No money to buy my children Xmas presents

[proudmum77]

Just after some advice really. We have no money to buy our 3 children (13, 10, 7) any Xmas presents. I have enough this month to pay bills and rent and that's it. So really I'm asking what do I do? I feel such a failure, ashamed that I can't get them anything. I know Xmas is all about family time and love etc. But how are kids going to feel if there is nothing from their parents? I have raked through our stuff and have some stuff up for sale on Facebook but that doesn't seem to be selling. I just don't know what to do..... feel so stressed....so ashamed......a failure

Where I live families who find themselves in your situation....and there are lots, make an application to their local branch of Saint Vincent DePaul. They will help with food and a present for each child.
I wish you the very best of luck OP. Life is tough and rearing a family to be balanced well adjusted members of society is the hardest thing you will ever do.

I'm not going to advance search I'm just going to go off this one post.

If you are in England my local surestart now offer support to anyone with children of all ages not just 0-5 this is possibly national. The Salvation Army also does a toy appeal my mam helps run if on the off chance you are in the depths of the north east I can give you some phone numbers.

If anyone does want to help others struggling this Christmas your local one might be doing similar mine is also running a "red box" sanitary wear for women and girls in hospices and hostels for anyone interested in fighting period poverty.

we will be delivering 50 toy and food packages in the next few days for people in exactly the same situation

Why on earth would you give presents to children who will already be getting presents? I always thought shoebox was for families where children will literally receiving nothing on Xmas.

You sound a bit helpless OP. Finding £5 a child for Christmas presents (which is more than enough if you shop carefully) really shouldn't be so hard. You could have signed up to a load of survey sites at the beginning of the year and earned £5 a week for a few minutes work a day.

You don't have anything else you can sell (at pennies if that's what it takes)? You can't scour Freecycle and freebie Facebook pages (even if there's no suitable gifts, you might find something decent on Freecycle that you could sell if you're desperate)? You don't have anything to redeem on your Boots/Tesco/Superdrug/Nectar loyalty cards? You can't put an appeal up on your local Facebook group asking for unwanted toys? You can't sign up to some survey sites now that offer instant cashout (Nectar Canvass pay out to your Nectar account within 24 hours of completing a survey, and it won't take long until you have £2.50 of points which you can spend at Sainsbury's)? You can't ask a family member or friend if they have anything they don't want that they could give you? You don't have any giftcards or foreign currency at the bottom of a drawer somewhere? You can't drastically cut your food bill for the next two weeks (e.g. by emptying your cupboards of food and by shopping for cheap reductions) and then use what you saved for gifts? You can't look for freebies offered online or in shops (e.g. perfume samples)? You haven't recently purchased an item which still has tags on and can be returned?

I struggle to believe that you can't do any of these things. And I don't think you should be looking for charity, I just think you need to get a grip and start helping yourself.

Frisson- because there are many families who have very little and their children deserve to come down on Christmas morning to presents from Santa. And many will have limited family support- lots from big families and grand parents having very little themselves.

Google local Vincent de paul or rotary club, they normally do pressies, you will need to be referred usually - someone at your local food bank should be able to help with that.

If you are in Merseyside there is the cashforkids appeal, but again you need someone to apply for you. I've just picked up ten bags of pressies for children of the clients I work with, everyone needs a bit of help sometimes.