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.

If you have any toys put away for the two year old I'd bring them out and wrap them. I've just found a few bits in the loft I'm adding to our 2 year olds stocking - DD1 won't remember they were hers and it saves us buying more stuff.

Make the most of the run up to Christmas. Walk around your local area counting Christmas trees in people's houses, ask on your local FB page where the most decorated houses are and go visit. Check out local garden centres which have eg singing reindeer and their trees and decorations set up to make just a walk through a magical experience.

As PP said, make paper chains. You could go truly traditional and cut the strips out of magazines/newspapers/wrapping paper.

Make Christmas cards for relatives.

The Christmas rituals - carrots for Rudolph, mince pie for Santa... will bring their own magic. In our house, Santa used to leave a box of coco pops, wrapped and with a 'thank you' card from Santa where the carrots etc had been. They didn't have sugary cereal usually, which made Santa seem 'real' as the stuffy old parents would never have allowed it !

Make them a little breakfast gift bag with a carton of juice/milk shake and a breakfast bar & satsuma or banana so they can have a breakfast picnic on your bed whilst you snooze a bit.

Find a film you'd all enjoy and snuggle up and watch on Christmas Day with a big bag of popcorn - take the emphasis off the presents. In fact you could make up a 'movie hamper' and turn the popcorn and maybe some drinks/sweets/crisps into an extra present.

Re presents - it really isn't about the money ( although I know many on here disagree judging by other threads)

Think about ways of making little gifts special
Eg Make each child a 'bran tub' so they have to dig through the 'bran' to pull out the little presents (if you or a friend has a paper shredder, making the 'bran' is easy and you can ask your local shops for empty boxes)

Do a Christmas pass the parcel with a chocolate coin in between each layer.
Put some children's Christmas tunes on and have a disco.

Make the most of small things - see pics for ideas for decorating chocolate. Aldi Choceur chocolate is fab (in boxes, easier to wrap) .

Definitely don't worry about buying second hand from charity shops or local Facebook groups.

If you still have a pound shop, trawl for bargains.

Wrap up things they are going to need anyway - clothes, bubble bath etc
The unwrapping is as magical as the actual gift in my experience.

You'll get tons more ideas off this thread. Stop stressing about the money and make the most of the Christmas magic. I promise you they will remember their Christmases fondly x

I'd try B&M, Home Bargains and Poundland. They will be cheaper than charity shops or buying ingredients to make stuff.

Sorry forgot the chocolate bar pic

Try home bargains for stocking fillers. They always have lots of craft bits, stickers, I'm sure some of their kids bath bombs are under a pound.
If you have a Tiger near you I find them good for little gifts. They had a little magnetic fishing game which I got for our two year old.
If you can get Facebook marketplace is pretty good and I've noticed at lot of people are posting toys at the moment.
Really hope you have a lovely Christmas. Your kids are lucky to have someone who puts so much effort into making their Christmas special ☺️

I bought a load of stuff of Poundshop.com online, there is a delivery charge but if you order enough it is worth it. They have pencil cases for £1 , that sort of thing. They sell so much its incredible. If you want physical shops then you can't beat Poundland for toiletries, hair accessories, books, toys, stationery, sweets etc. also B & M and Home Bargains could have some cheap stuff.

The Works have a lot of offers and good books and craft sets etc.

Vinted have a lot of bargains and some sellers have discounts so the more you buy the bigger the discount and you save on postage by buying several items together.

Maybe a promise in the stocking too, so a cinema or bowling trip at a later date.

Home Bargains have giant foam glider aeroplanes that are £2.99 that I have seen recommended a lot on Outdoor Mums group on Facebook, they seem sturdy enough to last, not like the small party bag ones.

Agree with browsing Vinted, it's cheaper than eBay. Also don't be shy to post in a local group to say your budget is tight this year and you are looking for affordable second hand gifts, you'll probably find a lot of people more than happy to donate as it's a popular time of year for decluttering and lots of people don't have time to sell.

I recently got my family a Wii bundle for £30. My kids (5 and 8) know nothing about the current game market so why shouldn't they enjoy it as much as kids did when it was new? We have been playing it occasionally on weekends together, and just the sports games. You could get collaborative games for all the family, there is Hasbro family board game compilations, and active games like Nickelodeon Fit is suitable even for your youngest. You could all have fun playing bowling etc together, games can be bought very cheap in charity shops, eBay and Vinted. That is of course if you don't already have a more modern console.

