Is it Christmas yet?

If you have young children their eyes will no doubt be drawn to the lavish high street shop window displays.  From the corner shop to the larger chain stores each will be competing for your business and even more so in the run up to Christmas.

Christmas

Christmas can account for over 50% of all children’s toys, games and gadgets sold during any financial year and therefore companies will utilise every avenue to ensure their product is in the forefront of both children and parents minds.

On top of all the high street decorations and window displays children will have been bombarded with television adverts for the latest must have toy, game console etc.

However it is not just children that are drawn in by such commercialisation, many parents feel under pressure to give their children everything they ask for.  Some parents will even go into debt to ensure they fulfil their children’s desires for the latest and greatest must have.

Don’t panic there is an easier and cost effective way to give your little ones a merry Christmas without breaking the bank, just follow these few simple ideas and you’ll survive Christmas and see the New Year in without denting your bank balance too much.

1. Buy a few inexpensive gifts for your child to open on Christmas day along with an envelope containing pictures of the gifts he or she will be able to choose during the sales immediately after Christmas.
2. Explain to your child / children that by purchasing the larger expensive items in the sale they will be able to have extra games due to the difference in price.
3. For older children and teenagers ask family and friends to club together and give a monetary gift, that can be used during the sales to purchase that expensive must have item that he or she has been pining for.
4. Do not impulse buy resist the urge to splurge.
5. Be creative, there are various websites with tutorials that will show you how to make various hand made gifts, encourage your children to join in and make it a family affair.
6. Remember Christmas is not about gifts or parties. Reflect on the deeper meaning of Christmas and enjoy giving what you can.

We Are Ready For Christmas Are You?

It’s 20th December and we are finally ready for Christmas, as you can see we’ve decorated the Christmas tree. I know you shouldn’t put your Christmas stockings out before Christmas Eve but we just could not resist putting them up at the side of the fireplace. We are hoping Santa can find something hand made to put into our stockings, as we love hand made gifts because you just know that a lot of love and attention has gone into making the gift. I don’t have anything against store bought gifts; it is just more personal to receive something that has been hand made especially for you.

Front door decorated for Christmas

Fireplace decorated for Christmas

Even our Miniature Pinscher Holly wanted to join in with the festive decorating, although she wasn’t too sure what to make of the dancing dog dressed as Santa.

If anyone has a premature baby to buy for this Christmas please visit our premature baby clothing store Prem2Pram where you’ll find premature baby clothes to fit babies from 1lb upwards and personalised baby gifts.

The Christmas Pound Game

Here’s a fun game for all the family to play during the festive season, this game can be adapted to suit Hen nights, Batchelor parties and Birthday parties.

Each player buys five £1 or less items and wraps them up in Christmas paper.

A fun game for all the family for the festive season

On the day the game is to be played each player sits in a circle and puts all their wrapped presents in the centre.

Then each player takes it in turn to rolls a dice to see whoever has the highest number goes first, if two or more players have the same highest number these players roll again.

Round One

The first player rolls a dice and whatever the number, that player picks that many present and puts them in front of them, working clock wise from the first player, each player takes it in turn to roll the dice and take presents until all the presents have gone

Once all the presents have gone from the centre the first round has ended and each players then unwraps all the present in front of them.

Round Two

Set an egg timer or something similar for however long you wish the second round to last.

The player who would have gone next in round one starts round two, the player rolls the dice and the number on the dice is of the number of present he or she can steal from any number of players. For example if the player rolls a three he or she can take one present from three different players or all three present from one player or combination there of.

The game ends when the timer goes off and whatever presents each player has in front of them are theirs to keep.

You will be amazed at just how excited people can get over the most silly of items.  I was once playing this game with family and friends where three grown men were battling it out over a set of plastic clamps, the engineer within them just couldn’t resist the pull of those clamps *lol

You can make this game a little more exciting by purchasing your items from the sales, thereby upping the ant.  Remember when buying your items to take into consideration the age and gender of all the players.

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