So as the title says I don’t know if I’m being unreasonable by being upset, it’s my birthday on Saturday and we had planned to go for lunch with my brother in law and his partner and our little boy(5) then back to ours for drinks and a chilled evening, hubby comes homes tonight and says ‘oh I’ve been invited out for drinks with the lads from work on Saturday night I said I’d check with you’, he isn’t sociable at all and very rarely goes out(not through lack of me trying to get him to socialise!!) and normally I wouldn’t care he can do what he likes but it actually really hurt that his immediate thought wasnt he wanted to spend time with me and that we had plans, his thoughts were getting the ok to go out, I tried to talk to him about why it upset me and he basically told me to shut up going on about it so now he’s gone off to bed and I’m left thinking I’ll just go and do something with my little boy instead, I know I’m sensitive at the best of times but am I being unreasonable?

We moved into our house just before Christmas last year. We are one of 6 houses on a lane in an u shape and our house is directly opposite one of the other houses. All of the houses are set back so we are not close to the houses opposite.

When we moved in last year, we put up lights on our house and in two of our trees at the front of our house as well as 2 nutcrackers and a Christmas wreath on the door. Nothing garish, just white lights. Every time we saw the neighbours opposite they would comment on the lights and decorations. They said things like that’s is a lot of lights, did you leave any in the shop for anyone else, we certainly can’t miss you etc. We took the lights down in January.

This is now our first autumn in the house and my husband has put up some lights along the front of the house, a garland around the front door and a wreath on the door. We went out for the evening and have come home to a note from the neighbour opposite which said she doesn’t like the lights, none of the past neighbours have ever put them up and that the lights will give her migraines like the ones we put up at Christmas did. She would like us to remove the lights.

How do we respond to this? My husband thinks we just ignore it but I said she will talk to us when we see her if we don’t go over and talk to her about it. He said he’ll tell her not to look at the lights. What would you say? We obviously plan to put the lights up for Christmas again this year so that isn’t going to go down well either.

We know she has moaned about other things to some of the other neighbours like their grandchildren playing outside on their bikes so she seems to be a moaner.

Edited by MNHQ to add a Cancel The Cheque Klaxon: this thread has moved on quite a lot so it's worth reading through all the OP's posts before replying

I have found myself in an unbearable situation and don’t know what to do. I’m getting married in 10 days and am literally having panic attacks at the thought of it.

It’s all paid for, everyone’s invited, everything is booked and organised, we’ve been on the hen and stag parties, and the honeymoon is booked straight after the wedding.

We have two children (twins), aged 22 months.

The wedding was supposed to have happened two years ago, but I fell pregnant so we decided to postpone it as it was going to be around my due date. I was really looking forward to it at the time and things were good between us.

Fast-forward to now, I actually can’t bear to be around him. He is useless with the twins, I do absolutely everything around the house, carry the mental load, do the shopping, housework and work full-time. He’s fucking useless.

I’m not sure why I didn’t see this before, probably because it was less of an issue before being parents. We both had our own lives, seeing friends etc.

We have nothing in common. We have no conversation, nothing to talk about, he’s not even interested in talking about the kids. I’ve actually noticed he’s got no personality. We hardly have sex, and when we do it’s just to get him off my back. I know that sounds bad, but I actually fucking resent him so much I can’t bear the thought of him coming near me.

I know I’m not perfect and since having the kids I’ve also changed. They are my priority and I just don’t have time for him after completing my day.

I shouldn’t have let the wedding get this far, but it was booked years ago and I thought things would get better. We are kind of in the trenches at the moment with the twins. But I honestly feel sick at the thought of marrying him.

How can I call it off at such a late date? Should I just go through with it and, if things don’t improve, get divorced? I’m fucked!

7yr old boy & 4 yr old girl

what are some really cool/ useful Christmas stocking fillers ? Lets say 4 items each. I really don’t want tat but I can’t think of anything fun and different.

Am I being unreasonable to expect adult son to remember me on my birthday, I know others have real problems in their life but I am feeling very sad. I feel like I have raised such a selfish person 😞. It was my birthday last week and he is overseas at university, he messaged me the next day saying he hoped I had a nice day. No card , no call or message on the day nothing 😞. I go to so much trouble for his and I always have. He was here over the summer so could have easily left a little gift or card .

He did message a few days later asking for more money. Feeling sad that he thinks this is ok . He didn’t forget he just wasn’t bothered.

