How to buy cheap but make it look good

[Tomatowentsplat]

Aside from my own two young kids I have 27 other people mostly kids to buy for.
4 parents 60yrs+
6 other adults (age 25-43)
Rest kids 9 and under

Not buy the presents isn't really an option but I'll struggle to buy for anyone if I can't find a cheap way of doing it without presents looking shite.

Any ideas?

Can’t you buy for parents & kids then say to the other adults ‘I’m just buying for DC’s from now on’? You never know, some of them may be relieved to stop.

For the children there are loads of things in the works offer- 2 for £12 or 3 for £15- craft sets, science etc

@AprilMayBeJune I tried that last year but other adults we buy for are my siblings and it didn't go down well. I even suggested a family secret Santa but that got poop as well.
Thankfully the other side of the family it's just kids and parents.

@LostMyRubySlippers thanks for that I will have a look.

For the adults.. bottle of wine (or a plant/box of chocs for non drinkers,) and some Christmas socks (or similar,) wrapped up really lovely?
Honestly, most adults REALLY don't care how much you spend, it's just a token gift. Tell them you're cutting back if you want to- everyone understands how the Christmas production has gotten totally out of hand!
Kids get tons of stuff too- I would buy a few small bits- try and make it something they hopefully might like depending on age etc- just wrap it up nice and throw it under the tree! Don't over think it- it's one day- and with the state the world is in, it genuinely doesn't matter.
Maybe start now and buy a few things each week to spread the cost.
Hope you have a lovely Christmas.

This year, for the kids who I like to buy a little token gift for I am getting those large empty transparent baubles and filling them with sweets - using my cricut personalise with their names.
Brought a load of Halloween cadburys miniatures today in Tesco and skittles and those bags of chews etc which will fill a load of them.
Will work out about a fiver each and what kid doesn't like sweets right?

Adults gifts I am making a batch of Biscoff fudge (check out Janes Patisserie recipe) and in b&m they have cute little Christmas jars to put it in.
Along with a bottle of wine.

Like this...

For kids stalk your local charity shops - we frequently get new sealed in boxes games, jigsaws, craft sets, science kits etc. for adults you could make bespoke spirits (buy cheap vodka and add botanicals etc. homemade truffles is another great option, far cheaper than shop ones

You can make the homemade goodies look lovely like this...

I might also make these hot chocolate spoons again this year, they went down a treat, cheap to make and tasted amazing

Like PP said, token gifts really are fine.

Have a fab Christmas

Kids - 10 for £10 books from the works - split so 1 (or 2) each. Selection box each. Younger ones - colouring book or small puzzle. Older ones - try primark for pjs/lip balms/stationery/gamer stuff.
Don't forget to look online and consider buying a few of the same items if it works out cheaper (I did this with unicorn purses on eBay a few years ago as had lots of unicorn obsessed 4-7yo's to buy for).

Adults - I'd be inclined to tell them tough, you're not buying this year, but if that's not an option, wine/slippers/reading book/diary/plant.

Or go on wowcher and buy everyone a photo calendar. There's usually a great deal where it gets cheaper the more you buy (just watch the postage costs and read the small print to make sure you can make ones with different photos in as part of the deal).

Another option, depending on your budget, is a family present. I've done this when money has been tight. A board game, pack of cards and sweets = Family night in a box.

There is bound to be a backlash on this, but Temu has cheap stuff, that you can dress up as more expensive than it is with the right bags etc. (jewellry bags avail on temu for about 30p each, little bracelets etc. for very reasonable). It takes a few weeks to come, so you need to be organised Personalised make up bags (letter of name) are less than £3, less than £2 for some initials. Filled with a couple of things, or coupled with a bottle of wine, I think I 'd be happy. No delivery charge once over £10, Everything we have had we have liked for the price paid. For younger children, yeah charity shop stuff wrapped well works. Hope this helps xx

Not sure if it's an portion but when all the DC came along we all agreed to just buy for them. Such a relief for everyone and I'm grateful for not having to buy tat and lynx sets each year that nobody wants.

