Frugal Christmas Gifts

EVERY year I battle through crowds in my lunch hour to do my Christmas shopping. Apart from the stress and the expense, there is the worry about finding the right present.

I usually buy gift tokens for the teenage members of my family because what can you buy a young person that won’t necessitate a sharp dig in their ribs and a hissed, "say thank you to Auntie” from their mum?

Not that any of the teenagers in my family resemble Harry Enfield’s monstrous creations Kevin and Perry. They are all perfectly pleasant kids who treat this aunt with bemused tolerance... but their tastes change faster than my better half downs a pint (and that’s Guinness Book of Records standard, I can assure you).

It seems like only yesterday I was buying Lego sets and outfits for Barbie. Now I don't know from one day to the next what's "coo-el" and what isn't. I try to engage them in conversation about a band that yesterday was "totally awesome". Today, any mention of the band's name and eyes roll back into heads as if I had suggested they might quite like to listen to my Vera Lynn’s Greatest Hits album.

So gift tokens it is. I don’t want to be like one aunt in the family who bought Dinky toys for her 15-year-old nephew. I remember wondering how she could do such a thing – now I know. He may be six-foot tall with a six o' clock shadow but in my head he's still that little boy banging nails into a felt-covered pad with a wooden hammer.

Gift tokens apart, I am this year determined to cut my Christmas spending to a minimum. I don’t mind shelling out on my nearest and dearest - I might be frugal but I'm not Scrooge's meaner sister - but I don’t want to get them something that will be shoved in the back of a cupboard and forgotten about.

The following are all presents that should cost under £10. Wrap them or package them imaginatively and they will look twice the price.

1. If you are good at writing, buy a cheap cuddly toy and write a personalised story to go with it.

2. An unusual mug filled with chocolates, sweets or nuts. Or you can be really imaginative and tailor it to the recipient’s interests – nails and screws for a DIY fan, fruit teabags for a tea conoisseur or oil paints for an artist, for example.

3. Mini hamper or serving dish filled with unusual food items.

4. A plant pot filled with gardening items like seeds and plant food.

5. A stationery set. Find the cheapest items you can – ballpoint pens, sticky notes, paper, notebook and put them in a pretty stationery box.

6. A bathroom set with scented soap, a sponge, shampoo, flannel etc.

7. Assemble a sewing set.

8. Basket filled with jams, chutneys and pickles (even cheaper if you’ve made them yourself)

9. A pack of cards and book of card games.

10. Nail polish kit with cotton wool buds, selection of varnishes and remover.

A great idea for the person, or family, who has everything is to buy a charity gift for the developing world in their name. World Vision has a great selection for under £10, including fruit trees, chickens, school textbooks, blankets and mosquito nets.

All you have to do is to pay for the gift online and it will go winging its way to a needy person. A card is sent to the person in whose name the item has been sent.

Do you have any ideas for cheap Christmas gifts? Email me by clicking here

or leave a comment.

Bargain Books

WHAT guilty little addictions do you have? I’m not talking about the big addictions – drugs, sex, rock and roll, 12 pints of Buckfast before breakfast – but the little ones.

Mine is books. I read a review and the next thing I know I’m on the Amazon website and ordering it. My better half shakes his head in bemusement and makes comments like: “Just what we need in this house, another book.”

I have developed the expertise of an alcoholic but instead of a bottle of vodka in the bread bin, it’s A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian. I have The Blind Assassin in my wardrobe, Anna Karenina under my pillow and A Suitable Boy under my bed.

It’s a family thing. We’re forever lugging about carrier bags full of “gear” and whispering things out the sides of our mouths like, “This Bill Bryson came in last night. Grade A. Interested?”

“Yeah, I’ll swap you two Minette Walters, a Ruth Rendell and a P.D. James for the Bryson, an old John Fowles and a Margaret Atwood.”

“Deal.”

I have a house full of books. They have spread from the bookcases, crept under beds, into cupboards, into cardboard boxes in the garden shed and up a ladder into the loft. I daren’t count them and I daren’t tot up how much they have cost me over the years.

I have now resolved to stop buying books – or, at least, stop buying books at their full price.

Here at the North Devon Journal we have our own ‘library’ of books. Various members of staff have donated books and we pay a small fee to borrow one. All the money collected will go to the Guardsman Chris King Memorial Appeal (which supports Help for Heroes and North Devon Army Cadets).

