Xmas Jumper Day

Christmas jumpers are no longer reserved just for the Colin Firth's of the world ( That jumper in Bridget Jones is now the height of fashion ) and everyone is sporting some glitter, snowmen and stars on their fronts this season.  Christmas jumpers are everywhere and I for one am delighted.  I am a bit of a Christmas geek and have been wearing festive socks every day since December 1st.

Last night I was at Woolly Wonderland at Westfield Stratford City designing my very own Christmas jumper.  I will sporting a one of a kind, custom, home-made jumper this year and I am actually a little proud of my efforts!  December 13th is Christmas Jumper Day and I will be donating £1 to Save The Children and wearing my knit with pride!

Woolly Wonderland is on from the 5th to the 13th of December with sessions for all the family from storytelling sessions of the Gruffalo and Elmer to knitting lessons to Christmas jumper customisation and these free sessions are bookable here.  The lovely ladies helped me out creating my look with stencils, materials and by showing me how to do the stitching.  It was a lovely evening and I have something fun to take away from it too.

So pop on over to Westfield, get creative and wear your Christmas jumper with pride! I am thinking this may be the perfect opportunity to take a cheesy Christmas photo of the whole family in our festive knitwear so look out on twitter with the hashtag #xmasjumperday to see if I can persuade them all!  Don't forget to tweet your own photos with this hashtag too as I can't wait to see all the fun jumpers.

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Homemade Advent Calendar

There are so many amazing ideas for homemade advent calendars around, that I couldn't resist attempting my own.  Armed with a box full of empty toilet rolls (the most useful craft tool to date I reckon), some paint and some washi tape, I set to work creating something unique for the boys.

I started off by painting all my tubes white, and then made four slits in one end, and folded them over to make a cup shape.  I secured it with white duct tape and decorated.

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Christmas is Coming

There is no denying it, Christmas is on the way!  The shops are full of tinsel and mince pies, the festive light switch ons are happening up and down the country and my credit card is cringing at what is about to come.  

I love the festive period and I know that every year is going to get more magical as my children get older and more aware.  I know that this year Dylan will understand a little more, he already recognises Father Christmas, and we are going to attempt some Christmas films with him to really get in the spirit.  November for me is about preparing for December, and I have started a little shopping and planning, and have been busy making an advent calender (details on the blog tomorrow). 

Over the next few weeks I have a few festive features, from showing you our ideas and traditions to gift guides and reviews of perfect stocking fillers.  

Christmas this year will be a much more budget affair to what we are used to though, and I am hoping that it will remind us of what is really important; spending time with family.  There will be plenty of homemade, even if it means paint everywhere, and I am hoping our house will be full of colour, the smell of gingerbread and those magical twinkly lights.  I want Dylan to look forward to Christmas because of the magic rather than the gifts and I am hoping to start traditions to ensure this.

This year will also be Archie's first Christmas, and whilst I know that he will not understand or remember anything, I want it to be special.  I am lucky that I am not back at work yet, so will be able to spend the month of December introducing Archie to the lights and the colours of Christmas.  I can't wait to take the boys out to see the displays now that the evenings are darker, and I have no doubt that both boys will absolutely devour their Christmas roasts come the big day!

So, before I delve head first into Christmas preperations, (baring in mind the paint, washi tape and glitter are already out), do you have any suggestions for me?  Any great budget Christmas ideas, perfect crafts for a toddler or have you seen the perfect present anywhere?  

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Homemade Father's Day Bunting

With less than a week to go until Father's Day, I decided we would get creative again and make a homemade gift for daddy.  Last year he loved his homemade Daddy photo frame and this year I decided that Dylan and I would make some bunting to go above his computer.

I am not going to pretend to be an artisitc genious but I do love to make things and this had to be suitable for a 22 month old.

I cut out the letters that spelt Daddy from an old cardboard box and prepared some paint with sponges (I couldn't find any of our art ones so cut up an unused kitchen scourer) and some bits and bobs that I had picked up from the pound shop.  I had sequins, cardboard shapes, torn up tissue paper, mini pompoms and some little stars.

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Easter Egg Hunting

After reading an amazing blog post on Lucy's blog Capture by Lucy, I was inspired to set up an Easter egg hunt for Dylan.  The little dude is too young for too much chocolate, but old enough to join in the fun so I thought that this hunt was perfect for him.   As our garden doesn't have too many hiding spots, I thought it would be great to pop down to the local park with it being at the end of our road, and as I was doing it in the  park, I decided to invite some of Dylan's friends.