Poundland have doctors sets for £1 atm, and v cheap cars. A sparkly whizzing torch (like the fairground toys) (£2) we got from Poundland last year- my 2yo favourite toy. So much so that I found another this summer and put it away for Xmas again 🤷‍♀️ Put in a few cheap snacks from your normal groceries budget and a Freddy and the 2yo is done. Even when we had more money (we didn’t always) there was really little point in doing more for the younger ones. They absolutely have nothing to compare to

Also the works had playmobil ‘lucky dip’peoole last time I was in, and Aldi have a fab playmobil helicopter that squirts water for 8£

Lastly, I found cheap but real-looking jewellery impressed my dn (7yo) - think silver-type and sparkly. You may find something on Facebook marketplace or in charity shops if you are in an elderly area 🤷‍♀️

Sorry.. another: Poundland are doing £1.50 Baylis and hardline (!) kids hand wash which plays a tune when you squeeze!

Charity shops and Facebook marketplace, try and get a bargain but simmering 'big' for each of them. Then Poundland and other budget shops like that try to get some other bits. I find the works is really reasonable, mine like craft sets and fidget toys can often find bits for a couple of quid.

This is such a lovely thread

A good stocking stuffer is a multipack of mini cereal boxes. We do this each year and it takes up a lot of space in the stocking so we don't end up filling it with too many unhealthy treats and tat.

I found some discounted kids toiletries in the pharmacy the other day, and did a price comparison to get the best deal on my kids 'big' toys which are all new and look really exciting but no more than £20 each. Obviously that's a big chunk of your business, but you can definitely find something for £10-£15 that will be a similar kind of item, that's if you can't find anything cheaper second hand. Don't feel obligated to spend the same amount on everyone, it is usually cheaper to shop for littler ones and so long as they each get some things they are happy with they don't need to know the price tag. Good luck 😊

@DollyPartBaked

If you have any toys put away for the two year old I'd bring them out and wrap them. I've just found a few bits in the loft I'm adding to our 2 year olds stocking - DD1 won't remember they were hers and it saves us buying more stuff.

I did this (my dc are the same gaps as OP) to be fair it was less money saving and more about not wanting more stuff, but it was a win:win really.

Also possibly a game between the older two.

My answer to every question lately- slinkies (the colourful plastic ones, the metal ones are sharp!) and yoyos, also loads of lovely Christmas books on special offer in book shops or pound shop, find one to read for Christmas. Also, do you have any board games? Christmas to me has always been a board game (snakes and ladders from pound shop if you don't have it), Christmas tv and a selection box (packet of chocolate buttons for 2 year old). After that, loads of walks to look at Christmas lights. Enjoy op

It might be worth looking at your local churches and children's centres, library etc. A lot of those places do Christmas activity kits and things like that which can make Christmas a bit more magical. If you have a printer can print off plenty of Christmas colouring, and find some free or low cost activities to do, a choir service or Christmas Eve service can be really magical, or we like to go on a Christmas light walk where we make up some hot drinks, put on our warmest clothes and walk around our local area looking at all the lights.

If things are really tight this year there is no shame in using a food bank, they often have gifts for kids or little Christmas bags with socks and toiletries and maybe a soft toy, things like that. They often get donated an excess of seasonal items like advent calendars and Christmas puddings and usually make children very welcome and can signpost to other activities and schemes. It's worth speaking to your Salvation Army or other groups locally if this is more than a very temporary financial problem. They often have debt advice if that's an issue and clothing donations, access to vouchers and pots of money for all kinds for kids who are financially disadvantaged. Sorry if that's not you, I would never want to offend anyone but have been in difficult times myself since being a parent and wouldn't want to assume either you do or don't need the help, but equally wouldn't want you to struggle when there is help out there.

Have a lovely Christmas 🎅🏼 it shouldn't be about consumerism and so this is a wonderful opportunity to talk about it other meaning, to create some new traditions as a family and to talk about the environment and different traditions around the world.

All the best 🎄

Slinkies never worked on the stairs in my last house, we had to take them to Grandma's.

chocolate coins are 50p in farmfoods
bag of bird food £1-50 ish in wilko
they will be bringing fresh veg prices down soon i think in aldi/lidl
Qmee browser add on gives 4/5p a time if you use the link - goes into your paypal (if you have paypal) cash out to bank anytime
Heron have mini marshmallows for 49p a bag

I suppose it depends where you are but they do some bits in poundland like toy cars etc

@Wellyscooterwalk where roughly do you live? If
You are close to
Me maybe I could give you some things my dc have outgrown??

I mean absolutely no offence with my post btw

Another vote for dress up and art boxes.

Put out the word; I bet the oldsters near you would happily contribute hats, jewelry, scarves etc. you could wrap each item in tissue.

Home made play doh in various colors.

We loved ordinary office supplie as children.

Great idea on bird feeder/supplies.

Have them make ornaments from scraps around the house. I still cherish my loo roll ones 50 years later.

Can you ask on Freecycle for an old typewriter? Or give a cheap poundland calculator. Many people have those lying around too.

If you approach this as an adventure they will be happy. Dress up for dinner and set a fancier table and light candles. They'll remember it.

Checkout the free pages on Facebook, freecycle etc - people might be getting rid of toys to make room for new ones.

I've just had a quick look on our local ones and there are a few toys on there.