Here are a few more tips to cut down the bills.
1. The obvious answer is to join the library. If you live in the country, check out the mobile library which visits most villages. Don’t incur fines, though; that is defeating the object of cheap reading. These days it’s easy to renew via the internet so there’s no excuse. If you want to read a particular book, you can order it or you can reserve it if it’s being read by someone else.
2. I’ve spent many a happy hour browsing secondhand book shops. But you can also buy used books from charity shops and community events like bring-and-buy and car boot sales.
3. Many book shops and supermarkets have great offers, like three books for £5 or boxed sets.
4. Swap books with friends and family or via the internet. Put the words ‘book swap websites’ into Google and several sites will be mentioned. For example at Green Metropolis you can buy a book for £3.75 but you can get £3 for each one you sell. Amazon Marketplace or eBay are great sites for selling your books.
5. Don’t rush out to buy an expensive hardback book – it will soon be much cheaper in paperback.

Yes, it's time to turn over a new leaf.

Price Check: 10p And Under

I’VE set myself a bit of a challenge this week. I have been compiling the “price check” section for The Register page in the North Devon Journal, searching through supermarkets to find the week’s best bargains.

It’s been an interesting exercise which has changed the way I shop. Now I’m on high alert every time I go shopping. I’m like a bloodhound tracking down escaped convicts, but I’m sniffing out the BOGOFs, the 3 for 2s and the multisaves. I trawl through the supermarket websites to see if there’s any offer that can feed a family of four for a fiver – and still have enough leftovers for the dog and the cat and to make a nourishing soup the following day. (I’m leaving the five loaves, two fishes and a gathering of 5,000 to a higher power.)

Items under a £1 are commonplace so I thought I’d search out a few items for 10p and under. I was only successful on the Tesco and Sainsbury’s websites – but if any other supermarket has similar offers, let me know and I’ll include them in my next post.

The cheapest item I could find was a tin of Tesco Value Curry Sauce (390g) for an eye-watering 4p a tin.

There were some sweet sensations with a Tesco Value packet of strawberry whip (38g) for 6p and the Value and Basics ranges both offering 70g packets of custard powder for 7p. Both had their own brand strawberry jelly (128g) for 7p. Sainsbury’s Basics also included a no added sugar chocolate dessert mix (38g) for 9p.

If all that sweetness makes you fear for your teeth, both supermarkets were offering two toothbrushes for a staggering 10p (yes, just 5p each).

There was a Tesco Value batter mix (128g) for 8p. And if you’re a fan of instant noodles, Tesco Value has a chicken flavour (65g) and Sainsbury’s Basics a curry flavour, both for 9p.

I’d love to hear from anyone who can find an item for 10p or under. Email me by clicking here.

The Folly Of Food Labels

I TAKE no notice of best-before, sell-by or use-by dates, I’m more of a sniff-by kind of a girl. If it doesn’t smell whiffy, it’s edible as far as I’m concerned. Now I’m pleased to hear — and a little surprised — that the Government agrees with me.


Environment secretary Hilary Benn has pointed out the sheer folly of slinging out perfectly good food just because it’s past its best-before date. Note, he's not suggesting that anyone ignores the use-by date, probably not wanting to get sued for an outbreak of botulism. Personally, I trust my own judgement.


My friends and I have different attitudes to that “best before” date-stamp on food. Some religiously throw out anything that has passed its shelf life while others use the date as a guide.


I, however, look on those dates as a challenge. A packet of custard powder that orders me to use it by October 7, 2009? Pah! I’ll make that raspberry trifle when I want to and I may not want to until January 7, 2020.


To me it’s always seemed madness (and somehow immoral) to throw away what is obviously perfectly good food. In fact, as a nation we throw away ONE-THIRD of all the food that we buy. I’ve written about this before here.

Not only is this an incredible waste of money but is environmentally disastrous. I refuse to believe that a tin of beans that is perfectly safe to eat at 11.59pm, suddenly becomes poisonous a minute later. If it were true, Dr Crippen wouldn’t have bothered with the hyoscine hydrobromide to poison his wife, he would have opened a dodgy packet of prawns and made her a sandwich instead. (In the interests of historical accuracy, Crippen TRIED to poison his wife but gave her too much hyoscine hydrobromide — she went screamingly mad and he shot her. Oh well... can’t win ’em all.)

