The Hut have what they claim is a 93% discount on four activity paperbacks and two hardback titles. They’re selling the six books for £2.95 instead of £40.94. While I can’t imagine ever paying that for single use books I know that they’re worth a lot more than £2.95!

• Make the first preparations for the Christmas holidays

I actually reviewed The Night Before Christmas, Chilly the Snowman, and The Twelve Days of Christmas before Christmas and think they are absolutely brilliant activity books.

They are full of stickers and activities such as dot to dot puzzles, spot the difference pictures, and press out models, along with other things.

The book Santa’s Snowy Surprise is a pop-up book with bright illustrations to capture the imagination and is apparently full of hidden surprises.  The final book, My Treasury of Farmyard Tales has 160 pages of stories featuring a range of farmyard animals, perfect for bedtime any time of the year.  

These books are so good, they are worth ordering to keep as presents, or to put away for your own little ones for Christmas.

Thanks to tasi124 at HUKD

Don’t worry! This isn’t the first post for Christmas 2012! In fact, it’s part of Lula Sapphire’s clearance stock, and this (gorgeous) red linen Christmas stocking is reduced from £15.50 to £5.

• Get something beautiful for next to nothing

The Red Linen Stocking at Lula Sapphire is a beautiful and elegant Christmas stocking that will look fantastic hanging next to your Christmas tree.

These are generously sized at 52cm so they will fit all those Christmas goodies, and the are very stylish and not at all garish.

They’re also made of Linen, so they won’t lose shape like felt stockings do and they won’t  get things stuck in them or unravel like wool stockings do either.

These are clearance items, so stocks may be limited, although there’s no indication on the site of that.

Standard delivery takes 3 – 5 days and I suspect this is a small item, which will cost you £1.50  to have delivered to you by Royal Mail.

Want to do a little something different for your Christmas dinner? I've not got a big budget to spend on Christmas this year, and it feels a bit mean to give a small inexpensive present. But one way to make the gift special is to turn it into a home made cracker. That's what I've decided to do. Partly to be able to give all my guests a little something, but also because this year we have a new dining table. So I've decided to dress my dinner table for a change. It is possible I've been spending a bit too much time on Kirstie Alsopp's website though.

It also occurred to me that home made crackers would make a brilliant gift for my son to give to his teachers. I really must remember that for next year!

Click here to read more...

Now here's an excellent present for a Christmas Stocking. This Plasticine Mega Pack is £8.50 at Tesco Direct, reduced from £20.

• Click here for your Plasticine Mega Pack at Tesco Direct

Plasticine is fun on its own, and also great for making accessories for other games and toys. Like rocks and plants for toy train sets, or to go with a Lego set.

It was a favourite of mine when I was a kid too. What I really liked about plasticine is that unlike Play Doh, it doesn't dry out. Also, it is harder so you can make proper models with it.

However, it can get mucky and won't necessarily last forever. Especially if it is used to help accessorise other games! Replenishing their plasticine stock is an excellent use of the good old Christmas stocking. And this is a huge pack, at a good price.

This Plasticine mega pack contains 20 different colours of placticine plus loads of cool accessories, allowing your offspring to make hundreds of cool models. Placticine will never dry out so you can use it over and over again. Plasticine is suitable for children in the age range of 3 years and upwards, although I think they get the best use out of it if they're 5 or older.

Thanks to mummybones at HUKD!

The rampant consumerism at this time of the year can really get you down. Well it gets me down at any rate. I've been looking increasingly over the last few years at alternatives that aren't going to cost the Earth, literally.

Wrapping paper is one key item that I resent spending money on. OK, so it isn't exactly a huge expense. You can pick up a couple of cheap rolls of paper for less than a quid. It will be really thin, mind, and rip easily. But still it is fairly cheap, especially when you consider it is simply going to get ripped right off.

But it is all such a waste. Then there are the Christmas cards. And decorations.

So what else can you do? Here's some ideas, a few of which you and the kids can have fun doing together if you like. It also teaches them about recycling, and ways they can make good use of everything.

