Gift cupboard

[Brissles]

I have very few people to buy for now (have no children), and those I do, I generally spend between £10 - £20 on. So when I hear the presenters suggest gifts of beauty, jewellery etc etc from £50 upwards, do they really think their target audience has no conception of money ?

qvc should realise that most of their viewers probably are at home all day, either retired, mums who dont/cant work, the unemployed and the disabled - therefore all of these categories are not on incomes that would warrant spending £50 on a mate ! They are of the opinion that they are talking to the 25 - 40 year old females who are high flyers in the workplace, and who constantly go straight from work out to dinner. (In all my working life I never once did this, and I think its more of a 'London' habit than anywhere else).

 

[Vienna]

An option to the LE crackers are the Armani crackers available from The Perfume Shop. The box contains 6 crackers, 3 red and 3 black. The red ones contain minature ladies fragrances, the black ones mens fragrances £24 and p and p is free

 

[Bauble]

Sounds like we all have a pretty similar view- see christmas as a time to buy something thoughtful for our loved ones but not prepared to cripple ourselves financially to have a good day. Like Tinkerbelle, my son is the one I spoil as he never asks for a thing, even though he is away at university and is studying his socks off at a tough degree.

 

[Weathergirl]

I just love Christmas, but never go bonkers on the gift giving. In our family it's all about the children, and immediate family gets something costing between £10 -£20. I do have a gift drawer, which is a small one in a bedside cabinet. Because I don't like going shopping much, I use it to put some QVC bits in ( like elements from a L'Occitane TSV that I won't use myself, or my traditional joke gift like the wintertrax or reading glasses with LED lights). I also have some Avon items and Amazon bargains in there. I always make a list of who is getting what , so I never end up with a drawer full of uneccessary gifts with nobody particularly in mind to give them to. There is just one friend who exchanges gifts with me, she was my bridesmaid and she always buys me something thoughtful. Her birthday is Christmas Eve so she gets 2 things, and her birthday one is always in birthday paper so it's seperate. Other friends just have an unspoken agreement that its "kids only". As for hubby, he never buys anything for himself all year, so I think he deserves something nice at Christmas. He adores doing Christmas dinner, and we decorate the tree together over a bottle of wine with my Christmas CD on in the background that comes out every year for the last 20 years! My children are very young- too young to really understand what it's all about but we will enjoy showing them. We get crackers from the supermarket, a pudding from Lidl for 2.99 ( surely you can't make one for that...?) so I think we will give the Liz Earle crackers a miss. Am looking for the perfect Advent calender for my son, but he will not understand and want to open every door at once so perhaps I will leave that to next year.

 

[stratobuddy]

Those £2-99 Lidl Xmas Puds are delicious.

In fact, I bought a few extra last Xmas to eat during the next year!

 

[spartacus]

Before QVC I don't think I ever had a gift cupboard; stockpiling of beauty TSVs over the years means I could set up my own shop!

 

[iloveshopping]

Those £2-99 Lidl Xmas Puds are delicious.

In fact, I bought a few extra last Xmas to eat during the next year!

I've made substantial inroads into my second family one already this autumn, so easy just to cut off a chunk and heat in for 30 seconds in the microwave. The best one that I've found so far is the Huntley and Palmer large one from B&M (cheap stores) for £2.99. I'll be going back for more... and more...

As to Lidl I like the panetonne, especial st Nicholas biscuits, the chocolate covered marzipan, stollen, advocaat and other delights that I've forgotten about since last year. Oh yes and mince pies the deep filled ones (haven't had any yet) Oh dear!

 

[Akimbo]

Wooooaaaaaaah! I so miss B&M. Used to shop at the original stores in Cleveleys, Blackpool and Lytham and there's nothing like this down here.

Jude xx

 

[Flamenco]

For the last few years we have been paring Xmas down. We don't buy for relatives anymore - I used to spend so much time and thought trying to get it right only for us to be given utter toot (one year my aunt gave me a packet of pasta and a jar of Ragu - I kid you not - and this is a woman who is constantly away on foreign holidays), so I don't bother anymore. We don't have a lot of money this year at all, so Mr Flamenco and I are not doing presents to each other, to ensure our daughter has a nice Xmas present from us. She always likes to get something small for each of us and something from the cats, so I'll take her out to find something for Dad for around £10. I found a lovely Klimt 2013 calendar (my favourite artist) in The Works for £2.99 today so that'll be my present from the cats sorted!

We tend to have a good Xmas lunch and spend the day chatting, playing Monopoly, watching a bit of telly and indulging in a late afternoon snooze.

