What christmas advice would you give?

QueenB.

So many great pieces of advice, its good to see that the main focus is on having a wonderful family time.

I like the idea of being careful what traditions you begin as you need to carry them on for years. On the other side traditions can be a way of having a wonderful ( and cheapish) time. We celebrate yule as well as christmas so my kids get a small pressie then but as they know its from us it is always something relatively cheap, they also get to open one under the tree pressie on christmas eve and i have one stashed away for boxing day. They get as excited about these gifts as they do about the day itself. I also try and make sure these gifts are really interactive ones, eg board games, so that we can all get involved together.

A way to extend the pressie time is to open pressies in turn. That way you avoid the mad 10 minute opening rush and the deflated feeling that follows, plus i hate thinking of all the hours spent wrapping being destroyed in minutes. By opening pressies in turn you can each enjoy everyones moment and it reinforces the idea of it being a family time rather than a commerical time. Opening pressies this way took us to lunchtime one year:D it is especially great for those leaner years when there are less pressies.

roosterbean

I'm at work all day this year on Christmas Eve, so to help my OH entertain the boys, I am preparing xmas eve hampers for them to open while I'm at work. They will contain new jimjams, slippers, dvd, activity books, jigsaw puzzle, popcorn etc. Could end up being a tradition I do every year if it keeps them quiet!

QueenB.

Christmas eve hampers are a great idea and a piece of advice i have passed on to friends and family. I am making one up for all of us already.

TudorRose

When my children were young we always said that Santa only delivered the presents, he didn't buy or make them.
In that way expectations can be contained & it doesn'y detgract from the fun.

With my two grandsons who are very close in age with similar tastes I usually use a separate wrapping paper for each child. I always buy them new pyjamas as part of their present from me so it helps me know I am giving the correct sized pair to the right child.

building_with_lego

Father Christmas delivers the presents, gives the stocking gifts, and also takes away presents from naughty children and replaces them with a potato . Since I read that on here I've been putting one or more potatoes into stockings, then on Christmas morning making a remark about the present that got taken away.
I am such a horrible mother :rotfl:

As regards creating family traditions- why not create a food tradition? I love making Nigella's Christmas tree biscuits (from Domestic Goddess) and drinking Buck's Fizz with limoncello :beer:

Moany_Tony

Don't go anywhere without a list!!!!!

You'll end up frazzled, hot and !!!!ed off with the rest of the human population and just buy whatevers in front of you!

mrs_marty

Dont feel you have to wrap everything the last couple of years I have set the kids presents up in a kind of display and they loved it as they just couldnt take it all in which was lovely to see.

Christmas eve - kids love sprinkling magic food out for other reindeers as only rudolph comes in the house lol so I mix together glitter with porridge oats and put in foods bags. I tell the kids the mum has contact in the fairy world that drops it off (eldest DD 8 I'm not sure will still buy into this lol) We do it just before the kids go to bed after laying out a plate for Santa and rudolph.

Christmas Dinner - We start ours earlier as we have our starter late lunchtime, then a bit later our dinner which is about 3 ish pudding an hour or so later then this allows the kids to eat within there normal eating times

Presents - children do not know if something is new or not so ebay and car boots are great places for bargains!

tracey12_2

I have 2 daughters ages 3 and 6. In our house they always get a christmas eve present usually in the afternoon, some kind of game that the family can play together and then they get new PJ's so they look presentable in photos on christmas morning.

On christmas eve night they hang up their stockings on their bedroom doors. The stocking fillers are always from father christmas and all the other presents are from mummy. They know that mummy buys the presents and wraps them and they think that I send them to father christmas and he then decides if they deserve them if they have been good. If they have been naughty then their gifts will go to other children that have been good

Gleek

Think I've already mentioned this, but if you don't have a car to keep popping back to and sticking stuff in the boot - target the busiest or worst laid out shops first... for us that's poundworld, primark, claires accessories.

It does mean a bit of to-ing and fro-ing but I do think if I ever have to deal with a poundworld when my hands are full of other shops bags, the shop is full and the queue is stretching right down one aisle, along the back of the store and starting to creep down the first aisle again... I may scream :rotfl: You couldn't even properly look around it as the queue was taking up whole aisles and the other aisles were packed full of people which is why if I have to go in it I try and be outside it for 9am otherwise you've no chance. It really is an incredibly badly laid out store.

Sceptre

teacherandmum wrote: »

as regards wrapping, I always wrap Father Christmas Gifts in wrap[ping paper with Father Christmas on and then throw out any that's not used. incase dd/ds wonders how you and FC have the same wrapping paper

We take the toys etc out of the boxes, get rid of those fiddly ties and the extra packaging, pop in batteries and then pop the toy back in the box before wrapping. Means that they can rip out the toy and get playing straightaway rather than waiting for it to be taken out the packaging, looking for a screwdriver, finding batteries etc!!!!

defrost your turkey in plenty of time/make sure it'll fit in the oven!!

use disposible foil trays for roasties and turkey. Cheap and saves on washing up

I completely agree with this. There's nothing worse than a small child desperate to get their hands on something that takes six hours to sort out/set up!