How to shop for 25 children...

It's that time of year again. Christmas! In my school, all the teachers give each child in their class a little present. I've spent ages trying to find cute, meaningful and affordable presents for my class. I always end up spending more than I set out, to so this year I used the credit crunch as an excuse and limited myself to spending about 60p per child! (Scrooge!)

In my first year, I was a new and very excited teacher. I love giving gifts and so went to town and ended up spending over a £1 on each child (doesn't sound like much but it all adds up and when you have several adults to buy for too - it isn't cheap). I shopped online at Baker Ross.
http://www.bakerross.co.uk/
They have a great selection of gifts all reasonably priced.

The next year I couldn't be bothered buying several little things for each child and settled for a lovely book. It worked out to be really cheap as I bought a collection of books from The Book People who often do fantastic deals. I wonder why people go to normal bookshops on the high street when you can buy from the Book People at less than half price.
http://www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/TopCategoriesDisplay?storeId=10001&catalogId=10001&langId=100

This year, neither site was working out to be cheap enough for Scroogie old me so I ended up going in search of a Poundstretcher only to discover that the Poundstretchers in my area had all shut down! It was the last Sunday before the end of term and I began to panic...

I found myself in a random discount store trying hard to find something, anything that would do. I stumbled across a set of tumblers - four for a £1.00!!! They were really cute....blue with a picture of Santa with the words Merry Christmas. There were also red tumblers with a picture of a reindeer. Perfect. I could fill the tumblers with a few christmas chocs bought from Sainsbury's or Tescos and there I had it...a lovely gift for less than 60p!

Packaged in delightful christmassy cellophane bags from America (courtesy of my sister) I'm now sorted. :)