Click here to read more...

I have gone Christmas baking mad this year and have already made no less than six Christmas cakes already. These are presents, obviously so stop staring. I then decided that I definitely wanted to make my own Christmas decorations with gingerbread men and styles, as well as some cute cupcakes for those Christmas get togethers at home.

So I took up the awesome deal on Reader’s Digest for both books – Christmas Cupcakes and Decorated Gingerbread – for £9.99 instead of £19.99. Nice saving of £10 off the original price there. Then I started on the gingerbread book. I am still afraid of cupcakes, I am just rubbish at them…

There are two very specific gingerbread recipes in the book – one classic and one chocolate. The chocolate gingerbread adds in some ground almonds, treacle and cocoa to deliver a rich flavour. I made my first batch copying the instructions exactly but without a food processor. I don’t have one as there is no space in my current kitchen.

The final dough was  crumbly so I had to add 1/4tsp of water to get the right consistency. Once that was done, the gingerbread men I made were perfect. And this was my first time ever. Honestly fabulous. The ideas in the book are really just that, though. You get two basic gingerbread recipes and the rest of the book is clever ideas on how to ice them. Incredibly useful for people who aren’t that artistic, like me.

The Christmas Cupcakes book had me drooling. There are some designs in there that are utterly delectable and that, on a brave day, I am going to try. Unfortunately I never had time to make the cupcakes before this review went live but I can assure you that the ideas for decorating and the different flavours on offer, are really diverse.

There's lots of toys on sale at the moment, and rest assured they'll all be full price in the week before Christmas. Or most of them anyway. This is a very pink toy, but if you've got a Hello Kitty fan in the house you'll be used to that. John Lewis has reduced the price of the Hello Kitty Roller Disco from £29.95 to £15.

• Click here for your Hello Kitty Roller Disco at John Lewis

With this playset, your little one can treat their Hello Kitty dolls to an amazing roller disco where they can dance the night away. The set comes with 4 Hello Kitty figurines, sweet machine and shop, skate hire shop, as well as tables and chairs where they can enjoy a milkshake.

If the dolls fancy going for a dance in their magnetic skates, the dance floor flashes and lights up, while the disco ball revolves to set a proper party scene.

This is also a handy toy for taking about with you, useful if you're doing any visiting or travelling over the Christmas break. The disco folds up into a handy carry case so you can take Hello Kitty with you wherever you go.

Thanks to mkb_1980 at HUKD!

This would make a nice Christmas present or stocking filler for a little one. I always liked singing with my son when he was a toddler (and too little to realise how out of tune mummy was). I never knew that many songs though. The First Songs Library Sing-along Books are £3.99 including delivery at Play.com. The normal RRP is £12.99.

• Click here for your Sing-along Books at Play.com

The First Songs Library Sing-along Books are a collection of three illustrated books. These contain 50 of our favourite nursery rhymes, lullabies and sing-along songs. Well favourite according to the makers of these books, so I guess that means the most well known. I know so little of these songs, I was a bit surprised there were fifty of them!

The website says that children will love to sing along to the musical versions on the specially-recorded audio CD. In my experience that's usually true. Especially older babies and toddlers. Not all of them like those little playgroups where you do sing songs though. My son didn't, and the lad I used to babysit wasn't fond of them either. Something like this to sing at home is ideal then.

Thanks to MissGem at HUKD!

Cozy Plush animals are a range of nine microwavable soft toys. Normally £9.99 this Cozy Plush Cream Sheep is available at Play.com for £6.49. On Amazon they're selling for £9.95.

• Click here for your Cozy Plush Cream Sheep at Play.com

As far as I can tell, these are an alternative to hot water bottles. Sounds like they'd be definitely more snuggable than a hot water bottle. Although they're mainly for children, I reckon I'd love one of these myself! They'd certainly make a great Christmas present.

