Making Christmas memories.......ideas needed

sammy_kaye18 · 17 August 2017 at 8:30AM

I am hoping to pick your brains about Christmas this year.

This summer we have made a jar with lollysticks in and each one has a different activity on it. Some are simple household things, others dare days out, some are as simple as going for a walk together and some are things like camping away for the nigh - its kept the kids happy and made it interesting when they have picked a stick each morning.

Im hoping to do the same thing for December to keep them in the Christmas spirit but they will both be in school most days and they both break up on the 22nd December. I know its so close to Christmas but I want to make it memorable for them both this year after last year was a bit of a let down.

So I am after some ideas please.

I have the following

Decorating the tree (obviously)

Pets Xmas Day (we will have 5 pets by Xmas and another 1 we
buy for) so the kids pick and wrap their presents

Xmas music day

Film days - cuddled under blankets with goodies

Baking

Winter Wonderland (this is something we have never done that they run in Swansea. It has Christmas lights, ice skating etc so hoping to go this year)

Children's Film Club (the local cinema reduces tickets down to £2 each for kids shows some days)

I'm hoping to have a cinema trip on Xmas Eve

Card writing

Santa's Deer feed (our local county park has a huge deer herd that Santa comes out to feed then they put on bouncy castles etc for the kids and mulled wine/food for the parents)

Decoration making

Seeing the local lights get turned on

We have Santa come around the village on a sleigh (pulled by a tractor) but the kids love it

At some point the Elf will arrive.

My son and daughter will stay with my mother in law for a night in December as me and hubby go away Christmas shopping to Hereford to have time together and she will have something planned for them too

Hoping to go on a walk and clip some wild Holly to start decorating the Xmas table and fireplace

Decorating their rooms - they each have a little tree that they decorate themselves.

I'm trying to find 24 Christmas books in charity shops or a multi story book so they have an Xmas story each night.

My son wants to make some bags for homeless people - gloves, socks, scarfs, food, etc and hand them out to people. We have a few local homeless people I think we might do this with and I am going to make a food donation box for him to hand in to the local food bank

Same as above but for the local animal charity

Make reindeer food

Make homemade gifts - truffles, cookies, etc

Its the first year neither of my children have a school play or performance so I may see if the local church has a Christmas carol evening.

Christmas List writing - suggested by Chocolatebum

christmas games - christmas bingo, roll a snowman (each number on a dice corresponds to a part of the snowman, first to complete is the winner) suggested by Chocolatebum

fruit christmas trees suggested by Chocolatebum

homemade calendars - suggested by Reb2016

salt dough decorations that then can then paint - suggested by Reb2016

Can anyone else suggest anything and I will add it to the post?

Abbafan1972 · 17 August 2017 at 8:43AM

Without wanting to be rude - I think someone has got far too much time (and money) on their hands!

murie · 17 August 2017 at 8:54AM

Abbafan1972 wrote: »

Without wanting to be rude - I think someone has got far too much time (and money) on their hands!

I know its difficult to gauge the context in which something is written but this does come across as quite rude.
Im sure you didn't mean it in this way but if the OP wants to do something nice for her kids then its her choice. Perhaps the family circumstances were difficult last year and she wants to overwrite bad memories? And its lovely to include others less fortunate in her plans.None of us know or are in a position to judge. I for one subscribe to the train of thought 'if you cant say anything nice then don't say anything at all'

chocolatebum · 17 August 2017 at 8:42PM

i have did something similar for the last few years. we have a different activity to do each day in december and my kids love doing it. gives us time for the family in a month that is generally very hectic.

we have did most of the things you have, we also spend a night where they write their christmas lists for santa, big ones join in as well for keeping the magic alive for the younger ones.

we play christmas games where i either print things off the internet or they draw them on their own. e.g christmas bingo, roll a snowman (each number on a dice corresponds to a part of the snowman, first to complete is the winner)

fruit christmas trees, my kids absolutely love this one.

have a look on pinterest for ideas there are loads on there.

chocolatebum · 17 August 2017 at 8:46PM

sammy_kaye18 wrote: »

I am hoping to pick your brains about Christmas this year.

