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mrs slocombe wrote: I do hate shopping quite a bit and it annoys me that amount of useless gadgets and items that the shops stock so well esp. at Christmas

And at what inflated prices! I have something in the house which I wouldn't normally buy, but even I couldn't resist.... A few years ago, Boots had loads of "gift items" for Christmas at quite ridiculous prices. And sold very little of it. So just after Hogmanay, everything was done to 20% or so of the original price... I bought a "cat food gift set" for £3 - didn't even have a cat then - which should have cost £15! Now who in their right mind would pay £15 for a bowl (OK, quite a sturdy one), a spoon and a plastic place mat? Even £3 wasn't exactly cheap... I think I only bought it because I wanted to get a cat, was just about to move to a place where I could keep one, and wanted to make a start somewhere.

Hi Ina

Unfortunately I did see people buying this kind of gift ( the cat food gift set) last year. Sad thing is the pressure is on every year to spend more on the "bigger and better" Christmas than the one before.

I remember a few years ago a supermarket chain advertising DVD's as an ideal stocking filler for £15. When we were kids our main present sometimes didn't cost £15!!! I'm not a killjoy but it does seem to get out of hand.

For the last few years my family has had a moratorium on gifts at Christmas. We spend no more than £20 on each other and it works quite well. I bought them 150 school dinners for kids in Africa for about £20 and they were delighted.

This last christmas I was wheelchair bound after a back injury last summer, so I couldn't go out shopping, and had no money to shop with as I'd lost my job (hard to serve coffee when you can't walk). But, I'd found a stash of decorative tins, and mom agreed to help by buying ingredients, so I pulled out my cookbooks, and everyone on my list got a tin full of homemade treats.

And they've already said they can't wait to see what I bake for them next year!

How's that for a non-commercial christmas?

Ellendra wrote:And they've already said they can't wait to see what I bake for them next year!

How's that for a non-commercial christmas?

Very good!

When we were children, a present wasn't a proper present unless it was homemade. OK, that went for what we kids gave each other and to our parents; they, by necessity, had to buy some of the stuff for us - mostly "useful" things like clothes etc.

I still prefer to give homemade things - or at least useful ones.

You miserable people not liking shopping.

I love shopping. BUT I only go shopping when I have decided that I just must have something. Makes all the difference. I know what I want and how much I can afford to pay for it. And if it is sitting in the charity shop that's fine - if comes up on freecycle that's fine or if I see it in a skip at the kerbside that's fine.