I had a really exciting few days whilst the little ones were in school and preschool (I literally get two mornings a week to do this and absolutely everything else!) so it took a while but I basically put up a tree and got the room looking all merry and festive to take my photos! I wanted to do things a bit differently than last year :)
There's going to be lots of exciting Christmas blog posts so please make sure you are following and check back for more! In the mean time, grab a cuppa and be inspired with my 2014 Gift Guide Part 1 (if you missed it, check out my Joules Gift Guide!)
Jigsaws
In an age where digital gaming is rife, it's refreshing to see how much children of all ages enjoy jigsaws - my two have always had them from even before being a year old and I learnt my jigsaw parenting lesson the hard way - make sure you keep them out of reach of children otherwise it can take two small people precisely 3 seconds to empty 14 jigsaw boxes onto the floor - it will take you 3 weeks to sort them all. I absolutely love the wonderful jigsaw collection The Eorks currently have - there's a handy stocking size tiny Mr Men jigsaw that comes in a sweet little tin, I've chosen a spiderman jigsaw book which is a very clever concise story book with jigsaw pages to complete - this is also a perfect gift for a little one to give to their best friend.
I'm loving the 9 in 1 Scooby Doo jigsaw box, and the Mr Men puzzle that comes in a bag has a side to colour in yourself too! My children love the "underpants" stories by Claire Freedman so I was over the moon to discover the Dinosaurs Love Underpants Jigsaw and Book set - all are available from The Works
My Magical Mermaid from Zuru is an absolute darling! She comes with weight rings, place them on her head and she will swim on her back and place them on her tail and she swims upright, but she's ohh so clever, if you forget to lift her out of the water, she switches off to save her batteries! This one is called Pearl and her arms can move, she comes complete with weight rings and spare batteries.
Robo fish by Zuru have a special pirate edition, there are 6 brilliant pirate versions of the classic Robo fish available to collect and he looks great swimming around - he's really quick and works the second you place him in water. He comes with spare batteries too and you need to lift him out of the water when you have finished playing to conserve his batteries.
Zoomer Zuppies by Spin Master are adorable interactive puppies - they have sweet little expressions through their LED lights and play lots of games, they have poseable legs and roller ball feet - zuppies move manually so the roller feet makes them very easy to move about and they will interact with their bigger Zoomer dog friends! This little Zuppie is called Spot!
Spin Master's Flutterbye Deluxe Light up Fairy is amazing! She's so much fun! Her charging base will launch her into flying mode from the touch of a button and she will follow your hand as she flies along - she has a strip of lights on one of her skirt panels so you get a beautiful light display as she flies - ohhh how I wish I had one of these back in the 80's and yup! I had a lot of fun playing with this toy - for review purposes of course! She doesn't come with batteries so make sure you stock up!
This year, all of us will be having some sort of Christmas jumper day/event to go to and you just can't beat a brilliant Christmas jumper! We have one each for the whole family all from Next - and they all come with a super handy gift tag attached! I have a snuggly grey snowman jumper which as sparkly sequin snow flakes, Blake loooooves gingerbread men and I love this gingerbread man jumper complete with lots of arm detail too! Maegan has a darling little penguin couple all cozy and warm with pretty little embellishments and Hubby - well he's into his motorbikes so it had to be Father Christmas on a motorbike - complete with fly away scarf!
My Studio Girl do a wonderful collection of crafts and I just love this adorable dolly with cat onesie! You get a ready made dolly and you need to sew her onesie (handy pre punched stitch holes) and attach her hair - she comes with everything you need including a plastic needle.
We love the Pick n Mix jewellery making set from Aspace which comes with a 16 page book full of ideas and everything you need from pre cut felt shapes to fasteners and earring finals - suitable for ages 8up - Aspace do amazing childrens furniture and have a lovely gift and stocking fillers area this year.
Don't Rock The Boat from university games is a brilliant balancing game of skill with little penguin pirates that I reviewed before and would recommend to anyone age 5 up
Terra Rossa Dipping Oil set, comes with two beautifully painted bowls, infused luxury extra virgin olive oil and herbs in a hessian bag. With a story steeped in history, this is perfect for any foodie - a choice of flavours are available.
