Thread 6 - the one with Otis and the Christmas miracle

[Reastie]

@Cupofteaandbiscuits and @NewtyCutey loved the happy reunited story with Otis.

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!

@ 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

A few pointers to make everyone’s life easier and the thread be as useful as possible:

• It’s handy to put in bold the bargains so they’re easy to spot
• No affiliate links
• No need to place mark or post messages of hello or thanks at the start of a new thread - use the ‘watch thread’ button
• Be nice or leave

The current referral thread for sharing referral codes https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/christmas/4940918-4940918-bargain-referrals-thread-6 . Please use this rather than this page to share referral links to make the sharing fair.

To make clicks links, you set it up like this only without any spaces apart from between the website and the word(s) you’re writing: www.bargainsahoyeveryonecomehere.co.uk

Thanks @RainbowZebraWarrior for the instructions below.
To make something bold, put this star * either side of the word you want to bold (with no spaces in between)

So starhellostar would look like this.

hello

Obviously use the * not the word star

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)

I went into town today and saw someone selling Whistlefish Christmas cards for £1.60 each in the market. One way to earn extra money for Christmas!

@nightcap I've sent you a PM 😊

Does anyone have any experience with hama beads or aquabeads? Wondering if they're suitable for my soon to be 5 and 7 years old ds's (the mario kit and dragons maybe) but also worried about my 2 year old 🫣 are they an absolute nightmare?

Hobbycraft have Hama bead kits on 2 for £15.00, I used my birthday voucher for a super bargain

Hama beads are brilliant, Aqua beads are awful.

A handy small craft iron is helpful for Hama beads.

For anyone who ordered the £10 benefit mascara mine came today and I only ordered it yesterday! It's a great stocking filler!

We love aqua beads here - have had no issues with them at all!

@YeahWellWhyNot I'm yet to find a child who doesn't like aquabeads!!!

@Dinomum24 lidl have a nice wooden one in this week with 10% discount. I can't remember the exact price, but I think it was a round £30. We got our DS a very similar looking one last year from aldi and it was a great purchase only negative is was it was a faff to build so I had a very grumpy husband on Christmas day [as he should listen to his wife and build it the day before.]

They also have a range of wooden discounted food in atm.

The giant 850g dairy milk is £8 in tesco with clubcard

@SpottyBumPony I was looking at Hobbycraft but it's now 3 for 2 I think

Thanks everyone though it sounds like either would be a winner!

@CaneToad to be fair when I first went in to buy they only had silver/gold/rose gold/kids so if @fluffytail ordered at the same time as me there was only one option for silver and it said you may get duplicates, not that you def would.

Also, my whinge about the earrings in the kids selection is that I feel hoops aren't appropriate for kids and one of the pairs was too tiny therefore not to my taste- which is nothing against Solace as a company, and I did note it's the chance you take when you go for a blind bag. 😁

Doing my online shop and come across these, huge savings to be had. I’ve absolutely no idea if they were ever worth the original price but maybe someone here is in the know

I saw this one in Smyths the other day: Smyths Kitchen
It looks a lot like one we got DS1 years ago from Asda I think- it's survived 2 house moves and is still being played with by DS2 8 years later!

I just had a look (for the purpose of research, obvs). I put an item totally £45+ in my basket and then added the icons set. Added the EHGIFT code for the 8 hr set, the mascara is automatically added. THEN deleted the random item. Basket still totals £85, with free mascara, 8 hr set and samples.

We’ve been Hama-ing since age 4 with no issues here (6 now and still loves them!)

Does anybody know a code for converse or asos where they are also available please?

Have you signed up for marketing emails? I have and get sent various discounts quite frequently. Today was a scratch card thing that gave me 20% off. I would share but it looks account specific and I am considering some jeans for DD. I think there's a new customer discount maybe too. Worth a try.

Can't remember who was looking for a cheaper dog jumper but I spotted these in Dunelm and thought of you ☺

Thank you @BoysBagsShoes - off to do my own 'research'!!

I agree with @MyLifeMyChoices that I am not an aquabeads fan!

The kids love aquabeads, but from a practical standpoint they aren't a patch on the Hama's.
You create the shape and then spray the aquabeads, you then have to wait overnight for the shape to dry, and if it wasn't quite touching in all the places you then have to re-wet the shape and squish it together and then wait while it dries.

With the Hama beads you have to iron after you've made the design, but once ironed it's immediate and then you can make another new design straight away.

Hama beads also have loads of different shapes plates to make loads of different designs and there is a lot of inspiration online.

The one thing I would say is if you decide to go for Hama beads, buy the Hama brand! We have bought cheaper non branded perler beads before (the big tub from IKEA) and the beads aren't uniform so they don't iron well. The Hama branded beads are brilliant and absolutely worth the outlay.

@CandyRaining i have a code for 10% off if that helps?

I have a 15% off code for converse if you want it?

Does anyone have a spare argos code for a £50 spend? Was gonna have the code someone on here offered me for over £80 but now some of the items in my basket have gone out of stock 😬

Cute little mince pie plushie in Dunelm for £5, like Jellycat
https://www.dunelm.com/product/merry-the-mince-pie-plush-teddy-1000246286Mince Pie Plushie