* Walking in a Winter Wonderland * - It's the 2015 Christmas Chatter Thread

fluffysox

freespirit66 wrote: »

Evening everyone, i hope everyone has had a good weekend

FLUFFYSOX thanks for the tip, although i shouldnt be looking i have got all the toys for birthday and christmas bought and wrapped

wow well done you! I bought a take-n- play thomas playset that would normally be £30 as part of a transaction with my friend, she was buying two batman imaginext playsets, £30&£35, so I gave her £20. Also bought three little engines for it on the 3 for 2. And ordered some from Amazon too. So DS2's 2nd birthday pressie is sorted.

linz4383 wrote: »

Not been on much this year! Been very busy with baby since january and got married this month. However xmas pressies are nearly all bought :-) just a few more to go :-) cant wqit for december to come!!!

congratulations on both events- that is a busy year :rotfl:

DH is off this week, so we were planning some nice days out. Yesterday however my 20 month old climbed out of his cot and broke his arm. We took a picnic to children's A&E which thankfully has lots of toys so kids were happy. He has a plaster cast and a sling. We were amazed it was broken as he didn't even make a sound when the doctor examined him. So brave.

Today we were all tired so stayed home. Tomorrow I'm hoping for no disasters and preferably improved weather. Its been horrid for days. Going over to Liverpool's World Museum to see the Dinosaurs exhibit, if its dry we'll take the Mersey Ferry over. They do a day saveaway ticket at the train station, its about £4 per adult and includes bus, trains or ferry in any combination. Travel is free for kids under 5 and the museum is free too So ten minute train journey to ferry or approx 20 minutes to liverpool centre. And we will have a meal out over there. Friends have recommended a place which is pirate themed. Children's meals come in a treasure chest box lol.

fluffysox

Kaya I think a December hamper is a great idea.
We watch our Christmas DVDs long before Christmas eve and things like Christmas pjs are much better given before then.
I always buy a couple of new decs, some fleecey pjs for the kids, christmas jumpers etc in their new size so might do this as an "Advent box" this year. You've inspired me!
Other ideas, warm hat/ scarf/ gloves. We have a selection of christmas/ winter themed books put away atm. charity shops are brill for these. Christmassy hot drinks. Mulled wine/ mince pies? Home Bargains does paper chain kits. Packs of christmas cards for children to write for their friends. Gel pens to write them with. Stickers.
Advent calendars.
Kit to write your letter to Father Christmas. (Perhaps an argos catalogue with scissors and glue for LOs)
I've been tempted by playmobil christmas toys.
Tickets e.g. To the Panto

kaya1991

fluffysox wrote: »

Kaya I think a December hamper is a great idea.
We watch our Christmas DVDs long before Christmas eve and things like Christmas pjs are much better given before then.
I always buy a couple of new decs, some fleecey pjs for the kids, christmas jumpers etc in their new size so might do this as an "Advent box" this year. You've inspired me!
Other ideas, warm hat/ scarf/ gloves. We have a selection of christmas/ winter themed books put away atm. charity shops are brill for these. Christmassy hot drinks. Mulled wine/ mince pies? Home Bargains does paper chain kits. Packs of christmas cards for children to write for their friends. Gel pens to write them with. Stickers.
Advent calendars.
Kit to write your letter to Father Christmas. (Perhaps an argos catalogue with scissors and glue for LOs)
I've been tempted by playmobil christmas toys.
Tickets e.g. To the Panto

Aww I love this, especially the boxes of cards (and the Argos catalogue - is there anything more exciting than poring over the new Argos catalogue as a child? I had a thing for lava lamps and sand art sets for some bizarre reason)! I always used to insist on writing my Christmas cards to my class in September when I was at school... I have no idea why!

All your ideas are great, and definitely things you could make the most of throughout December. I've spotted some tickets to a play in January which I might include - it's nice to have something to look forward to in such a bleak month!

princesskitty29

mrs-moneypenny it's always nice when you realise you've got more than you thought you had!

linz4383 glad you had a lovely day and great that the little one behaved - that's always a relief!

PeonySugar eek for Christmas items in the shop! :j It'll be happening more and more as we hit August. :beer:

kaya thanks for sharing your December hamper, it looks fab! Some really good ideas and has given me food for thought.

mrsinvisible have an AMAZING time in China! Take care and relax.

fluffysox sorry to hear about your LO breaking his arm, I hope it heals quickly for him. We had to lower Wiggle's cot the other day as he has now learnt to stand up in it, but as he gets older and bigger i'm going to worry about him climbing out of it! Great ideas for a December hamper.

I'm having a little treat this morning of a cup of tea in bed whilst catching up with you guys as DH has taken Wiggle downstairs for his breakfast. I've got an optician's appointment this morning then i'm meeting some other mummies in the park for a little picnic lunch. I'm going to have a quick look at my Christmas spread sheet now as I didn't have chance the other day!

Gettingtherequickly

princesskitty29 wrote: »

I've got an optician's appointment this morning

Hope it is not as expensive as mine was last night, £422 :eek:

Rummer

Just wanted to let you know about the popcorn holders in Poundworld I am going to get some to make up movie hampers. They also sell a large one.

mcculloch29

I loved the German Christmas Markets when I lived there.
Dusseldorf and Koeln (Cologne) are easier to reach from the UK, being further West.
Thanks to retailers like Aldi, lots of what you see on sale will be familiar, but there are still some exciting novelties that you don't get in the UK.
If you like Bratwurst, try a spicy Currywurst from a Schnellimbiss, a street food stall and wash it down with some hot Gluehwein.
Look for genuine wooden ornaments, pricey but souvenirs to last a lifetime and become heirlooms.
The German Tourist Board should employ me...