Welcome to Thread 6 🥳

A huge thank you to @OvaHere, @JoRaRaRa and @Thelifeofawife
for the previous threads, and to everyone who had been sharing spoilers, information. links, bargains, discount codes and enabling each other over the first 5 threads. ❤️

As agreed, we're taking it in turns to start each new thread this year. If this thread starts getting close to the reply limit, please post to let everyone know you're happy to start the next one so we can avoid duplicate threads.

🎅 A few festive housekeeping notes;
🎁 This thread contains spoilers.
🎄 Please be kind and respectful to one another.
💸 No judging anyone for their purchasing choices (or how many calendars they buy... we're all enablers here! 😂).
🎀 Feel free to share spoilers, offers, discount codes, GWPs, delivery updates and stock alerts.

Disclaimer/Pathetic excuse from Pond!

Apologies in advance for any mistakes or broken links, which are down to me and not the previous authors!

Thread 5 is almost full so I have done this very quickly, mostly just adding to the good work that has gone before!

🎁 Available Now:

Boots launch 01/09 for waitlist then 2/09 for general sale
www.boots.com/christmas/advent-calendars/advent-calendar-waiting-list
Luxe £150
beauty-detective.com/boots-beauty-advent-calendar-2026/
Scent £90
beauty-detective.com/boots-12-days-of-scent-advent-calendar-2026/
Skin £70
beauty-detective.com/boots-24-days-of-skin-advent-calendar-2026/

Liberty – £285 (Beauty Drop members receive £25 off). Full contents revealed. Beauty Drop member pre order has closed and those advents are being dispatched. The advent will go on general sale soon (BD members still qualify for the discount during the general sale)
www.libertylondon.com/uk/features/beauty/beauty-advent-calendar#
Unboxing
P. Louise – £250. Available to pre-order with payment instalments available.
^https://plouise.co.uk/collections/wonderful-world-of-p-louise-advent-calendar/products/what-glows-around-2026-advent-calendar^

John Lewis – £250. Available on pre-sale via the app for MyJL members.
^https://beauty-detective.com/john-lewis-beauty-advent-calendar-2026/^

Harrods Beauty Advent Calendar – £270. Now on sale online and in-store
^https://www.harrods.com/en-gb/p/harrods-of-london-the-harrods-beauty-advent-calendar-2026-000000000000284475^

Harrods 12 Days of Hair & Body – £99. Now on sale online and in-store
^https://www.harrods.com/en-gb/p/harrods-of-london-the-harrods-12-days-of-hair-and-body-advent-calendar-2026-000000000000284465^

Harrods Fragrance Advent Calendar – £225. Pre-sale sold out. Went on sale in-store 1/9.
^https://beauty-detective.com/harrods-fragrance-advent-calendar-2026/^

Vogue Festive Calendar – £355. Available to pre-order
^https://shop.vogue.co.uk/products/vogue-festive-calendar-2026^

Fortnum & Mason Beauty Advent Calendar - £275. Available now
^https://www.fortnumandmason.com/fortnums-beauty-advent-calendar-2026^

Fenwick 25 day beauty advent calendar - £250. Available now
https://fenwick.co.uk/products/fenwick-fenwick-beauty-25-day-advent-calendar-2026

Anthropologie 24 Day Beauty Advent Calendar – £98. Available now
^https://www.anthropologie.com/en-gb/shop/24-days-of-beauty-advent-calendar5^

The Fragrance Shop - Available for pre-order £120 members, £150 non-members
Women's Advent Calendar
^https://www.thefragranceshop.co.uk/the-fragrance-shop/the-fragrance-shop/gift-box-advent/p/76306^
Men's Advent Calendar ^https://www.thefragranceshop.co.uk/the-fragrance-shop/the-fragrance-shop/gift-box-advent/p/76307^

Selfridges
Beauty & Fragrance £250. Went on sale 1/9, but appears to be ‘sold out’ at present.

