Stockings, teenage girls and Bargain shop treasures

[sauvignongone]

I have 3 teenage girls (youngest 13, eldest 18) we have always given them a big Christmas but like everyone else really feeling the pinch this year, especially as the youngest two have a really expensive hobby and eldest is off to uni next year so looking to tone things down without taking away the magic (yes I know all things don’t equate all Christmas magic!)

Ive just watched a TicTock off a mum of girls finding some bargains in Home Bargains and The Range (star pimple patches and really good dupe makeup) which were a 1/4 of the price of the originals and I’m wondering if anyone else has seen bargain girly stocking fillers around, maybe in Primark, B&M, home bargains etc, thinking beauty, treats, bath/body, candles etc.

How about a book token?

I think Lidl is doing dupes of the Sol de Janeiro body sprays that are very popular.

B&M are great for any gifts for girls they do everything from hot water bottles, to beauty mirrors to make up bits. A lot of the make up b&m sell are profusion sets and they are more than half the price you’d pay from say boots and Superdrug. I buy beauty products from b&m every year for Christmas gifts and nobody has a clue they believe I buy them from high branded places like boots etc.

P Louise are doing their lip sets for £20 each or 3 for £25 and my 16 yo loooves pLouise so that offer made it a bit easier to swallow for getting her a few "name" bits. Home bargains do Madonna perfumes and body sprays for £2ish each and the exquisite is a brilliant copy for Jean Paul Gaultier . I discovered this when my dd started taking a liking to MY jpg but I couldn't justify her going through a bottle every month (!) and swapped her to the h&b one and her friends haven't even noticed so she's happy. I got her some Elemis bottles of skin care stuff on Amazon, I follow a fb group called "uk treasure hunters glitches freebies and deals" and while it's a very very mixed bag of what they share, you do get some absolute bargains. I paid £1.60-2 for various bottles of Elemis face wash/toner/moisturiser and got some lovely make up brushes for £1.50 a set. I also wait like the revolution website for the sale/clearance bargains.

Lidl have Emily in Paris themed stuff if your girls are into that.

I think at 13+ you might need to bite bullet and reduce content rather than go hard on dupes. 1-2 good quality make up items (or whatever it is they’ve requested) bulked out with cheaper stuff:

my teen girls like high end make up & skincare so wouldn’t be thrilled with dupes but they love cheap fluffy socks; claw clips, lip
balms, sour sweets etc

I bought my girls a couple of the Lidl Sol de Janeiro dupe body sprays. Nothing wrong with bulking out a small pile with some decent dupes - it all gets used in the end 😊 Aldi are usually pretty good for dupes too. I bought some self-heating eye masks from there last year.

I just posted on another thread to say that DD was thrilled with the "top up" emergency presents from Primark recently. One of those make up hair band things, wrist things to stop the water running down your arms when washing your face (apparently, this is a thing now), a compact mirror, scrunchies, fluffy socks. I also got her some Ted Baker shimmer oil which was heavily reduced in Boots and another hit.
I know that for Christmas she wants some branded crew length socks so they can be a stocking filler.

I second this. Thinking back to when I was a teen I definitely would have preferred to have just a small selection of the branded beauty bits I asked for (it was Benefit that was all the rage) than a load of dupes.

This is just their stocking, they will of course have presents that they have asked for and that will include some more premium beauty/make up products but star pimple patches, wrist,head makeup bands, budget bubble tea drinks and charcoal pore patches can be a bit more generic and where I’d like to save some pennies, ref OP.

Ah ok - I was specifically addressing the make up dupes reference you made in your OP.

I wouldn’t like to give my teen dupes as I imagine it’s disappointing so I have been buying her favourite brands while there’s so many good deals on.

Home Bargains have pimple patches for 99p. They looked good for throwing in a stocking.