Thread 8 - the one with Poopy the troll

[Reastie]

@NobodyGivesADamn thanks for 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)

@Chocoholicmumma
Frasers & Flannels have 20% off with code FF20. They have some chestnut & sand ones in size 4.

if you’ve got a tiger near you, they have little activity books which are perfect for this. We used to take one and a pack of their little pencils out with us and we would all do the games. Things like spot the difference, turning different shapes into animals. Funny face pictures. All sorts, I miss them now mine are teens!
flyingtiger.com/en-gb/pages/search-results?q=Activity+book&options%5Bprefix%5D=last

@44PumpLane fantastic shout for hobbycraft, thank you!
Got 2 Christmas presents and a birthday present for £32 instead of £57.50 so very pleased!

Sol de Janeiro sets are all 25% off on Look Fantastic right now (and free delivery over £25)- just sorted some nice gift sets for tween neices 🥰

Would recommended water drawing books, they often have them cheaply in the middle of Aldi/lidl, and grapat lucky box- you get three in a box and great for pretend play and they are small. Usbourne 100 things for kids to do on long journey cards(about £7) are wipe able and comes with a pen are great and big jigs mini wooden noughts and crosses

Monica vinader have nice things although not the cheapest has to be said so depends how much you get in with MIL! KATEMV20 gets you 20% off (not my code i hasten to add and no benefit to me - it's an influencer one!).

@Cupofteaandbiscuits
ex cake maker here
decent baking tins - not fancy shapes, 3 x round sandwich ones, muffin,and probably a quick release round one, maybe a loaf one for good luck.
disposable icing bags,
a tin of different icing nozzles,
electronic scales.
An electric hand mixer if you’ve not got one, you can get one with stands as a cheaper alternative tri a kitchen aid.
gel food colouring.
basic fondant shaping tools (like play dough ones really!)

Lakeland is great for bits, not cheap though. You can normally scout around for other bits. hobbycraft is also good.

you can go mad really

I have finally found you all again, and thread 8 already!!

@anon2423 if you look on Amazon for 'zoo in a tin' or 'farm in a tin' there's a company selling a small tin with small world players inside. They're great, so detailed for the size of the tin. We have the zoo one and we most recently brought it out during the speeches at a family wedding for DSs 2 & 6 but it also gets use at restaurants, trains, etc anywhere we're hanging around.

I'm sure you can get it other places too but that's where I got it from.

@TheBigFish have you tried cookery books? I can recommend vegan cupcakes take over the world, vegan cookies invade your cookie jar and veganomicon all by Isa Chandra Moscovitz. They are really great books and the recipes actually work. The lonely planet vegan travel handbook can make a nice present if they go on holiday? I would also recommend a grow your own avocado plant kit- they have them on amazon (and all over the place) now and they are lots of fun, or a grow your own mushroom kit using coffee grounds, or the wood log ones. Hope that helps ❤️

Update regarding the kids instant print camera offer on Amazon.

I ordered one for DD for Xmas which arrived today, just tested it out quickly and very happy with it. Took a quick pic of our pug and it’s really good for the price - prints straight out takes a few seconds. My DD is gonna love this, have a feeling it will be one of her fave presents. It also came pre installed with a roll of paper and two extra ones. Already researched the price of the printer paper for these before buying and they’re cheap to buy so very happy! 😊👌

That's a great photo! Could you link to the one you got from Amazon please? DS 8 would love that!

I have mucked up that Monica Vinader code, @Dinomum24 - it should be KATEHMV20. Doh.

Thank you! She’s such a cutie & loves a photo 😂😍

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0D4YZ7TVG?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_image

hopefully that link should take you straight to it 🤞

It has 20% off currently & then a 40% voucher so brings it down to £17.33 and comes in 4 colours

Thanks @Houseofsardines they are big into travel so the Lonely Planet book sounds perfect

Big fan of Oodie sleep tees here. Have just told my husband the sale is on as I'd like a new one!

I hate sleeping in anything else now and they are really soft and comfortable. I love that you can pull all the material round your bum and knees when in bed. They're lovely and long, I hate getting dressed now!!

The only downside is they are big to wash/dry but fine if you have airing cupboard/warm house . I start mine in the tumble even though they say not too. This is literally the only negative thing I have to say about them! Wearing one now!

Are they really huge/baggy? I’m a size 10/12 so im wondering if it’ll look too big on me

Hmm they are big but they're supposed to be. I'm a 12-14. They hang well as they have pockets which draw the sides down. Love a pocket!

@Justhereforthechristmasthreads thanks for the Jellycat link. Managed to order the Bartholomew Bathrobe bear which is out of stock everywhere else.

Ooh didn’t realise they had pockets! Even better

I think you can do this. If you set it to show all posts on the thread, rather than going page by page, then (on iPhone) there’s a little icon that looks like a box with an arrow pointing upwards. If you press that then about half way down is the option to ‘find on page’.

@Cupofteaandbiscuits
The posh vanilla. I like Taylor and College or Nielsen Massey but really anything around the £5 mark will make a massive difference to taste. Never skimp on vanilla.
A mason and cash mixing bowl. Gorgeous and heavy so nice and stable for mixing. 29cm is £18 in Asda.
A really good cookbook. I'd recommend the hummingbird bakery one but there are various others including bake off winners. Bonus: these generally have a recommended equipment list in!
A decent hand mixer. The whizzy whisk type, not a blender. I like the dualit or kitchen aid ones for the look but you can get one that's ok from a supermarket for a tenner and if they take it seriously enough you'll want a stand mixer soon enough anyway to replace this.
Cake tin liners. These are basically paper liners for the tin so it doesn't stick. This means you can get away with cheaper tins (although nicer tins give a more even bake).
A proper scale to measure ingredients accurately. Baking is a science.
A cake turntable to rotate whilst decorating.
A decent box to keep cakes in once baked. Can be tin or tupperware but make sure it's tall and matches the size of whatever baking tin you get plus room for icing.

It's currently showing a 50% off voucher, so I got it for £16.99...

@kavvYourselfAMerryLittleXmas I don't think you get this option anymore unless you're paying the mumsnet subscription ☹️

Aww great even better bargain then! 😊