£5 gifts

[Imissprosecco]

So yesterday at a family BBQ, we all got talking about Christmas and the cost of living. We agreed that for adults we would get a token gift with a budget of £5 each (or £10 for a couple). The more inventive the gift, the better!

I'm going to guess that millions of people will be having similar conversations and so I thought it would be a good idea to have a thread for suggestions for gifts for £5 or less.

Anyone like to join me? I really don't want to give cheap bottles of wine/boxes of chocolate if i can avoid it, but also don't want to give useless tat. All ideas welcome!

I agree with this and sadly think it far too often leads to tat being purchased, no matter how well intentioned. I find myself in this situation with my cousins and their children every year.

If you're open about it and having the conversations anyway, could you just all give cash and then the recipient chooses one big thing that they actually want?

I've also done this and the only 'rule' is the person says what they buy so it's not just frittered away.

I think this just generates tat- mass consumerism at its worst.

Much better to do a secret Santa from a list (must be bought from the list) for £50. So rather than 10 lots of £5 tat you get 1 decent gift that you want.

But we do no adult gifts- much easier.

My apron is at least 20 years old- it will see me out the next 25 I imagine.
I cant imagine it is a more than once in a lifetime purchase?

I personally like just shower gels really from people as am quite picky and will always need shower gel /bath products

Grow your own kits -

• Any of Cress/Basil/cut and come again salad leaves/beetroot - for the leaves (packet of Wilko 99p seed, kitchen roll sheet to line or a small bag of compost (divvy up a larger bag) and a plastic tray (could be an old packet from supermarket fruit or a cut up milk carton) and some nicely printed out instructions
• Treated hyacinth bulbs/muscari/paper white narcissus planted up in a pretty charity shop cup and saucer
• Broad beans ‘the Sutton’ (short variety you can grow in a pot and can be started off in winter) and a pound shop plastic tub plus compost

I like this idea. I'd like and use:

Tea towel
Book
Mug or a pretty bowl
Seeds/bulbs
A plant
Nice soap
Tea
Notebook or a set of notelets or postcards
Travel guide for a trip I'm planning
Small photo frame with a photo, or just some meaningful photos nicely printed (eg you and recipient together over the years)
Personally appropriate Lego minifigure (or minifigure keyring but I think these are over budget)
Plain beeswax candle
One of these beautiful matchboxes www.archivistgallery.com/category/matches?type_filter=square-matchboxes (slightly over budget)
Nice vase or similar from a charity shop. Charity shops are also great for obscure cookbooks.

Wouldn't like and wouldn't use:

Any sort of shit novelty item, especially if themed around sex, farts etc
Cheap candle
Cheap booze
Cheap gift set of toiletries

DH and I always have a strict limit on what we spend on one another and it leads to some great and creative ideas as you obviously can't just throw money at it. As long as people approach it in that spirit (rather than just buying some bit of tat) it's a really good idea.

I'd rather everyone just gave me the fiver and I could get something that's not shit

Jar of local honey

@HMReturnsBag £16 a jar of local honey in a local village post office near me last week. Nearly died of shock

Crikey, not that then!

Actually on second thought.... everyone who is getting a gift should write a £5 (or less) wish list and the gift givers choose something from it.
Obviously with some co ordination so people don't double up.
That way there is none of the candles/seeds/novelty socks etc.
Wish lists and just asking people is always the way to go with presents in my humble opinion.

When my son was 5 he gave my Dad £5 in a card as that was the best gift my son had ever been given himself and my dad was his favourite person.

My Dad who is very well off loved it and they went off to the pub together to spend it.

That's really sweet.

Canvas with easel, pack of acrylic paints and brushes from Home Bargains and a link to a Bob Ross episode.

Everybody uploads their efforts to family WhatsApp group and votes for the best via anonymous survey link. Winner gets a medal or trophy 🏆

😂😂😂

Agree with pp I'd rather get a box of Celebrations than tat.
I'd rather my family bought me nothing than waste their money buying something for the sake of it.

2 Euromillione lucky dips.

I don’t like secret Santa and the like. It’s always something focussed on the budget than an actual “want” when we’ve gone this

I genuinely don’t understand why people do this?

Does anyone actually want several £5 items?

If adults insist on gifting, it’s far better to do a secret Santa type thing where you buy for one person but spend the £5 times the number of people you’d otherwise have to buy for.

I bought a lovely set of Habitat soaps for £3 reduced from £10 in Sainsburys. I'm planning to put them with some towels etc. Thought it was a good bargain though.

Most charity shops sell fantastic gifts at Christmas. They save them up all year ready to use when people stop buying clothes etc in December. My friend and I buy a gift bag for each other in the January sales and fill it with beautiful things we've bought secondhand throughout the year . It's honestly my favourite gift at Christmas

You know £5 doesn't get much these days. The book offer I mentioned up thread (3 for £6) used to be 3 for a fiver....
As someone has said - do people really want lots of little gifts rather than one bigger one.
@Imissprosecco maybe change it to Secret Santa. One person buys one person a gift up to a value of £25 or so.
Everyone puts their name in a hat on a piece of paper that could say on it if they would like something specific or not. So Person A piece of paper could say "I would really love a copy of the latest John Grisham novel please", B could say "Something for my garden", C "I don't care - get me a surprise"

So people are getting a gift in the style they prefer.

It’s a massive waste of money. I’d much prefer the £5 or skip the idea altogether 😂

I just wouldn’t want some gift soaps or the Bayliss & Harding hand cream set I somehow always get given and then take to the charity shop… which someone then presumably buys as a cheap gift for someone they’re buying a secret Santa for… and so on.

This year I’m suggesting to my friends that we all go out for a meal together and skip the gift exchange. I’d rather buy myself a present I want!!

lidl currently have tumblers and flasks, the bottle type, for £3.99 each.

Oh definitely a book! Thoughtful and totally achievable for under a fiver (Amazon paperback). Bonus points for charity shop.

Two lucky dips on euromillions or the lotto come to a fiver so if any of them win hopefully they remember you.