I can't bear the rampant consumerism this time of the year. QVC are one of the worst in encouraging people to overspend and over-indulge in excessive "gifting" (Gawd I hate that word).

Less is more. I'm making my own Xmas wreaths this year (I've collected and dried my own pine cones from the nearby woods) and if they turn out well will give a couple of those as gifts to friend. It really is the thought that matters and you don't need to spend £50 on a present to demonstrate that.


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk

 

[janie]

Those £2-99 Lidl Xmas Puds are delicious.

In fact, I bought a few extra last Xmas to eat during the next year!

at least you do that strato. every other person i've ever asked who goes on and on about how xmas food is the best in the world, has given me a blank look when i've asked 'if it's so wonderful why don't you eat xmas pud and mince pies year round then?'.

 

[borednow]

i dont have a cupboard but i do have a number of half filled boxes that i use for 'safe keeping' gifts but i usually end up totally forgetting where i put them, forget that i have bought the stuff and then end up doubled up on stuff only to rediscover the boxes in january. 'safe keeping boxes' are where things go to die in this house

 

[iloveshopping]

Wooooaaaaaaah! I so miss B&M. Used to shop at the original stores in Cleveleys, Blackpool and Lytham and there's nothing like this down here.

Jude xx

I use the B&M in slough. It suddenly appeared last year. There is poundland, 99p shop, and the other pound shop as well. I buy all sorts of tat from them and some bargains sometimes as well.

 

[Akimbo]

Oh they're getting nearer...it's only a matter of time before I can check how little the outlaws have spent on me at Christmas!

Jude xx

 

[janie]

For the last few years we have been paring Xmas down. We don't buy for relatives anymore - I used to spend so much time and thought trying to get it right only for us to be given utter toot (one year my aunt gave me a packet of pasta and a jar of Ragu - I kid you not - and this is a woman who is constantly away on foreign holidays), so I don't bother anymore. We don't have a lot of money this year at all, so Mr Flamenco and I are not doing presents to each other, to ensure our daughter has a nice Xmas present from us. She always likes to get something small for each of us and something from the cats, so I'll take her out to find something for Dad for around £10. I found a lovely Klimt 2013 calendar (my favourite artist) in The Works for £2.99 today so that'll be my present from the cats sorted!

We tend to have a good Xmas lunch and spend the day chatting, playing Monopoly, watching a bit of telly and indulging in a late afternoon snooze.

I can't bear the rampant consumerism this time of the year. QVC are one of the worst in encouraging people to overspend and over-indulge in excessive "gifting" (Gawd I hate that word).

Less is more. I'm making my own Xmas wreaths this year (I've collected and dried my own pine cones from the nearby woods) and if they turn out well will give a couple of those as gifts to friend. It really is the thought that matters and you don't need to spend £50 on a present to demonstrate that.


Sent from my iPhone 5 using Tapatalk

 

[Mam]

i dont have a cupboard but i do have a number of half filled boxes that i use for 'safe keeping' gifts but i usually end up totally forgetting where i put them, forget that i have bought the stuff and then end up doubled up on stuff only to rediscover the boxes in january. 'safe keeping boxes' are where things go to die in this house

Oh yes, I can equate with that.

 

[DebraJane]

i dont have a cupboard but i do have a number of half filled boxes that i use for 'safe keeping' gifts but i usually end up totally forgetting where i put them, forget that i have bought the stuff and then end up doubled up on stuff only to rediscover the boxes in january. 'safe keeping boxes' are where things go to die in this house

Me too, even when I remember that I've bought something I can't always remember where the safe place was that I put it in. It's a standing joke in our house that I still can't find the mini eggs that I bought for Easter 2010!

Reminds me of the scene from National Lampoon Christmas Vacation when he's locked in the loft and he finds the presents :mysmilie_15:

 

[Nora]

Me too, even when I remember that I've bought something I can't always remember where the safe place was that I put it in. It's a standing joke in our house that I still can't find the mini eggs that I bought for Easter 2010!

Reminds me of the scene from National Lampoon Christmas Vacation when he's locked in the loft and he finds the presents :mysmilie_15:

That reminds me of the first Christmas with my hubby, I kept buying chocolate to put up for Christmas but kept eating it, so I bought bags of maltesers (my favourite) hid them then later on couldn't remember where I had put them, found them after the following Easter but they were past the sell by date so had to chuck them away lol

 

[borednow]

Thanks Mam and DebraJane, at least i am not the only one with 'safe keeping' amnesia lol

 

[lilian]

Thanks Mam and DebraJane, at least i am not the only one with 'safe keeping' amnesia lol

Yes thanks. Same problem here. I have already brought my Dad two Christmas cards as the first is hiding in a ''safe place '':sad: