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Christmass - What are you buying this year?


Quillan
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Whilst listening to Radio 2 today people were talking about how far they have got with buying Christmas presents and doing their cards. This made be wonder that what with the current economic climate what people are doing this year to save money, do they have any innovative, low budget, ideas for presents.

Also on the BBC morning program they were talking about the top 10 'must have' toys for this year which made me wonder what was the best Christmas present ever that people have had (from early childhood till now)?

Mine was a Scalextric and Lego because I could race my cars with my mates and build bridges, pit stops etc with the Lego.

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 I can understand people with children having to think twice about some gifts but given that inflation is 5.2% and interest is a lot less our attitude is that within reason we'll have what we want.......savings are just devaluing so we might as well enjoy what we have....that doesn't mean we're going on a spending spree but by the same token I'm not going to worry about a fiver here or there more than my normal spending......

 When I was a child we had wonderful family Christmas's with extended family, the presents I remember were a couple of dolls; Monica and then Molly who was a Pedigree beauty skin doll which I just loved....when my mother was on the local PTA she gave them both away to a jumble sale to raise funds for a swimming pool ! Another present when I was about 12 or 13 was some 'Ashes of Roses' talcum powder, I loved it and have recently started wearing a L'Occitane rose perfume and it gets a lot of compliments....

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I am an atheist/agnostic (cannot be bothered to wiki to find out which), Di is Jewish so neither of us celebrates the Winter Solstice. As for the ridiculous present giving thing on a specific date we have more sense so don't.

Scrooge is alive and well and living in N Lot.

 

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Hornby 0-gauge clockwork train set - that occupied many years what with adding items such as level crossings and stations, making embankments and tunnels out of books draped with a cloth, and creating landscapes with judicious use of my Britain's lead farm animals, trees fences and outbuildings.

But book-tokens were my gift of choice; they gave me licence to spend hours browsing through the shelves of the local book shop.

Angela

Coming back to the subject of the thread:  adults in our family receive one present - we have a draw to see who buys for whom (spouses not allowed to be drawn for one another).  The nine children are asked for a wishlist of assorted value, and relatives buy what they can afford and/or what they approve of - or of course can buy something else entirely.

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We are returning to the UK on the 5th of November and expect there to be already a Christmas frenzy with all the shops full of stuff and pressure from all sides to buy buy buy . We will walk right into it with total Shock !!!(as usual) as nothing much like that will have happened where we are in France . In fact even the advent calenders arnt in yet .  However we will continue to be insulated against it  .( I hope)

I write a pile of £50 cheques and dole them out to kids and grandkids - and that is it .    But my between my OH and myself we usually buy something ourselves something we like and stash it away for christmas .

In fact I bought  a bracelet I  liked the other week- and OH stashed it away.  Much better than getting a "suprise" that I dont like .

When I was young I liked book tokens too . I dont remember getting anything that cost more than a couple of pounds .

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We don't have much and try to give the kids what they want if it is appropriate and they deserve it through the year ....they are all pretty much grown up (youngest is 14) so we are able to just spoil the grandkids a bit and exchange relatively modest gifts among ourselves. Redundancy has really realigned my thinking in a positive way and even if the right job turns up ...I dont want to be that guy again...happy with what I have in Hants and by the grace of fortune or your  deity of choice also the Mayenne....I hope it stays that way.

Merry Christmas

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[quote user="Mr Ice-ni"]

I am an atheist/agnostic (cannot be bothered to wiki to find out which), Di is Jewish so neither of us celebrates the Winter Solstice. As for the ridiculous present giving thing on a specific date we have more sense so don't.

Scrooge is alive and well and living in N Lot.

 

[/quote]

Ba humbug
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Well I think that all mid winter's need a celebration. I just like special food that we wouldn't usually buy. And why not. Some homard and other sea food delights, some foie gras and good quality smoked salmon and some filet steak. Miam, miam, could eat it all 'now' but looking forward to something is part of the excitment.

So presents, not really. A good bash, yes, I like that.

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We have not given it any thought yet...but imagine as far as grandchildren go it will be store vouchers . Case of wine maybe to the kids.

I once had a next door neighbour who always did her Xmas shopping in the January sales Everything down to the wrapping paper and labels. She even wrapped them put them in a bin liner and stored them all in the loft
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I've already got all the Christmas cards!  I had a letter from a friend of mine the other day telling me that her o/h had died and declaring that she had decided to stop sending cards from now on.  She also admits she doesn't do computers so no e-mails or electronic contact either.  So how am I supposed to know if she's still alive or not?  My cards are the one sure way I know my friends are still around.  It will be so very sad, imho, if this lovely winter tradition dies out.  I love getting proper cards and messages from my friends - not those I see all the time but those I don't.

Like Cluzo, Mr C and I just get things we want and put them away until Christmas day.  We stopped buying presents for our nieces and nephews when they stopped sending us thank you letters.  So that just leaves my mother and she'll be informing me of what she wants very soon, no doubt.  It's sure to be some gadget she has heard off which she won't be able to work but it will give her something to moan about during 2012.

The best present I ever had when I was young was a beautiful wooden farm which used to keep me entertained for hours.  I had loads of those lovely Britains animals and other bits and pieces.  A great treat for the imagination.  I still have it upstairs and will never part with it.  The dinky cars were great too but sadly they were a victim of my parents' divorce so I expect they've been in some landfill somewhere for years.[:(]

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[quote user="Frederick"]We have not given it any thought yet...but imagine as far as grandchildren go it will be store vouchers . Case of wine maybe to the kids. I once had a next door neighbour who always did her Xmas shopping in the January sales Everything down to the wrapping paper and labels. She even wrapped them put them in a bin liner and stored them all in the loft[/quote]

 

Please explain vouchers to me. Instead of giving someone cash they can spend anywhere, you give them a voucher that restricts where they can spend it?

I really do not understand.

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This site gives an example of vouchers Last week for a 2 year old childs birthday we sent with the card rather than put cash in the post a Next Store voucher You choose what value to put onto the card when you get it and its put onto a credit card type shop card . The mother of the child then takes the card to the shop and chooses what she wants for the child and the card is put through the bank card reader by the store with each purchase until the value you placed on it is gone . If you know a person likes to shop at a particular store then you know that your gift will be somthing they will really like with one of that stores vouchers  . Next do very nice small child clothing that is why we sent a next voucher card

http://www.voucherswork.com/thevouchers.asp

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Coops you have no idea how pleased I was to read this from you

"We stopped buying presents for our nieces and nephews when they stopped sending us thank you letters."

I thought I was the only woman left on the planet who expected this quaint custom to be observed. It's one of those things that really irritates me.

Hoddy

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Well, Hoddy, how much effort does it take?  OK, we're not exactly poor but still, I did my best to pick out some appropriate present and when they got older, we changed to cheques instead so maybe it didn't require a lot of imagination on our part but still...  I wouldn't have known if they'd even got the things if it hadn't been for the fact that the cheques got cashed.  We did explain why we were stopping but obviously they don't need our money!  All the more for us.[:D]
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