Lots of great reviews. Many comment that the sheep is bigger than they expected. Here's what one reviewer said "I got this sheep for my sister for Christmas, it's amazing! The beads/beans  are in the stomach, which is big and fat and cuddly. He is extremely cute, extremely cuddly and gets so warm and cozy it's very hard not to steal him and run off."

The sheep is about 30cm high, and probably about 20cm wide. He sits up by himself.

He also smells of lavender, which is really relaxing after a long day.

Thanks to Lucerysmum at HUKD!

This Christmas Penguin Books are offering 25% off their range of children's Christmas books. This includes books from their ladybird range for younger children, and puffin range for older kids, as well as their boxsets. There's also discounts on their Dr Who and Top Gear books. Just to make it an even better deal, the site is offering free delivery until the 31st January, 2012.

• Click here for your Christmas books at Penguin

If you're a parent then you're probably feeling overloaded with toys already. Christmas is a huge toyfest and you may be thinking there's some balance needed. A couple of books could be just the balance you're after!

Doctor Who: Where's the Doctor for example has been reduced from £8.99 to £6.74. These are a bit like the Where's Wally books, but instead you search through Cybermen, dig through the Daleks and ogle the Ood to find the Doctor and his friends. A bit more exciting I think!

For younger kids there's the really lovely Ladybird Big Noisy Book of Christmas Songs. An excellent stocking filler. It was £10.99 and is now £8.24.

Oh and here is a wonderful book that would make a beautiful gift especially if you've a god child or niece/nephew to buy for. It is the Amazing Pop-Up Tale of Peter Rabbit, reduced from £14.99 to £11.24.

Use this Disney Store online promotional code to get £10 off your order when you spend £50 or more. This is a particularly handy code at this time of the year, especially if you've got more than one child to buy for.  You'll also get free delivery, as there's no charge on orders over £30 until the end of  this Sunday. The code works on full price items, and doesn't work when your total contains items that are already discounted.

Click here to use your Disney Store online promotional code

• Discount: £10
• Minimum spend: £50
• Promotional code: DVDISNEY10
• Expires: 4th December 2011

To use this code, go to the Shopping Basket page and enter it in the box under Special Offers and Discounts. It will be applied automatically to your order.

I tested it out on a range of  items from my son's favourite movies. Specifically a Buzz Lightyear costume for £20, Disney Cars Deluxe Racer set for £20, and a couple of action figures. In total my basket came to £50.49. Delivery of £4.95 was deducted, and the £10 taken off, so in total including delivery the whole bill came to £40.49. Making it one of the few times where I didn't leave the Disney store, either in person or online, without feeling like my wallet had been violated.

Thanks to grumpyat3 at HUKD!

Use this Ladybird Books promotional code to get 25% off your order and free delivery when you buy selected Christmas books. Unfortunately I couldn't work out how to tell which books in the Christmas section that this applies to, so there is a bit of trial and error involved. Worth it to pick up a lovely present or stocking filler.

Click here to use your Ladybird Books promotional code

• Discount: 25% and free delivery
• Applies to: selected Christmas books
• Promotional code: ladybirdxmas2011
• Expires: 31st January 2012

To use this code, go to the Shopping Basket, enter it in the Coupon Code box, and press the Update Basket button. You'll see the discount automatically applied, and the free delivery further on through checkout.

Free delivery is always a favourite of mine as it means you can pick up just one item, without having to add that extra amount (which often makes it less of a bargain).

I'm not sure which of the books in the Christmas section this can be applied to. I rather excitedly tried to buy the Christmas Carols Book and CD, but it wouldn't let me use the code. Next I tried it on the My First Christmas Collection: Little Library. This had been priced at £5 but the code took that down to £3.74.

Thanks to hikilburn at HUKD!

The Playmobil Advent Calendar Dinosaur Expedition (£14.99). You should buy this. There that was a nice and easy review wasn't it?

Seriously though, I got one of these for my six year old son last year. This was one of the ones that our PlayPennies mums reviewed - the Playmobil Dragon's Land Advent calendar. We also reviewed the Playmobile Unicorn in Fairy World Advent calendar.