MoneyMission2015

kaya1991 wrote: »

Thank you! Of course!

I decided to do it on 1st December because lots of it was things that could be used/ eaten in the run-up to Christmas, and I like to drag the festivities out for as long as possible (hence being on here in July ).

I was very MSE about it - I picked up little bits and pieces in sales through the year so I didn't have to get anything full price in December.

It contained things like some of the Christmassy Yankee Candle votives (bought on eBay with 25% off), several of the little hot choc sachets from a supermarket, a big fluffy throw (bought in a summer sale at a fraction of its original price), a couple of the festive hand sanitisers from Bath & Body Works to protect against winter coughs and colds (you can't get them over here, so I got mine off eBay as well - a few festive ones here), a festive scratchcard, one of the reindeer-named bottles of Coke, some little chocolatey bits, a Christmas colouring book, some decorations (probably also eBay), a DVD (Amazon) and a Winter room spray from The White Company (bought in summer, so also much cheaper than normal, but I did get a funny look when I took that one to the counter in June!)

In fact, I have a picture if anyone's interested:

I love this Kaya! Last year my stepmum did an advent calendar for me, which were those little advent boxes and every day had a little present in. There were candles, hand creams etc & it was so lovely. So I did think back then that I would have to do something a bit special for her this year and now you have inspired me. I think she would love something like this & I already have some little bits that I can put in it, so if I try and pick up a few cheap bits in the next few months I should have a nice little hamper ready for her by 1st December.


I am just getting way too excited about Christmas, it seems to be all I'm thinking about. I always need something to look forward to. We have a holiday at the end of August but me and my husband have already said that as soon as we're back from that we just know we are going to be in full Christmas mode! We need to get a new tree this year too. We had ours for around 10 years but last year we decided it really did need replacing. Problem is I've started looking already & have not found anything even close to as nice as it was and also reasonably priced. I think we must have been very lucky when we bought it. It was a 7ft tree, prelit with white fairy lights, but some of the ends of the branches had little transparent beads on, which meant the fairy lights would glow off the end of these beads & make it look so beautiful. It only cost us around £100 too but similar ones I've seen are £250+ now, so I need to keep looking.


We have discussed getting a real one but we had a bit of a disaster 10 years ago when we bought a real tree. One Saturday morning we were laying in bed still dozing, when all of a sudden we really did hear a big clatter. Unfortunately it wasn't Santa & his reindeer on the roof, but our tree falling over in the living room. There were needles, water and Christmas decorations everywhere. Luckily none of the decs broke! I think we had overwatered it or something because the trunk was very, very soft, so had basically bent over itself under the weight of the tree. I do find it funny now, but it wasn't a nice way to wake up on a Saturday morning :rotfl:

quidsy

I've started menu planning . I'm cooking for 12 this year again & need inspiration. I have a Mary Berry book & will be making soup & beef from there but need more thinking on petite fours & puddings. Need to of course test them out before hand to make a perfect version on the day. I will update when I have some ideas.

freespirit66

Afternoon everyone, i havent been on for a couple of days and the thread has flown, i dont know if anyone is buying for anyone crafty for christmas but Hobbycraft have a sale (online) and they have craft lap trays with a lamp reduced from £25 to £10 they really are a lovely present (well i think so:rotfl:)


3FORHOLIDAYS Glad you had a lovely holiday, hope the weather was nice to you


MOJOWORKING wow good for you, isn’t it lovely when you go somewhere and feel completely at home, there is nothing geeky about it, we all have our individual interests and hobbies


MRSINVISIBLE have a fab fab time in china with your lovely family, i hope you got your suitcases sorted. Ooh there is going to be some lucky people getting Christmas presents off of you this year with Chinese silk! Have a safe flight my lovely!


LINZ hi and welcome back, you have done well to be so organised with such a busy year, glad you had a lovely wedding day



PRINCESSKITTY ‘We absolutely love Scotland to bits and have been a few times, but DH is reluctant to go such a long way with a baby. [IMG]file:///C:\Users\DEBBIE\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.gif[/IMG]I personally think it's probably the best time to go!’ Well at least you wont have the question ‘are we there yet’ at this age. Hope your picnic went well and you had a lovely time


PEONYSUGAR ooh now i want to go there



KAYA oh i love your advent hamper it is fab if i can get really organised i might do one, just cheap bits but it will be fun. BTW i still get excited when the new argos catalogue comes out and love going through it still!!!


MRSMONEYPENNY that must be a good feeling when you have more than what you thought


QUIDSY i can totally recommend Brussels Christmas market, i went with DD1 about 6 years ago and it was fab, really big and some lovely lovely stalls, it was easy to navigate and find places there as well, Bruges is very small but a nice one, the day we were there though it was bucketing with torrential rain, which ruined it a bit. Ooh your menu planning is making me excited now!


FLUFFYSOX well done on the bargains! Oh your poor little one! Bless him to have not cried or anything, even though he must have been in pain, hope he heals very quickly! Oh you have some fab ideas for the advent hamper too, i must write them down before i forget.


GETTINGTHEREQUICKLY wow that is some opticians bill ! Ouch!!


RUMMER ooh thankyou for that, i need one for my DS hamper


MCCULLOCH they were very popular at the Birmingham Christmas Market, everyone was buying them!


MONEYMISSION oh your tree sounds gorgeous with the transparent beads, i have never seen anything like that, how pretty! I have had real ones for the last 4 years and i worry about the water going all over my laminate flooring and ruining it, i put a big bin bag under my tree skirt just in case!