HAMPERS are an impressive Christmas gift but buying them ready-made is pricey.
DIY instead and you could pack in loads of treats for around £10.
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Vix Leyton, of hotukdeals.com, says: “It’s fun to put them together yourself and you can give the most variety for the best price.”
Mel Hunter shares five budget hamper ideas to please the people in your life . . .
First buy a £4.99 basket
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BOTH Lidl and The Range are selling DIY hamper kits featuring a basket big enough to hold a nice range of treats, cellophane wrap and shredded tissue or wood filling for £4.99.
Lidl’s one (above) comes with a bow. Card Factory and The Works have baskets of a similar size for around £6.
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For her
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CREATE a pampering kit made up from high street beauty bargains, and then make sure she gets the time and tranquillity to enjoy them.
Superdrug has indulgent Badedas Original bath foam, 300ml, down from £5.99 to £2.99.
At Boots you can buy three selected beauty products and get a free candle, so you could pack in a Sanctuary Spa salt scrub sachet, £2, Joules bath fizzer, £2.50, and Joules body fragrance, £2.50, as well as the candle.
TOTAL: £9.99
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For him
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FILL your basket with treats, starting with a bottle of beer, like Sainsbury’s Winter Warmer ale, £1.60 (with a Nectar card).
Add in a mug and a pair of cosy socks – Home Bargains has an Only Fools And Horses set for £3.99.
While you’re there, pick up the Umbro Ice Duo shower gel and bodyspray gift set, £2.49.
You can take the products out of their box to better fit into your basket.
Finish it off with a Terry’s Chocolate Orange, £1.49 at Tesco or Aldi.
TOTAL: £9.57
For crafters
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GATHER creative gifts. You could include a Poppies cross-stitch kit, £2.50 from Hobbycraft.
Add a Calming Nature adult colouring book from The Works, £3.
While you’re there pick up a pack of six Scribblicious metallic markers for £3.
Print out instructions for another project on a sheet of coloured paper – there are lots of free templates, like the paper puppies pictured above, at allfreepapercrafts.com.
Finish the basket with a pack of rainbow gemstones – £1 from Poundland.
TOTAL: £9.50
For foodies
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GIVE a taste of Italy to the food lover in your life. Start with coloured pasta, like Asda’s Tricolore Fusilli, 75p.
Decant it into a cellophane bag tied with a ribbon to look more appealing.
Pop in a jar of Aldi’s Specially Selected tomato and olive sauce, a bargain at £1.29, and from the same store, pick up a bottle of The Deli Balsamic Vinegar of Modena for £1.59.
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Top off your hamper with a tissue-wrapped bottle of Lidl’s Nero d’Avola Terre Siciliane red wine to wash down the goodies, £5.99.
TOTAL: £9.62
Insider tips
YOU don’t have to use a basket – cover an old shoe box in festive wrapping paper or use a large gift bag.
This will give you more to spend on goodies to go inside, says Vix Leyton from hotukdeals.com.
Tina Nandha, a gift-wrapping pro, founder of wrapitbytina. co.uk, says when arranging items in your hamper “stack bigger things at the back, smaller ones at the front to give it a feeling of fullness”.
Vix says: “Home bakes are a great way to bulk a hamper. A batch of gingerbread men or stollen will give you enough to put in multiple hampers.”
Becci Coombes, author of Craft Your Own Cosy Scandi Christmas and founder of hyggestyle.co.uk, says: “Save brown paper from Amazon deliveries and use it to pad out the bottom of the box.”
For food and drink, look beyond the Christmas aisle. Vix says: “Things like bags of nuts and rice crackers are low-cost treats that will round out a hamper.”
