{"id":4456,"date":"2011-12-21T11:02:46","date_gmt":"2011-12-21T11:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.livingwithkids.co.uk\/?p=4456"},"modified":"2019-01-03T17:02:10","modified_gmt":"2019-01-03T17:02:10","slug":"youre-nearly-there-dont-blow-the-budget-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/youre-nearly-there-dont-blow-the-budget-now\/","title":{"rendered":"You’re nearly there – don’t blow the budget now!"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

"It isn't enough!" Oh yes it is....<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\nToday is one of the most dangerous shopping days of the year – the panicky last minute amateurs are out in their droves. If you\u2019re not careful you\u2019ll get swept along in their wake and end up in the aisle selling ‘The Simpsons’ socks and reindeer dropping chocolates. Stop.\r\n\r\nChances are you have already bought more than enough and can\u2019t see the wood for the trees. If you do still have some awkward gaps do not leave the house before you have worked out who you are shopping for and what you are looking for. You don\u2019t have to get it today. It\u2019s better to spend an hour planning what you need to get instead of three hours panicking in M & S. Planners will get 4% back at KidStart from Beauty Expert<\/a>, panickers will end up with an 50 shade eye shadow palette in colours their daughter will use precisely two of.\r\n\r\nSo, here is my trusty guide to the last days of Christmas gleaned from years of experience panic buying unwanted comedy boxer shorts and boxed sets of tv shows that would take a lifetime to watch.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThree trigger points that will send you out to the shops like a greyhound out of Trap 2\r\n\r\n1. \u201c It hasn\u2019t arrived! it hasn\u2019t arrived!\u201d\r\nStay in, it will, and if not make them an apologogram box with a photo of the object of desire inside it and a mini or supplementary version of it to tide them over till the postman returns. (If it\u2019s a must have sweater pop in a Barbie sweater, ditto for shoes and bags) . If it\u2019s technology pop in a game or accessory (festive woolly covers for phones or a Christmas dingle) .\r\n\r\n2. \u201cParis has got three more presents than Lindsay she\u2019ll HATE me! \u201c\r\nSee if you can re-distribute, if not, do the unthinkable and hold one back to make it even – yes you can!\r\n\r\n3. \u201cIt isn\u2019t enough.\u201d\r\nIt almost certainly is. Teenagers\u2019 presents just don\u2019t stack up the way a big pile of toys used to. Remember, all the best things come in small packages. It if was on the list, they will love it.\r\n\r\nThree last minute presents for tricky people\r\n\r\n1. Make a bespoke hamper\r\nGo to your nearest charity or pound shop and buy a big basket and some cheap but tasteful baubles. Move on the garden centre and the supermarket and make up a deluxe hamper decorated with a cyclamen or the bulbs you planted way back in November.\r\n\r\n2. Dress up tokens or tickets with a bit of glitz. Ballet tickets can be tucked inside a real nutcracker, driving lesson tokens hidden inside a toy Ferrari, or store gift tokens inside a bobble hat or gloves from the same shop\r\n\r\n3. Dress up money in the same way – put it in a wallet just good enough to fool them that that\u2019s it, or a book about what they want to spend it on or the sleeping bag they\u2019ll need when they get there.\r\n\r\nRemember, it is only one day, and we will have to have something left for those sales which we will be bombarded with ads for the moment The Queen finishes her speech.\r\n\r\nAnd if \u00a0you do\u00a0 hit the shops\u00a0today,\u00a0 don’t take any unnecessary risks. My daughter came back from an all day shop yesterday pale and shaking – “I’m not going back” she wailed when I phoned her with a teensy request for something from Boots. So, in the immortal words of\u00a0\u00a0Sergeant Phil Esterhaus from Hill Street Blues “Let’s be careful out there”<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":""It isn't enough!" Oh yes it is…. Today is one of the most dangerous shopping days of the year – the panicky last minute amateurs are out in their droves. If you\u2019re not careful you\u2019ll get swept along in their wake and end up in the aisle selling ‘The Simpsons’ socks and reindeer dropping chocolates.","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14740,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3509,3349],"tags":[2525,443,2526,2527,2528,2529],"class_list":["post-4456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-save-on-your-shopping-with-tips","category-household-savings-advice","tag-buying-for-teenagers","tag-christmas-2","tag-christmas-shopping-tricky-people-to-buy-for","tag-competitive-shopping","tag-dont-panic","tag-lets-be-careful-out-there"],"yoast_head":"\r\nYou're nearly there - don't blow the budget now! - KidStart Magazine<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kidstart.co.uk\/blog\/youre-nearly-there-dont-blow-the-budget-now\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"You're nearly there - don't blow the budget now! - KidStart Magazine\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\""It isn't enough!" 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