Mr Benn said: “In the past, long before such labels existed, people would look at food in the fridge or larder and decide whether it was OK. Throwing food away costs us money. And if it goes to landfill it produces methane and that adds to the problem of climate change."

Mr Benn also said Britain must produce more food to avert world hunger.

If you look in the back of my cupboards you’ll probably find tins of Carnation milk that my grandmother squirrelled away in the war — the First World War. If bottles of wine from the Napoleonic era can make hundreds of thousands of pounds, my tins of Carnation must be worth a few quid, surely?

I haven’t poisoned anybody yet. At least, I don’t think I have. Which reminds me, I wonder what happened to my old schoolfriend who popped round for a sandwich in 2003? She hasn’t been back since.

Frugal Cleaning

EVERY once in a while the Marigolds and the feather duster come out at my home at Chez Disarray.

And yes, I am talking about spring-cleaning, not some weird practice for which certain men pay good money in Soho.

I do occasionally get caught up in CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) because my house needs a good clean and tidy.

It’s then that I am particularly susceptible to all those advertisements on television, convinced that I must spend good money on something that promises me “one squirt and the dirt is gone”. One squirt, ten minutes of scrubbing, nine minutes of swearing and the dirt is gone, would be more accurate.

I have in the past spent a fortune on cleaning products, which admittedly all did a good enough job, before realising that cheaper alternatives are just as effective. So here are a few of my best cheapo cleaning tips:

1. A teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda on a damp cloth works as well as expensive cream cleaners.

2. Use vinegar for cleaning glass. It cuts through grease brilliantly. Use half vinegar and half water in an old spray bottle, put in a jar and dip in a clean cloth.

3. Essential oils are great for general cleaning too and very economical as you need so little. A couple of drops of tea tree oil on a damp cloth will disinfect surfaces.

4. Forget the proprietary clothes whiteners . Add a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda to your washing powder. Incidentally, you can cut down on the recommended amount of soap powder - at least by half if your clothes are grubby rather than dirty.

5. Here’s a great (and cheap) carpet stain remover: Mix white vinegar and baking soda together to form a paste. Then, work the paste into the carpet stain with an old toothbrush, or something similar. Allow the paste to dry; then vacuum up the baking soda, and the stain should be gone. Some stains may need to be treated more than once.

6. Vinegar comes into its own again in the loo. Pour a couple cups of vinegar into the toilet before bed, swish it with a toilet brush in the morning, and flush. This will sanitise your toilet and remove stubborn hard water stains.

7. And it’s vinegar again for the microwave. Fill a microwave-safe bowl with a mixture of half vinegar and half water, and put in on high for two minutes. Then, dip a sponge into the vinegar-water (be careful it’s not too hot) solution, and use it to wipe the food off of the walls of the microwave. It’ll wipe away easily.

8. Lemon juice is great for cleaning brass and copper. Mix to a paste with baking soda and rub on. Clean off and polish with a dry cloth.

9. The best tip, of course, is never to let anything get too dirty or stained in the first place. Then you will need minimal products and elbow grease to get everything clean and sparkling again.

If you have any cleaning tips you want to share, leave a comment or email me by clicking here.

Soft Soap Your Friends To Save Money

Bizarre tip of the day:

Here's a real cheapskate tip you could try if you have enough cheek! I'm much too honest to try it myself but I know someone who briefly got away with this.... Pretend that your washing-machine has broken down and ask family and friends in turn whether you can use their machine. It should work at least once with each person.

Sensible tip of the day:

Pause for thought if you are tempted to buy an item that isn't an absolute necessity. Wait a week, during which time decide whether you really want it and, if you do, it gives you time to compare prices or come up with a cheaper alternative.

If you have any tips you want to share, leave a comment or email me by clicking here.

Tips For Cutting Food Waste

I’VE written before about food waste here. Since then I have gathered a few more tips from family and friends. Readers have also e-mailed me with their own tips (click here if you want to share your ideas) or left comments.

1 Before you go shopping take a good look at your stocks of food and write a list of what you need. Then resist the temptation to buy anything that’s not on your list, unless it’s a really good bargain and will not go off before you’ve had chance to eat it.

2 Once a week, do a stock check and see what’s close to its ‘use by’ date. If you have too much veg, make soup and freeze it. Chop up fruit that’s near the end of its life and marinate in something fruity or boozy for a fruit salad or cook it for the base of a crumble. Old fruits are great for making ice cream or sauces, while black bananas are perfect for smoothies.