My son loved it, and he still has the cardboard scenery that came with it. The scenery and the toys have been well played with. He was so proud he told everyone in the school playground that his Advent calendar didn't have chocolate it had TOYS! Which made me feel like a bit of an uber-mum.

This year he is getting the Playmobil Advent Calendar Dinosaur Expedition. Now it isn't the 1st of December yet, so he hasn't actually used it as an Advent calendar. We have got out the scenery though, and that's all at the ready. As before, the set was easy to assemble, and although the cardboard looks thin, it is as sturdy as last year's.

I have opened the box, to check out all the toys. This is something I'd do anyway, to avoid any surprises (like a toy being broken, or something that needs to be put together first). Also it means you can move around some of the toys if you want your wee one to open a favourite earlier on!

Then reseal the box. You don't actually get 24 toys, but a toy 'set'. Some of the dates contain, for example, an accessory for one of the figures. Or the other part of a toy - the 22nd of December has a dinosaur egg nest, but you don't get the eggs for it until the 23rd of December (actually I swapped those around).

I also got a Playmobil Santa Claus with Snowman (£5.99). I thought this was particularly good value as you get a Santa, a snowman, and a toy sack with little toys. The football has already disappeared, but the rest of the set is part of our annual Christmas scene that we put up each year. Sorry, we're heathens so it isn't strictly a manger scene (and I don't think there were any snowmen in the bible).

Overall verdict for the advent calendar is 7 out of 10. It would be more like 9 out of 10 if it wasn't that a couple of the 'gifts' are rather measly. Playmobil Santa gets 10/10, just for the fun factor alone!

I did a Santa box last year, instead of a stocking or Santa sack, but the principle is the same. This was a sturdy, silver covered present box that I'd bought at WH Smiths, I think. Inside it was filled with all his stocking filler presents, individually wrapped. The advantage of the box (and why I thought of it) was that all the little bits could be popped back in there to keep from getting lost in the unwrapping frenzy.

Last year on PlayPennies we talked about the amount of money we would spend on the stocking fillers. Most people seemed to have a budget of around £20, and felt they were good at sticking to this. The cannier spenders made the money go as far as possible by snapping up bargains.

So here's the top ten hottest toys for children, and by hottest I mean cheapest, that are still in stock. I trawled through the pages of bargains that are posted on our sister site HUKD to find these for you. Read on for cheap stocking filler ideas.

Click here to read more...

Is there anything better than getting a parcel in the post wrapped up in brown paper and tied with string? That's how the items from MakeDo arrived.

I love making stuff out of things that are around the house. What I lack though is the expertise to know how to do it. Enter the MakeDo system, new to the UK. MakeDo is a connector system that enables materials including cardboard, plastic and fabric to easily join together to form new objects or structures.

The system can also be undone, so you can take it apart and build something new. Kind of like Lego, but without the sharp edges, square shape restrictions, and if Lego bricks were instead everyday objects that people throw away all the time. So nothing like Lego at all then! Other than this is a construction toy.

These connector systems will also come in handy at Christmas, when you're awash with all that packing left over from opening presents. Now the kids can construct their own inventions out of it.

I received the MakeDo Find & Make Robot, and the MakeDo Cup Critter. There's other kits in the Find & Make range - like ones for making cars for example. The range also includes Makedo Freeplay, a tub full of the connectors.

Click here to read more...

You might already be feeling the strain, the tugs on the purse strings that announce the imminent arrival of Christmas. As you read this feature, there is just over a month to go until the big day.

To be honest, I'm not as well prepared as I was last year. I had already got most of my son's stocking filler presents by now, and had bought family presents as early as August. I'd also already started stocking up on non-perishable essentials from September. Such as tin foil for cooking, spices for the Christmas baking, and even wrapping paper.

So far this year, I only have a few items. I just haven't had the energy or the time to devote to it this year. Perhaps what I need is a way of forcing myself to at least put the money aside so that no matter what, I'll at least have the cash or the vouchers to go shopping with if not the actual items themselves.

