Christmas bargains thread 1 - just in the (Saint) Nick of time

[Reastie]

I feel like this year is going to be my year of terrible cheesy Christmas pun thread titles

Greetings and welcome one and all to a friendly and joyful corner of mn - the Christmas bargain thread. Here, we share Christmas present purchases, ideas, links and discount codes, with the aim to spread the Christmas magic and joy and reduce the financial stress.

It's a very busy thread, so see the tips below for helping everything run smoothly and avoiding repetitions of Cookiegate etc al. It's a lovely, friendly bunch and I'm so grateful to each and every one of you for building such a warm, fuzzy and generous spot on mn. I know I've save so much over the years and am so grateful to all of you for sharing.

Pull up a sleigh and relax with a mulled wine and mince pie, for Christmas has nearly arrived!

Some of the below is copied and pasted from previous years, so do @ me if the links don't work

Stock informer is a handy site http://www.stockinformer.co.uk/default.aspx?fullsite=1

Camelcamelcamel is a great amazon price tracking tool http://uk.camelcamelcamel.com

The following links compare price products including postage
www.find-book.co.uk
www.find-cd.co.uk
www.find-dvd.co.uk
www.find-game.co.uk (as in PS4/xbox etc)

@ me if you need anything or you want to let me know anything - the thread moves so fast I can't always keep up so this really helps

This is the one I bought DD1 from Argos. Says it comes with a rechargeable battery. It's suitable for 5 years and up. £35 in Argos, Amazon currently more expensive.

Kidizoom Studio

I’m looking for stocking fillers for my husband, we’re just doing stockings this year due to a big house reno.
He loves sport, coffee, new found love of DIY!

Arran - Sense of Scotland (used to be Arran Aromatics) have a 25% off sale today. Really nice stuff and good for teacher/in law gifts.

Sorry - link

https://arran.com/collections/bestsellers?utmcampaign=18131333Website%20bday%20Sale%2025%20off%20-%20one%20day%20only%20-%20%20Sat%2014th%20Sep&utmmedium=email&utmmsource=dotdigital&dm_i=5KG5,12V0T,1TU834,4Y5TU,1

Thanks for mentioning this - Just ordered a few things for DD that has been asking for Benetint for a while now

Bitzee was a bit of flop here but the cookeez oven thing was a big winner and stayed popular a good while with my now seven year old, that and the kidizoom have remained played with

Reminder that this weekend is Super Seconds Festival, a chance to buy from loads of small UK businesses with great discounts.

It starts at 10am, definitely worth a browse for some more quirky gifts.

My 7 year old has this camera. We haven't used half the attachments it came with, but the case is waterproof, so we now have many videos of him jumping in the pool on holiday. We also bought a little float device to attach to it and took it snorkelling. It actually took some pretty good underwater photos and videos. He also uses it to take YouTube type commentary videos when we're away on holiday. It's an adults camera, but he got used to it pretty quickly. I decided against kiddizoom cameras as thought he would grow out of them quickly.

Deal: WOLFANG Action Camera 4K 20MP GA100, Waterproof 40M Underwater Camera for Snorkelling, EIS Stabilization WiFi 170° Wide Angle Helmet Camera for Vlogging with External Microphone, Remote Control amzn.eu/d/9F6H8TC

Love this thread! Pleased to be back, and much needed this year as dh has been made redundant.
Dd 15 has asked for some skincare for Christmas, no idea where to start, would welcome some recommendations. Also dd7 has asked for skincare (where do they get it from?!) Any ideas on what would be safe for her skin so she feels she’s not being left out?
thankyou ❤️

I like the look of this thank you! Only thing putting me off is that it says you have to charge with a laptop or computer, is that correct?

Is there a kids camera aimed at 4-5yrs that you can take pics and print out? DTwins would love one...

