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.

Mug cake kit. Pre weigh everything they need and wrap with a mug and the instructions. I bet you have mugs lurking at the back of the cupboard they have never even seen.
And don't be too proud to let people know you are struggling for gifts for them this year - so often people are thrilled to pass toys on where they know they will be loved and appreciated. I know I am!

As TheCheesyBakedBeanGetsGlam says painted pebbles are fab as cheap gifts... Google story stones.

I've bought things from here before:

www.poundtoy.com

And I echo what people say about FB & FB market place. We have a local gifting group which is great.

If you can get to Aldi then there Kevin the carrot and soft toys are all £3.99 and are quire 'In' so even though they aren't lots of money, they are something lots of kids want.

They often have some other great bits in there and might shave off some money on some groceries. A lot of the items which are equivalent to £1 in Poundland are 90p in there which does all add up when on such a tight budget

Vue is showing Elf & Home Alone in December, £4.99 a ticket but if you have meerkat movies one would be free? That would be a cheap Christmas treat for the older two. Pic n mix from the pound shop beforehand. Apologies if you are rural or none nearby but thought was worth suggesting.

What a fab thread! If, by any chance, you’re near SW bham, I have a wooden dolls house and a fairy castle suitable for a 2yo. I also have a pile of peppa pig books
And a cake splat type game (brand new) for older ones

I think the balloons idea is great. I would try abs get the biggest box you can find, wrap it in wrapping paper and fill it with balloons

@Wellyscooterwalk you sound like a brilliant mother! What gender are your DC? If you’re comfortable with sharing your address in a PM, I’d happily send some bits.

I love the balloon idea, and the paper chains. I loved paper chains when I was little. Used to get lovely foil ones in red, green and gold. I also loved little things, like hot chocolate with squirty cream and sprinkles. That could add to a shared dvd, for example, and could form part of movie night.

Anyhow, let me know if I can help and whatever happens have a wonderful day.

What a lovely thread.

I'd definitely recommend joining Facebook OP - the free sites / some of the local parenting groups often have toys that people are clearing out esp at this time of year and market place is absolutely fantastic for bargains.

Myself personally I'd focus the budget on the older two and keep a smaller budget for the littlest one. For my sons 2nd birthday we managed to get hold of one of those giant fairground lions on the freesite and he dragged the thing around all day....it was the best present - we had him waiting outside the front door similar to the tiger who came to tea (it was holding his birthday cake.)

Are you crafty? We're a low income family and every year I sit up every night cutting out paper snowflakes whilst waiting tv...on Christmas eve whilst the kids are alseep hubby and I decorate the entire house with the snowflakes hanging from the ceilings. Upstairs all the way down. In every room (apart from the kids - too easy to wake - they each get one personalised snow flake with a little letter in tiny writing from their elf) They're quite easy to cut out and make a huge impact on Christmas morning.

Can you get hold of any cardboard boxes
or do you have any in the loft? you could make something out of that for the little one? Using paints and other cardboard from your recycling? A pirate ship? A house or shop? If not aldi do a decorate yourself cardboard elf house for £10 at the moment- that could be his/hers main gift - if you pop it up ready to play on Christmas morning.

Pound land / pound shop/ home bargains are also worth to have a little look in too.

Thanks @Beetlebum1981 for the poundtoy website recommendation, some great bits on there surprising for a £1 a go!

One of my DD best presents when she was small was a very large cardboard box that we made into a little Wendy house. Windows and doors. Then the kids helped to decorate it with paints and pens. It was the most played with gift!

I always used to wrap up a box of "naughty" cereal (ie sugary/chocolatey stuff they weren't usually allowed) each, to bulk out out the present pile.

I do a lot of crafting and I find dollar stores often have fairly decent supplies for very low prices. You make up a crafting box out of a cardboard box or other container. Put colouring materials, washable felt pens, construction paper, glue, tissue paper, children's scissors etc. in the box.

I don't see my grandkids much as they are in England and I am in Canada, but we have had some happy times chatting and making things like tissue paper butterflies. Pipe cleaners are usually a hit also.

What a lovely Mum you are making all this effort. I hope you have a lovely Christmas.

