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.

@Wellyscooterwalk

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.

Try Facebook marketplace. If you search daily you may find items your kids would love especially younger one. People often list things very cheap or free. Also worth making reasonable offers given your tight budget as sometimes people will be happy with 50p or £1 less or whatever. I have seen unopened craft kits and puzzles before as well as clothes with tags. Toys just need a good anti bac wipe over and they're good to go. I always look on there before buying new now. Also don't worry about spending equally on the children just go with the look/amount not cost as you may find you can pick up something for the 2 year old free or cheap but not for the other two and can then use the money towards them a bit more.

Also recommend looking on the works website for cheap books and activity sets for £1. Sometimes better than pound shop. Also a website called pound toy which has lots of good bits, often has 3 for 2 offers and also has penny deals for stocking filler bits

Just noticed Flying Tiger is now online too. They have plenty for little stocking fillers which are between £2 & £4

www.argos.co.uk/product/1292415?clickSR=slp:term:megablocks:1:49:1

This is a massive tower of mega blocks which would be perfect for the 2 year old. Currently £8 in argos

I have a few bits you can have for a stocking if you're near me!

@Wellyscooterwalk

Where are you in the Uk? I have some bits you'd be welcome too x

Have you got girls or boys? I have afew things I'd be happy to post to you if you aren't local to me

I would be happy to send things too.

Or hard toys and Melissa and Doug toys always look really good value for money and are good quality for this age group if looking to buy new. If you are looking for Paw Patrol toys etc definitely check eBay! Also worth looking on sites like the Entertainer and just filtering by cheapest toy, they usually have quite a few things on sale at bargain plus prices just because the things are no longer the latest craze etc.

Check this out for amazing deals right now!
apple.news/Apvy4Og5yQ6O-1vWo6jA3Hg

[quote Kyliealwayshadthebestdisco]Check this out for amazing deals right now!
apple.news/Apvy4Og5yQ6O-1vWo6jA3Hg[/quote]
bit clickbaity (the article not you).

They have already been recommended here as I recommended them earlier.

While they do have 1p items they only have 4 at a time (most things cost more, some up to like £20) AND you can only order 1 of each '1p' item AND you need to order £25 to get free delivery (without free delivery it's not worth it) AND it's all year round, not a sale.

They are not selling off things for 1p in some magic sale (like the article seems to hint at) that said they are good as a general stocking filler site and often have deals on, I basically view it as an online poundland.

The op hasn't asked for items to be sent, just ideas for a cheap Christmas. While it's very kind of people to offer, you have to be careful that the thread doesn't get deleted by mnhq. Which could happen because of people kindly offering gifts and cash. Just thought I'd let people know, as it'll be a shame to lose this lovely thread.

Just jumping on- sorry I’ve been AWOL! I have been reading all the fantastic ideas. Everyone is so helpful and I’ve already made a soft toy from the patterns shared and some dolls clothes! The budget has been divied up between the older two. I missed the singular (out of hundreds of nice ones) nasty reply - thank you MNHQ!

To answer some questions:

• All three children are girls
• We live in a nice area in the midlands (yes they do exist 🙃) - there’s a slightly odd demographic which mixes very well off with just scraping by, not much in between. Hence the ludicrously expensive charity shops, and it seems similarly priced marketplace (£250 for some used barbers was my favourite spot 😨)
• Unfortunately no fb marketplace bargains yet, however my middley did decide to gift some of her outgrown toys to another little girl rather than sell them for pocket money. ‘I just know she’ll love them mummy’. We’re obviously doing something right!

I have had a number of very kind mumsnet messages, and there are some equally lovely posts on here offering to send things. I think I have replied to each inbox message individually but for the posts offering things and just in case I have missed anyone:

1. Thank you for being so kind, this thread has absolutely restored my faith in kindness, generosity and humanity.
2. Thank you for the offers but I really couldn’t and won’t accept anything. We will make this Christmas work- I’m sure there are families with less than us, who won’t necessarily have the time, energy or resources to make gifts this year. Hopefully any potential presents will find their way to people more in need- our girls will still have their toys from previous years, some children won’t have those either.

