Thread 9 - the one with a kink for L’Occitaine

[Reastie]

Thanks @Travelcrazy for the title. It really tickled me!

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)

@Bryna be careful with the JosephJoseph rice cooker - check the dimensions of your microwave as it wouldn't fit in ours!!

@dottyaboutstripes Haha, “the one where everyone is confused about Quality Street”

So if you have an empty Quality Street tin at home, take it to JL and they will fill it for free with a single flavour (for example, coffee cream).
If you don’t have an empty tin at home, you can buy one from JL, but it costs approx £14, then you get the sweets put in for free.

If the reward turns out to be “we’ll let you choose one flavour and pay for a full tin of them” that’s an incredible level of retail gaslighting 😂

Does anyone have a discount code for Graham and Green? TIA!

Better than half price Clinique gift set at boots

I definitely read the John Lewis reward as you having to purchase the chocolates (‘the perfect purchase’)

That’s how I read it @rhubarbhandsoap

Someone on here needs to take one for the team by rushing over to JL tomorrow clutching an empty tin and then report back!

We will be waiting…😹

It calls it a purchase. So I agree it's not free!

Edit due to reading fail!

Agree, I have this one and it’s excellent. If it broke tomorrow I would immediately replace it.

Thank you, any particular flavours?

I think EXTRAFIVE takes off 5%.
300FURN15 takes 15% off a £300 furniture spend

Seasalt has an official eBay outlet too where you can sometimes get good deals: www.ebay.co.uk/str/seasaltcornwallofficialoutlet?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=de2w9mvbtla&sssrc=3418065&ssuid=OhcJagwET3W&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

These Warmies Sloths are lovely stocking fillers. I've been on the lookout for a microwaveable wheat bag of reasonable price/ quality for a little while and was pleased to find this in Tesco. It's on the Warmies website for £20 and Amazon for £15, so quite a decent saving. There was a hedgehog version in my local store too, but the Sloth is a better size.

As far as I’m aware the John Lewis quality street offer is that you can fill a tin with a minimum of 3 different flavours, however, if you have a John Lewis card then you have the perk of filling it with just one and you have to pay for the chocolates.

Also, when they talk about filling your own tin they mean one of the special ones they sold for this and not just a standard QS tin.

Does anyone know of a discount code for Gisela Graham website please?

Re: The QS tins in JL - for those who can wait until after Xmas, my local always massively reduces them in the sale.

Re: the John Lewis Quality Street chocolates -

I don't think the chocolates are free - the other actual rewards eg £5 off tableware/£15 off beauty have to be activated and have a barcode which is scanned at the till to reduce the price.

The Quality Street 'reward' in the app is just information - JL loyalty card holders can have just one flavour when they purchase (last year it was a minimum of 3 flavours, previous years you had to have a genuine pick'' mix selection I think). There's nothing to scan at the till.

I did intend to ask instore today, but the stall isn't open yet in my local JL.

Just sent you a on incase it helps.

Can you buy a nice bag to put it in - my daughter keeps her dryer in a drawstring bag hanging next to her dressing table….sort of posh pe bag - you could get a nice one somewhere and give her it in that and let on it’s so she can keep it in it to keep it in good condition ?

Oh that’s daft if that’s the case. I have a metal tin but it wasn’t from JL.
So realistically it’s better to just buy bags of the individual flavours you like from other stores, and fill your own tin 😅
I do also have a £5 off voucher but I wouldn’t use it for this

I would like to buy the Boots Beauty Box and I know you can get £25 cash back via Rakuten with a referral but I can't work out how to get a referral - does anyone know? I'm not finding anything on the referrals thread but I might well be looking in the wrong place!

@Carriemac
you could look on eBay for an empty box, I know you shouldn’t have to but as it’s a gift.

Re JL quality street ‘reward’ I have just emailed them to ask ( yes I know I am sad).
I did mention that MN, which is my main source of information for practically everything, was in a state of confusion.
So finger’s crossed we all get a free tin.

@Thelifeofawife where can you get the individual sweets? I fondly remember happening across a box full of only green triangles one Christmas but that was Woolies.

I have a referral code you can use. You get £25 and so do I. I signed up ages ago but haven't used it yet.

WWW.RAKUTEN.CO.UK/R/KATELU210