3 If you have soft left-over tomatoes, remove stalks and place whole into freezer bags. Add the frozen tomato to dishes where you would normally use tinned tomatoes, like bolognese sauce.

4 Make sure you rotate your tins and packets so that the oldest items are always near the front of the shelf.

5 Don’t stockpile spices and dried herbs. They start to lose their flavour after a while. It’s better to buy little and often.

6 Boil a chicken carcass or left-over meat from a joint in the vegetable cooking water to make stock. You can freeze this if you want.

7 Always use fish within a day of cooking. If you have left-overs you can flake it and add it to scrambled egg or make into a pate by mixing with cream cheese.

8 We never get left-over cake in my house, but some people do! Cake freezes well so don’t let it go stale or mouldy.

9 Never cook more food than you need. Get some kitchen scales so that you don’t end up with lots of left-over pasta, for example.

10 ‘Best before’ dates refer to quality not food safety and can still be used if they look and smell fine. ‘Use by’ dates are more serious and you should not eat products after this date. If you’re feeling brave read this article click here. but take it all with a pinch of salt!

Tip For Using A Glut Of Onions

THIS week I bought a huge bag of onions in Sainsbury's, Barnstaple, for 50p. It seemed a great bargain until I got the onions home and wondered if I would ever use them up before they went soft. So, before I got tears in my eyes contemplating squidgy onions sprouting green shoots, I phoned my mother for suggestions.

She gave me the recipe below, which has no name but which I think is an onion compote. Compote is not a word I would ever use with my mother, not unless I wanted that withering, "Who do you think you are?" look that I occasionally get when I use a "fancy" term!

You can serve it hot or cold, like a pickle, or to accompany a roast. I remember having it as a child with a ploughman's lunch - it's great with cheese. It's good spread thinly as a base for a Welsh rarebit or on you can use it on a pizza.

I made a big pan full and have frozen some and bottled some. It will keep about a month in a jar in the fridge.

Below is the basic recipe. You can add things like walnuts or raisins if you like. If you want to use it with pork, add some fresh sage. These additions should be stirred in near the end of cooking.

Onion Compote

1kg onions, peeled and roughly chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp sugar or 100g runny honey
1 tbsp vinegar (you can also use balsamic or a red or white wine vinegar)
1 tsp salt
3 bay leaves (optional)
Water


Heat the oil in a large heavy-based frying pan over a medium heat.
Add the onion and bay leaves, stir and spread out evenly.
Add water until the onion is just covered.
Cover (with a lid or tin foil) and bring to the boil.
Remove the lid and stir in sugar or honey salt and vinegar.
Simmer slowly for an hour. Stir occasionally so the onion doesn't stick.
After 45 minutes, put the lid back on. If at any time during the cooking process it starts to get too dry, add a little more water.

How To Make Very Cheap Beer

IN these days of credit-crunching and frugality, let me give you the following recipe.

I should warn you that I haven't tried it so have no idea how it tastes. The website it came from says it creates "a delightful, if not usual, tasting beer". Make of that what you will!

If anyone is brave enough to make any, let me know your opinion either by commenting or by email (click here).

Nettle Beer

This is an easy recipe to follow. It is very cheap to make and follows a traditional English recipe. Before hops were widely used in the 17th century all sorts of plants were used to flavor the ale including nettles.It was also thought to help alleviate rheumatic pain, gout and asthma. Nettle beer can still be bought in the Czech republic and in the north of England where it is brewed with hops and is called Internettle.

Ingredients

900grams (2lb) young nettle tops
3.8lts (1 gallon) of water
230 grams (8oz) of sugar, brown or demerara sugar works best.
7.5 grams (0.25oz) of fresh yeast
small piece of toast
7.5 grams (0.25oz) of ground ginger

Method

Boil the nettle tops in the water for half an hour (you will need a very large pan for this or preferably a cauldron).

Keeping the mixture, strain and add sugar, stirring to dissolve. I mentioned keeping the mixture as the first time I did this I strained it and poured the liquid down the sink, so had to go out and pick more nettles. Also stir in the ginger. Pour mixture into a sterile container, ask at most home brew shops for details, if you don't have a home brew shop near you then a big branch of Boots should offer a Brewers bucket.

