Christmas Hampers past their sell by date

 Harrods Christmas Hamper
The Decadence cost £20,000.00

I remember when Christmas Hampers were popular and there was always someone in your street running a club, collecting money weekly but along with that came a lot of trust. There a plenty of stories of collectors stealing the funds even within families.

I remember the collapse of Farepak Christmas savings club and the thousands of customers who had their Christmas ruined and while the world collapsed under their feet the bosses of the firm retreated to there, million pound homes. It must have been a Christmas come true for the loan sharks and companies like Provident picking up the pieces.

Ever since we had a Christmas hic-cup, I have become OCD about our Christmases to the point of obsession. One Christmas Eve we spent hours sitting in the local Social Security office trying to get an emergency loan because our then Family Credit was weeks late. We had pennies in our pockets but they turned around and told us they couldn’t help and gave us a list of loan sharks, very helpful don’t you think.

Mum would get hers from Tele bank coin TV rental and Granada before that and in December a nice large box would turn up but you would be disappointing once you opened it. One tin of beans between seven and if you are lucky two, I thought wartime shortages were over but every year mum would buy into the Christmas hamper ritual until my sisters, brother and I flew the nest. When I started married life, we continued the tradition for a while before I realised it was money after old soap.

We ran our own little club but it was still stressful and someone ripped us off, which lead to me not doing it again. There are many of ways to save toward the expense for Christmas, which is helpful for low-income families as Christmas is never cheap no matter how much money you have in your pocket. The hamper business expanded to cover more than food and drink to a wide range of gift cards and vouchers, including the Love2shop voucher that can be spent in over 20,000 of your favourite high street stores.