^https://beauty-detective.com/selfridges-beauty-advent-calendar-2026/^

Elle £197 or £187 if you joined the waitlist
^https://beauty-detective.com/elle-advent-calendar-2026/^

LookFantastic Beauty. Available for pre-order:

https://www.lookfantastic.com/p/beauty-box/the-beauty-advent-calendar-worth-over-665/17691363/

LookFantastic Fragrance. Available for pre-order:

https://www.lookfantastic.com/p/beauty-box/the-fragrance-advent-calendar-worth-over-530/17691405/

Glossybox. £90 or £75 for subscribers. Code: KAREN5 may give £5 off the £90. Available now:

https://www.glossybox.co.uk/p/beauty-box/glossybox-2026-advent-calendar-worth-over-645/17691528/

OK Beauty Box advent/Hannah Martin. Available now £109:

https://www.okbeautybox.co.uk/products/the-ok-beauty-box-advent-calendar?srsltid=AfmBOoppTH5x1vrf3PT8oCWpKiUj111T5PdA8IBPKCjA9SYOpugUFCBJ

⏳ Coming Soon / Waitlists
Cult Beauty £245 - £20 gift voucher back when buying at launch 03/09 early access.
^https://www.cultbeauty.co.uk/c/advent-calendar/^

Harvey Nichols
Due to the recent takeover, it’s unclear if these a/cs are still going ahead for 2026. Details TBC.
Beauty:
^https://www.harveynichols.com/harvey-nichols/harvey-nichols-beauty-advent-calendar-2026-75896-258491/^

Fragrance:
^https://www.harveynichols.com/harvey-nichols/harvey-nichols-12-days-of-fragrance-advent-calendar-2026-75906-258490/^

John Lewis Fragrance £99 - appeared briefly for sale 1/9 online but this seems to have been a glitch.
^https://beauty-detective.com/john-lewis-fragrance-advent-calendar-2026/^

Space NK £275
^https://www.spacenk.com/uk/gifts/beauty-advent-calendars/beauty-advent-calendar-MUK200063764.html^
Unboxing video

Sephora UK
Spoilers:
^https://beauty-detective.com/sephora-uk-advent-calendar-2026/^
Waitlist: ^https://www.sephora.co.uk/c/beauty-advent-calendar-waitlist^

Fragrance - current thinking is that this will cost £225 and launch around 30/9-1/10
^https://beauty-detective.com/selfridges-fragrance-advent-calendar-2026/^

Next £150 launching 3/9:

^https://beauty-detective.com/next-beauty-advent-calendar-2026^/

Debenhams £120
^https://www.debenhams.com/pages/beauty-advent-calendar^

PURESEOUL £140 (first year they are doing an advent)
beauty-detective.com/pureseoul-advent-calendar-2026/

Jo Malone Waitlist:

www.jomalone.co.uk/advent-calendar-signup?

Jo Loves Waitlist:

https://www.joloves.com/pages/a-jo-loves-advent-calendar?

💄 More Calendars & Spoilers
Rather than making the opening post a mile long, here's a brilliant roundup of lots more advent calendars and the latest spoilers, including Charlotte Tilbury, Elemis, Lancôme, Tatcha, NEOM, Neal's Yard Remedies, Holland & Barrett, YesStyle and many more as they're announced.
👉 ^https://beauty-detective.com/category/beauty-advent-calendars^/ 👈

Thanks so much to @Sideorderofchips for keeping things going. I can barely believe it's September and (for me at least!) that only means one thing - Christmas can start!!!!

Hope you've all had a great year and have missed you all. Last couple of years I've had various health things going on so have been a bit distant from the threads. Not quite there yet but feeling stronger than this time last year and I can't wait until I see more festive items in the shops! I've already bought my advent calendar - I've got the taskmaster one (which I'm quite excited about!).

I'll post various links etc in the next thread first post but essentailly you guys know the drill - share and be nice or leave.

<waves to everyone>

Considering these but they're expensive for what they are. But I want soft leather, and I like the elastic strap. Fed up of wearing trainers in the 'in between' season.

https://share.google/VQyV1LO7DTGfkU52A

Has anyone found anything lovely?

This is what I don’t understand.

We’ve heard about engines that can run in water. I’ve read historically that they exist but are not allowed to be made, as that would cause the collapse of huge industries. In my head the climate emergency could be solved with a plentiful supply of clean energy, so why aren’t we using AI to solve this?

It feels like a huge amount of energy instead is going into ageing, so nobody dies or looks old in the future, but what the hell is the point of that if the planet is fucked? Lots of young, ageless people trying to exist somewhere between wildfires and floods.

I really hate this manicure. It's builder gel, I go every 2-3 weeks. It's so thick and lumpy. I did ask for extra short. I have been going here at least 15 years, same woman. I really like her, should I say something?