Spread the yeast onto the toast and float on the surface of the nettle liquid. Cover and leave for about 3 days at room temperature, do not allow the temperature to fluctuate too much as this will ruin the fermentation process.

Strain again and put into clean, strong screw top beer bottles, or sealable wine bottles (the recipe-writer used plastic bottles and said it still worked). This can be drunk after about 2 days.

The author said: "Still not sure how alcoholic this beer is as I have never drank more than one pint in a go; it does taste like it should be though. "

To find the recipe in its original click here.

Tips of the Day

Bizarre tip of the day:
Are your little dears using as much toilet paper as the Andrex puppy? Here's an easy way to put a brake on their consumption. Before you put the roll on the holder, step on it (not too hard) to squeeze it out of shape. Now it doesn't roll quite so freely and you'll find they use less.

Sensible tip of the day:
Do you keep throwing out stale bread? Buy a big loaf (you can buy half sizes but it works out dearer) and put half in the freezer in an old loaf wrapper (no need to use a new polythene bag). It defrosts really quickly, especially if you carefully separate the slices. Don't store your bread in the fridge - it goes stale faster there than in a bread bin.

If you have any tips you want to share, leave a comment or email me by clicking here.

Grow Your Own

ONE way to beat the Credit Crunch is to get crunching on your own vegetables.

Unfortunately, I have the opposite of green fingers (purple toes?) and previous efforts to ‘grow my own’ haven’t been particularly successful. Slugs and other leaf and root-munching little creatures set up home all too readily in my garden.

I only have to walk past a plant for it to shrivel up and die in front of my eyes. I can get a cutting, water it with tears, dip it in rooting powder, keep it in a polythene bag in the airing cupboard, pray over it, cast magic spells, and wait for it to start shooting. And wait. And wait. And wait.

I really ought to apply to the BBC’s Gardener’s World project. The programme is looking for three North Devon gardeners to take part in a special televised course which aims to improve the basic skills of keen gardeners in the area.

It’s all very cloak and dagger at the moment with filming taking place ‘at a top secret location’ somewhere on the outskirts of Barnstaple. The course will offer a grounding in the basics of gardening including planting, pruning and propagating.

Anyone interested should email Howard Shannon at howie.shannon@bbc.co.uk and include their contact details, a little bit about themselves and why they want to take part in the course. There's not much time left to apply, so you will need to get moving.

An easier option – and one I will definitely take up – is to attend a Grow Your Own Veg Day at Eggesford Gardens on Sunday, February 22 (11am- 4pm; free entry).

There will be advice on selecting the best crops for your garden along with growing tips from local horticultural expert David Loder. There will also be special offers on the day along with fun and games and competitions for all the family.

For more information go to http://www.eggesfordgardens.com/

You never know, I may even end up understanding that arcane language in which gardening seems to be conducted.

Friends and family ask me things like, "Did you remember to prep the soil?" I might have. I might not have. What's it to you? "Do you double dig?" Look, I have trouble getting my ass in gear to single dig. "Some cultivars would look good over there." No doubt. So would some Bolivars, Magyars and Tartars, as long as they knew about gardening.

Yes, it's definitely time to turn over a new leaf.

Tips Of The Day

Bizarre tip of the day:
Once you have cut a slice of lemon for your gin and tonic, how much do you end up wasting? The lemon, that is …. not much gin gets wasted in my house. Slice up any leftover lemon or lime into small chunks or slices, put them into an ice cube tray and cover with water. The next time you want a drink, you have the “ice and a slice” all ready to use.

Sensible tip of the day:
Switch off electrical appliances at the plug rather than use 'standby'. During standby the appliances are still using electricity, and this accounts for an astonishing 6% of all electricity used in the home.

Get A Free Hippo - And Save Water

MY colleague Adam emailed me to say he had switched to a water meter in October and since then his water bill had halved.

He wrote: “We are two adults and a baby, so not huge water users, but we do throw the boy in a bath every now and then and hose down the worst of it.”

He also admitted to having "a strange selection" of plants which required water – but that his car was rather a stranger to the wet stuff.

As Adam says, this is a handy tip for the water-savvy reader.

His email prompted me to look into the whole water-saving business. Top of the list seems to be to switch to a meter, if you don’t already have one. It may not be economic if you have a large family of water-guzzling little tikes but for most people it will save money.

