Don’t Pay A Packet For The Packet.
Many of us have so many people to buy for at Christmas that it’ s hard to think of something they will like within our budget. More and more people are turning to gift sets as a quick option to help us find that perfect little present for people. Once upon a time it was only body washes and the odd deodorant set, but now you can buy them for anything from Lynx to Marmite, HP sauce to cat treats. But are we getting our money’s worth for them.
Recently the items in a gift set were compared to those available on the high street to see how much we were paying for the festive packaging and whether it was costing us more for the box than the items were worth.
The first place we looked was Boots, one of the leaders in gift set selling, their shelves are groaning under every different type you could imagine, from big named brands to their own label items. The one I chose to look at was the Champneys little something special gift sets. They retail at the moment for £20 and for that you get
Nature’s Treat Nourishing Bath Milk 250ml
Nature’s Treat Nourishing Body Scrub 200ml
Nature’s Treat Nourishing Body Butter 200ml
But if you went into the store to buy the bath milk or the body scrub you would find that the jars are 100g bigger than those in the gift set, And it gets worse, as the items bought by themselves are in the 3 for 2 it means that it would be cheaper to buy them individually rather than as a set! So not only would you be saving money, you would be getting over 200g more, that’s the equivalent to an extra jar.
But it’s not just the ladies that are being ripped off, L’Oréal men’s gift sets even on sale at the moment in Asda for £10 and shockingly originally £16 contain a face wash and a moisturiser, I was able to get both items for under £8 in Superdrug meaning I would have been paying a whopping £8 at one point for the nice box and £2 for it in the sale.
That’s not to mention the sets where you seem to be paying for random extras that don’t seem to fit in, Men’s care dove sets at the moment are roughly £7 although a few can be found cheaper in the sales, they have deodorant, body and face wash and…….a rugby ball? I have no idea why or who would go “oh I needed miniature rugby ball, thank you”. Again the items bought individually cost £4.57 on sale at half price in Superdrug, so I’m paying up to £2.43 for a rugby ball!
I’m not having a go at all gift sets, I have bought a few myself this year but I have been careful to make sure I get them at a good price and that I’m not paying a packet for the packet.
By The Coupon Detective.
