What are people doing with presents for folks that can no longer be there at xmas

[Imaginetoday]

So 2 DSs in their 20’s. Both living and working in london and Kent . We’re in north west. All set for our 3 household Xmas up here - presents they’d asked for wrapped and under tree already!
They’re obviously not coming now given tier 4 etc
What are other folks doing?

• put them all away into storage for full on Xmas family get together later next year- realistically may/ June or maybe even next Xmas?
• risk sending by post even though cost a fortune in postage ( one is a vinyl deck), won’t arrive by Xmas day now and possibly get stuck in royal mails brexit backlog and maybe disappear entirely
• give individually next time we see them hopefully in spring when we could met up outside for a quick visit and present handover but no real celebration which seems a bit deflating

@Jocasta2018

I saw some of my family before Lockdown #2 early November. For some reason my spider senses started to tingle & it became incredibly important that I gave them their Xmas goodies as I'd already bought them. They all thought I was mad but it was very prescient of me! Likewise when I saw my Mum, as usual, at the start of December in her care home, I again got the sense that I needed to get her pressies to her so I took them in with me. My support bubble is in Tier 2 whereas I'm in Tier 4. Last week I gave them their pressies after the talks about London moving up a tier began. Now everyone I know has got their pressies from me & I've got fuck all under the tree😢!

I have had worm senses then ...in the dark totally...everything I planned this entire year to be organised went pear shaped due to covid🤣🤣

Posted all ours beginning of December, we knew visits wouldn’t happen this year, not over Christmas but in middle of December so did this instead.

We posted most of ours on Royal mail 48 hours about 10 days ago. My sisters parcel arrived within less than 48 but the other 2 took 3 days. I still felt it was worth it though given the atrocious time for normal mail to get through. SIL sent me a parcel on 2nd December which finally arrived in a rather battered state yesterday. Luckily it was well packed so no real harm done.

At this stage I think it's special delivery, courier or keep them until you can see them. Whatever you do don't entrust it to normal royal mail services. They're doing their best but they are absolutely inundated The couriors are too. My friend is a driver for Hermes and has worked the last 28 days back to back and anticipates no respite until about 9pm on Christmas eve

Booked dhl for today in the end. UpS website too confusing!

I used Hermes they collected from me Wednesday lunchtime and it was received on the South Coast Saturday morning, A friend used Royal Mail first class recorded a few days earlier and parcel has not yet been received.

I’m in London. Posted small presents and crackers for my parents yesterday on next day delivery (£11). We will probably have Christmas the second May bank holiday. We did it in 2018 as dd1 was in nicu for Christmas so it’s a bit of a tradition. It was a boiling hot bank holiday but we had a full on Xmas dinner, tree, presents and decorations. People even sent us cards!

I posted all of ours last week (one big parcel went Royal Mail, the biggest one went parcelforce). It cost me £40 but they did indeed get delivered the next day so the Royal Mail can work when it's worth it to them 🙄

I've also sent ours. I can recommend Parcel2Go which is a website that compares the various couriers. For example, I've just paid £2.94 to send a parcel by InPost/Hermes that supposedly will arrive by the 24th. I'm usually a fan of Royal Mail but I think they're swamped at the moment, based on delivery times for things I've received.

Most of our family went into tier 4 but us and one other in tier 2, who is right on the boundary of tier 4, we met them outside and now they have all the presents so may be a drop off from a distance on the boundary line!!

I've just paid the best part of £30 for a courier which hopefully will get my DD's presents to her on Christmas Eve. Finding a company that would deliver to the Scottish Highlands and Islands before the end of the year at any price proved tricky. I just hope it gets there on time as its the first time she has not been at home for Christmas and the thought of her not even having anything to open makes me sad.

Just when you thought you’d come up with a plan to salvage something at Xmas....my smaller parcels were due to be collected yesterday to courier to my sons in Kent and london.
Got a message yesterday to say because of the chaos in the ports and long delays in being able to move goods they could no longer collect and deliver my parcels.
So, sons will have nothing from us. The shared zoom unwrapping event ain’t happening
How much more of this *&£# can the government inflict on us? I am so pissed off and miserable. I ended up crying when I found out as it’s so bloody hard.

I'm currently waiting for UPS to collect a parcel from here to delivery elsewhere tomorrow. Cost me £20 for a 2kg parcel for guaranteed next day with insurance. Could have had it for almost half that it I wasn't bothered about insurance or guaranteed.

The parcels for adult sibling and partner is being handed over after Christmas. We decided that was an easier way and as adults less rush needed.

Sorry to hear that OP. Is it worth trying Royal Mail, even if they arrive late?
My siblings and I all posted ours on 21st after the announcement. They all used Royal Mail but I used UPS on the strength of this thread.... theirs arrived yesterday, mine haven't arrived yet!

The parcel collected from me yesterday afternoon arrived before 10am this morning.

I've just sent presents as we do every year for people we don't see. I sent the presents to my DB's (who we were meant to see today) on Monday and they arrived today.

Hat's off to TNT. My DD's parcel was delivered today. It was expensive but at least it got there - a lot of the other couriers I looked at were saying they couldn't deliver to the Scottish Highlands and Islands until late next week. Unfortunately this evening I've found 2 more presents for her that I forgot to wrap but they will have to wait til I see her next. Fingers crossed it won't be too long.

Update - used dpd courier delivery for some of the presents - picked up from me yesterday and delivered today. My parents did the same and theirs is due to be delivered tomorrow to me. Fingers crossed. It cost £18.59 including insurance for up to £100 worth next day delivery, 4 kg.

I posted them. I cant think of anything else one would do. To add, I don't have loads to post, three or four.

UPS still haven't delivered!