Our water comes from rivers and groundwater so every drop we use has a direct effect on the environment. Limiting our intake makes sense not only financially but environmentally too.

There’s lots you can do to save water. I’ve trawled the internet on your behalf and the following are the top tips.

* Put a displacement device like a ‘hippo’ in your toilet cistern. If you don’t know what a water hippo is or want more information, click here. You can get a free hippo and free 24-page water conservation advice booklet from South West Water – click here.

* Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth. Leaving it on can waste up to 5 litres of water per minute.

* Always run washing machines and dishwashers with a full load and on the economy setting

* Fix dripping taps; they can waste up to four litres of water a day.

* Use a bowl of water to wash fruit and vegetables. Leftover water can be used for watering plants.

* Use the minimum amount of water required when you boil water in saucepans and kettles.

* Wait until you have a full load before switching the washing-machine or dishwasher. Some have a ‘half load’ setting but these use more than half the normal amount of water.

* A 5-minute shower uses about a third of the water of a bath. But power showers can use more water than a bath in less than 5 minutes.
* Burst water pipes can cause serious damage as well as waste water. Ensure your water pipes and external taps are lagged in time for the cold winter months.

Here some water-saving tips for outdoors which are straight from gardening guru Alan Titchmarsh:

* Water your garden in the cool of the early morning or evening. This will reduce the amount of water lost to evaporation.

* If you water plants and shrubs too often their roots will remain shallow, weakening the plant. Leave them alone until they show signs of wilting.
Collect rainwater in water-butts and use a watering can instead of a hose. If you prefer to use a hosepipe, fit a trigger nozzle to control the flow.
Regularly weed and hoe your garden, to ensure that watering helps plants and not weeds.

* Plant flowers and shrubs that thrive in hot and dry conditions such as thyme, evening primrose, rock rose, Californian poppy, pinks, lavender, buddleia and hebes.
Mulches such as wood chips, bark and gravel help to prevent water evaporation and also suppress weed growth, saving you both water and time spent weeding.

* Lawns can survive long periods of dry weather if the grass is not cut too short. Even if the grass turns brown, it will quickly recover after a few days of rain.
Garden sprinklers can use as much water in an hour as a family of four uses in a day. If you use a sprinkler, many water companies require you to have a water meter fitted.

If you have any tips you want to share, leave a comment or email me by clicking here.

Tips of the day

Bizarre tip of the day:

Always reverse into parking spaces. Tim Shallcross, of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, says drivers can save 40p a day by doing this. Beginning a trip by reversing out of a parking space burns up more fuel because a cold engine uses more petrol than a hot one. When a driver parks he probably has to do a few manoeuvres. “It’s much better to do that with a warm engine using thimblefuls of fuel rather than a cold engine using bucketloads,” he says.

Sensible tip of the day:

Instead of using expensive cream cleaners use a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda on a damp cloth - it works just as well.

Picture: Advanced motorist Mike Hill reverses into a parking space.

Tips of the Day

Bizarre tip of the day:
If you have to take your kids to the supermarket with you, play Bargain Hunt. Give them a list of items you need and the one who finds the cheapest wins. They won’t want dearer branded items and it will keep the little dears, with their incessant “I want….”, out of your hair while you shop. Prizes? Are you kidding – the glory of winning is enough!

Sensible tip of the day:
This is a great tip which was left by “anonymous” on a previous posting: Every time you dial an 0870, 0871, 0844 or 0845 number, you're paying money to big corporations like British Gas, the DVLA, TV Licensing and Barclays. Consumer group Which? says the DVLA made £3.4million from its 0870 line last year. This means we've all been paying for the privilege of making a complaint or getting something fixed. Visit http://www.saynoto0870.com/ . This site lists well-known firms and their geographical numbers. For instance, if you have a licence enquiry, the DVLA wants you to ring 0870 2400009 - but you can call 01792 782341 and avoid the rip-off charges.

Frugal Children's Parties

IF you need to save money, make one of your New Year’s resolutions to spend less on children’s parties.

It seems that these days mums try to outdo each other with the lavishness of their entertainment and party bags. Do you really need to hire a clown or a magician? Or spend hundreds on holding a party in a fast food restaurant? Do you need to spend more on gifts for the little dears to take home than the Gross National Product of a small country? No, of course not.

When I was a child (admittedly many moons ago), there were parties with musical chairs, pin the tail on the donkey and pass the parcel with a birthday tea of cheap jelly and icecream. Guests brought presents; they weren’t sent home with bags packed with the contents of Toys R Us.

