Thoughtful presents for under £10

[daisydee43]

Hi

I always seem to be buying presents as have a large family that's forever growing (5 babies born last year on dh's side!, 3 more due this year) so I really want to buy them all presents but not spend too much - was thinking £10 couples and £5-7 adults/kids - is this totally impossible?

Any tips? Thank you

I think it's probably better to all get together and agree not to buy presents for one another. We did this some time ago and everyone was very relieved.

It's very hard to buy anything that children will like for a small cost, unless you're good at making things.

If you are good at making things, then adult gifts could be food (jam/pickles/cakes) or knitted scarves/hats etc.

I told family members that in terms of presents, we would be concentrating on the children, so adults would be getting token presents for about £10.

I keep a list of who I need to buy for and stock up in the sales throughout the year when I see a bargain.

Accessorize has a great sale and I've bought purses, jewellery, gloves etc for the ladies. The bhs Christmas shop has headphones, multi-tools and torches for the men.

I tend to get the children lots of little bits and pieced throughout the year as they love opening lots of presents. I get them puzzles, balls, activity books etc.

As I said, I normally get things on offer, so most people get say £15 worth of presents but they cost me less than £10.

For couples, how about making up a movie hamper with a DVD, popcorn, beer, wine etc.

I think TK Maxx is fantastic for childrens presents, especially for the under 8s or so. Lots of recognised brands there, like Alex toys, Melissa and Doug, Usborne, VTech etc. It works out cheaper than Amazon. I also like Wilkinsons for childrens art and craft and stationery stuff and that is always very reasonable.

Recently, I bought an Alex Toys craft set there (I think it was called Puffy something for £4), some Melissa and Doug A3 size pads of stickers and colourings and picture frame type paper for £3.50 each, Melissa and Doug plastic crayons (made from this strage platstic type thing, not wax) for £3, a wooden Toby - they also had Percy, Rheneas and Spencer - for £4 each (RRP around the £10 mark) for a wooden train set ...

They also do reasonably priced dress up stuff.

I buy a lot with The Book People (surprisingly, their boxes of cards are very nice) and Red House too.

Are you anywhere near a Tiger store?
They have fantastic toys at about £3 each including hobbyhorses, mini pool tables, mini table football, wooden puzzles for small babies etc, lots of craft stuff from £1, and they have nice adult stuff too - again similar prices for pretty home ware or stationery. Really fantastic value. I got something from there for everyone when we had a massive family party at Christmas, and didn't spend more than £10 per couple or £5 per child.

Also look at Primark - great cushions, animal doorstops, fluffy Ugg-style boots, snuggly rugs etc all at around £5.

I was going to say TK Maxx and Tiger, but you beat me to it..!

Found a tiger store near me - is it any good? Looked at website but your not always sure, nearest store is lewisham

Yes, it's absolutely brilliant. Wooden jigsaws for toddlers that would cost £7-8 in ELC are £1-3. Gorgeous hobby horses for a fiver, great table top toys, lots of lovely homeware, party stuff, stationery and art & craft stuff, all well under £5.

I love tiger.
For Xmas, I bought a little lunchbox type tin for £3 and filled it with sweets for my nephew. My sis said he loved it. You could do something similar but add other stuff instead, like bubbles, crayons etc.

Those lunch tins are gorgeous aren't they? Wouldn't mind one myself.

Sainsburys. 3 for 2 kids books and they have nice wooden baby toys now which are cheap.