Thread one - the one with no name of note

[Reastie]

It feels bizarre setting up the first Christmas thread on one of the hottest days of the year, yet here we are!

Lovely to see you all; take a seat and grab a mince pie as they get passed around.

Please do alert me to anything for the next thread's page of links (I'm starting fresh this year). Hope you've had a good year and looking forward to celebrating and sharing our bargain buys.

Thanks @sorryiasked will have a look.

I can offer the watchshop which was really fast delivery with lots of brands in the sale

It's a way off yet but last year Black Friday Fossil had an excellent outlet sale. There was an extra off code on the site, Too Cashback applied and the free delivery threshold was quite low.

I ordered several lovely pairs of earrings - they were a little smaller than I expected but still very pretty - and worked out about £9 a pair. Came in their own individual pouch and tin, looked gorgeous.

Definitely worth keeping a note to check in the lead up as you could sign up for early access and the extra % off code.

Thanks for this tip. I have a few family members who are difficult to buy for but earrings usually go down well 👍🏻

I can't decide whether it's worth placing an order with the party bag company. Convinced next to nothing will come...

My hot diamonds earrings arrived yesterday. Fantastic gift box and bag, diamonds tiny but the earrings are really lovely. Dd thinks both of mine are gorgeous, hopefully she likes hers on Christmas morning 🤣

Not sure if it’s been mentioned already but Rex have a sale usually all year - just checked it out and there’s a few things that may make good stocking fillers or party bag gifts for those who have birthdays coming up.

Whistlefish have some lovely card / notelets sets in their sale. 15 in a tin in assorted themes for £4.97.

@psuedocream3 thats exactly what I thought. About three or four years ago on this thread (I look forward to this thread all year!), I was introduced to an online shop called Hazar’s Bazar (I think). It reminded me of a bric-a-Brad shop from years gone by. It had loads of stuff, all brands. I bought my little boys cot mattress for £16 - it was a Toys R Us microcoil thing, with removable too waterproof cover. Really similar to one of bought for my first son from Mothercare, but that cost near enough £100!

I’m going to buy those blanket tops and return the oodies (possibly!).

@Mrsuntidy yes Bebe have a good sale with some wooden toys in it

For anyone wondering about the discount blanket hoodies, I left them a fairly negative TrustPilot review because I received a Primark one with a cut out label. They have replied with the following:

We purchase most of our stock in bulk which is mostly clearance or end of lines from larger brands. For legal reasons we are not able to advertise or mention any branding for anything we sell. We normally remove or blank out the original brand name before we ship to the customer. We cannot guarantee any branding you will receive, on our website, everything we sell is on a seen basis but whatever we sell is surely a great value for money. In this way, we not only help the environment by stopping the surplus stock from going into landfill & at the same time deliver great value to customers' doorstep.

It seems like a fair enough explanation, and it would seem that they are legit? But annoying if you want to give as a gift.

How about those little kits where you build your own dinosaur skeleton out of wooden pieces? They had some on Toys For A Pound yesterday.

Alternatively what about something like a doctor's kit?

Yes this is the business model of all of those websites and shops like B&M, Home Bargains etc. I could definitely give the Kudd.ly one I received as a gift. Labels intact and no discernable fault. It really is just luck of the draw though and at 11 quid its a true bargain

I placed a large order last night. I don't absurdly NEED much of it, so if bits don't turn up it won't be a massive hassle, but with some of the prices I couldn't pass it up!

@RainbowPhilosophy for my 5 year old, I've bought her a new pair of slippers, a funny toothbrush (Santa always brings a toothbrush), a frozen perfume, bubble bath and a cheaper version of a bear in a tin. The only thing I need to get now is some Christmas chocolates. I'm hoping to get some chocolates that look like carrots.

Lidl has some Orchard games for £3.99 and some small Lego sets for £7.99

Sorry, i meant £2.99 for orchard games

Thanks so much for the Hot Diamonds codes. Just a reminder to save anyone having to trawl the thread it's 40% off with MSE40 and free express delivery with JEWELS. I was looking through the site and left some stuff in my basket and they sent me a 20% off code and was really surprised to find this stacked as well (that one was account specific). On top of that I got 6% going through Quidco and it's tracked for £3.31. I've just paid £55 for 2 pairs of earrings and a bracelet so 3 presents sorted, so pleased!

I wasn’t sure about doing a party bag company order but with the prices as good as they are I thought it was worth a try. Ordered 49 items late last night (came to £95) and just had a dispatch email and the list of items matches the list I ordered. Will update when I receive!

@Mrsuntidy have a look on the original party bag site - as a PP has said it's 70% off - lots of wooden and eco friendly toys. I've sorted DS (will be 5) and DNiece's (will be 6) stockings this morning and managed to get bits to put away for presents and it's all lovely wooden toys and Schleich/Papo items. I know not all of it will arrive but definitely have bought enough that even if half doesn't there'll still be loads!

Aldi have Barbie stationery in store with pencil cases and notebooks 99p each. They also had a Barbie magic diary set for £3.99. Lots of Paw Patrol and Peppa Pig stuff too.

My Original Party Bag order arrived last Monday. Everything I ordered arrived and it’s lovely! Like a previous poster said on the prequel threads, it’s overpriced at full price but I was more than happy at the price I paid (when it was 50% off but no minimum spend). I got some lovely decorations, a fill your own advent calendar and a couple of card games to play after Christmas dinner 🎄

Thanks for all the recommendations! I annoyingly decided that Santa would only give wooden toys (the elves make it) and now regret it. I mentioned to my son to ask Santa for a Lego set he was talking about and he said matter of factly that 'santa only brings wooden toys.' Some great recommendations here!

The little crafty bug website has some kids craft things in the sale

I've placed an order with the party bag company. Received a dispatch email instantly which just isn't remotely possible. Some if the items were marked as 'pre-order'. I am anticipating 30-50% arriving so we will see!

I don't suppose anyone has seen any police dress up outfits for children on sale please?

TurtleDoves have 30% off on everything until midnight Sunday and I just got a code for a further 20% on top of that, VIP20 - I think it will work for anyone. I live in their fingerless gloves at work when it’s cold and they’re lovely quality.