Birthdays are supposed to be special but ‘special’ needn’t mean expensive. You will find that scaling back on celebrations will make them better - certainly less stressful - by putting the focus back where it was supposed to be all along, on the children. You don’t need cash – you just need a little imagination.

One of my friends cut costs drastically by holding a Fairy Party for her six-year-old daughter. All the guests came dressed as fairies - there would have been elves too if her daughter had wanted any boys at the party. The food was lots of tiny little nibbles – “fairy food” - including little open sandwiches the size of a 50p coin, miniature sausages cut into three, individual swiss rolls cut into even tinier rolls and little dishes of dolly mixtures and miniature marsh mallows.

There were tiny carrot and celery sticks with dip (served in little receptacles like screw top lids) and plates of fruit chopped into small pieces served with chocolate dip. There were individual birthday cakes - those individual sponge rolls cut up and iced, each with its own candle. The little people all ate daintily and loved the food.

They played “fairy” games with prizes of tiny trophies – cheap egg cups decorated with sparkly bits. The most popular game was one she made up herself called Fairy Forfeits. She bought a packet of chocolate buttons and carved a number on each sweet. She then made a pack of cards. The cards had a number on one side and a Fairy Forfeit on the other. The children took it in turns to pick a button (which they then ate), selected the card with the same number on it and turned it over to read what they had to do – some had to do a fairy dance, some had to make up a fairy song, some had to cast a nice fairy spell.

My friend also choreographed a fairy dance, which they all learned and performed for the adults present. When they went home they each took a cheap plastic wand which she had decorated with ribbons. She reckoned the whole party, including the food, hadn’t cost much more than a tenner – and the children absolutely loved it.

Another friend with a 13-year-old son was filled with trepidation after her experiences at a young teenage boy’s party where the little dears had run riot, throwing food around, yelling and racing about and fighting over who had won the games with their expensive prizes. The poor host was hoarse by the end of the day and had a mountain of debris to clear up. She had a laid on a lavish tea which had cost a fortune, and most ended up ground into the carpet.

No way, am I going through that, my friend thought. She sent all the boys out into the garden and served them hot dogs and beef burgers. The birthday boy had been given an action film DVD as a present which they all settled down to watch after the food with mum bringing round popcorn and ice creams during the “interval”. That was all they did – and there wasn’t one murmur of complaint.

If you have teenage children, take a look at cheap hotel deals. They will love a weekend away where they can make use of hotel facilities like a gym , sauna and tennis courts. You might be surprised at how reasonable the rates are, especially out of season. The North Devon Journal’s Reader Holidays often include a real bargain. Keep a look-out too for holiday coupons in newspapers – one national paper was recently offering very cheap breaks in a Cornish holiday park.

Or have a dressing up party with mum’s dresses and high heels or dad’s T-shirts and big shoes. You could buy some hats in a charity shop or be lucky enough to find some children’s fancy dress costumes. Provide cheap make-up (the boys could use eyeliner pencil to create stubble) and jewellery and old watches and they’re set for hours of fun.

One variation on this is to have lots of strange items in a big bag. The children take it in turns to pick an item (without looking) and have to wear it. They keep picking until all the items are gone. Mum or dad then acts as official photographer to take their pictures with a digital camera and print the results out for them to take home.

Be sensible with the goodie bags. Buy plain bags and decorate them yourself – getting your children to decorate them is even better. For young children you can print off colouring sheets from various children’s activity websites. Pop those in with some cheap crayons. Buy a family bag of cheap sweets and share them out. Have a “themed” goodie bag, like The Cake Shop, which is filled with cheap cakes. Or start a trend and dispense with them altogether. I’m sure the other parents will be thrilled.

My own birthday parties were great. I was born in June so the weather was nearly always good. My mother couldn't be bothered with all that party game stuff; she sent us out to play. I was a farmer's daughter and a health and safety inspector would have had a fit as we climbed over the farmyard machinery with its spikes and blades honed to razor sharpness, clambered to the top of precarious piles of straw bales and made dens in animal pens that no doubt harboured virulent strains of e-coli, salmonella and brucellosis. I'll say one thing for my mother, though, she might have subjected us to the risk of amputation, suffocation and respiratory failure but she did produce a very fine birthday tea....