I am so skint, I am seriously considering cancelling Xmas!!

[lucysmam]

Someone please help me see sense & tell me all the good things I'll miss out on if I do

LM I have sent you an email hpe you don't mind .

Only just got up MrsMatryoshka, will check in a mo

My advice would be don't buy presents for everyone or think you need to. Christmas is about the children and your immediate family comes first. I don't buy for any adults (except my mum who is my childcarer and my rock!!) and a bottle of scotch for my dad for the same reasons! It gets out of hand and stressful and everything else so we all talked and just stopped it.

Now Christmas is easy and fun again. People are important, not presents.

Remember that your children will only remember the day, not the presents they got so keep it simple, involve them in baking mince pies and making decorations and they will have lovely memories of warm happy Christmases and forget that expensive toy you struggled to get for them.

not quite 2 - hmm, how about a few things from woolies to the sum of £10 if you can spare it.

for your DH how about 'creative, erm, 'love notes' or promises'?

for family - do as I am this year - home made hampers, each having a cake, some mince pies peppermint creams, and a home made magnet (set was £2 and makes 18)

Spandex, pmsl@creative love notes! They're what he got for his birthday . . . not sure I have the energy again

MrsM, I will reply shortly, that's the nicest thing anyone's done for me in ages

I sat down last night and wrote a list of things to make with the lo for xmas . . . .I have decorations, mince pies, shortbreads & fudge, a piccy frame for each gp with a recent photo of the lo & possibly make a gingerbread house for her to decorate.

I added a chicken to my shopping list for the fortnight & will try out some other recipes over the next couple of weeks to see what else I'm going to do.

I quite liked the idea of wrapping everything individually as well . . . may do that with some socks and undies for my oh which he is desperate for.

No worries LM .

sorry i know how you feel dh been out of work since dd became ill, i already have been looking in charty shops feel so guily but needs be! iv already tried talking to ds hope he understands i think alot of people are the same this year.

have you seen they have 3 for 2 on toys in woolworths and boots. car boots are good as well. Just get a few choice token gifts for dd and perhaps a cd or dvd for your dp. I reckon you could do christmas for £100 in total. Buy a little something each week for the super market. Ie you can get a frozen joint of turkey from tesco for about £6 and then get the veg nearer the time. Im sure you can do it on a budget. Just because things are tight you can still have a nice christmas. If there is anything that I can do to help then give me a shout

have you seen they have 3 for 2 on toys in woolworths and boots. car boots are good as well. Just get a few choice token gifts for dd and perhaps a cd or dvd for your dp. I reckon you could do christmas for £100 in total. Buy a little something each week for the super market. Ie you can get a frozen joint of turkey from tesco for about £6 and then get the veg nearer the time. Im sure you can do it on a budget. Just because things are tight you can still have a nice christmas. If there is anything that I can do to help then give me a shout

At your Dcs age, it is easy to bulk out their presents - because let's face it, they are only interested in the unwrapping! so there are lots of cheats that I have used on my DDs.

Buy a pack of three cute vests or tops (things that you need anyway) and wrap them up individually - three presents, and they won't even notice (Last year I got night garden vests, DD was as happy unwarpping that as she was her toys!)

Any other practical presents that you need to buy between now and Christmas (or soon after) such as socks, slippers and the like can be wrapped up too. They have no idea at that age... in fact, we were always given socks and the like for christmas... in fact, I still get them to this day!

Also, multipacks of things that can be split up and wrapped up individually.

Magazines (such as teletubbies or nightgarden) make cheap but bulky presents.

Check out the £1 section in tescos - I picked up some crayons and a colouring book there a while back.

Also check out the clearance sections.

Add in some chocolate, and you're onto a winner.

Another thing we do is to make Christmas about the fun. So small presents are wrapped up into disguises, and clues are given and so you have to guess what present you have got. Usually my dad's clues are a bit bizarre, but it makes Christmas fun.

I think the presents are great, but at the same time the important thing about Christmas is spending time together as a family, enjoying each other's company and so on... that's the magic of Christmas, not the amount you spend.

