Thread 10 - the one with a rubber dick each

[Reastie]

Thanks @CalliopePlantain for the title. Lord of the Rings rubber dick anyone?!

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)

😹@Roundaboot

I justified it to myself in that I did sort of ‘need’ an eyeshadow, (if you can actually ever NEED an eyeshadow 😹).

Have a look at “a year of dates”. You get a nice box with sealed envelopes with suggestions for things to do on “date night”. A little over budget, at £28, but I loved it.

I recently bought a beauty box from Boots via Rakuten with a referral code (thanks if it was yours!) and I now have £25 + £10 showing in my account, so effectively the beauty box cost £20 instead of £55. It’s going to be a nice but cheap beauty advent for DD! Well worth doing for a purchase over £30 from a qualifying brand - I wasn’t sure if it had even worked at first. I’ve put my referral link on the referrals thread if anyone is interested.

So I fell for a classic scam & ordered a stationery advent calendar from a Facebook advert. It took weeks to arrive and when it did I found that the contents are pretty poor - a couple of pens, paper clips and some printed pieces of paper masquerading as book marks!

So, if anyone is tempted, beware!

And also if anyone knows anywhere where I might get a few stationery bits & pieces to replace the tat & salvage the advent calendar, please let me know

@munchbunch12 Tom & Jerry Nutcracker - lovely little film, I bought it off a thread recommendation years ago and my teens still insist on watching it each year!

You should still be able to cancel and return under distance selling regulations, and if it doesn’t work go through your credit card provider or PayPal.

Unfortunately (despite having a .co.uk web address) the item was shipped from the USA. I've been advised that I'd have to pay to ship it back, so it's probably not going to be worth it. PayPal have been really poor in responding helpfully.

It was called A Nutcracker Tale. Annoyingly I had it in my Amazon basket but it’s gone out of stock

How did you exchange the points for samples? It comes up as free delivery to be added when I go on my app but when I go to checkout it still charges delivery (this is on the first order I done via my main email)

It seems to be on you tube too - the full film which might be useful for those of us without dvd players.

Aargh! I forgot about trying to swap points for samples on ELF🙀 I tried for ten seconds, then got distracted…

Never mind - still a bargain!

@hugsandpugs the samples available for points were in the my rewards tab, had to spend £5 for free postage.

@comewhinewith I nearly did the same after seeing one on Instagram. Did a Quick Look up on trustpilot and realised it was a scam thankfully. Theres a couple of companies that have stolen the pics from a genuine small business and are then sending out tat. I hope you get some money back. The person who makes the real thing is called Martha Brook if you want to look her up. Her advent calendar is sold out though (and was over £100).

Thank you I’ll have a look, ahh that’s why then! I only had a £4 lip gloss in there

I would think a spicery gift set would be good

I think the ELF £10 thing has gone? It was there when I clicked to download the app and I think it was showing in my reward (or at least I saw it somewhere when I started), but when I went into My Rewards to click on it to apply it after putting some things in my basket, it was just showing a free delivery offer in instead? Would someone mind taking a look to see if it's still there for them?

Also the Keyworker discount is now showing as 25% off a £30 basket, rather than £15. So I think I've missed the bargain boat!!

@MammaGnomes if you sign up for their rewards scheme it gives you 10% off, I was able to stack that with another code a few weeks back plus you get free delivery

It's not there for me now, but it was last night and wouldn't let me check out.

I've just looked and it does seem to have gone from mine too, it did say it ended on 11th but didn't see a time.

@Wallaroo21
There are somepacks of two bottles of wine in a wooden box for £20 I think on Laithwaite's site. If you haven't used them before you can get a referral off the referral thread to get £40 off an £80 order. Other nice gifts on there too

@NauseousNancy Hobbycraft usually have cricut in their black Friday sale - bundles or machines but can vary as to which ones..

For anyone that ordered on elf and missed the free birthday gift, I updated my account and it arrived....but despite using it already, the free postage offer was still there if spend £5...need to buy something to get the gift as can't get on it's own

Thank you for this- got some great stocking fillers for my teenager and mum!

Something like this with a nice pen maybe?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Day-5-Year-Journal/dp/0307719774/ref=pdsbsdsccl22/260-4319130-9883217?pdrdw=WmLqF&content-id=amzn1.sym.0cb4baf2-91d4-4455-bf97-23e050f7eae5&pfrdp=0cb4baf2-91d4-4455-bf97-23e050f7eae5&pfrdr=QC5520D82YKHK10TS95K&pdrdwg=rovVh&pdrdr=b8b413a4-196b-413b-91eb-b9c16632c9b2&pdrdi=0307719774&psc=1

Edit to say sorry for the long link😳