Thread 7 - the one with no name

[Reastie]

Sorry - I panicked with the title

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)

@Onetwothreemisstwo123 thanks for those baking book recommendations. I've been thinking of getting a cookbook for my tween but wasn't sure what was good. They both look great

These sound great for the price @Alpolonia
Just ordered two, am always snuggled up on sofa in the evenings, these sound perfect, and my daughter will love it too

Father Christmas brought a much requested Bitzee last year for DS(7). It was throughly played with for a couple of weeks, then picked up randomly for the next month and now I don't know where it is. I think I got it for about £22 with sales/offers and wasn't too sad for that price as it's exactly what he asked for. I may regret my choices this year though as I've picked up one of the bargainous tamagotchis from earlier in the threads 😂

Just been to Lakeland for some sorely needed new oven trays. 25% off in the sale. They are for me but for presents they have nice tins of biscuits 3 for 2 which is good value. That's a couple of elderly friends sorted.

@HeadOfGregor completely sold out at both of nine I'm afraid. Hope someone else comes up trumps.

Any recommendations on crystal growing kits/labs? There are so many I don't know where to start!

Aldi have a few clay-based kits right now, that don't look too babyish or difficult. One made candleholders, another made a plant pot.

I also saw little punch-needle and regular embroidery kits in TKMaxx, where the stationery and cards are. The images were teen themed (think pug dogs, slogans, etc).

My ‘go to arty gift’ that works for lots of ages and would be good for your dd is a drawing pad with black paper (Hobbycraft, Amazon, eBay or art supplies that get mentioned on here) with a couple of white gel ink biros (thick and thin), then a few decent white coloring crayons (hobbycraft sell them individually - I tend to get the good opaque ones rather than the watercolour ones) - a true white, then a creamy one and a very pale blue. Drawing with pale on dark is a different skill to the usual drawing using dark on light as you end up thinking more about highlights than shadows if you see what I mean!

Depending on how big a gift I want to give, I might add some gold and silver biros or metallic pens or some pastels as well.

Is your dd into anything in particular? Maybe add a ‘how to draw’ book - given the popularity of all the food plushies on this thread, maybe one on how to draw cute food cartoons…

Vertuo pods are about twice the price of normal nespresso pods

I got my son this a couple of years back. Think I paid £25 on black Friday or another offer day. It's really good - it actually made proper crystals and comes with a light up display thing too.

@HeadOfGregor

I think Father Chistmas may be scared of vampire mice if that helps. I'm off to sains later so I will look as well.

@Doublebubblegum Sorry if someone has already suggested this, but lakeland has some beautiful children's baking gear and it's all fully usable. If you're a member, you usually get reasonable discounts if you spend x amount.

Can anyone recommend a British wildlife/bird book? For my notoriously difficult dad.

@Doublebubblegum how into baking is she? Cake Stuff has everything you could ever want from absolute beginner right up to professional. 20% off site wide with AUTUMN20 until 31st October.

My daughter has a part time job at Sainsbury’s so I will have a look when I take her tomorrows

@StrawberryThief1930 @IlovePond found it!!!! I was searching for a box. It was out of the box, and black. Master of camouflage in a black lined box!

Now for the Liz Earle...

Hurray @okayhescereal !

@ilisten2theradio thanks for that, that was me after the Jelly Belly Jelly Beans- I'm popping to the Metro Centre tomorrow so will add Costco to the journey!

Does anyone know if the crimpits that @StrawberryThief1930 posted about are any good?

Thank you all for searching 🙏

I think that might have to be the case 🙈 great idea

@Livinginacatdictatorship I’ve got one and they are a decent idea, I take it into work as unfortunately you can’t ‘pre-crimp’ in the morning and then just toast at work as I’ve found the edges come undone. It does work well when you crimp and toast straight away.

They also do a wrap crimpit which I haven’t tried.

So I asked this question to a friend recently too, whose daughter had received one for her 8th birthday, she said that since the initial night she received it and wouldn't put it down, it had essentially been entirely forgotten about- so I took it off the Christmas list for mine (I have twins so would have ended up buying two)!

Instead I'm getting both of mine a Furby Furblet, they are £7.50-£10 on Amazon and they come in different colours and speak to you/each other a bit and I figure that's as good as their interaction needs to be! 😁

I have this one - Collins Guide to British Birds and the hardback edition is lovely and very giftable.

Who was looking for jelly belly beans? I don’t know how big it is but there’s a box at Lakeland for £4.49 on 3 for 2.

well done @okayhescereal !

sad to hear Bitzees are a bit rubbish. theyre kn my DD list. maybe i need to look into them a bit more...