Just that really had enough, the last 6 years have been hell, he’s disrespectful, rude, always threatens to put me on my ass, doesn’t listen to me, do as he is told, eats all the food and has no care about anyone else, he doesn’t go to school is home tutored twice a week. He has ADHD but I’m just done with it all, he refuses his meds, won’t go to his appointments, sleeps all day and is awake all night. I tried putting rules and boundaries in place and he constantly pushes them, he’s a bad influence on his siblings they are becoming like him and I’m a single mum and really struggling. He doesn’t go out, doesn’t want to do anything but play games all day every day, he spends money on my card for his games without my permission, I’ve had this for the last 6 years and I just can’t do it anymore, he is affecting my mental health and I’m constantly exhausted, he kicks off and smashes things, he tries to over power my parenting when I try and tell his siblings off or put rules in place. I don’t want him here anymore. What do I do? How do I get him out? I’m actually scared he’s going to hit me and then his siblings think it’s ok, he’s already attacked me before. I feel like I have to walk on egg shells. This isn’t a life.

Do not comment if you haven’t got anything nice to say. This isn’t even the half of what I’ve had to put up with the last 6 years!!

Clothes accessories cosmetics everything.

Just pondering really. I’ve always known I wouldn’t have kids just as I’ve known that I wouldn’t climb Mount Everest. It wasn’t really a decision and I’ve given it almost no thought.

Yet my sister has always wanted to be a mother and is a fantastic one. I absolutely adore my nieces and spending time with them, but it doesn’t make me remotely broody at all.

I know this is purely anecdotal, but she loved her dolls and prams when we were kids. I never played with dolls.

It is something evolutionary? Or something biological? Why is that feeling to reproduce just not turned on for some women?

Going to be in London for the weekend before Christmas. Would love to go to the theatre but not sure what to see - ideally something a little bit Christmassy, but preferably not a pantomime.

Will be there with DS2 (17) and DS3 (15). They enjoy lots of things - museums, walking tours, theatre, anything really.

Please can you recommend your favourite festive things to do in London? Thanks.

Morning,

I’ve been lying awake since 5am thinking about this!
So about 6 months ago DD (16) came out to us as gay. This was no surprise. DH and I have been waiting for the conversation. We figured he was probably gay many years ago. We love him we couldn’t care less. We’re both proud of him for being open about who is.

He was quite keen to tell all of our family and friends and as far as I am aware, every single person has been nothing but supportive. Our DD (18) and other DS (21) have been so lovely and supportive of him.

My issue is that since he’s come out he’s become really difficult to live with. EVERYTHING is about his sexuality. It’s literally all he talks about. At first we thought it was just part of the process, but he’s become quite the reasonable and, dare I say it- unpleasant.

He Wants everything to be about gay pride. We all support pride and well happily go along to pride events etc, however that’s not enough. First he asked about putting a large pride flag on display in our dining room window- we said no. He thinks that makes us homophobic. Weren’t, I just don’t want any flag in my window. He has loads of pride stuff in his bedroom and that’s totally fine.🏳️‍🌈

a few weeks ago we had a little house gathering for our other DS’s 21st. He wanted to put gay pride bunting up and flags etc. we said no as the party was for his brother. We said that if he wants to have a little gathering on his birthday then he can put up whatever decorations he wants.

I just feel like there is much more to my lovely son than his sexuality. I appreciate that it’s a big part of him but I’m struggling with the constant self indulgence

AIBU

Just mucked up with our holiday booking, and it’s cost us a few hundred. I’m so annoyed with myself as we were literally scraping the top end of our budget without this mistake.

please share your recent expensive mistakes to help make me feel better! Or at least help me get things in perspective!

After my thread looking for inspiration for a family wedding and a fruitless day shopping yesterday, I've bought this dress, which I've had my eye on for a while (and blown my budget).
Can I have some help styling it? I'm 5'3", size 16 (have bought in petite), not a fan of heels, but could manage a small one. Wedding is late September, so weather is anyone's guess.
Hoping to compensate for blowing my budget by buying cheaper bits to go with, or hunting on Vinted.
Thanks in advance for any help!

Hello all,

I’m searching for a poster I had in my student bedroom in the early nineties. It was a landscape of a fantasy like world looking towards a hill. I don’t think there were any figures but it has a King Arthur type vibe. I’ve done an image search but can’t find it anywhere. My daughter’s off in a few weeks to uni and it set me down memory lane. Anyone remember it?