It is too late to start now for this Christmas, but now is a good time to be thinking about joining one of these for Christmas 2012.

Christmas should be about indulgence, spending a little bit more, treating yourself and your family. But it shouldn't be about getting yourself in debt or leaving yourself broke and without a brass farthing on January 2nd. With three weeks till payday.

So there's a balance to be had in there, a middle ground where you can achieve the former without ending up with the latter as well. As always I'm following in the footsteps of cannier parents here, PlayPennies mums and dads who've learnt their lessons the hard way. And now they're sharing with me, and you, so we don't have to!

If you're after a cheaper Christmas this year, there here's what you should be doing now in late November to get ready.

I've seen these set up in a few toy shops now, and I thought they looked quite good. And slightly familiar. It wasn't until I looked this up online that I found out that the Tomy Tomica range is the replacement, or rather expansion, of the Tomy Thomas the Tank Engine range. The tracks are still all the same, which is handy as we were given a stack of this from my son's older cousin. They're not cheap though. However, if you're looking for something really special for Christmas, then the Tomy Tomica Mega Station set has been reduced from £79.99 to £59.99 at Amazon.

• Click here for your Tomy Tomica set at Amazon

That's a saving of 25%, as it is in Amazon's Tomy sale - there's up to 26% off on the Tomy range on the site at the moment. It is the cheapest I could find - on The Entertainer the same set is also reduced but to £63.99. Delivery is free with Amazon Prime.

This set pretty much gives you everything you want. It has rail, road, pavement, train, station, 2 Tomica cars and a Tomi Kid Figure as well as a Convenience store with Tomi Kid figure, pavement, trees, parking spaces, convenience store sign and lamposts.

Its giant track layout features lights and sounds and a never-before seen fully automated station. Watch as diecast cars travel up the ramp and then stop to let the train go through! This can either be done automatically or flick a switch to do it manually instead - so you control when the trains or cars pass through.

The last Matalan 20% off code we had ran out at the end of October. So here's a new one! I don't actually know how long it will be around for though, but I'm guessing a month. Then a new one will be along! It works in the sale section, where there's up to 75% off on items.

Click here to use your 20% Matalan promotional code

• Discount: 20%
• Promotional code: Earlyxmas
• Expires: unknown

To use this code, to to the checkout page and enter it in the promotional code box. It will be applied automatically to your order in the totals column.

I test the code out on this Thomas and Friends umbrella, marked down from £7 to £4.50. Not that I would really do such a small order online - this was just for testing purposes. The standard delivery charge of £2 applies to larger and more items too, so it is worth doing a bigger shop to make the most of the code.

What I wanted to know really was, would the code work on sale items? It did and took 90p off the total. Hurrah!

Matalan also has departments for women, men, and homeware, as well as seasonal events.

Thanks to m4xyp at HUKD!

KTwo are quickly becoming favourites here at PlayPennies, and with a 20% off offer, that shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Organise your life and your Christmas with 20% off

• Discount: 20%
• Applies to: Everything
• Promotional Code: PLAY20
• Expires: 16 December 2011

Looking at Christmas gifts, there are plenty of great options to choose from at KTwo :

For someone going off travelling?  How about the Travel Gift Set, a leather travel wallet for carrying passports, travel documents, driving licences etc and a handy book inside which has space for itineraries, note taking, space for photos and pull out world map etc.  Reduced from £33.98 to £27, it’s now just £21.60 for PlayPennies readers.

Hoping to your home more organised? The Home Organiser Set could help, with the  Insurance Document File to keep all your essential household documents together, the Personal Document File which will keep all your important certificates safe and our Receipt Storage Book to keep all your 'must keep' receipts in one place. This was £35.97, but is reduced to £24.98 and for you is just £19.98.

If you’re only after a little stocking filler, or something small for a colleague, you’ll find items like the Magnetic Notepads from £3.99 (or £3.19 with the promotional code) to To Do Notes with Pen Holder for £7.99 (£6.39).