Skint Christmas for three children

[Wellyscooterwalk]

Please help me with some DIY/ very very cheap ideas for Christmas.

We are in the ‘both working full time but barely scraping by’ bracket this year.
We can only find £100 to cover Christmas for our three children - stockings and gifts and other- and I’m trying to make the most of every penny. (£100 all together not each). I’m willing to spend every spare evening making/baking/searching for things.

I’ve already put together an advent calendar using Christmas themed books we own/craft activities we already had the materials for/‘activities’ such as a walk to see Christmas lights.

I will try to bulk out stockings with primark socks etc. and toiletries such as toothbrushes/bubble Bath which would normally fall within our groceries budget.

Any ideas of age appropriate gifts/stocking fillers that I can make please? Or things to buy cheaply which would be worth while?

Children are 8,6 and 2.

Thank you.

Take a look at eBay/charity shops you can get some really great presents for pennies.

Ahh, this reminds me of when mine were small, wrapping up things they need anyway like shower gel, nice little snacks for school, hair bobbles, clothes etc. One nice ‘big’ thing each and lots of little bits like that.
How about making decorations with dough? Threading popped corn on cotton to ho on tree. Ooo how about different coloured homemade play dough in separate pots/ bags.

Definitely try charity shops. Also look at whatever you can sell yourself to raise funds - and it might also help out another similar family.

Things we have done when we’ve been very broke -

Chocolate Christmas hunt - like an Easter egg hunt with chocolate. You can say the elves / Santa has done it. Use flour for a trail of snow, get a bag of cheap Christmas chocolates and hide them round the house, maybe write some clues to solve.

Arts and crafts stuff is quite cheap - look at Poundland and pound stretcher. You can fill a huge cardboard box with a load of stuff and wrap it up.

Recycle old clothes into dolls clothes / make a bag out of them.

Have a cinema Christmas night - make tickets, popcorn, make up a box with everything you need in it.

Face paints / make up - let them do it on you.

Essentially I’d try and make it more of an activity type day, so they remember doing fun stuff.

Does your town or a very local one have a Facebook freebay group? Mine does and I have seen lots of things on there lately that would make great presents either brand new or in nearly new condition. You have to be quick but can get some great bargains.

We have a knitting club who make advent tops for post boxes, last year they did a “Twelve Days of Christmas” theme and gave details so you could make a lovely walk/trail looking for them. Might be worth looking out for something similar to add to the lights walks.

Thank you so much- these ideas are brilliant!

It’s also a nice (well needed) reminder that others have been in this position.

Dough decorations, homemade playdough, chocolate hunt, homemade dolls clothes all added to the list.
Cinema evening also!

I have been trawling the charity shops but we live in an area with a predominately elderly population, they’re not well furnished with children’s toys and are quite expensive! I will keep looking though. Thank you.

I seen a video of someone putting some coins into balloons before blowing them all up. They were just wee cheap balloons and a few pounds. Some had coins and some didn't, the children got to pop the balloons and collect the money.
Thought it was such a good idea as the children were so excited to do it, regardless of the amount of money and it would take up some space around the tree.

My sister made a friends child a 'messy play kit' for a birthday (2nd or 3rd I think). It had mostly cheap stuff in it- flour, lentils, homemade play dough etc. Might be something your 2 year old would like if you do things like that?

Defo try Facebook market place - you’ll defo find some bargains this time of year as everyone having clear ours. I just got my 2 year old a scooter for £5 and that’s her main present!

I would have said charity shops but I went into mine the other day and everything was insanely expensive - jigsaws for 8, kids games for 12

I would focus on the older two in terms of spending your budget - my son is two and barely even know what Christmas is, let alone having any expectations. He would be equally thrilled with a pair of socks or a new toy, as long as it was wrapped up.

Definitely check marketplace, charity shops etc.

As for things you can make to bulk out stockings:
Play doh
Slime
Shaped crayons from old/broken ones
Animal ear headbands
Cloud dough
Sensory scented/coloured rice
Alphabet rocks
Quiet books
Homemade bath bombs

Things you can buy:
Various dressing up bits (made and bought from charity shops etc) to make a dressing up box
Random toy cars/dinosaurs etc from charity shops (a few near us have a 25p bucket for stuff like this)
"big" presents from marketplace/ebay. A lot of people are having pre-Christmas clear outs atm and there are bargains to be had
Craft sets from the works etc
Socks
Toothbrush
Chocolates
Board games (maybe to share)

Can you look at an "experience" type gift to some there they'd like to go that you can pay for in future months?

