Hampers

Every year I'm so tempted to order a hamper to pay off through the year, but I either forget, can't decide, or hear a horror story about spoiled goods or non delivery.

Just wanting to know what other's experiences have been, good and bad, to help me make up my mind on whether to look at getting one for next year.

I so wish I did it this year! I have ordered hampers through chrisco 3 times and never had a problem. the only th9ing was waiting all day for the delivery cause they never gave a time, but if you want a basic christmas dinner then the hampers supply everything except fruit and veg. I am seriously considering doing it next year. You really don't miss $20 a week or fortnight to pay for it.

I looked at Chrisco, because I loved the idea of it all. However teo things held me back.
1. We don't eat a lot of the porcessed foods that are in the hampers, so they would have been wasted
and
2. because I'm a grocery nerd, I took the list of things to my local supermarket to compare prices....OMG I was horrified at how much they charge you. With specials nearing christmas you could get the stuff they offer for nearly half the price they charge.

So a christmas savings account was better for us personally.

Never done hampers, but wanted to say...

It DID appeal to me. No idea why, but it did. So I looked into it :o It's a total rip! Instead of paying them, I'd put the same amount you'd spent away and do a nice shop at the end of the year! You'll get more food, better quality and more variety, with $$ leftover once you've bought everything that would have been in the hamper :)

It's also the comvinience of it though, like having your groceries delivered. And these days you can do more then groceries.

Don't do it, if you actually sit down and work out the value of the items if you bought them in the shop, you pay close to twice what they are worth, it's a rip of imo.

I've always been aware they are higher prices when you work it out individually, but I can see how the convenience is a positive, plus I have very little will power to leave the $ alone if I put it away myself for a year! I've been looking through the catalogues this evening and a lot has changed in the last year in our household, and they actually aren't as appealing as they once were to me. Think I'll prob be leaving it be, but I still can see how it works best for many. And avoiding the shops is a big positive too ;)

Thanks for the input!

My sister does this every year. Her previous partner (who thankfully is no longer around) made sure that there were never any savings left after each payday so saving was impossible. She has 3 kids and is a SAHM so she is happy to stay home for delivery.

To my sister it guaranteed treats for Christmas as well as the basics and the booze.

She just got her deliveries for this year. Don't know why they are so early, but they always seem to be.

She currently has about 17 boxes worth of stuff which she is sorting through and giving some to family as she really doesn't need 17 bottles of cordial and 12 boxes of chips. However, it will last them for a while.

Personally, I wouldn't do it as it is so very expensive but if you are on limited income and can't save for whatever reason, it seems to work well.

I did this this year. O actually received the hampers 3 days ago. They did not tell me when they were delivering them. I went through hamper king. It was 11 a week for a massive meat selection, canned fruit and juice pack, and beer for the man.. 2 and a half slabs of mixed beer. I worked it out to be the price you'd pay at the sops when the stuff wasn't on special.
They sent me the catalogue this year and for the same stiff again, I would be paying double! Their prices have goneup like you wouldn't believe. So I'm not doing it again.

I look through the catalogue each year & am tempted but it's the prices that put me off too. this year I'm going to buy a $50 gift card each week & put them aside for next year. Dh used to get them before we were together & the last year they swapped all of his order with other stuff he didn't want. never did it again but that year he realised for 3 mths they had still been takimg his money out of his account then wouldn't refund it, he had to take another hamper to that value!