Thank you also to those relaying their experiences and what they saw as magical as a child. This has really helped me refine some free activity ideas and finishing touches!

Wellyscooterwalk thank you for your lovely update.

My DD has recently been asking for a repeat of something she found magical.

One year when there was a group of friends and family round there were a few small children and no separate space for them to be in.

I threw a blanket over the dining table, popped the TV under there and the kids all watched Christmas movies while eating popcorn.

It wasn't designed to be fun for them! More a chance to contain them...but she loved it and wants to do it again.

It's the random things that they love!

Have a wonderful, magic Christmas op.

Wilko do their own colouring pencils for 60p. There is 12 in a pack so good value. Their Christmas colouring and activity books are £1 as well as their other themed one.

Little 4 packs of rubbers are 40p. Make your own brackets kits are £1 and paint your own flower or animal are £1.60. Plenty of other craft items for under£2 each. You could make a nice stocking for each of the older children for under £10 each.

What about SHEIN. Have a look at their app. They do some very cheap bits and pieces. I noticed lots of unicorn things on there and backpacks.

If you have the paints and string, buy a bag of smart price penne pasta (usually about 27p) and the kids can make pasta necklaces and bracelets.
Facebook market place is amazing, free cycle, sphock and gumtree are good too but can be hit and miss.
Honestly, we struggled growing up, but I never knew. We use to go to my grandparents for dinner because my mum and dad couldnt afford christmas dinner ingredients.
I couldnt even tell you anything I got for christmas growing up, but I can tell you all my favourite memories. Baking lemon curd tarts and jam tarts with my mama, my uncle with his flashing santa hat that played music, sitting around eating chocolates out of the quality street container.
I hope you and your girls have a amazing Christmas and I hope you dont mind that I rob a few of the ideas off here xxx

@Wellyscooterwalk

Just jumping on- sorry I’ve been AWOL! I have been reading all the fantastic ideas. Everyone is so helpful and I’ve already made a soft toy from the patterns shared and some dolls clothes! The budget has been divied up between the older two. I missed the singular (out of hundreds of nice ones) nasty reply - thank you MNHQ!

To answer some questions:

• All three children are girls
• We live in a nice area in the midlands (yes they do exist 🙃) - there’s a slightly odd demographic which mixes very well off with just scraping by, not much in between. Hence the ludicrously expensive charity shops, and it seems similarly priced marketplace (£250 for some used barbers was my favourite spot 😨)
• Unfortunately no fb marketplace bargains yet, however my middley did decide to gift some of her outgrown toys to another little girl rather than sell them for pocket money. ‘I just know she’ll love them mummy’. We’re obviously doing something right!

I have had a number of very kind mumsnet messages, and there are some equally lovely posts on here offering to send things. I think I have replied to each inbox message individually but for the posts offering things and just in case I have missed anyone:

1. Thank you for being so kind, this thread has absolutely restored my faith in kindness, generosity and humanity.
2. Thank you for the offers but I really couldn’t and won’t accept anything. We will make this Christmas work- I’m sure there are families with less than us, who won’t necessarily have the time, energy or resources to make gifts this year. Hopefully any potential presents will find their way to people more in need- our girls will still have their toys from previous years, some children won’t have those either.

Thank you also to those relaying their experiences and what they saw as magical as a child. This has really helped me refine some free activity ideas and finishing touches!

Sounds wonderful. I hope you let us know how thinks work out, OP.

Maybe don’t worry too much about the 2 year old. Do you have toys/games put away that the older ones have grown out of? If so just wrap up them. Then the budget goes between the older 2.

Hope you had a good christmas op! Xx

Follow the Christmas bargain 2022 prequel thread and start preparing ahead for next Christmas. Not rtft but I'm sure people have made good suggestions:

• open up an advance notice Christmas savings account
• buy supermarket savings stamps monthly to put torwards Christmas food shop
• sell old stuff to make spare cash for Christmas
• use cash back sites like top cashback
• buy generic Christmas items like wrap in the sale
• agree to buy for children only for next Christmas with your family or do a secret santa
• open a new bank account and get £100 when you transfer old balance to new account. Save the £100 in Christmas savings account
• see if you can retrain for a higher paying job