Mumsnet users share their best budget buys for Christmas 2020 with Park Christmas Savings

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When it comes to Christmas, planning ahead is key, especially if you want to stay within your budget. It can be so easy to get swept up in the excitement of Christmas and spend beyond your means, but festive fun doesn’t need to cost a fortune - you just need to be a savvy-shopper. With this in mind, Park Christmas Savings would like to hear what your best budget buys are this Christmas.

Here’s what Park Christmas Savings have to say: “For over 50 years now, families have trusted Park Christmas Savings to take the stress out of saving for Christmas. With our huge range of digital and physical gift cards with online spending options that allow you to shop in all your favourite retailers, we help you make Christmas truly magical.
Whether it’s covering the Christmas ‘big shop’ and not holding back on the fancy crackers and prosecco, using Love2shop Gift Cards to buy all the gifts on your list, or simply sending them to the people you can’t visit over Christmas – we’ve got you covered! To find out how you can start saving today and be the smug organised mum next year, take a look at our site”.

So, we are asking you, what are your best budget buys this Christmas? Have your past experiences of not properly budgeting for the festive season made you a super-saver this year? What steps have you taken to plan ahead and to make sure you stick to your budget? Maybe you have some tips and tricks for getting the best discount codes, recommended retailers, or you think getting crafty with homemade presents is the best way to keep costs down?

Share your best budget buys on the thread below to be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £200 voucher for the store of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

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mine was looking through HotDealsUk, some really really good deals on there, if you are quick enough, they go quickly!

I bought wrapping paper last January so was able to buy charity cards to send - I prefer getting them from the actual charity shops rather than the post office or supermarkets as that way they get more of the money

Supermarkets tend to have regular toy clearances throughout the year, often on Lego which is a family favourite. I buy in bulk whenever I find toy clearances and give them as Christmas presents. Remaindered books from clearance book shops can be a great investment - my son recently sold a rare Sonic the Hedgehog book on ebay for £50. It cost £1.99.

I always use discount codes such as vouchercodes or vouchercloud. I also use topcashback.
A recent amazing deal that I got recently was to spend £1 at Amazon and get £10 back in Amazon vouchers through vouchercodes! I was very lucky to get it as it was only available to the first 250 people who signed up.

Work at Aldi , and in the sale after christmas got Crackers , Christmas table clothes , candles , lots of lights and decorations oall for 9p each spent about £2 and got over 20 things!

I start early and buy cards and wrapping paper in the sales and put an extra item for christmas in my food shop every week starting a couple of months before christmas.

All my bargains this year have come from Charity shops

Buy bulbs such as Hyacinths and plant them in pots in September.
Then wrap pretty paper and ribbons around them and give them as gifts at Christmas.

I bought a set of 600 Christmas lights for £0.99 in home bargains clearance shelf, my tree is lovely and twinkling this year!

I buy bargains when I see them and stock up nice and early. I use the bargain pages to find some good buys too.

Whenever I am buying anything I always check for the best prices online, and also check for discount codes, cashback offers, etc. The price differences between different sellers can be very large, and often discount codes can be found by doing the relevant web searches.

Ebay is my friend. Got some fab xmas lights that plug into computer for £2.88 including postage - BARGAIN

I save any vouchers from surveys and competitions through the year. I also google the item I want to buy and spend 5mins looking for the best prices. I tend to but a few things at once as often save on postage this way

I always try to collect rewards points from stores and go through cashback sites so that I end up getting free money/rewards for items that I was going to buy anyway throughout the year! This year I managed to collect £50 worth of points using my boots advantage card and £30 using my sainsburys nectar card so I was able to use those points to buy my baby boy his christmas and birthday gifts ( he's a december baby ) freeing up the rest of the cash for essential other household christmas items like the food and the tree!

I have £20 a month automatically transfer into a savings account called 'christmas' which means I generally leave it alone. It adds up to £240 to spend in December (don't have a lot of presents to buy) but I wouldn't be able to find that much just off November's pay. I also start to buy food from October onwards, just adding one or two items to each weekly shop, really spreads the cost but you must have a list! I save Tesco vouchers all year and use them to get the turkey and gammon joint.

I also would suggest signing up to newsletters for sites like clintons and get 10% off your first order, useful for this year when I couldn't get out. Supermarkets often have wrapping paper on offer too.

If there is an item i want I keep the website open on my tablet (lots of tabs open) and check it often so I can snap it up if the price comes down. I got a jigsaw for my OH which should have been £20 plus £4.50 delivery for £9 with free delivery. Search for voucher codes to see if you can get free delivery before ordering things too.

i get lynx sets for my sons as they like lynx and this year they were buy two get one free so was able to give them an extra set each for no extra money

sorry at asdas

I collect Tesco points and save them for Christmas, I had £100 this year which was spent on toys. Then I do the receipt apps which I spend as they reach there £5 payouts. This I spend on amazon and collect things like books. I buy 1 thing in pound land every week for Christmas box, this is usually toiletries or coloured pencils or crayons. I also buy one food storage cupboard item, like jam 28p or pasta, things that have a long shelf. It all helps

I pick up a lot of stuff in the January sales for the following Christmas, such as candles, crackers, wrapping paper, cards, and bottles of booze. I buy presents throughout the year and avidly follow the mumsnet Christmas bargain thread to find gifts that I never even knew I needed!! This year found myself buying the Neom candles, Hotel chocolate hamper, Wax lyrical candles, several childrens books, an ice cream cart, heated throw, lovely Sapling vodka, gin sets and lots more. I find TK maxx and Brand Alley good for bargains too.

Bought a second hand book for 89p on-line. Guinness book of hit singles. Used it to make a playlist on Spotify of all the music I like without having to listen to the usual radio DJ natter. Bliss

I find the best bargains at charity shops and Facebook marketplace - I have no problem buying second hand toys for my children...good value, less toy waste and no boxes to open!

Our local Facebook page started a marketplace for local businesses and it’s made a huge difference to everyone on here for buyers and sellers. For Christmas Eve I have brought some local homemade chocolates and I can’t wait to share them with my family

I buy things in the sales all year

I use vouchercodes when I want a discount code and I recently got some designer bags at really affordable prices.

I think the trick to getting some bargains is to shop around and also use cashback sites to save even more.

Some jewellery bits from Aliexpress has to be some of the best bits I've bought this year, especially since the quality was spot on. Aliexpress is full of low quality tat, but trust me if you spend that extra 5 mins searching, you won't regret it.