These little gift tins from SeedBall are a great idea and fun way to get some wild flowers in your garden, the tins contain seeds in small clay,compost and chili powder (protection from predators!) balls which you can scatter wherever you'd like some flowers to grow. They're a lovely idea and my children enjoyed (very much!) scattering around our garden! Perfect for the young and the old!
Thrift and Prudence is the creative genius of a fellow Bromley mum, who hand makes unique gifts such as these lovely vintage vehicle frames, comic book butterflies and map and comic covered dinosaurs. The website isn't quite ready so please contact thriftandprudence@gmail.com to place an order
Hobbycraft have everything you need to make your own stocking and I'm looking forward to whipping up a beaut with the help of Blake and Maegan - we've got lots of pom poms and big sleigh bells, glitter glue and ribbon at the ready! and a Pom Pom rudolph kit!
Books for children are always a great gift - I don't think any child could ever have too many books and I like to try and do something different with books - we do an alternative advent calendar where we have a different book each day to unwrap and read to set us in the mood for the festivities!
David Walliams book set from the Works
Jolly Snowmen 3D book
Peppa's Christmas Wish
Baby Lit Frankenstein
Baby Lit Wizard of Oz
The 12 Days of Christmas Peep Through book
Peter Rabbit Happy Christmas
Baby Lit Jungle Book play set
Peppa's Christmas Wish
Baby Lit Frankenstein
Baby Lit Wizard of Oz
The 12 Days of Christmas Peep Through book
Peter Rabbit Happy Christmas
Baby Lit Jungle Book play set
Baby Lit Jungle Book set comes with a lovely animals primer book and all the main characters to build so you can play along too - a very special gift.
Baby Lit Frankenstien is a brilliant board book primer introduction to anatomy.
Baby Lit Wizard of Oz colours book is just sweet - the illustrations are simply lovely and the book is very colourful - we also have Baby Lit Dracula and Moby Dick and I love these books! Perfect board books for little people. http://www.pguk.co.uk/publishers/
What better to pop all the gifts in that one of these stag present sacks with a majestic scandinavian print and finished with a hand made wooden gift tag with your child's name and finished with perfect detailing such as a sleigh bell and a little felt heart on the draw string final. I fell in love with these sacks as soon as they arrived and I know they will be used for many future years to come - from Little Bumpkins - Personalised Sacks
The Hanging Lantern Company have these lovely little decorations which arrive flat so you can build them (all scored and simple to do - literally a case of folding and tucking in flaps), we love the trees and the little houses - My 3 year old is mesmerised by the house, she thinks its perfect for christmas elves and fairies. I popped an LED tealight inside mine and they come in a variety of festive colours and sizes, the smaller tree is actually a favour box and the red tree - well theres a 6 Foot tall version at Kew Gardens (Wakehurst Place) how brilliant is that! I can't wait to see these on the table for Christmas Brunch which I'm hosting for about 9 adults and 5 children but probably more!
Merry Christmas Everyone!
Read Part 2 here http://emmainbromley.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/christmas-gift-guide-2014-part-2.html
Emma in Bromley xx
Disclaimer: Some of these items have been sent to me for the sole purpose of reviewing them, some specifically for this post, some I've featured in the past, some items are my very own personal christmas shopping which I just wanted to share, some are loan items which I've returned and some brands have sent me lovely thank you gifts for including them. I haven't received any money for this blog post.
Read Part 2 here http://emmainbromley.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/christmas-gift-guide-2014-part-2.html
Emma in Bromley xx
Disclaimer: Some of these items have been sent to me for the sole purpose of reviewing them, some specifically for this post, some I've featured in the past, some items are my very own personal christmas shopping which I just wanted to share, some are loan items which I've returned and some brands have sent me lovely thank you gifts for including them. I haven't received any money for this blog post.
great gift guide, love all your pics and you've obviously gone to great effort with this! My toddler loves puzzles and he'll definitely be getting at least one in his stocking this year! x
ReplyDeleteGreat post, very informative with lots of pictures. Puzzles are fab for all ages and my children will be getting books in their stockings, they love to read them on Christmas day while mummy is cooking x
ReplyDeleteThere are some fab ideas there - you've made me feel all festive :)
ReplyDelete