north pole grotto..... at home!

betterlife · 31 August 2008 at 10:48AM

hi, with 4 young kids ( and me!) i love to go sooo over the top at christmas, we have recently moved to a bigger house, so this year i would love to go very ott and turn my lounge/dinner into the north pole! all ideas and advice would be most welcome please. thankyou in advance x

pinkladymel · 31 August 2008 at 11:04AM

What about strings of candy canes on fairy lights. Fake snow (I got mine from Au naturel for my wedding and it was safe to eat!) A blow up grotto

oh it is going to be so much fun!!

Best of luck to you x from one christmas nutter to another

Mel x

sarahf191979 · 31 August 2008 at 11:32AM

Sounds Like A Wonderful idea, oh how I wish I had more room at home.

furrypig · 31 August 2008 at 1:37PM

Wow that sounds amazing!

You could make papier mache animals/snowmen/santa cut out cardboard shapes of chritmas things and decorate, get the kids involved making christmas snow flakes could be decorated with glitter

I can't wait to hear everyone ideas! Of course there will have to be continuous christmas music!

scuzz · 31 August 2008 at 2:39PM

This is a lovely idea. When we were little our sunlounge used to be turned into what we called FairyLand at Christmas. Lights were criss-crossed over the ceiling, with chasers around the windows. Around all the wires, we wrapped tinsel, which made the room twinkle even more. We hung a few sparkly decorations from the ceiling and had a couple of Father Christmases by the doors. We also had pixies, a big snowman and lots of snowflakes.

I hope your children enjoy their special room as much as we did. I certainly have fond memories

betterlife · 31 August 2008 at 3:35PM

thanks everyone for the idea`s so far, keep them coming. ive watched a couple of the kids xmas dvd`s like elf to get some idea`s. im going to start making paper snowflakes tonight! i know its earlier but i want loads covering the ceiling and i have a 5wk old baby who is very time consuming at mo, so if i can do a few a night should have quiet a few by xmas. i will prob put my decs up around 21st of nov as my eldest will be 8 on the 22nd and as he doesnt want a party this year said i`d put them up then for him. i would also like to keep it a surprise from them as to how ott im doing it, so i can see there little faces when they see it for the 1st time. i will of course post pics when done x.

annaangeluk_2 · 31 August 2008 at 4:46PM

That sounds amazing and you definitely have to post lots of pics on here so we can all see it and be jealous!!

Have you looked at party supply companies (mostly on web) they do scene setters, which are rolls of decoration. If you combine different ones you can have a snowy nighttime scene etc. Don't know if any will be suitable for a grotto but it's worth a look!

Anna x

sethsgran · 31 August 2008 at 6:00PM

You used to be able to get the foil waste from the bottle tops at the dairy. This came in a long length and about 4" wide. We rinsed it and then hung it vertically round the room. Sometimes we got silver or red or blue. We then pointed spotlights on it and it looked great. Also when we had finished with it we then rolled up all the bits and returned it to the dairy where they recycled it. Not sure if they still do this, we used to get it from Associated Dairy in Leeds, no longer there. They gave us it for free just called up before hand.

Don't forget to have christmas music playing in the background

sethsgran · 31 August 2008 at 6:16PM

http://www.artekdisplay.co.uk/Shimmer%20Curtains.htm
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080807085807AAA90WL

Check out this forum it might help... http://www.mymerrychristmas.com/forum/index.php

http://www.allthingschristmas.com/forum/index.php

scotrae · 31 August 2008 at 6:49PM

Start early by asking on your local Freecycle if anyone has anything to help your project. I've seen Christmas trees and decorations being offered on my local one in recent weeks.

There was a lovely link on this board somewhere for the Christmas elves, to be hidden around the house for children to find each day. I'm sure that your children would love this idea too.

Enjoy!

soblivion · 31 August 2008 at 8:11PM

betterlife, I'm not sure how far you wanted to run with this but I instantly thought of these when I read your post. I've seen some 6ft high. The way it shows you is too red masking tape the whole thing, personal thoughts on this would be "that's a lot of tape". I would either use red plastikote paint, blank some off with tape to leave white and paint the rest or just use red masking tape on the white pipe(cheaper option I'm sure). http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/lo_seasonal_decorative/article/0,2041,DIY_14058_3352144,00.html

I saw one chap who sticks the ends in an open oven to warm them then bend them - sure this isn't a good way and probably toxic fumes and fire hazard too.

There's also the light balls, north pole globe lights, fishingline trees, large flowerpot soldier/nutcracker, glass block lights and lit wire mesh presents.

As I say not sure how far you want to go, quite happy to search for the info if you'd like it. Got it all here somewhere, no problem. Let me know.

north pole grotto..... at home!

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