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!

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[[www.amazingbargains.com bargain ]] but with no space after/before the brackets.
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anyone got a IWOOT code? saw something that would be good for the secret santa

coldilox Sometimes they sell £10 ones for a fiver but i think its with a certain spend so you can't just buy a gift card. I collect the pokemon ones so often will buy the card so the next one is £5 cheaper.

@hotchocdrinker - have you tried the velvetiser? I think I'm going to do it as it's a decent gift & has 'play with me' bonus points for Christmas Day though. That hot choc looks good - have you a 2nd fave to recommend?

@Fueledwithfairydustandgin just spotted this on Superdrug www.superdrug.com/Gifts/Gifts-For-Kids/Jurassic-World-Dinosaur-Excavation-Set/p/781084?singleResultSearchPage=true

Not fossils but might be good for a stocking filler?

Thankyou have pre ordered it with very x

Hobbycraft have half price hampers, half price deep frames, loads of 342 gifts. Advent calendars on offer tomorrow.

Smyths have started their Black Friday offers too.

The colouring books came today and are huge. Well worth the £4 odd!

@username2020sername FLASH20 is popping up on iwoot website!

@wibdib great tip on the paper bags, thanks, I’ve just ordered some red ones. I usually wrap stocking gifts from Santa in tissue paper to make it very clearly different to ‘normal’ presents from us or other family. Paper bags will make it much easier and faster, but still look different to wrapping paper.

@torthecatlady I thought they'd go through the letterbox and was chuntering as he'd knocked and DS was asleep, I wasn't expecting the box to be so heavy and nearly dropped it! Haven't had chance to open it yet though!

@Fueledwithfairydustandgin we got some real fossils from an online shop called everything dinosaur they were very helpful and service was fab. They sell replicas plus real for a few pounds www.everythingdinosaur.com/product-category/learning/fossils/

@buckeejit sadly I haven't tried the velvetier - I wish I knew someone who had one so I could try it before committing a huge amount of money! I'm not a big fan of flavoured hot chocolate, and find most of the powdered ones not very nice (I seem to remember that quite a lot of the Whittard ones are powdery, whereas the Charbonnel & Walker one is literally flaked chocolate. I have tried grating my own chocolate with delicious bars of chocolate which I love to eat, but it's just not the same!) One not-quite-so-posh one I like is this one:

www.waitrose.com/ecom/products/green-&-black's-organic-hot-chocolate/030606-14949-14950?gclsrc=aw.ds&&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIp9fuo7Pl5QIVwcreCh1-QgqnEAQYASABEgKqb_D_BwE

My teenage children like it too and it's not as pricey as the Charbonnel.

@PaddingtonBearHardStare you will not be disappointed! They're going to make a great gift for my friend, but could be divided up into multiple gifts as they're so nice.

Totally recommend the colouring books too. I’ve ended up buying a second set, shipped directly to Jersey as they are so big that posting them would cost a fortune.

We have a slightly different version of Mean Santa @youscumbagyoumaggot We give everyone five raffle tickets and then pull the raffle tickets out of a hat. When one of your numbers is called you can pick a present from the pile or steal one. Nobody unwraps anything until the last ticket had been called. That way everyone has five presents at some point although they still might end up with nothing. Not opening them means that one year we all fought over an elaborately wrapped kitchen roll and ignored the five pound note tucked inside the inside of a toilet roll with the ends stapled together!

@deemeff Don’t worry, thank you for the suggestion anyway

Glad that people are finding the paper bags for stocking presents tip useful - it certainly helped me and there are loads of different sizes and colours and patterns available with just a brief trawl of eBay or Amazon.

For everybody thinking of hot chocolate, they did a taste test of different hot chocolates on the Sunday Brunch show last Sunday. The velvetiser was one of the options they tested but wasn’t the overall favourite. Two of the recipes they didn’t use milk or cream as that reduced the intensity of the chocolate flavour. One of them blitzed the real chocolate in a Vitamix with other ingredients and that did really well. Unfortunately I wasn’t really listening as I prefer to eat chocolate than drink it... (guessing that’s heresy on this thread 😂)

But for those that like chocolate it might be worth having a look at the segment and / or looking for recipes with chocolate without milk and/or in a Vitamix or similar as there might be ways to torn them into nice presents...

Those of you who love hot choc but don’t want to buy the (in my opinion daft) velvetiser should try this Spanish one - also available on Amazon. A local cafe uses it and honestly it’s so thick. Delicious.

Would help if I added link
superfood-market.com/products/te370-spanish-chocolate-company-thick-hot-chocolate-drink-1-x-350g?variant=12402292850767&currency=GBP&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=google+shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIzZCr1brl5QIVUcjeCh0gMgKNEAQYASABEgJkdPD_BwE

QVC do the hotel Chocolat velvetiser and have a no quibble returns policy, so if you get it and think it’s crap you can return it even if you’ve used it

20% off clothes at Yours with SINGLE20

I seem to remember there was talk of a bargain bean bag on one of the early threads. My DD has just announced she would like one! Does anyone remember the details?

@andi76
I have been to Home Bargains and bought the hot chocolate toppers. Pic attached. 6 individually wrapped for 99p.
They also had packs of different flavoured syrups for coffee and hot chocolates for £2.99. Quite a few other hot drinks things too for those that are interested for Christmas Eve boxes or hampers etc.

Well done @LadyNina00 - hope I can find them when I make it to town.

@tinysnickersaremyfavourite thank you so much for the heads up on the bike!

New Flying Tiger catalogue out now. Lots of great stocking fillers especially if you have anyone who loves swans, dragons, unicorns or, randomly, frogs!
Also kitsch food baubles for whoever's was looking a few threads back. Only a third of the way through the catalogue so will probably be back with more 😂
Should also mean some fresh bits on the famous £1 pink tables...