap as buying cheap wrapping paper but they weren't particularly expensive, particularly when averaged out over 4+ years. They have been worth every penny for the ease and speed of doing the task - particularly for all the time saved!

Great tip wibdib I’m contemplating three different coloured bags so one for each this will make life much faster!

Thanks for all the leap frog ice cream cart reccomendations. I've caved in and bought for DS for Christmas. Argos had emailed me a £5 off a £40 spend voucher too so was able to use that too alongside the 20% code.

The £5 off vouchers are personalised but DH got one too so worth checking your email accounts. Annoying he has deleted his and I need to do another order. Not impressed! The theme of this thread would be completely lost on him

Does anyone know if M&S ever offer discount on their hampers? I have my eye on one for my aunt and uncle

@Themazeoflife & @moonbabyandthebeast Thank you - have checked but no stock anywhere near me. Even checked stores an hour away and no stock lol. And won’t let me order for home delivery either. Thank you though

DS has written his list and most of it was completely expected and manageable but he threw in a couple of curve balls.
1 he would like real fossils and real Dino fossils. Obviously replicas are fine because I don’t plan on raiding a museum or taking up paleontology. I think he’ll want something that clearly resembles something like a decent sized tooth. Triceratops are his favourites but it seems to be about £40 for anything decent sized and he was hoping for a set
He would also like a nerf gun that has a stand attached. The only one I found like that was £100 which is definitely not happening. I refuse to spend £100 on improving his accuracy which is usually used to shoot me. Any help hugely appreciated

Fueled- if you have a tiger shop near you they have good ones in I think only £5

Also if you have a museum near you the gift shops do. I should have said it’s the mini kits you can excavate yourself

Cardiff museum shop definitely have fossils eg ammonites, and they have shark teeth but I'm not sure about dinosaur fossils. Bristol museum shop has similar things I think.

I keep wavering over the ice cream cart. But I watched a video and thought it might be a bit young for my DD who will be a four year old?

@Coldilox I got this one for my dd a couple of years ago from amazon. Can’t link as I’ve got the app but just type in bunny onesie and it comes up, I think it’s £12.99. It was lovely, really good quality.

Green and blacks taster box back down to £5.50 at Tesco's....I've been waiting for it to drop

Thanks @BadgerFace (I think it as you, many pages back) for explaining the yoghurt pots!

And I can second the Leapfrog Scout being a good present. My DS has one as a baby, and still plays with it now and then at nearly 4.

Playmobil.co.uk has some bundle deals
Ordered the pool ones for DC and is great value compared to other shops/individual sets
Quite a few different bundles available

www.playmobil.co.uk/on/demandware.store/Sites-GB-Site/en_GB/Search-Show?q=BUNDLES

:Fueledwithfairydustandgin you might have some luck at finest fossils. I have used them for minerals before and they've been good. I lije them as they usually show a photo of the actual one they will send you. I haven't had a proper look but they had pretty impressive sharks teeth for a few pounds.

www.finestfossils.co.uk/fossils

@Fueledwithfairydustandgin Ebay is your friend for nerf stuff.

Does he want a bipod or tripod stand? If bipod then you can pick up one of these for a few pounds which will fit any of the modulus guns. If it's a tripod one then you'll probably get a nerf havoc inc stand for about £20/£25.
I got DS a digital target a few years ago to save us from more bruises - he's used it twice my arse is apparently easier to hit

Hi not a bargain but I'm looking for the lol omg crystal star if anyone has seen it in stock anywhere as it's at the top of my little girls list x