This month I went from having nothing to include in my five under £5 post, to having far too many things, and all thanks to a cheeky midweek trip to Ikea. That haven of all things small-priced and wonderful, where you can casually walk round thinking you don’t need anything and walk away having spent £50 on plants and candles.
I went as I needed to return a broken part of my wardrobe, but couldn’t resist a little browse seeing as I’d driven for 45 minutes to get there. It was a few days after Halloween and like in most shops now, the decorations have casually changed to Christmas ones.
I don’t mind a bit of festive cheer in Ikea though, as it’s never OTT, just nice, cosy, twinkly, Scandinavian, stylish loveliness. Put it this way, they can make a cardboard mode of a horse look festive by hanging it from gold thread, and that’s good enough for me.
Back to my five things under a fiver then. My first is a packet of heart-shaped ginger biscuits from Ikea, which have holes in all ready to be strung up on ribbon and hung on your tree. Well they would be if they lasted until Christmas, but the packet I bought clearly won’t. When I told Flo I’d bought some heart-shaped gingerbread her little eyes lit up and I think she actually squealed. All that happiness for a pack of 99p biccies!
The cactus glass is also an Ikea find, and I think that was also 99p. I do have rather a lot of glasses and mugs in my house, but my children’s cups are looking a bit old now and I knew Sam and Flo would like these little additions. Flo’s has pink flamingos on and is just the right hand for her little hands to hold. She calls them ‘flemingos’ too, which is one of those words I don’t want to correct in case she stops getting it wrong, as when she does it’s super cute!
The satsumas are in there because I have been eating lots of them the past few weeks, I absolutely love them at this time of year and they are giving me a good dose of vitamin c in between all that leftover halloween chocolate.
They are on top of some napkins which again are from Ikea and I think were £1.50. I have a bit of a stash of napkins and always seem to be able to bring some out at parties to match the occasion. That sounds like the saddest skill ever, doesn’t it? I looked the other day and I have some Christmas, Halloween and birthday ones, but they’re so handy when you have lots of guests and you don’t have any plates left to serve birthday cake! There’s my addiction justified.
My final thing this month is this tiny cup of flowers, which were part of a large bunch I was bought as a gift a week or so ago. I had so many flowers I ended up splitting them up into a few different vases and the remainder I put in a few jam jars an this little coffee cup. I think they look really sweet in smaller bunches and it means I can have flowers all over the house too.
I have just realised the coffee cup belongs to my friend Ling, and we borrowed it probably about a year ago, to bring some blackberries home which the kids picked from behind her shop. Sorry Ling! But thank you, it’s fab for putting little flowers in.
That’s my Five under £5 for November. What have you been buying?
If you’d like to join in then just add your post to the link up below. If you do, please could you take the time to comment on a few other posts this month. You can also join in with a post on instagram, just tag me and #fiveunder5 in your post.
Why not have a look at all my past Five under 5s for inspiration?
x Julia

8 Comments
Hayley Smith
November 5, 2016 at 3:33 pmThose ikea biscuits are the BEST! I buy them every year as well as the mulled Apple drink, I can’t remember what it’s called but it’s really good. I need to go on a festive IKEA trip as I love there Christmas stuff…and napkins, I pick up a pack every time I go in too! Love that Flo says flemingos, I wouldn’t correct it either, so cute and the cactus glass is fab! Love your five this month Julia xx
Hayley Smith recently posted…Five Under £5 November
Vicki
November 5, 2016 at 4:03 pmHow cute is that Cactus glass & I love IKEA at Christmas they have the best festive snacks & treats., I can never resist. Loving your round up this month.
Tracey Williams
November 5, 2016 at 5:55 pmI love the gingerbread biscuits, and how cute that you can put string through them and hang on the tree. Though I suspect they wouldn’t last 5 minutes in our house either. The glass is so cute, and you really can’t have enough glasses can you, same for napkins too. Hurrah for a successful Ikea trip x
Tracey Williams recently posted…5 under £5 in November – Coats, bags and candle holders
Claire - Life, Love and Dirty Dishes
November 8, 2016 at 8:21 amLove the idea of hanging the hearts as decorations. We always buy the Ikea gingerbread house and decorate it. Ikea is such a dangerous shop for coming out with far more than you went in for! #fiveunder5
Mini Travellers
November 8, 2016 at 8:55 amI need those IKEA biscuits, how did I not know about them!
Notmyyearoff
November 8, 2016 at 4:40 pmOh I love differently designed napkins so much. I always have a stash and start to get twitchy when they dwindle . And a cheeky trip to IKEA is always so nice. I can’t seem to leave that store without more storage though!
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kara
November 17, 2016 at 4:39 pmHow do I always forget to join in your 5 under £5, I love these posts.
Those napkins = heart. I too have a drawer filled with Ikea napkins they are the best xx
Siena Says
November 17, 2016 at 9:49 pmHmmm I feel I may be paying a cheeky little visit to Ikea tomorrow, seeing as I live 5 mins from the Gemini one, it would be rude not to!
I love the sound of the biscuits but like you they probably wouldn’t last long. I love Satsumas and am pleased to see my eldest is beginning to develop a love of them too. I have loads of napkins from when I used to do decoupage so I can’t even go near the napkin section now. I don’t anticipate buying any new ones until around 2019.
Some great buys here and now I am going to totally blame you for my trip to Ikea! xx