Christmas on a tight budget...... tips & ideas

[M2T]

Well folks, that time of year again.

I absolutely HATE the fact that some people are still paying off the Chrsitmas debt in JUNE! Totally unnecessary and a lot to do with marketing pressure.... this idea of what we SHOULD be buying our kids at Christmas and what we SHOULD decorate our house with and eat.

So how about all you Mumsnetters post your fab tips and suggestions on how to make Christmas special and magical without spending more than £50! I'm sure there must be lots of good ideas floating around.

Use last years christmas cards with the kids to make this years gift tags - cutting out shapes etc

Forget the Turkey, most people hate it and get a chicken instead (About £3.50) Have a big range of veg, and don't forget the roast parsnips and well as the roast taties. A ham is worth the expense, cook it with a marmalede glaze.

Make star biscuits with the kids, ice them and stick on lots of naff siver balls. Use these to help to decorate the tree. Make paper chains to help trim the room, the kids will love it. String up all your christmas cards, and make bif tin foil 'Snow flakes' to put up in the windows. Make your own crackers, just shout 'bang' at the right time.

Go to the local library and take out some videos that you have never seen. Sit down in the afternoon as a family and watch it while cooking some chestnuts.

Go on a long, cold walk, and come home to hot chocolate and toasted marshmallows.

Play charades, or pictionary with naff prizes for the people who do worst.

Make an advent candle,and light it every night on the run up to christmas.

WOW! Some fantastic tips there! I especially like the long cold walk, coming home to hot chocolate and marshmallows idea! Thats brilliant.

hmb - don't forget roast carrots! They make a roast meal just that little bit better (plus you can never buy parsnips here )

• find a big stick for a christmas tree, and hang on bits of cut up foil trays.

• make a calendar for family Christmas presents, with photos.

• (my tip to myself this year) don't make a Christmas cake if you're the only person in the house that likes it!

Have a look at this....

www.magicalkingdom.co.uk/xmas/pentasphere.htm

I might do these with the kids next weekend

For a cheap present idea - bake some biscuits/small cakes and buy a cheap pretty plate. Arrange the baking on it and cover with clingfilm and wrap. You can even do the baking in advance and freeze. I got cheap plates from Asda last year about £2.99 I think.

I've made my own crackers with old wrapping paper, toilet rolls with sweets inside. You can always make up your own jokes !

Go to nearly new sales for 2nd hand toys. Don't bother with expensive stocking items - kids get far too much anyway. Just fill with things like chocolate money, chocolate Santa, comic, pens and a couple of books (2nd hand).

Go to the supermarket on Christmas eve (honest!) and get all the reduced groceries.

Make mulled wine with cheap red wine, cheap spirits, fruit and some spices.

dont send cards - e amil instead!

Eulalia - I 2nd the Christmas Eve shopping! I did that purely by chance last year and got some grrrreat bargains!

Coddy - Don't think DH's old Aunties have PC's.

Def ditch the turkey. A lot of people fall into the trap of having one because it's 'traditional'. Not too many years ago the traditional Xmas dinner was a pig's head! Go for chicken - unless you're a veggie of course! Home-made decorations are great, Making them also helps the whole family get into the Xmas spirit. Grandparents tend to get teary-eyed over cards your little ones have made just for them. Forget about having to buy the latest greatest toys. Our greatest Xmas memories tend to be about people rather than presents, eg the year Grandma danced to Slade with her skirt tucked into the back of her knickers.

The most magical Christmas memory I have is the year my parents ripped an old red boiler suit of my Dads, left a little rag of it covered in soot on the gas fire (that was never on BTW) as though Santa had rushed and caught his suit on it!

It was marvellous and I really believed Santa had ripped his suit in my house. I kept that bit of material for years!

we've had dd's photo taken - £32.00 for 29 photos which saves us a forune in the long run

as that's what all the grandparents - aunts and unlces get as presets

plus dd made glitter cards n tags yestaday (the glitter is all in the carpet and allover the sofa still can't get rid of it)

we don't like xmas cake here so this year were making a xmas spondge n dd is going to decorate - doing in this house so any mess that won't come off the walls is left for the new owners

I pay a couple of pound a week towards a meat hamper, that way I dont have that expense at crimbo time.OK it costs just over a £100 but for the size of my family I dont think that is too bad as it lasts for weeks.

I get presents throughout the year also the BOGOF offers and fill up freezers that way.

I make my own mince pies with the kids.
Agree with the xmas eve specials just before the shops shut, you can get bread for 5-10p a loaf.Just freeze it.

Shop with a friend in the run up to christmas, and share any BODOFs that you can freeze. That way you both get it for half price, and you can only eat so many tangerines and sprouts.

Make christmas doecoration balls out of last years cards,

Goto

www.allesoverballen.com/engels/BEGIN.html

For how to do it!

message withdrawn

my dh is sitting here in disgust -

my god how funny is that - def made me smile

LOL! Didn't Mo2's DS make her some of those??

Read somewhere - and intend to try it this year - bake biscuits as per hmb's suggestion but cut our very small shapes in the middle and about halfway thru cooking, put crushed boiled sweets in the holes and the end product should be biscuits with a 'coloured glass' effect in the middle.

p.s. er, important to use good baking parchment for this one I imagine or else you get boiled sweets welded to baking tin which may be a bit cumbersome on the christmas tree!

Family always appreciate things like photo's of kids in a frame or a hand print on a tile or mug then varnishing it.
Using old xmas cards as gift tags is a good one plus making wrapping paper by getting kids to paint normal paper. Often the best prezzies are not those that cost a fortune but are those that take personal effort and time.

Also, i don't know how old your children are but what about asking them to write and illustrate little personalised stories for each relative.

just caugth up with thsi thread - that tampon angel really cheered me up....ds has a thing about throwing tampons into the bat (dont ask) made me laugh¬!