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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With isolating, I've found it all so much more difficult this year. Shopping has had to be mostly online and so there are definitely fewer presents than in previous years, but I think that's no bad thing. I've ordered an extra item or two each week since October and stashed them away so I don't need to have a huge Christmas shop that I could ill afford.

Running up to Christmas the supermarkets have reduced products I have sausage rolls cakes and mini sausages Meats and veg ,ready to get out save buying last minute and save too

My best Christmas buy was a set of brand new Dr Who books in a charity shop for my son who was crazy about Dr Who. It stated him reading lots more book at a tender age.

See, think, buy or not buy. Always pause before you buy, do you really need this item.

There's a fantastic free book shop locally which has kept me from going slightly stir crazy during lockdown and it's been great when I cleared out a load of books too!

Use cashback sites throughout the year and always check for bonus reward vouchers with supermarkets

I have bought a lovely vase, a mug and biscuit plate set and a set of toiletries all brand new in the charity shop for little thankyou gifts.

I'm always on the look out for a bargain and have picked up some lovely items whilst I've been out and about. I bought a delightful reindeer planter from Homebase in January for £2.00. I recently gave it a coat of brown paint to freshen it up as it had been in the garden since the beginning of the year, I then added a cyclamen plant which cost me a mere 86p from our local garden centre and voila! it looks brand new. I've since seen them being sold for £15 in the shops.

I pay for Christmas by putting money away fortnightly and buying when it is cheaper. I also do surveys and use topcashback. That has added me another £200 to my budget.

I also enter competitions and have won some nice prizes tjus yeae as I usually do as I have been comping alot of years.

I moved my credit card to save interest and generally always check MSE and Martin Lewis weekly email for and bargains.

I always though MSE keep check on Electric and Gas signing up for best deals and house insurance yearly too. They are my go to for any utility and credit needs

I also makes homemade bakes and home cooked meals saving money.

Couple this up with buying extra when on offer of food staples is also useful. Charity shops and sales are ones to watch too

I have bought so many great bargains in the sale especially toys , bedding etc from b&m, next, Asda best time to buy all Xmas bedding , fleece cushions is in the January sales I have picked up bed sets for £1.49 and cushions from 75p dolls, books, board games jewellery from as much as 79p Christmas cards for 10p I always buy jars and ribbons in the sales so I can make up treat jars for all the adults and kids in the family and buy all my Xmas pjs in the sales you have to save were you can especially as Christmas is the most expensive time of the year after all

Books from the works!

shop early, look for bargains, win things in competitions. I use Amazon, The Works for cheap paperbacks etc, and follow latestdeals.co.uk for short term special deals

I'd never understood the double up points at Sainsbury's - this year I got the App and read the Christmas Bargains thread so I knew what I was doing. Really delighted with what I got.
Already saving for next years event!

I love The Works for stocking fillers - you can get impressive-looking craft sets for a few pounds and there are usually multi-buy offers, which I take advantage of. I got Echo Dots for the DC at a good discount during the Black Friday sale and cheap oodie copies from EBay for a fraction of the price of the branded version. I spread the cost by buying presents over the few months prior to Christmas so I don't have a big spend all at once.

I got my twins 2 SIMBA mattresses in the black Friday sale for 40% i was gobsmacked! They have just arrived today so happy

I got some great bargains in the Black Friday sales... got Christmas pjs as well as lots of Harry Potter lego sets for amazing prices!!

My bargain buy was a two seater settee with reclining seats, I got it for eighty pounds, and a beautiful sideboard for forty pounds. I am really chuffed with my purchases.

I buy cheap crackers then untie one end and pop a chocolate and toy or similar in, to make them premium crackers! Sometimes I add posh ribbon to make them boojie!

Christmas wrapping paper in Sainsbury's was 20p a roll last January, snapped up 6 rolls and paid 80p for the lot as it was 3 for the price of 2. Found some nice vintage houseplant pots in the charity shop so I potted up some cuttings and popped them in, worked out at £1.00 a go. Also spotted a new (but dirty) wine bucket in there for £1.99. Polished up and filled with shredded paper and a bottle of Prosecco it made a lovely pressie for a best friend! It's not all about the money, it's about finding something that someone would love.

Mine was a B&M Christmas tree for £12- I had little in the way of expectations for it a it was such a small box but as mine snapped last year I gave it a go and am very pleased for the price.

Always go through cash back sites when purchasing anything online through the year and saving it aside for Christmas, January sales for the necessary things like wrapping paper and Christmas cards etc saves loads , always buying in the sales especially Sainsbury's toy sale and looking in clearance sections throughout the year as there's sometimes a bargain or two in there 🙂

Get cards and wrapping paper in the January sales. Buy presents throughout the year to spread the cost, looking for bargains along the way. Keep a spreadsheet/list of what you've bought and spent on whom, so you don't forget and spend too much. Stick to your budget.

I found some gift sets which were on offer

My best Buy has got to be Tescos Gift set by using club card got five pounds off for a Dove Christmas Set

I would say my best bargain buys have been the things I have bought earlier in the year when there has been a discount. I just buy gifts for people when I see them and wait until a sale or the company is giving a bank holiday discount code. Works well for me