Ebay and fb marketplace so much better

Hot chocolate kit in a jam jar

Bird feeder kit giving.innerchildfun.com/2015/02/make-a-bird-feeder-kit.html (only a cost saver if you have the stuff lying around, obviously)

Sock monkeys?

What part of the country are you in? Maybe mumsnetters nearby can keep an eye out for some bargains?

Your local gumtree or fb market place.

Having looked more closely at that kit, doing a kit for the yoghurt pot style feeders might be better.

I'd probably start by reverse budgeting it. Allocate a certain amount to each child and then an amount to spend on decorating or things that would benefit all of them such as baking or craft supplies, decorating the house, etc. The balloon idea is great BTW. So here's a possible budget:

£20 - 8 year old
£15 - 6 year old
£10 - 2 year old
£25 - general needs/decorations/chocolate/presents

£70 total and that gives you a £30 buffer just in case you find other items or want to spend it on you and your partner.

Does this also need to include your Christmas food budget @Wellyscooterwalk? If so, then the £30 buffer could be applied to your Christmas Eve and Christmas Day food.

Good luck! Having a squeezed celebration can be hard with kids but it can also be really fun as well. You've already received so many good ideas from other posters.

How about a home made colouring book? One year I printed out free colouring pages from the internet based around what they were into and bound them into a personalised colouring book.

Facebook market place could help you find one big present for each of them, and then their little presents can be homemade or craft items. Scooters and bikes if they're able (People often get rid of them in winter so you might find a bargain). Things like sand/water pits, outdoor table and chairs etc sell this time of year too.

You could look into making a doll's house- even if it's just a cardboard box on it's side, they can make paper dolls and furniture.

If you have an Emmaus near you, they will be able to help and often sell large children's toys in good condition for very cheap.

I’d also concentrate the budget on the your older two DC. Maybe a proper toy each that they would really want plus a little stocking and then cheaper bits for your youngest DC.
Then I’d plan activities such as watching movies with hot chocolate, making paper chains, baking with Christmas music on.
Could you get to a car boot sale or as others have said take look at Facebook marketplace?
I remember when my DC was young and I was skint I could only manage to buy a chicken, one pack of mince pies, a box of quality streets and my friend kindly took me to a cash and carry type place and I bought a few plastic toys such a pretend tool set and a knights sword and shield set. I put the quality streets in bowls around the room and added a few decorations and my DS didn’t really didn’t notice I’d done Christmas on about £15.

Thank you very, very much everyone for taking the time to reply and the fantastic ideas. I’m so grateful.

Balloons (fab! They love balloons and I have some left over from previous birthdays!), DIY messy play kit and alphabet toys, hot chocolate kit in jars, bird feeder kit and reshaping crayons all fantastic and the kids will love them.

I don’t have Facebook but maybe I’ll have to temporarily join for the sake of marketplace, thank you.

@Kikkomam our charity shops are similar, some items are more than they would be new .

@JingsMahBucket it doesn’t include the Christmas food no. We will obviously forgo Alcohol/snacks this year so the cost of a basic Christmas dinner will fit within our usual food shop if we’re careful. We’re happy with previous years decorations too so the only new ones this year will be homemade/brought home from school 😄.

I was feeling so get up about making this work but this thread has given me so much enthusiasm, thank you.

The Olio app could be helpful, it has a food and non-food section. I’ve looked and mine has a few toys as give away in great condition.

My kids love a pass the parcel. I usually make two and the gift is the one from their sibling. Then in each layer we put a Christmas challenge- sing a Christmas song/tell a Christmas joke etc. Makes opening the presents more of an event and usually doesn't matter what's in the middle as it's a token gift anyway.

Making paper chains and Chinese lanterns was always a favourite December activity for us. Mum used to buy a huge roll of cheap Christmas paper and just let us loose with it.

Do you have any supermarket loyalty cards at all?

@BreakfastClub80

We have a knitting club who make advent tops for post boxes, last year they did a “Twelve Days of Christmas” theme and gave details so you could make a lovely walk/trail looking for them. Might be worth looking out for something similar to add to the lights walks.

I’ve just seen one of these in York railway station - lovely.