My Christmas giveaway

Christmas costs: While Christmas is 82 days away, you can start planning and saving now and give people what they actually want.

I am madly organized. I have to be.

All my wrapping paper and cards were bought in January at 10-15p. I predict that price reductions will happen within 24-48 hours.

I buy 250 gifts for total strangers every year. The target price is ￡8, and the value is a minimum of ￡20. I have done this for 16 years and, along with my old business, gave away 5,200 presents. This year is no exception.

Buying what people want rather than what you want to give them

?Start listening to people's wants now. My secret is listing all year round so I can select something quickly for that person. No, last minute, what the hell should I buy them? They have inadvertently told me what they want already.?

?I am known for getting presents right.?

My friend's children have magical memories from gifts from me. What is better than a box full of small gifts, such as soaps, accessories, sweets, and stationary, with each gift wrapped individually or a tutu and Disney Cinderella shoes, a super-sized Lindt chocolate, a giant lollypop, or?a china miniature tea set for a girl?

?My sister loved a dress and could not afford it at ￡575. I kept checking on Google, and I got it at 60% off in the sale, which knocked her for six on Christmas Day.

?My biggest tip is to cut down on unnecessary present-giving.?

I called a present giving amnesty with many friends several years ago. Although I buy gifts, I find getting unwanted?things stressful, as I want that person to save their money.?

If people really do want to give?you something, I do a present list.? Better to get something I want than to give it away, and they are experiences with that person.

?I budget for Christmas, including food, entertainment, and gifts. I plan what each person gets spent on them.?

M&S is already discounting flavored gins at 50% off. I got clementine gin at ￡8, down from ￡16.??

Christmas entertainment is cheap if you book now. Sitting in the gods is no hardship.?

Plan your menu and buy what you need. Most people over-cater. Christmas is just a day.?

Please be sure to know when to get the best deals.

?Boots are already doing their better-than-half-price?deals.? These last a week. Popular gifts are Yankee candles and Soap and Glory. Use their ￡10 points on a ￡60 spend. Tuesday ￡!0 deals will be great in the next month.?

?I know that if you list Yankee candles at 30% off, you will be overwhelmed by demand.?

?Amazon has Prime days on 10-11th October. Wish list now.?

?Supermarkets will do two rounds of half-price Christmas crackers, cheap Baileys at ￡12, and canisters of Heroes, Roses, and Celebrations are ￡4 for the next few weeks. Why wait to pay ￡6 plus??

?Black Friday lasts about a week to 10 days. The start date is around 24th November, with several retailers starting a few days before.?

?I want to list what I want from various suppliers and check in. Search Google, say using Neom, if that is what you want. You will find amazing deals. I got candles at ￡17 from Look Fantastic by randomly searching Neom in September. They are now selling at ￡38. I took some to give to relatives on my recent trip to Lapland.?

?Look Fantastic will do 50% off or more on Opalex?and Sol de Janeiro. I listed these goods for sale, and I was inundated with?requests.?

?Neom and Aromatherapy?Associates?will discount heavily and give free gifts.?

?Space NK and Cult Beauty will do silly deals.?

?If you cannot get Black Friday, many retailers do advent deals in December, where you can get up to 50% off Ren, Anta, and House of Hackney.?

?Clothing

?It's still early enough to start wish-listing?clothing, as Matches, Net-a-Porter, and My Theresa will start 30% off in late November. In-store Prada and Miu Miu will start sales at the same time at 50% off.? Things that you may not expect to be discounted may well be, such as Gucci, but only in-store.?

?Most clothing retailers will do deals before Christmas, so wait until those Christmas PJ's are on offer before buying them.

?Deal stacking?Example,??advent calendar,?done 2nd October 2023

Look Fantastic- I got an advent calendar, priced at ￡99 and worth ￡565, by doing?

1. Store credit at ￡32, given as one item in a previous bundle was damaged; the bundle had been worth ￡180, and I paid ￡45

2. Loyalty points at ￡15 from Look Fantastic

3. ￡10 discount code found online and applied at check out

4. Additional ￡2 reward from Topcashback.com on a flash deal ( had I been quicker, I would have got ￡10 from Quidco, but the deal limit had been reached)

5. Additional ￡5.34 cashback from Topcashback.com

Total of deal stacking?￡64.34, so net cost ￡34.66

I will split the calendar up for gifts.?