❄❄ Let It Snow ❄❄ :: Christmas 2012 Chatter Thread

moneysavingmumofone

BBTHREE wrote: »

Hi All

This weekend rather than buying xmas bits and bobs, hubby and I have been discussing things we would like to do during December.

This is based on the fact by 1st December I hope to have all presents bought, wrapped and ready to deliver (though I am making such good progress that I hope to be done by 1st Oct) and as hubby and I both work full time it would be good to have the weekends in December freed up for family things.

We have categorised it into, things we always do, things we want to do this year that we have done previously and new things to possibly try.

1) Things we always do...

Put tree up as a family with xmas music on on the 1st weekend of Dec.

Buy this years Disney bauble (usually late Oct/early Nov)

Go to the school xmas fair and spend far too much money on the homemade cake stall

Go to Mcr Xmas Market (Gluvein/bratwurst etc) then come home and all watch 'ELF'

Give the kids a hamper each on xmas eve, and stay in watching xmas movies, till teatime then go out for tea at Pizza Hut (We have suggested other places and the kids say No!)

2) Things we have done in the past that we need to do again this year.

Get DS a lego advent calendar

Make own mince pies / chocolate log etc

Go to a pantomime

Go to an outdoor xmas themed event (Gullivers World? Tatton Park?)

Have a boxing day party for all the family

3) New things to try

Book the snow room at the local ski place (to do snow angels etc)

Then I draw a complete blank and can't think of anything else, Any ideas???? We probably do, or have done previously, more than this but this is all I could think to write down.

Apologies that this is such a long rambling list. You have probably noticed I haven't put 'see santa' on the list. DD is 13 and DS in 9 so neither of them ask to see him, but he does always seem to pop up in some of the places we go anyway

Im trying to be all sorted by 1st December too so we can spend December doing family christmassy things. Do you have a steam railway near you? Theres a lido near my nans with a small steam railway, they do have Father Christmas but the train ride itself is lovely and they have a cafe at the end for mince pies and hot chocolate. We also go for christmas light spotting drives. The things we are hopefully going to do are:
Santa train
Christmas fete at school
Christmas lights drive
Ice skating/merry go round in Windsor
Go and see Santa, probably at the farm
Go to Dr Who experience in Cardiff (been twice before in London but they have a grotto at Christmas that we've never been too. Staying overnight in a Travelodge)
See Santa at Westfields (booked it last year but missed our slot because of traffic. )
Reindeer parade
Maybe London to see the lights, will see nearer the time as not sure if DS can handle the crowds
Cinema
Then the usual things like baking, putting up the tree etc. I always leave things until the last minute, Ive usually bought loads but as Ive got loads to get theres still loads left lol! Everythings all rushed and things get forgotten about/no time to do them so this year I want it to be at a leisurely pace! We had to rush the Santa train last year as OH had work at 3.30pm, its 45 mins away so it was a big rush to get back. Hopefully he can swap shifts or something this year as the Santa train is only on Sundays and he always has work then. Anyway Im rambling, gone into Christmas overdrive lately.

moneysavingmumofone

pinklady1985 wrote: »

Spent most of this weekend hunting the cheapest prices on certain toys I want for our youngest and happy to say once a couple have been collected from Argos and the rest delivered then apart from her stocking she's finished! (now just our other four children to go!)
Decided I want to make them a sock monkey each for their stockings so better start now as I'm the most unskilled crafty person and will probably be a disaster but may as well give it a go.
I love reading everyone's posts on what they've bought, ideas etc makes me feel normal after continually being told I'm mad to be even thinking of Xmas now!

Well done. :T

kaymumof3 wrote: »

i managed to get another xmas prezzie sorted outta asda (reduced gardening stuff) to make a lil hamper for my grampy i got...

- ladybird welly planter £1
- ladybird pot planter £1.25
-ladybird watering can £1.50
- 3 grow ur own pots (2mato,cucumber and parsley) 30p each
- 12 cardboard plant pots 50p
:T:T:T:T:T

Sounds fab. :T

DS has asked for a ball full of magic that gives you whatever you ask for from Father Christmas, I hope he thinks of something more obtainable by Christmas! :eek::D I have told him Father Christmas cant give you magic as everyone would want some but then he says he wants a real tardis and when I saw the Doctor has the only one left he says Father Christmas can make one...:rotfl:

SugarSpun

Get him a tiny Tardis that opens and leave a letter from Santa inside telling him he is too young for a real Tardis but he might be able to help the Doctor when he's older if he [works hard in school/does some task he doesn't always get done/something]

pinklady1985

Ok now I'm stuck! What would you put in a stocking for a 1 year old? We don't buy things like party bag toys, crayons etc as they always get left to one side so far I thought socks, small teddy, choc coins or a bag of buttons and that's it, it's so much easier buying for our older children xx

LV_Sue

pinklady1985 wrote: »

Ok now I'm stuck! What would you put in a stocking for a 1 year old? We don't buy things like party bag toys, crayons etc as they always get left to one side so far I thought socks, small teddy, choc coins or a bag of buttons and that's it, it's so much easier buying for our older children xx

Socks/tights, knickers/pants, new toothbrush, face flannel, small picture book, small doll/car. Trying to remember what my youngest DGS had in his stocking when he was 1.:)

princesskitty29

BBTHREE wrote: »

Hi All


Then I draw a complete blank and can't think of anything else, Any ideas???? We probably do, or have done previously, more than this but this is all I could think to write down.

We don't have any children yet but my partner and I always go ice skating at Christmas. It's really fun, a lot of children go and there's stalls with hot chocolate, sweets etc.

Closer to the time you could look online or in the local newspaper for Christmas events, I was surprised last year at how many things go on that I didn't know about! There's an aboretum near my parents and every year they have a 'light walk' which is in the evening and all the trees are lit up, it's lovely! Then at the end there's hot choc, roast chestnuts and things. I know it's good to plan ahead but a lot of places don't announce their Christmas events until closer to the time, and there's some fun things to do out there!

my3girls

For those doing tea hampers i noticed a few bits in the argos clearance section.

set of 4 teacups & saucers for 3.99
set of 2 trays (floral design) 2.99
other teacups etc for around that price.

They also had a set of 12 ribbed glasses for 2.99 which would be great for pots of gold, i got something similar from m&s last year

J
x

msgigglewick

never heard of pots of gold before but given me a wonderful idea for those people i have no clue what to get lol Shall make them a very xmasy treat hamper, with a pot of gold included.

icemice

Tiara wrote: »

Wow it is so lovely to find this thread full of like-minded ppl who love Christmas :j:jI usually get pressies throughout the year but with getting married next month our tiny house is full of wedding stuff, so won't be able to make a proper start on the Christmas shopping for a little while... doesn't mean I can't indulge in watching a few Christmassy films now though!

Many congratulations Tiara! I hope that you have a fabulous day! :T There will still be time to get Christmas organised afterwards. Keep checking back as I'm sure that between us all, we can find a few useful things to help you out later!

Snugglebunny8

wow am so impressed with all the bargains this weekend!! and OMG at getting both kids pressies at Argos so heavily reduced! thats amazing

for the 1 year old, I would suggest glove puppet (Disney do cute ones, I got Piglet for my nephew when he was 1) building blocks, perhaps you could get a few baby toys in the Sainsburys half price sale in October? usually have disney soft toys and then things like play phones, soft cloth books - you can get classic board books like The Hungry Caterpillar etc and Peepo, think they are pretty reasonable on Amazon

The book my two loved most at that age was 'I don't want to go to bed' one of the Little Tiger books, but the best were the board books, you can sometimes get the in The Works really cheap too