What was a let down last year?

[slipperypenguin]

Looking for lessons from 2024! Last year we bought a full turkey and it was just a waste and didn’t get eaten. Also spent a fortune on a playmobil set for DS that he didn’t even open.

This year going to just get a small chicken and not going to spend ££ on surprises that we won’t know they will like.

did you spend on anything last year that you thought would be a winner but wasn’t?

Ice skating hurts the soles of my feet. I need very thick socks.

Other than that, no regrets from last Christmas.

I stopped buying things for the sake of it a few years ago so DC only get things they want.

I think this year, I'm going to take some time off work in the run up to Christmas. I actually enjoy the time before Christmas more than xmas day and the days following.

Apart from a catastrophic mess at the in-laws’ house with a raging SIL…

Leaving the wrapping late.

Putting the tree up late. I miss the light, but it is customary in the country I live in for it to go up on the 24th. Will go up on the first advent this year.

Just somehow left everything late and scrambled to make things. Have looked at a calendar this year and will get things done earlier. Just bought some wrapping paper and will get things done as they arrive.

What works: Generally avoiding plastic decorations. Have a fir tree in the garden we can cut bits from. Collect pinecones and spray pain a few gold and silver. A few large wooden Nutcracker figures. Etc.

Planning a really special Christmas time with baking, a homemade advent calendar, etc., in case Christmas Day is a fiasco again.

BnM do a lot of miniature packs

I got some in Aldi! Three different flavours of mini Irish creams for £5.99. Perfect.

thanks!!

I'm going to have the mindset we don't belong on Instagram and our Christmas is ours alone not to be perfect for the outside world. If we want pizza on Christmas Day in our pyjamas that's what we're having. Mum always said she regretted wasting Christmas day when we were little in the kitchen.
Less pressure on my self.
Teen/student neice and nephew can just have cash it's what they want I prefer gifts for them but it's stressful.
My toddler does not need a million toys she's three she doesn't care.
And no dog gifts for the fun of it. £20 I do not need to spend.

I was very disappointed with our Taskmaster crackers. Maybe we were all too tired to play properly.

I never want any of the Christmas dinner I've cooked by the time it's done, but to be honest I often feel like that about food I've been panicking about for days.

@Julimia I had a lot of fuss buying an organic ham joint in Waitrose gammon and it was so bland.

@GrumpyNovember can I ask why you think it's stressful re giving miney

@GettingFestiveNow we did a light trail and it felt like an endurance challenge ,I'm not that old and fairly fit. I couldn't wait for it to be over and the more elderly were being dragged along by relatives with an arm over each shoulder.

No sorry I meant my preference to give gifts is stressful giving money IMO isnt personal and somewhat an easy road out but a lot less stressful.

We did a massive M&S order ( Bury St Edmunds) to pick up near to we were staying. Only to find lots of it was on special offer or reduced in price in store.
The local market had much nicer fruit and veg too.

Added to this we totally overestimated how much two elderly people, us and one unadventurous young person would eat. We were eating constantly that week. Still lots had to be binned but everything else got carted up to Scotland where we were staying for New Year. How we didn’t get ill I’ll never know.

@Arrrrrrragghhh

For another time you can put food on local Facebook sites that give things away for free and people will collect.

Yes this one was bland and dry. Threw about a third away which I really do not like wasting food.

Yes I abhor waste and possibly could have dished it out nearer to home. It wasn’t really workable being away from Christmas Eve until Boxing Day and then driving 8 hours to Scotland
But also it more like too much half eaten stuff. Having ice cream / single cream/ double cream /brandy butter all opened.

Biscuits (sweet) and chocolate. They just don't get eaten but savoury stuff like breadsticks , crackers, crisps get demolished.

I don't think I'm going to book tickets for the panto Christmas Eve for the first time in 20 years, apart from the COVID year.

Last year it wasn't that good tbh. The seats are uncomfortable, we've been spoiled with Odeon luxe reclining seats, and too expensive.

I might just see what's on at the cinema.

Completely agree with you on last year's log. The year before it had been amazing.

Agree! I quite enjoy them but with the children I find them quite painful as they get tired and bored and we have to whiz round at least half of ot as quickly as possible

My aunt very kindly cooked Christmas dinner for us all. Her and her DH and two grown up kids, it was a lot of effort for them. My aunt is a healthy eating freak (to the point where she needs therapy) so we were served skinless, boneless chicken breasts, beef that had all the fat cut off “roasted” in the slo-cooker and various vegetables, which were alright but nothing special at all. Most of it got left, the meat was inedible. It was, considering all the effort they had put in. This year we’re doing a pot luck, so not only will it not all fall on one family, we can all bring stuff we will eat.

This year we won't be doing any extravagant santa themed day out. We have done one of these every year for the last few years and I have always left feeling underwhelmed. They are just extortionate and I cant justify it this year.

I am disappointed to read about M&S choc tub. I have put one in festive order as Quality St etc have gone downhill I think and though M&S sounded good... eek

Interesting. It was an M&S log that I tried last year and I thought it wasn’t up to much.

The M&S Sticky Toffee Pudding Trifle was a disappointment.

No Quality Street for (first time ever in my life !) for us this year.
I can’t express how much I detest the ‘eco friendly’ wrapping. The fun I have had over the decades with the coloured cellophane wrappers………
So, mini toblerones, bacci kisses, Ferraro Rocher , Lindt balls etc for us this year.

My DD asked about 4 yrs ago if we HAD to have the big roast beef/turkey dinner -she wanted me to not spend hrs on Christmas Eve prepping veg and then half of Christmas Day cooking- so now we have steak, some form of potato (varies, we’ve had triple cooked chips, dauphoise, fondant pots all of which I prep on Xmas eve & finish on Xmas day) bernaise sauce (Tesco finest is fine), green salad and green beans.
Dead easy, no cooking for hours, no stress, all pots fit in dishwasher -job done. Wish I had made the switch years ago.

No huge advent calendar spending this year either. I’ve saved my quarterly Liberty boxes which dd will open and put in last years calendar-and she has asked for a kinder bueno one which was considerably cheaper than Space NK from last year!!

This! Did one last year. It had good reviews and some bits were ok but the children spent most of the time asking to buy loads of overpriced, hideous tat abd sugar. Was just a bit depressing overall