I spent Good Friday evening cutting egg shapes out of Dulux paint charts, and armed with some pound shop pegs, I set about hiding them around the park this morning.  15 of Dylan's friends turned up at half past ten and spent the morning hunting out the paper eggs in the little bags I had decorated.  

Once they had finished hunting, I swapped the paper eggs in their bags for a small chocolate egg, small plastic egg full of raisins and some bubbles and it was time to play on the swings and slides.  It was lovely to see them all together playing outside, and luckily the sun was shining for us!  Dylan managed to fall asleep on the walk back from the park and with it taking all of 60 seconds I was very impressed - I think there were lots of tired toddlers by the end of the morning!

We had a lovely morning, and I have all my paint chart eggs ready for another little hunt next year!  

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Merry Christmas!

Christmas has suddenly crept up on us and according to Disney Junior (which has been acting as a babysitter today whilst I am too ill to leave the sofa) it is only two sleeps to go!  This week has been eventful and tiring and blogging has taken a back seat.  This week we have met Santa and attended a whole host of Christmas parties. I have made lists for, bought and wrapped all my Christmas presents, I have looked after a poorly toddler who caught the dreaded tummy bug going around and the bloke and I have spent the weekend coping with it ourselves just as the toddler recovers and starts demanding more attention.  

My Poorly Boy

I am hoping that the sickness will all be over by Tuesday and we can enjoy the nice family Christmas we have planned.  A day in pyjamas filled with naps and litres of water and I am starting to get my energy back and Christmas eve is one of my favourite days of the year so an early night tonight is on the cards.  I remember well the anticipation, the magic and the colours as we counted down until the big man in red paid a visit.  The bloke is off work tomorrow so we have a lovely family day planned with our own traditions.

Dylan's homemade Decorations

Tomorrow day we have a couple of last minute things to do and buy so we will take a stroll down to the town and enjoy a nice lunch while we are there.  It is when the sun starts to go down that the magic really begins though and although I am not overly religious, I will never forget the wonders of the Christingle service.  The children, the lights, the sweets and the songs.  Last year I took a baby boy with me, who sat peacefully on my lap.  This year he will be joining in with 'Away in a Manger', he will wonder at the hundreds of candles lighting up the church and I am pretty sure he will demolish the orange and raisins as soon as he is allowed!  

Me - Pregnant and dressed up!

After the Christingle we will come back home and watch the most Christmas Eve-ish film I can think of - The Snowman.  Dylan has a lovely little snowman toy and although he is not too interested in the TV yet, teamed with mummy and daddy cuddles on the sofa, how can he resist? We can then all eat dinner together, and set out a plate with Santa's mince pie and milk and Rudolph's carrot and the boys will go up and have bath time together to make sure the little guy is lovely and clean for the big day.  More cuddles and we will tuck him up tight, and lay his stocking down near his cot in the hope that Father Christmas pays a visit in the night.

Christmas morning will be spent at our home as a family of 3 but for the rest of the day and night we will be at my Mum and Dad's with Dylan's Aunt and Uncle enjoying our roast turkey, Celebrations and games.  I can't wait to enjoy the day with him and help him open his exciting new toys.  I can't wait to have him sat at the dinner table with us on Christmas day enjoying his share of the yorkshire puddings and roasties, as last year he hadn't started weaning yet.  I can't wait to dress him in his lovely new outfit that I am pretty sure Santa is bringing him and hopefully get some lovely pictures of the three of us, as by next year there will be two tiny terrors around.

Christmas is so much more magical with children around and I cannot wait to share it with my gorgeous boy.  

So to all my readers, I hope you have the perfect Christmas.  I hope that you spend it with the people you love, that there is laughter, giggles, smiles and chocolate.  I hope that whether there are little or lots of presents under your tree, that they each bring happiness and that you have a well deserved day of festivities.  

A little sceptical of the big guy

Merry Christmas!

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My Homemade Halloween Maternity Costume

Finding a Halloween costume suitable for a bump is not easy.  You can spend money buying something lovely or you can improvise.  I went for the second option and for under £5 made my Halloween costume for the year.

Take one cheap vest - (I found primark sells them for £2 and they are lovely and long and very stretchy.)  -Cut a large hole in the tummy area.