@actiongirl1978

One year I gave DD6 a filing box with drawers with pound shop stationery.

So top drawer was colouring pencils, middle drawer was paper and card

Bottom drawer was glue, glitter, scissors etc.

If you have a similar box or can find one in a charity shop, you can decorate with stickers etc. Then sharpen all your existing crayons and pencils and bunch together with ribbons.

It was so special for her but the outlay was only a few pounds.

That would have been my favourite present ever!!

Facebook marketplace!

@JingsMahBucket

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.

This is such a good idea

I second charity shops. Im ashamed to say ive only recently discovered the joy of a bargain in charity shops and have picked up loads for the kids ... toys and books from 50p to a few pounds each.
Also lots of people giving away toys free on facebook too x

Op I'm sure you've done this but anything you can stop for a few months, I'm thinking stuff like Netflix or any other subscriptions that are easy to stop just to up the budget, especially for the older two.

@Diddlediddlehey

What a lovely thread.

I'd definitely recommend joining Facebook OP - the free sites / some of the local parenting groups often have toys that people are clearing out esp at this time of year and market place is absolutely fantastic for bargains.

Myself personally I'd focus the budget on the older two and keep a smaller budget for the littlest one. For my sons 2nd birthday we managed to get hold of one of those giant fairground lions on the freesite and he dragged the thing around all day....it was the best present - we had him waiting outside the front door similar to the tiger who came to tea (it was holding his birthday cake.)

Are you crafty? We're a low income family and every year I sit up every night cutting out paper snowflakes whilst waiting tv...on Christmas eve whilst the kids are alseep hubby and I decorate the entire house with the snowflakes hanging from the ceilings. Upstairs all the way down. In every room (apart from the kids - too easy to wake - they each get one personalised snow flake with a little letter in tiny writing from their elf) They're quite easy to cut out and make a huge impact on Christmas morning.

Can you get hold of any cardboard boxes
or do you have any in the loft? you could make something out of that for the little one? Using paints and other cardboard from your recycling? A pirate ship? A house or shop? If not aldi do a decorate yourself cardboard elf house for £10 at the moment- that could be his/hers main gift - if you pop it up ready to play on Christmas morning.

Pound land / pound shop/ home bargains are also worth to have a little look in too.

You sound so creative and resourceful! Love these ideas.

How about make up a dressing up box from charity shops they can play with all year, and use it on Christmas Day evening to play charades

Make gingerbread men with them. Paper chains. Christmas cards and hand deliver. Generally start up some Christmas traditions - go get holly together, do Jinglebells conga around the house on Christmas Eve, one of you ring some bells so they think they can hear Santa (god that gets them into bed fast) chocolate hunt in the morning, charades or board games at teatime.

We happily had satsumas, nuts, pens, thank you cards (!) in our stockings - second hand books also good.

Stick up a note on free cycle that you are after toys should anyone have any.

I came on here to say the works £10 for 10 books deal is good and our local one had a huge range in including non Christmas Books they also had some 2 for £10 craft gifts and games which were in big boxes and looked very impressive to my six year old

B&m also have a great range of party bag fillers for .69p including lots of sticker books pens pencils and little note pads etc could make a nice pack for the 8 & 6 year old. Lots of little die cast cars for 69 p as well

A tip from me is blow up loads of balloons and put them all around presents ready for Christmas morning it makes the pile look twice as big and will keep your two year old entertained for hours

Oh - decorate chairs with tinsel for breakfast - it’s a fun Christmassy thing to come down too (if you can find some cheap tinsel)

.. oh and make Christmas movies special by making popcorn..

How about making some vouchers for things like trip to feed the ducks/pyjama day/makeover/games night/chance too pick your favourite tea etc.

Or you could do little hampers as joint gifts... so say a movie night one with cheap dvd, share bag of sweets, couple of the packets of microwave popcorn.
Baking one with some basic ingredients and then the fun extras like choc chips/sprinkles/rice paper etc.
Pamper one with bubble bath/bath bombs/sponges/nail varnish/facemasks.

Also for the 2 year old you could make your own fuzzy felts if you already have felt in the craft cupboard? Just cut some shapes related to their interests such as the parts of a car/digger/flower/TV character etc