I'm trying to find 24 Christmas books in charity shops or a multi story book so they have an Xmas story each night.

Can anyone else suggest anything?

I struggled with this one every year as i just couldn't find enough books that didn't cost a fortune so last year i bought the Christmasaurus book by tom fletcher and we read a chapter each night, my youngest loved it so i planned to do it again this year with a different book but she wants to read the christmasaurus again

sammy_kaye18 · 18 August 2017 at 8:31AM

Abbafan1972 wrote: »

Without wanting to be rude - I think someone has got far too much time (and money) on their hands!

Abbafan1972
Last year I was bed ridden for the whole of Christmas due to a nasty bout of Menieres Disease. I dont know if you know much about it but it is the worst case of Vertigo, Nausea, Vomitting and Anxiety and everything retriggers it down to the foods you eat, things you drink, things your see, the weather, stress - everything. It is by far the most debilitating thing I have ever had and I am stuck with it now - pretty much for life because it can reappear at any time. My husband was working 7 days a week to afford to pay the bills and my 12 year old son became not only my carer but had to look after his younger sister who was then 6. I barely made it out of bed on Christmas day let alone the rest of the month to spend time with my children and when I did I literally saw them long enough to open their presents before the vertigo hit and I had to lay down again.

So forgive me but Id like to give them the best Christmas I can this year to make up for the shocking one they had last year. I gather that you don't follow my posts but if you did you'd know how much I love and adore my children.

As far as the too much money or too much time nature of your comment. What exactly sounds extravagant about my list? Our local county park is free besides the £2 parking. Our christmas trip away we save for all year, we don't go on holidays, or drink, or smoke but we do like to have that one night away together and we meet up with my father and stepmum who we then exchange gifts for all the family for - I bring gifts home for my sister and nieces and he takes gifts for my grandparents to save us both on postage, not to mention he is recovering from prostate cancer so I spend quality time with him as well.

And I do have time - not much in the run up to Christmas though. I work in Argos and understandably Christmas is our busiest time so I work lots of overtime so the time I do get to spend with my children is even more important in the run up to Christmas especially with them both being in full time school so I will be lucky to have any time on a weekend with them, Ill mostly have evenings after work.

As for my son helping those less fortunate. I have volunteered in a small local food bank for the last 3 years. I see how they struggle and the number of visitors triples in the run up to Christmas and some of the stories are simply heart breaking. My son is too young to volunteer due to some of the circumstances others have and the fact hes in school so each week we have been buying one of the staples from their lists and putting it in a box. He will donate it with his sister at Christmas and they've asked to include some advent calendars as well for the children who probably wouldn't get them otherwise. all of 99p each so its hardly breaking the bank.

I am by no means well off, nor do I have too much time - in fact quite the opposite. I wish there was more hours in the day and I work as much overtime as possible to try and ease the financial stress on my husband so he can actually have a day off with us.

sammy_kaye18 · 18 August 2017 at 8:33AM

chocolatebum wrote: »

I struggled with this one every year as i just couldn't find enough books that didn't cost a fortune so last year i bought the Christmasaurus book by tom fletcher and we read a chapter each night, my youngest loved it so i planned to do it again this year with a different book but she wants to read the christmasaurus again

Thank you ChocolateBum (love the name!)

Ive never heard of the Christmasaurus :eek: thats the kind of thing i was hoping to find - something that either had a lot of stories in the one book, or one with multiple chapters so we can sit and read it together. I will have a look for it. Thank you for the recommendation! x

Reb2016 · 18 August 2017 at 8:56AM

a possible book idea, is the autobiography of Santa Claus by Jeff Guinn, it has 24 chapters so the idea is to read a chapter a day, I'm in my 40's and love it, but I am a big fan of Christmas :-) it tells the story of how St Nicolas became Santa Claus and even explains how the reindeer are able to fly, he also has two other books The Great Santa Search and How Mrs Claus saved Christmas, which are also very good.

One other idea, when I was growing up my Mum used to read the Christmas Carol to me in stages over December, which I loved, she had a lovely illustrated copy which came out year after year. Also Dickens wrote other four Christmas Stories, you can find them in a book called Christmas Books and it includes the Christmas Carol, you can often get them quite cheaply second hand on Amazon so it doesn't have to cost too much.