Paint the now bare tummy orange.  I tried face paint but with such a large area to cover could not get it to work well.  Next we tried a homemade fingerpaint concoction which again didn't look too good.  Finally I mixed PVA glue with food colouring and painted it on leaving a lovely shiny orange belly poking out from under my top!

Wait a couple of minutes for the orange to dry and then draw on your pumpkin face using whatever is at hand.  We used black paint with a little sponge and my newly popped out belly button was the pumpkin nose.

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Glow Stick Bath

Dylan has always loved bath time, splashing around and playing with his toys.  This week we had a special bath time though, a glow in the dark one!

I turned off all the lights and shut the curtain.  The one benefit of the evenings getting darker is that by bath  time it is getting dark outside and  there is less natural light coming in so it does make it easier.  I bought a pack of 20 glow sticks from the pound shop and popped them into Dylan's already run bath.  Voilà, a glow in the dark bath!

He loved playing with the glow sticks and watching them swirl around and didn't even try and eat one! (I wouldn't recommend letting them near your child's mouth.)  He was in there until his skin was all wrinkled and even then he didn't want to let go off the fluorescent green stick!  

I think this is a great sensory experiment for babies who are growing out of the everything in their mouth stage and would be great for older children too - I mean who doesn't want their bath to glow!  Add some music and you have your very own bath disco!

I would love to tell you where this idea came from as I know I have seen it before but I have no idea of the source unfortunately. 

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Aromatherapy Play Dough - Guest Post

Today we have a guest post with a brilliant idea for a money saving activity.  We all spend so much on toys and games for children when there are so many things we can make to encourage their imagination and creativity.

Hi everyone, it is Jen from The Mad House, A Thrifty Mum and Frugal and Fun 

Home Made Aromatherapy Play Dough 

Ingredients 

1 and half cups (1 cup is 250ml) of salt 

3 cups of warm water 

3 cups of plain flour 

3 tablespoons of oil 

6 teaspoons of cream of tartar 

Food colouring 

Essential oils 

Method 

1. add the salt and water to a large pan and heat until the salt to melt has melted 
2. add the flour, oil and cream of tartar and heat over a medium heat, stirring continuously until it starts to pull away from the sides (you need to be quite vigorous) 
3. Tip out the dough and need for about 2 minutes 
4. Split the dough in to smaller amounts and add food colouring and essential oil 
   
   

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Playing with a nine month old

I am always looking for ways to keep my nine month old entertained without spending too much money.  He has plenty of toys, but what he really loves, is household objects, or anything that I have used.  Nothing has ever been as interesting or as entertaining as a bus ticket after I have showed it to the driver, and he managed to spend almost an hour playing with a plastic disposable nappy bag (I know he shouldn't play with plastic but he loved it!) after a nappy change the other day too (A clean bag of course)

So I thought I would put together a list of ways we play with household items.

The Scarf

After a nappy change, I grab a scarf (I may have a little scarf shopping addiction) and run it over his body.  As soon as I start to shake it I can see the excitement building up and he loves it going over his face, feeling the tassles stroke his skin.  If you have a variety of scarfs, you can do it with different materials and tassle types.  It never fails to get him squealing and giggling.

The Bottle.

We have a random bottle which

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Day 15- Homemade Sensory

You can (and we have) spent a fortune on baby toys to improve development, co-ordination, to encourage tummy time and to provide sensory play.  Reading the blurb you would imagine a child deprived of all these fancy toys to be laying on it's back staring into space all day unable to communicate, move or imagine.  In reality, children are fascinated by the simplest thing, and Dylan often prefers playing with an empty Evian bottle to an expensive 'sensory toy'.


I forced myself to eat some Quality Street, in the name of Dylan's wellbeing, and after collecting some other house hold items made my own mini playmat.  Wrapping paper, Tin foil, Sweet wrappers and sellotape entertained him for a lot longer than any other toys we have.  Whether it was the newness, or the noisy, shiny materials, he stayed put on his tummy (which doesn't happen often) for ten minutes!

We played peekabo through the coloured squares, we crinkled the fabric, we used it as a mirror, we pushed it around the floor, and eventually, inevitably, we did the taste test.  It passed.  I'm pretty sure our play mat encouraged co-ordination, tummy time and sensory exploration, and all from household items.


I'm almost certain that the best incentive to make your own toys has to be the sweets needed to be consumed first!  Just need to think of a toy to make from Wine bottles now!

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