Gifts that don’t cost the Earth… but mean the world!

Our two friends, Pudding and Bauble, made another appearance this year, inviting our customers to visit our shops and discover affordable and sustainable gifts. They appeared in our shop windows, on social media and even in some drawing competitions that our shops organised, telling everyone that gifts do not measure in cost, they measure in joy!

This year, we wanted to take the Christmas campaign a step further and show examples of the affordable gifts that can be found in our shops, so we invited three charity shop / sustainable influencers to visit our stores, and we gave them a mission: find gifts for your loved ones on a budget and let us know the results. All three of them were very excited to give it a try and they cheerfully scanned every aisle and corner of their designated shops to find the best bargains. They had a budget of £35 for the entirety of their purchases and they did phenomenal, choosing a multitude of gifts for their loved ones, showing once again that, The Salvation Army shops are a great place to find unique and affordable Christmas gifts.

Meet our guests

Estelle Bilson (70shousemanchester) is an author, creator, broadcaster and designer who specialises in the 70s and has a great Instagram channel where she promotes DIY and upcycling with a reach of 119,000 followers.

Estelle visited our Widnes shop. She wanted to give 'a big thanks Pauline, Susan and the team at Widnes Salvation Army shop who made me feel so incredibly welcome.’ She also mentioned that she buys almost all her interior home style second-hand. For her, this means that she’s not only getting a bargain, but also saving the planet.

With the £35 budget, Estelle managed to find four gifts for her loved ones, and she also bought a few treats for herself. She hopes that her ‘gorgeous finds’ show her followers that second-hand doesn’t have to mean second-rate.

Maisie Violet Rees (maisieviolet_rees) is an Instagram influencer with over 45,000 followers who focuses on budget DIY and upcycling hacks.  She loves gifting her friends and family unique presents and saving money whilst doing it. For her gifts, Maisie chose a few items from our bric-a-brac section that she will be upcycling, ready to reveal the transformation on Christmas Day!

Maisie said: ‘I LOVE a bargain and was thrilled to find an amazing selection of high-quality Christmas decorations and ornaments as well as lots of unopened gifts perfect for stocking fillers, for a fraction of the price as buying new. Buying secondhand at Christmas is not only a wonderful way to be sustainable but you’re also helping those in need.’

Through her purchases, Maisie wanted her followers to know that a thoughtful gift doesn’t have to be a new gift, and she thoroughly enjoyed visiting our Birmingham donation centre.

Cicely Rae (cicely.rae) is a crochet artist who loves all things second-hand and sustainable. With 57,000 Instagram followers, she loves to find second-hand bargains and share her purchases with her audience. Cicely said: ‘One of my favourite things about charity shopping is the gems you can find…so when it comes to finding a gift for your loved one, it’s a no brainer to head to the charity shops.’

She visited our Barnsley donation centre and found the Christmas selection ‘fabulous.’ Cicely told her followers that our shop was filled with new-with-tags & lightly used Christmas items, from gifts to decorations, Christmas trees to  party outfits. It’s your one stop shop for Christmas.

We are delighted to have collaborated with Estelle, Maisie and Cicely and we hope their loved ones will enjoy their gifts.

Have a look at their videos and follow their Christmas shopping spree in our charity shops, have a look at our Instagram page here