A possible craft idea, again something I did as a child, we use to draw a picture of make a picture collage style and my Mum would attach calendar tabs to the bottom (if you google calendar tabs you'll see what I mean) and these were gifted, always went down well with grandparents, or your children could pick a nice photo of themselves and use that.

And one final craft idea, you have mentioned making Christmas decs (something I love doing) you could make salt dough decorations that then can then paint again if you google salt dough Christmas decorations you'll get some great ideas, and you'll be able to google the recipe, and again really low cost.

Hope that helps, I think you'll have a lovely Christmas with all the ideas you have my best memories of Christmas growing up is stories and crafts.

sammy_kaye18 · 18 August 2017 at 9:11AM

Reb2016 wrote: »

a possible book idea, is the autobiography of Santa Claus by Jeff Guinn, it has 24 chapters so the idea is to read a chapter a day, I'm in my 40's and love it, but I am a big fan of Christmas :-) it tells the story of how St Nicolas became Santa Claus and even explains how the reindeer are able to fly, he also has two other books The Great Santa Search and How Mrs Claus saved Christmas, which are also very good.

One other idea, when I was growing up my Mum used to read the Christmas Carol to me in stages over December, which I loved, she had a lovely illustrated copy which came out year after year. Also Dickens wrote other four Christmas Stories, you can find them in a book called Christmas Books and it includes the Christmas Carol, you can often get them quite cheaply second hand on Amazon so it doesn't have to cost too much.

A possible craft idea, again something I did as a child, we use to draw a picture of make a picture collage style and my Mum would attach calendar tabs to the bottom (if you google calendar tabs you'll see what I mean) and these were gifted, always went down well with grandparents, or your children could pick a nice photo of themselves and use that.

And one final craft idea, you have mentioned making Christmas decs (something I love doing) you could make salt dough decorations that then can then paint again if you google salt dough Christmas decorations you'll get some great ideas, and you'll be able to google the recipe, and again really low cost.

Hope that helps, I think you'll have a lovely Christmas with all the ideas you have my best memories of Christmas growing up is stories and crafts.

Thank you Reb2016. Those are some fab ideas and Ill add them to the top list

We use to make Christmas calendars as well as a child with my nan. We would use the wrappers from the sweetie box and make stain glass window effect pictures - I think that sounds like a really good idea and a lovely gift for grandparents and great grandparents

I completely forgot about salt dough too - the kids made my mother in law discs last year with their hand prints on and we made a gap so a tea light could fit into it. She has them either side of her TV still.

Ive never heard of the autobiography of Santa Claus - would you recommend it for a 7 year old - I'm definitely liking the sound of it for my 13 year old though. Although my son will regularly come and lay on the bottom of my daughters bed if I am reading her a story and listen as well.

Pollycat · 18 August 2017 at 9:16AM

Well, sammy_kaye - you've made me feel exhausted and Christmas is still 4 months away.

Have you asked for other suggestions on the other Christmas thread that you subscribe to?

Good luck on picking up the new puppy.
Hope she won't be anything like my old cat who, when he was a kitten, trashed the Christmas tree even before we'd managed to finish decorating it.

sammy_kaye18 · 18 August 2017 at 9:25AM

Pollycat wrote: »

Well, sammy_kaye - you've made me feel exhausted and Christmas is still 4 months away.

Have you asked for other suggestions on the other Christmas thread that you subscribe to?

Good luck on picking up the new puppy.
Hope she won't be anything like my old cat who, when he was a kitten, trashed the Christmas tree even before we'd managed to finish decorating it.

Ahhhh I am one step ahead of the cunning little minx Polly :-)

We have a spare vivarium (random thing to have I know) which is currently sat at the end of our sofa so it looks like a side table - the tree will be going on top of that this year if it will fit and away from little puppies - especially the lights - I lost count last year how many times I came downstairs to find the tree on the floor with our old dog Bruno. He has now taken to sleeping in the kitchen in his comfy bed and we have a doggy gate on the door to the living room for the evenings so hopefully this year my tree will remain intact! .

Making Christmas memories.......ideas needed

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