DH and I were invited to my relative's daughter's wedding.
It was being held in Europe so we had to take time off work, put the cats in a cattery, park the car at the airport and pay for parking for the weekend and fly to the wedding. We also bought a gift from the wedding list for £270.
The wedding was being held at a country house venue.
When we received the invitation, I phoned the venue and asked to book a double room in the main house. Unfortunately the rooms in the main house were reserved for the wedding party and close family members.
The other options were to book a shepherd's hut for £200 per night or a small cottage for £400.
The huts were tiny and a cottage for the two of us was too much so we booked a B&B close by the venue.
When we arrived at the wedding it became apparent that my relative's DH was furious that we hadn't stayed onsite because it transpired that he rented the whole place for the weekend and hoped to recoup some of this from people staying at the venue. This wasn't relayed to us. When he met us at the wedding, he said hello and then immediately turned his back on us. He only spoke to us once during the wedding asking us if we stayed in a hut or a cottage knowing full well that we didn't stay in either. As a parting shot, when we were sitting by the dance floor, he came over as the music was playing, turned his back to us, bent over and shook his rather fat arse at us and then went off. It also became apparent that he had told anyone who would listen at the wedding how angry he was with us and why.
Since this wedding I have not spoken to my relative and hope I never see him again. AIBU?

Our dog walker currently charges £15 an hour walk. She has just sent a message to say her prices are going up to £20 an hour.

She said that she has researched other dog walker's prices and says they all charge a minimum of £20 and many £25. I do struggle to believe this as I did a quick local search and the most expensive I could find was £17. We are in a town in Suffolk.

Anyway, I honestly can't justify anything else going up in price. She currently walks my dog twice a week. I work full time and on the days I am in the office, she walks my dog, so twice a week meaning my weekly dog walking will go from £30 a week to £40 a week. With the cost of shopping, fuel, heating etc etc I just can't have something else going up - my own salary doesn't ever go up by £5 an hour.

I like the dog walker and feel really awkward to cancel the dog walks but I need to now as it has priced me out of the market. On the days I am in the office, I'll pop back at lunch time to walk the dog now.

What should I say to her? Be honest that I am nown prices out the market?!

Hi i tried in 6 weeks holidays hes not interested, i put under wear and then pull ups on top to prevent accidents.

Or have I just peaked at being crap at life/society/everything?

I think I need a bit of a mum hug, because I keep wanting to cry about something that happened on a flight recently.

I was with my DD9 and there were three very drunk men I'd say early 30s sitting behind her. They'd moved seats during the flight and had been drinking heavily, getting louder and more obnoxious as the flight went on - really vile stuff. She had head phones on so I thought don't start a scene just ignore and get off.

Towards the end though you have to put away devices and as we were standing to get off I pointed at my DD and gave them a pleading sort of look, just so they realised there was a child sitting in front of them. I didn't confront them just guestured.
One of them put his hand on my arm said, “You're right, it's not funny. sorry love”
The other then said grinning:
“It is funny if I rape the fucking kid.”
The first one immediately said he'd gone too far using the “R word”, and they all laughed.

I was completely stunned. I didn't know what to say. I just wanted to get my daughter away from them, so I got her off the plane as quickly as I could. I told the staff as I was leaving that I needed to make a complaint and I was crying at that point but the staff were kids and just looked at me blankly I wanted to get my DD as far away from them as poss as quickly as poss

back in england I've reported it to the police. They initially seemed to take it very seriously, particularly because these were three drunk men on a flight making an explicit comment about a child. I've got a crime reference number and the airport police have contacted Wizz Air.
It seems to be difficult to identify the men because they'd moved seats during the flight, and the police are having difficulty getting the booking/payment details relating to the seat changes. They haven't said it's closed, but I have a new officer who gives the impression they were trying to manage my expectations.

I've also complained to Wizz Air and, despite sending everything they've asked for and chasing them twice, they've basically not responded. ZERO.

And now I don't know whether I should just leave it.
I keep thinking I should have done something differently. Got the cabin crew details. Confronted them. Made more of a fuss. But honestly, I was shocked and my only thought was getting my DD away from them and fast.

I know I've reported it and I've done what I can. But I can't seem to stop replaying it.
How do you actually move on from something like this? Would you keep pursuing it, or would you draw a line under it and try to forget about it?
I think I just need some mums to tell me I'm not being ridiculous for still being really really upset about it.

As the topic says, those who have a EYTS/EYP/QTS status, how do you keep up to date with Early Years knowledge and updates?

Also did you stay in the same career working with children or end up something else?

I went through all my clothes and Vinted them in the summer. Now I need a new capsule for the winter. I have jeans so not worried about them, but would like some new tops and bottoms - not too expensive, I'm thinking M&S, Mango, H&M, John Lewis
Anyone fancy helping me/us build a 'casual' capsule wardrobe for the winter