Oh and for other people - get your little one to make presents to give - calendars made from hand prints etc, a small photo album made up of pics of your DC for grandma (they love that sort of thing). These things go nicely alongside your other gifts and help to keep the costs down.
HTH

We always do Christmas for kids, but we cascade the concept through the whole family. We buy each other boxes of tissues, qtips, food hampers, combs, book marks, all kinds of stuff, so Christmas day churns around and we all have lots of presents to undo.

We try to avoid plasticy tat, but we buy food/drink/practical stuff from places like poundland and home bargains.

For squilljr we go for lots of little things and usually one big thing. I also start buying about now for christmas. That way, I can spread out the cost and catch the pre-season sales. Always useful!

HTH...and you'll enjoy making the effort, I'm sure.

not really skint but i've decided not to put myself into debt this year for xmas, as surely thats not the spirit of xmas.
if your child has lots of relatives don't get them a present they'll have loads already, if they're a bit older make them a voucher for a trip to the pictures or soft play park or zoo, then they can choose when to go.
we also started a tradition of giving our girl her present from us on new years day from the "good for a year fairy", it means that you can get them the gift they really want in the sales and they have something new to play with when you're hung over on new years day.

if you email your addresss and kids ages i'll look out some stuff for you too, maybe we could start up some sort of mumsnet secret santa thing for kids?

also my daughters fave toy of last year was a 99p wind up caterpiller and the xmas decorations off the the tree.

I agree;Xmas can get waaaay tooo expensive. I havent got all the answers, but here's a few things we always do:

I buy all presents in the Jan sales half price, and store them for the year (inc party presents for ds's friends etc). Only ones I dont get are the boys main xmas present, as cant predict what they'll be into. We also get alot from charity shops.

Dh and I spend £7 on each other, and its a challenge to get the best for the money. This year, every time I've had a goodie bag from doing a run etc, I've kept all the freebies, and have made him a shoebox hamper of cereal, snack bars, toiletries etc. I also peel the sticker off the McDonalds cups when I see them on the floor, and have saved 2 full cards to wrap up for him to get 2 coffees when he's on a late shift at work!

I do Pinecone surveys, and save the luncheon vouchers to spend on the xmas food shop.

Poundshops are great for wrapping paper.

We initiated a present amnesty amongst adults as soon as we had kids; the only people we buy for are each other's £7, my Mum cos she's on her own at xmas, and my friend who was birth partner for ds2.

We do all the traditional things like cutting up last years cards to make this years gift tags.

The boys have very small stockings! They get about 5 or 6 items in, usually around £1 an item, perhaps one bigger one, and fruit and a choc coin.

You've got mail

I'm amazed at some of the ideas on here & eternally grateful for them all!

I'm going to sit down with a book tonight & write everything down so I can start planning things to do with the lo and pick up any odd bits to make some things with her over the run up to Christmas.

I have also taken on board the advice given re pressies for grown ups and will no longer be buying for anyone other then family kids.

Thank-you all for your help/inspiration, it is very much appreciated xx

Well, after sitting down & going through various ideas from here with my oh . . . he has announced that no-one is getting anything (at all, not even home made) if he can't afford something for me!

Which has kinda killed my jolly, Xmas is coming, I'm actually looking forward to it now mood somewhat!

[grrrrrrrrr] [grrrrrrrrr]

Oh no. Would he let you pick a "time" gift that you'd really like? E.g. a back / foot massage once a month, etc? (Given by him.)

Well, I have told him I would like my hair colouring to go out for my birthday next year so would be happy if he booked & saved for that until the time.

Also have told him he could just ask me to marry him since he's had the ring stashed at his mam's house since January of this year 'waiting until we have enough money to do it properly'. I'd be over the moon if he did that & made a big thing of it at home one evening!

Ah Lucysmam. I hope you get your proposal this Christmas. That would be an excellent Christmas gift! And marriages can be done beautifully and cost effectively these days with the help of Ebay/friends and family and a bit of ingenious thinking!

Have a good one. Don't let anything kill the mood of Christmas for you. It's just the best time for kids, no matter how little you have.