A budget Christmas

It’s great to have a traditional family Christmas – something that smallholders, with all their home grown grub, are particularly good at – but the over-commercialisation of the festive season is something that really tries our patience. A nice antidote to all the hype is to agree a really tiny budget for Christmas presents amongst family and friends of, let’s say, just £ 2 per person, which gives everyone an interesting (and fun) challenge as they go about their seasonal shopping. Charity shops are a good bet for cheap books and small items of crockery, and larger (more expensive) items such as second-hand clothing or curtains provide a ready source of fabric for converting into a number of smaller personalised gifts, such as bags or hats. Similarly, craft items such as card, glue, ribbon etc, or the ingredients required for making sweets, may themselves cost more than £ 2, but give scope for the manufacture of a number of hand-made presents, each of which would come in at below the budget. Car boot sales might also be worth a visit, as might costcutting stores such as Lidl and Pound Stretcher. Once you enter into the spirit of the money-saving thing you may be surprised at how far £ 2 can be made to go. * See ‘Scrooge’s ideas’: page 29