In the hood

I usually get a bit glammed up on Christmas Day. You know, make an effort to acknowledge it’s a special day. I’d usually go for a dress and heels. This year called for casual though. The reason? I went to the beach at Porthcawl to support the Christmas Day swim. You’ve probably seen it in the papers as it gets lots of media coverage each year. No, I didn’t go for a dip, but I did watch hundreds of people brave the icy water in order to raise money for charity. Knowing I’d be cold I decided to wear jeans and layer up in a hoodie that I’d bought from the PDSA in Penarth. I got it ages ago, so can’t remember how much it cost, but I’m guessing it was around £7. A pair of old boots with a really low heel were needed to cope with the wet and sometimes slippy sand.

I haven’t been to the Porthcawl swim before and was surprised to see how many people had turned up, both to go for the dip and to laugh from dry land at others’ expense . We went because my husband’s friend is one of the event organisers and we wanted to show our support, especially as it was the 50th swim. Fortunately, the weather was really good; sunny, a bit windy, but nothing to complain about, and the temperature was kind.  It’s a great way to blow away the cobwebs on Christmas Day morning. Here’s a little pic, (there was no way to take a photo that wasn’t into the sun, for obvious reasons, hence the silhouettes).

Even though it’s Christmas I haven’t stopped thinking about charity shops. I recently tried to sell some special occasion shoes on e-bay, but didn’t have any success. They were from Oasis and were expensive, (by my standards anyway), and so I wanted to see if I could get a return on them. As I didn’t find any punters I’ll donate them to charity instead. In the lead up to the new year I’m  planning to have a little wardrobe detox, so there may well be a big bag heading to a charity shop soon.

Happy Christmas to you all.

Shopping Showcase

Earlier this month I wrote a guest blog post for Oxfam.  I hope you managed to have a read; it was about buying Christmas presents from charity shops.  I have a small family, and don’t tend to buy gifts for friends, and so have a tiny number of presents to buy.  Even so, I have managed to net seven gifts from charity shops this year.  I can’t post pictures of the goodies yet, otherwise surprises will be spoilt, but I’ll do that in the new year, once all the unwrapping has been done. I’ve bought the gifts from a few charity shops; Tenovus, British Red Cross, British Heart Foundation and Ty Hafan.

I hope you’re able to find some gorgeous gifts too. I spent a fair amount of last week in charity shops, both in Bath and South Wales, and spotted lots of lovely stuff.

Christmas guests

I am so pleased to have a guest post on the Oxfam blog.  My post is about the Christmas presents I bought last year from various charity shops, including Oxfam.  It really is easy to find presents in charity shops, whether they be brand new items or things that people have donated.  If you’d like to see the proof please read away:

Oxfam fashion blog

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been having a look around charity shops and I’ve spotted loads of things that would make great gifts. My tip would be to take a look at the jewellery, the bric-a-brac shelves, items in the window, and the display cabinet underneath the till (most charity shops have one of the latter).  For me, in the past, these have been the places where I’ve found the treasures.

Happy Christmas shopping!