Is Chrisco Worth It?

I have been receiving Chrisco for the past three years. And in the past three years I have never liked Chrisco.

So you may be wondering why I still get it?

My Mum is a sweetheart and orders a few hampers for my sister and I each year and pays for them. Yep, she is pretty great.

The three hampers that I was sent this year were Pasta Meals, Assorted Crackers and Nestle Creamy Treats.

Like anything, there are a tonne of pros and cons when it comes to Chrisco.

Here are some of the reasons I am a little anti Chrisco:

The mark up.

Chrisco admit to marking up the price of their items. They claim that “the price you pay includes the cost of collecting your payments (charged to [Chrisco] by [Chrisco’s] bank), special packing, delivery (unless where specified) and GST.” You know what, that is a whole lot of convenience. So if you are in it for convenience then think about it this way, you don’t have to waste time at the grocery store, you don’t have to drive anywhere (thus saving you money in petrol) and you have the hampers delivered right to your door. If you’re into that then by all means, that may be worth spending a little extra. But for me, that is a deal breaker. I live 5 minutes from Aldi, Coles,  a butcher and a fruit shop. I am living the frugal shoppers dream. And I do not consider spending extra money to have food delivered to my door a “bonus”.

 The poor selection in the hampers (IMO).

Obviously this is my own opinion, but many others I speak to about Chrisco say the same thing. I challenge you to go on Chrisco’s website and find a hamper in which you will use EVERY SINGLE ITEM. Their hampers are great and you can’t please everyone when you are generically packing groceries. Everyone is unique and like different foods/drinks/flavours. As far as I am concerned (and maybe I am about to start sounding like an uber tight arse) that is another cost factor. For every item that you give or throw away, you are throwing away your hard earned cash.

Here are some of the pros to buying Chrisco:

Hi to all the people who have trouble putting money away for Christmas.

Well, don’t we all? But for those who are really struggling and find themselves dipping into their rainy day fund too often, Chrisco is essentially forced savings. By putting your money in each week you have a bunch of groceries delivered to your home right before Christmas when you most need it. And for only a few dollars a week! 

If you love shopping online,

Chrisco also offers a bunch of things OTHER than just groceries. You can buy your children’s toys, home decor, you can even buy home theatre packages and furniture. Some of those unaffordable things just became affordable by paying them off weekly over a 47 week period. It may mean you avoid the Christmas rush at the shops, and can tick Christmas presents off your list at the beginning of the year!

Buy 5 get one free deals!

Chrisco often offer “topper” hampers. If you buy a certain amount of hampers (last year it was five of the Christmas Creations) you could add a topper hamper to your order completely free! Topper hampers are approx $80 in value and there is a great variety.

If you don’t have the space to stockpile all year long,

like I do with non-perishable items, then you don’t really have the opportunity to take advantage of savings at grocery stores.

One of our friends order gift cards from Chrisco each year to buy their daughter Christmas presents. Gift cards are a pretty great idea to guarantee you have a certain amount of money to spend on groceries, presents or whatever it is that you have a gift card for.

Some of the gift cards available include EB Games, JB Hi-Fi, Goldmark, Toys R Us, Target.

One thing to note about the gift cards, (yep, I am going to mention the deal breaker again) is that it appears the majority of them have a 10% mark up. That means, if you buy a $50 gift card, you are going to pay $55 for it. If you buy a $100 gift card, you are going to pay $110 for it, and so on.

If you like the gift card idea, why don’t you add a $50 gift card to your trolley each time you go grocery shopping? Just do your best to keep them somewhere safe for Christmas time. I purchased an Entertainment Book for $60 ($12 of which went to the boys Primary School) and can purchase gift cards at 5% OFF! That means I save $5 on every $100 I spend. It definitely doesn’t seem like a lot but it adds up, not to mention all the great activities and restaurants you can visit at a discounted price.

Just to reiterate how much money YOU can save by buying groceries instead of hampers:

Personally for our family, every cent counts, and for us Chrisco just doesn't make sense.

Do you receive Chrisco hampers? How do you make Christmas time less stressful?

Thanks for stopping by! Check out these Blog Hops and Linky Parties I'm getting involved with