We were just about to have our first baby in Jan last year so didn't want to spend a fortune on presents at Christmas, so I got a job lot of kilner jars on fb marketplace for super cheap and made a big batch of chutney and a load of gingerbread. Ribbons round the jars and both into a nice gift bag and everyone was really happy. (Chocolates replaced the chutney in the kids)

I'll be doing something similar this year just need to decide what to make to change it up!

For kids The Works is great for books, games or craft sets.

I also look round charity shops, particularly for things like books which are often in pristine condition.

For adults last year I bought each a bottle of wine and a good quality charity shop book and that went down well.

Things like bath bombs can be nice but realtively cheap.

I buy selection boxes for all of my nieces and nephews every year as well as another small gift and they seem to be the favourite present. They're currently less than £2 in B&M.

Wow where did you buy those baubles I might make up some as table gifts .

Just go to the shop The Works. Buy a whole load of the 3 paperback books for £6 offer for the adults plus loads of discounted children's books. Crafts, jigsaws, novelties, toys, art supplies.....
I don't work for them btw but you could probably buy everything you need there.

@hattie43 I actually got mine off SHEIN.
They do have them on Amazon too, just a little more expensive.
Type transparent bauble in.
I got 12cm as I wanted the larger ones but they have a few sizes 😊

I think the boots £10 Tuesday would be great here, nice gifts and great discounts! For the children I have no idea, kids stuff seems so expensive this year!

For the kids, what is your average budget per child? Are any of them into Squishmallows? You can get £6 odd Boba Tea Plushies in different designs on Amazon Prime deal and they’re 25cm so wrapped will look a decent size gift to hand over.

The other option is to look on Vinted as you can get new items with tags at decent prices.

My friend made Christmas Marmalade (spiced, BBC recipe, there are others) and Aldi's Baileys-a-like homemade fudge. Did them nicely with green curling ribbons and sparkly handwritten labels, looked great and tasted very yummy.

This

Parents/couples etc buy for their children and partners etc, but we made a decision as a family only to buy for people still at school across the wider family.

For kids in the past I've made sweet cones, you can buy the bags cheaply and then buy big bags of sweets from poundshop/Lidl etc. I put ribbon round them and attached a tree ornament to them so it looked really nice. I've also made little felt snowmen and iced shortbread stars. But now they are older I just buy selection boxes which I wrap then stick a Christmas card to the front with a fiver in.

I did homemade mini-Christmas cakes for impossible-to-buy-for-ungrateful inlaws as it was quite hard for them to complain about something that looks quite thoughtful.

I skipped the booze and used orange juice (Mary Berry tip) to keep the cost down/make suitable for Muslim in-laws and made one big square Christmas cake and cut it into 4 smaller cakes. Marzipanned and iced them and decorated with some of the chintzy 70s decorations I had found in a bundle for 99p at a charity shop.

Overall cost wasn't much higher than the cost of making our own Christmas cake, with the exception of the cake boxes and boards which were a couple of quid. I got mine here:

https://www.craftcompany.co.uk/shop-by-occasion/seasonal/christmas-packaging/6in-vintage-holly-cake-box/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw7JOpBhCfARIsAL3bobe6WddIQiQEIs-3wQ7EB0L3KPdtjN-GPeuS134M3MMuctenoBe4VKIaArx8EALw_wcB

FWIW The Nigel Slater Christmas pudding recipe which 'people who don't like Christmas pudding like'* makes 3 bigguns and I have put a bit of cloth on the lid with a craft paper tag with instructions and that has also gone down well. The ingredients for that are not free though, not least because he puts most of a bottle of brandy in them = highly combustible.

*(It is the lack of currants imo).

Depending on your budget, this looks like a great gift for kids. £7.85

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07B4JCQK8?ref=cmmswrrmwndppCX9DG48G119HC3BCPHRW1

I think I’d go quite personal. Have a root through your parents photo albums and see if there are any of mums pregnant with the people you need to buy for, or lovely photos with all the siblings together as children etc. Or take photos of their DC without them noticing, so they’re really natural and un-posed (use the effects on your phone, like making them b&w). Take them to somewhere like Snappy Snaps and have them enlarged for a couple of pounds, then in a nice frame from Dunelm. I’d be over the moon with something like that.

Or are any of them massive sports fans? Or fans of a particular actor? You could write to the team/agent to request an autograph and frame that, perhaps?