Christmas Bargain Thread 1 - the one where my dad is 17

[Reastie]

Thanks @snowmanshoes for the title!

Hello everyone, so nice to see you all. Pull up a chair, have a mince pie and a peppermint latte and share your Christmas bargains and ideas. In message two are the links and info from last year - if anyone has anything they'd like me to amend or add, please do tag me and I'll update.

A reminder not to post affiliate links in the thread but that MN do change amazon links shared by posters into MN affiliate links.

Please do watch the thread rather than post to mark place to make it easier for everyone to keep up and find relevant info.

A massive thank you to those who have contributed and/or run the prequel threads this year. I can't believe it's another year! I started these when DD was a baby and she's just gone into Year 8!

seconding the Turing tumble it's fantastic but it would be something to grow with him I think - my 8yr old loves it but really gets the most from it when exploring with older siblings

You can get Mario race car and things like bowers castle play sets?

I'm looking for a remote controlled car for a 5 year old, ideally one that's fairly easy to control and isn't too loud! Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Loving my 4 Glossy Boxes, absolutely love the tin one (mine )and 2 of the others are ideal for Grandaughters, spare one will be split up for Christmas Eve boxes. I've now received another email from them saying "2 mystery boxes for £13.50 if I subscribe"! Is it worth it, and is it easy to unsubscribe?

I'm hoping my glossy boxes should come soon. I was only able to to order 2 as that's all that was available. Can't wait to see them though

Not sure if this has been posted, but Etsy have £5 off when you spend £25, this weekend only
it's only selected sellers, but two I can recommend that it applies to are Silver Rain Silver, where I've had fab, good value silver earrings from, and The Soap Tree, which sells lovely hand made soap

Paper Panda and Friends Emporium are having their quarterly event on this weekend, Facebook.
Its all independent makers with some lovely stuff to buy. Bit of discount on their RRP’s too. Worth a look if you’re after something different.

My four glossy boxes have arrived, too.

Three are in gift boxes and one in a tin.

Three were also in cardboard boxes which I had to unseal to get at the pretty boxes/ tin, but if you were using them as gifts a recipient wouldn’t know that. It would probably be possible to open the cardboard from the bottom if you wanted to, and replace the box inside it.

Also, the items are in tissue paper which is open at the sides. You could easily slide the items out without disturbing the seal, and then put others back in. The bow on one of mine looks retied, but it would be easy to redo that.

I agree the Bluey advent calendars do not look right at all. Not worth the risk safety wise for young children in my opinion.

Does anyone know if micro scooters do a Black Friday event? My son is due an upgrade but trying to hold out as so expensive now!

Did consider Turring Tumble when I saw it on here previously but not 100% convinced he’ll see the coding link @Simd1
he already has the Mario live circuit although I do remember him specifically asking for a remote control car so maybe he would enjoy it.

They were included in John Lewis' black Friday event last year and were 20% off I think. I remember because I bought one full price before Black Friday and they price matched the black Friday discount by refunding me the difference as I bought it less than 30 days before Black Friday

@happytobemrsg Have you considered a coding game, Robot Turtles is meant to be very good? Or a coding puzzle book - just thinking if he loves coding but you want to give him something (a) a bit sociable to do and/or (b) not screen based, these could work?
I don’t have much first hand experience with these, but am considering robot turtles for DS4 as apparently it can be played in increasingly complicated ways?! 🤷🏼‍♀️

Cocoa loco are offering 20% off their Christmas range with code CHRISTMAS2023. Link

Im tempted but I’ve never tried their chocolate before so would love some feedback.

I’d recommend the Turing Tumble. It’s fun and good for developing logic skills without a screen. Lots of little parts though, so be aware if there are younger siblings around.

Wow those chocs look amazing! Def tempted, would make lovely gifts 🎅🏻

My dd is 7 a month before Xmas and has been asking about a telescope. She loves spotting stars etc. The ones in smyths don't seem great quality so I wondered if anyone had a recommendation?

Thanks to everyone who’s posted links on here, I’ve bought the Glossy boxes, Valentte samples and 1/2 price diffuser, gruum toiletries, fossil watch, boxer short subscription and beer52 which I’ve got to cancel soon! Saved so much, thank you!

There's telescope talk every year, @Ewock, and the consensus is that ones from toy shops will always be rubbish. You need to buy a proper telescope (with the associated price tag!).

What's your budget?

Haven't really thought about a budget yet as was seeing what was out there. I best get sorting birthday and Xmas budgets.

It might be worth looking on your local Fb selling pages, usually has some good quality ones cheaper than they are new. You could set it up and drape a Christmasy wrap/blanket over it to get around the fact it isn’t boxed.

Love cocoa loco. Strong recommend!

MamaShack - small business that sells baby and kids stuff - is having a 40% off warehouse sale tomorrow. I got my children's personalised changing mats from there and they're pretty much my go-to for baby gifts

You're better off starting with a decent pair of binoculars*
Most telescopes for kids are pretty poor, and the tripod legs make them super wobbly.

*DS went with Cubs to an observatory where this recommendation was made.

That's a great idea thanks