We got set a challenge by Idealo, a UK price comparison website who compiled some research in the run up to Christmas regarding the average spend of parents on their children at the festive period. They found that the average children's Christmas haul is up by 63% (which includes inflation) from £75 in Christmas 1995 to £168 in Christmas 2010.
Our challenge was that we were set was that we were given £75 by Idealo and we were to spend them on the perfect Christmas stocking for Oli. Of course we checked out Idealo and got hooked, I've never used a price novelty website before so it was a bit of a novelty to me. I'm a huge fan of saving money (who isn't) and to see the price differences compared on a few different websites on one page was a right treat. I'll talk you through what we got and how we managed to save money on our chosen Christmas stocking items.
World Apart Thomas Wendy House - When we picked and viewed this item the other website listed was showing it at a couple of pounds more then what it is listed at now. So at the time we saved ourselves money despite it now showing the same price as the other shop. The handy option is also being shown that we were entitled to free delivery. Always a bonus. £14.00, saving £2.00.
Disney Pixar Cars 2 Siddeley The Spy Jet - Was really chuff with the savings difference that we were able to make on Siddeley, the toddler is a big fan of Cars and I know it's going to be a popular choice amongst little boys this Christmas. The cheapest place for this spy jet was John Lewis and we even had the option of saving on the delivery by choosing the free click and collect service. £14.00, saving £6.00.
Scooby Doo Fort Playset - We did something different with the playset, we had a look at a few other toy websites and then came back to Idealo and used the search option to see if we could find the playset and save money. And we did! The supermarket website was quoting the fort playset at £10 more then the site we found using Idealo. £14.00, saving £10.00.
Thomas And Friends Jigsaw Puzzle - Something the toddler has recently got into is jigsaws so we thought we would include some of these in the stocking. Seeing as he's a Thomas The Tank Engine fan we thought it apporiate to get him some Thomas jigsaws which we found via searching 'Thomas and Friends jigsaws'. Big price difference between the cheapest option and the more expensive one thanks to the delivery price which we saw on the website. Amazon was only charging a £1.00 delivery where as Argos wanted £8.95 for delivery. You can guess who we clearly went with. 70p saving on the actual jigsaw price but we really did take delivery charges into account with this item. £4.50, saving 70p.
Worlds Apart Thomas The Tank Engine: Storytime Go Glow - Didn't really get a price comparison for this item but we found rather cool Thomas item via just looking through the list of toys on the Idealo website. We looked through Thomas items and used the handy menus to the right of the site to pick out Oli's age to see what toys were recommended for him. We were swayed by the free delivery too which makes it just like going to the shops for some Christmas shopping just without the stress of it. £15.79.
The Pink Panther Show: Season 1 Volume 1 - For some reason the toddler adores my childhood favourite, Pink Panther. Ever since he caught glimpse of it on TV he's been hooked. We know he's going to love opening this up from his stocking on the big day. I simply just typed in 'Pink Panther' into the search option and found this gem. Now he can watch Pink Panther whenever he wants too. £5.49.
Total using price comparison website to get the best savings = £67.78 , saving £18.70. As you can see that saving enabled us to get another toy using our money allowance. Obviously we allowed money for delivery charges. Idealo is a handy website especially at this time of the year to have saved in your bookmarks. I plan on using it for any future purchases to see what money savings I can make.
What do you think to the research Idealo did? Can you really believe that in 15 years we're spending £75 more on our children? I wonder it's because the price of toys have gone up or if we're just treating our children to more. Either way I'm quite pleased about what we got with our £75, that's quite a lot of toys and fun for one 2 year old. Thank you Idealo for setting us this challenge and for the Christmas presents.