My 5 year old has this one. It’s quite easy to use. It does only print black and white but he’s happy with that and refills aren’t too expensive. I think they do have one aimed at younger children as well but I found this one cheap on Vinted 😂

https://www.smythstoys.com/uk/en-gb/gaming-and-tech/digital-and-instant-cameras/cameras-for-kids/photo-creator-instant-camera-with-4gb-sd-card/p/208949?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADF0j8IF17QfC-8T0l4L-zhStsvRf&gclid=CjwKCAjw6JS3BhBAEiwAO9waF1vY9vthrCtcabm20jYbY-MSriNV-66eblnxWtqjWTsex9ynC9pZORoCqtQQAvD_BwE

Byoma is popular here plus some of the elf stuff and to be honest some small samples of the high end stuff for my nearly 14 year old.
For the 7 year old I'm not sure any are appropriate, I'd assumed simple was but had heard differently.
@myvolvohasavulva thanks for the bitzee comments!

If any of you use Aliexpress, the thermal instant print cameras are all on there. I bought one for a 3 year old last xmas and it's gone down really well. You can buy extra rolls from Ebay, aliexpress or I've even seen them in Lidls middle aisle

Also, not sure if it was this thread or if I'm very late but someone wanted Harry Potter Lego? I've just been to Costco and they have lots, thought I'd snap some pix

@YeahWellWhyNot Any good?

As an aside Costco also had the Dogman/Catkids for 4.49 which seemed decent

Highly recommend small aromas for perfume samples

Bought some of the smallest samples last year of some very expensive perfumes and put them in Christmas crackers. Went down very well and have been requested again this year
(DB not happy with me as SIL has asked for a full size one of the trial I gave her for Christmas this year from him - over £200 - but that’s another story!)

Maybe something like the Superdrug Simply Pure range for Dd7? I can't see anything in there that would be of harm, and it's cheap and cheerful (though effective for adults).
https://www.superdrug.com/skin/simply-pure/b/418030

You could also get her a couple of cheap moisturising face masks/a beauty headband/a quick drying towel turban thing or some of the cold things you throw in the fridge for eyes rather than actual skincare (Primark has some cheap stuff in this area that could make good stocking fillers for both, as does TK max)

I have bought Bubble for my 11 year old after reading an article on teen/tween skincare brands and there are some sets in the Boots 3 for 2 present deal (although out of stock yesterday). It’s quite pricey though.

I would buy Aveeno or similar for a 7 year old I think. My 8 year old is luckily not interested in what her big sister is doing (yet) - I am finding 11 very young for skincare, I don’t think I used face moisturiser until I was about 25! 😳

Free delivery this weekend on smyths for purchases over £20- no code needed

Re: 7 year old @Mumto3thatsme I ordered the peelable safe nail varnish from Miss Nella (huge range of colours) and they gave me a free mystery product, in that case pink lip balm.

When it arrived, there was a card inside for a freebie from Lav Kids which I also ordered, and ended up with a nice lip butter and two little samples of face and body cream, I think.
Their products are natural and aimed at kids, and when you go on the website there’s a pop up to subscribe for a freebie and discount.

My DD6 hasn’t used any of it yet so can’t confirm what they’re like, but she was very impressed to find them inside the little handbag I gave her!

For the poster asking about England Kit, we got DS one from Nike last year. It was such a great purchase. Washes and dries perfectly and so quickly, any stains come right out and even a year on it looks brand new. It was a bit more expensive but worth every penny and I’d definitely buy from them again. Also if you are a Nike member you get free delivery which is always within about 2 days I’ve found.

For the poster who asked about rechargeable batteries, DH bought this over a year ago. Wow. What a brilliant purchase. You can buy any size batteries to fit it and we are just about at the moment where we have no batteries to recycle anymore as we only use rechargeable ones now. We haven’t bought single use batteries since we bought this so it has paid for itself many times over (and saved us loads!!). The batteries work in gaming equipment, door bells etc and are strong enough and last so well. We have only used their brand batteries though just to be sure.

Battery charger

Depending what your budget is for DIY, I bought this for my Dad last year. It’s currently on offer (it was reduced when I got it but can’t remember what I paid. It was a hit on here so maybe someone else can confirm)

Also you could get a good tape measure and one of those pens that has multi function (pen/ruler/spirit level/etc)

amzn.eu/d/fPPMiYs

I have an M&S one which is okay and washes well - don’t have another brand to compare it to though! A lot if the ones you see aren’t silk though so check out the fabric too.

Woodwick candles
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B07FQ9FFKH?ref=ppx_pt2_mob_b_prod_image
this one has a £6.60 voucher you can apply .
also a few of the woodwick candles are on 3for2 on Amazon