Not the C word again!

First of all thank you so much for your kind messages, they meant a lot xx

Now regarding the C word - Yep I know I should be banned lol but you can’t say I didn’t warn you J.  Last night I was reviewing my gift spreadsheet, this is the spreadsheet where I record the stock inventory of my gift cupboard and I list all the people I need to buy for and try and match gift to person.  I also list what I need to buy or make, obviously as frugally as possible.

One of my favourite gifts to give are hampers (not just for Christmas) which can cost anything from £5 upwards.  The sum of their parts are far less than the final gift and I will share with you one of my tried and tested ones, my girls night in survival kit.  The great thing about this one is that you can tailor it for any age or interest.  The one I will be doing for my sister will contain the following

A magazine – now you can buy one or if you have a friend or colleague who does, you can recycle J so this can cost you anything from zero to about £3.99.  However for example woman magazine is £1.80 

A Bottle – again depends on your budget and the favourite tipple of your recipient for my sister I will put in a can of the made up Gin and Tonics that the supermarkets do which at Tesco’s are currently £1

Chocolate – large bar of favourite chocolate currently on sale £1

DVD – you can either recycle, check out poundland and home bargains – I have picked up sex and the city 2 for £2.99 – sister saw the first and loved it but never got around to seeing the sequel. 

Now as I say you can spend as little or as much as you want, if I had found a DVD at poundland this would have been well under a fiver, rather than £6.79. 

Another hamper could contain some bubble bath, a face pack, a candle, magazine and chocolate and again you can get it in for around the £5 mark dependent upon where you shop etc  

You can either put these in a pretty box, basket or gift bag (I keep all packaging and recycle) and as I say the total effect looks far more expensive than the sum of its parts.  I also attach a label with the following message – my feeble attempt at poetry, no copyright so please feel free to plagiarise J 

"In this parcel you will find

Some essential goodies to ease soul and mind

When you need to be pampered, need time to simply be

Dive into your girls night in survival kit, with lots of love from me xxx "

As I get towards Christmas and I start making up my hampers and I will take lots of photos to share.