When you are in a large family like ours, the cost of Christmas could quite easily mount up with the current combined total of 19 brothers and sisters/in-laws and 19 nieces and nephews (and counting). That is why, as long as I can remember, we have all chosen to do secret Santa between both the adults and the kids on both sides; this way, we each buy one lovely gift for a sibling or cousin on each side of the family, and everyone gets something lovely without spending tonnes!
Each year when I shop/plan with the kids for their cousins, I am amazed at the lovely kids gifts you can pick up for around a fiver. On Nathan’s side of the family we spend around a fiver on each child and on my side, it’s around £3! These budgets (whilst modest) are ample for children to find lovely little gifts to give to their cousins and things that their cousins will enjoy receiving too.
My children also love everything they too have received from cousins in past years. They have loved homemade gifts of dress up (and I have loved making some homemade gifts too which I am going to share later in the week hopefully), as well as things like clothing, books, colouring, wooden toys and stationary.
Today I wanted to share with you some of the bargains that I have picked up this year (or seen too as there are lots out there) with the kids – These are all for them to gift to their cousins this Christmas and some ideas of kids gifts that we have bought them that around a fiver too. They are just a small selection of what is on offer out there for kids to get you seeing what fantastic gifts you get for around a fiver – making Christmas (or upcoming birthday’s) budget friendly and lovely for any child!
For 1 – 3 Year old’s
On our buying list this year we had 2 of the tots – a boy and girl. My instant thought was maybe a nice book or little outfit, but when I asked they kids what THEY wanted to buy their cousins, I much preferred their ideas! Here is what we came up with!
Wooden fishing game from Tiger – £5 – We have this for Alice and it is so lovely. It has a little folded mat with several wooden/magnetic sea creatures and 2 little fishing rods. It comes in a small tin which is so convenient for both storage and to chuck in your bag when on the go. All the kids play with it together so it is one that lasts too!
Wooden Veg from Lidl – £5.99 – Ethan chose this for his cousin as he said she would enjoy it (and I think she will). I saw it in the Lidl toy week and it was a barg at only 5.99. Great to add to any kids toy kitchen and long lasting fun.
For 4 – 5 year olds
We had one kiddo in the category and Megan was really excited to choose their gift. Knowing their interests and also her ideas, she chose a lovely plush teddy from Home Bargains for £3.99 (RRP £7.99) and some glow in the dark stars (also Home Bargs – 99p). I have loved Home Bargains this year from Christmas shopping – especially stocking fillers and kids gifts, as you will see further in this post.
For this age group I also saw some Binoculars from Rex London for £3.95 which looked fun (this site has some great stuff) and some great books in TK Maxx for around £4.99 (How Many Spots Does a Cheetah have? looked great). For one of Alice’s gifts from us this year we bought her a dinosaur activity book and Phonics game from The Works (combined total of £4.50) which would make a lovely gift for this age child too and a Dino Diary with magic pen for £1.99 in Home Bargains! They also have little slippers and hair accessories for girls of any age for one and two pounds in Home Bargains and lots of My little pony things for 2 to 5 quid (see last image on this post)!
And, don’t forget a little bag of 59p Chocolate coins can bulk out the gift and provide a little treat too if you want to be right on budget!
For 6 – 8 year olds
For this age group there are lots of ideas and lovely things that we could have gone for. We had 2 kids to buy for who fell under this category and I would confidently say that we were spoilt for choice with possible ideas for them – all in budget.
Currently The works have the 2 for £10 on hobby sets/games which offered a lot of lovely ideas for crafty type gifts or science things for kids, but instead we went with a fabulous unicorn hat from Home Bargains for £2.99 (which we loved so much Megan went back and got one for herself)! And we got a Dino Bath bomb with hidden toy for £1.49 (also Home Bargains) and then a stacking chair game, Harmonica and a tube of smarties which will be all one gift and and a combined price of £3.28. Bath bombs are great for this age range and most of the budget stores have some really lovely ones in right now.
I also saw in Home Bargains and B&M little lip gloss sets and charm braclets (£1.49 Home Bargs) which would be a lovely gift with a bath bomb for an older girl.
Wlko Blox are currently on offer too and whilst this is going to be gifted to a cousin who is a little older, it is obviously recommended age from 6+ and we paid only £3.75 for it instead of the usual £5 – They have loads of kits that boys and girls would have fun building that are all a little cheaper in price than they usually are.
Books are always a great idea too for any age – but especially this age range too as reading becomes more independent. I have seen that there are some great offers in W H Smiths, Oxfam Books, T K Maxx and The Works on well known and classic kids books. I bought Megan “People Who Changed the World” full of inspiring people/short stories and beautiful images and that was only £4.00 in T K Maxx – a beautiful gift for any child. We are also giving her a Nature Journal which we paid just over a fiver for on Amazon – again a lovely gift for an older child to get creative and thoughtful with.
I have really loved Christmas shopping with my children this year for their cousins. I have enjoyed seeing the excitement they have had over something that that cousin “will absolutely love” (I hope so!) and how much thought they have put into it.
I am constantly amazed at the great things you can get for kids to make a lovely gift for around a fiver. Perhaps some of these will be nice for your own children too – either to fill their stockings or as general gifts. Don’t forget also to check out places like Oxfam for books and market place for nearly new toys – Gifting Secondhand at Christmas can provide some wonderful things on a lower budget (or just save you some general £’s!) and over the years we have got some great things for their cousins from there and charity shops! Hema also have lovely little toys and stationary for kids and is a fave of ours to buy gifts from… and IKEA too has fun things – teddies, kitchen accessories and crafty stuff all under a fiver for kids! Primark is always good for Socks or fun little accessories and I have found lovely Jumpers, tops and dresses as gifts in H&M and Next outlet that all stay within the fiver budget!
HAPPY SHOPPING!
(The above is a stand in Home Bargains if you like anything you see)
*This is NOT an affiliate post in anyway – Just helpful info!
