How do you manage your bargains?

[chanie44]

I have a few questions:

1. What is your attitude towards the savings you make on your Xmas gift? Do you see your bargains as a way of:

A. Getting better presents than you normally would?
B. a way to save money, by pocketing the difference.

I do a bit of both. I set myself a budget for the children's stockings and see how much I can get for that budget and for everyone else, it's to save money and pocket the difference.

1. How do you ensure your gift giving is fair if you get a fab bargain? Eg you buy Child A a £30 present for £10 and Child B a £10 present and whilst you've spent the same, one present is heaps 'better'.

I always make sure my gifts 'visually' look equal even if the prices aren't.

[JerseySpud]

Hello

In answer to your questions:

1: Its neither of these really, its about getting more for my money and spending what i see to be a reasonable amount on something.

2: I don't really work on fair, i work on what my kids want and the amounts looking roughly the same. This year DD1 we are looking at getting a tv dvd combi. She will be just under 8. DD2 will be 3.5 and doesn't need £100 spending on 1 present. Neither are at an age when they realise the actual amount of money spent either so it doesn't matter. As long as they both get what they want and like thats whats important to me.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

when my dc were little, they always had a 'big box present' , might not be the main present but there had to be a huge parcel.

now they're older, the present pile is teeny - money, vouchers, a watch, camera.
all costs ££ but nothing really to look at as a present pile.

i do mentally add up what is spent on each and buy something else if it;s a big difference

the Christmas Eve hamper and the stockings tends to be similar contents

[attheendoftheday]

For dp and the dds it's a way of getting more for the money I have to spend. For everyone else it's a way of giving a decent present while spending less.

My version of fair does not mean my dds get exactly equal amounts of money spent on them. I'm lucky that my two are quite close in age so I'm generally comparing like for like with presents. So if dd1's present was half price and dd2's was full price I'll count them both as 3/4 price if you see what I mean.