i want to make a memory today - suggestion??

So inspired by this thread. Thank you Mimstar and others.

Lovely ideas here.
We've done the den making, cinema days, pirate days and knight days.
One successful theme was Happy Unbirthday day. We dressed up in the most oddest combination of clothes and painted our faces, made unbirthday hats to wear. We celebrated by having a special tea party, with the strangest sandwich combos and weird shaped cakes. They had to make up the most unusual but drinkable concoction they could. Banners were made to decorate the room too.

Go to the local charity shops and give the kids a set amount of money. They have to buy toys or objects that when they get home are used to make a 'modern' sculpture out of. Great results!

Themed dinners. So if eating Chinese, make posters, banners with chinese writing or pictures (very easy to Google these). I've found clothes that were good to wear on these occasions from charity shops again.
Particularly good on Chinese New Year. I've made with the kids' help a giant poster (using old white sheets and poster paints) of the chinese animal of that year.

My youngest son (now 9) loves indoor camping days. We make signs for the toilet block and no lighting fires after 9pm etc. We have our camping chairs and sleeping bags, stove, torches and picnic rug. Can only eat what we bring with us, thermos flask. No T.V etc, only cards, Pass the Pigs and so on. Can only go to the 'toilet block', no cheating by popping into kitchen to grab a snack or make a cup of coffee! Scatter plastic bugs about the place and we've been know to bring in some branches and flora from the garden to decorate the room.

As you can probably tell, I love doing this sort of thing. Pity the boys aren't so keen now, well the oldest isn't so much now (almost 13).

Thanks atouch

I remember having a dressing up day when I was about 6, DSis and I wore our DM's clothes and we danced to Marvin Gaye and the Supremes.

There are some brilliant ideas on here which I'll definitely be nicking! My DP is much better at spontaneous stuff on the whole, one of his best ideas was announcing at breakfast it was going to be a party day! Cue much excitement from children!

We nipped out and bought a pack of balloons and some party type food (prob spent £10 tops) and then came home, blew up balloons, made a pass-the-parcel with newspaper and leftover bits and bobs from old party bags etc. DS1 drew a fabulous donkey to pin the tail on. Played musical chairs, sleeping lions et al.

The kids (boys 6 and 3) absolutely LOVED it (me too!) and DS1 still talks about "our party day" some months later. Was a really fun and lovely way to spend a run-of-the-mill Sunday.

I have a great memory of a 4 day holiday in France. Dad and I went to Loire Valley and hired bikes for every day. Long days cycling off road through fields in the sun and stumbling across mills serving home made crepes. Very peaceful. Dancer, I was about 12 when we did this and still think it was the nicest holiday I have had :)

Dp and dd once chased a rainbow all across the midlands once in the car looking for the pot of gold. She loved that she did

If it snows again (!)

A really lovely one from a blog I read was bringing in a big boxful of snow (in a PVC container - we used one from IKEA that usually has toys in) and putting it on a big towel on the floor and playing with trucks etc in the snow...putting in toy trees. You can also paint bits of the snow with watercolour paints so we did that too!

I possibly had more fun than the kids (age 3.5 and 9 months) but they did enjoy it and it was the kind of day you couldn't go out anyway (both had colds, there was a blizzard)

Just marking my place - going to do lots of these!

Such lovely ideas on here! I feel quit inspired. Dd andi went to the ballet last week (the cbeebies ugly duckling, came to our home town) - hardly spontaneous though, we bought the tickets months ago! She didn't know that, though.

Brilliant thread!

When ds1 was about 3 we only had to please ourselves on my days off. He once expressed a desire for doughnuts so we jumped in the car and drove to Blackpool. We had them looking at the sea when they were still hot, went for a walk ant then had fish and chips for dinner. It was fab.

Another time he asked to go to a park he hadn't been to before. I decided Hyde Park was the place. Again we jumped into the car. We live in Manchester so it was a very long day and really expensive but worth it.

Another time we decided to visit a friend who lived on Barry Island in Cardiff. We spent time on the beach and drove home. New places always feel like a little holiday!

We have done afternoon tea at the Ritz twice now (o e of the times at Christmas) and bith dc (6 & 9) still rave about it! Indoor picnics /camping in back garden come a close second!

These are all brilliant - heartwarming and inspiring

One of DD's (7) best days ever was when we all went out on roller skates and let her lead the way all morning. We ended up navigating through a market and then down on a muddy river bank having to stomp so the wheels didn't sink. Exhausting but lovely innocent fun.

We have done afternoon tea as well which both dd and ds love and another good one was the day we asked my friend and her two dc to a 'the queen's tea party' and we raided the charity shop for fake fur coats, long gloves and pearls and all wore crowns.

Oh and movie night with a projector onto a sheet hanging in the garden is really magical but flipping freezing apart from about 4 nights a year

THANK YOU FOR THIS THREAD - I shall definitely do some of these over the holidays

Marking place. Fab thread.

Thanks, some really great ideas on here. I'm going to make a list.

Matilda that's a great kit! DD would love that!

What?? Of course you've not left it too late! They're still young!

I'm feeling a bit sad reading these, I must be a really boring Mummy

My dc are 11, 10 and 6... Have I left it too late?

I want to do loads of these! I especially like the coin-toss walks idea and the taking a train to Paris ones!

For us, we've -
Made a home cinema. We chose a movie, made tickets and posters and popcorn and then DS got the play till out for us to pay our way in with. It was a lot more fun than just putting a DVD on.

Turned the sofa into a Pirate ship. I found a huge piece of paper and we made a sail, then we rearranged the sofa cushions to make it into a boat. We even made 'pieces of eight' biscuits sprinkled with edible gold dust to make them sparkle.

The children always seem to get too many birthday/christmas presents and if someone asks for an idea and I really can't think of anything, I suggest vouchers. A little while ago, DS spotted a toy he fancied on TV and did the usual "Can I have that Mummy" thing. Instead of my usual 'we'll put in on your wishlist/it's too expensive/no' thing, I said "Yes! Get your coat on and we'll go shopping" The look on his little face was amazing. We went and bought it and then came home and played all afternoon. It was so much fun.

We've woken them up and taken them on surprise trips to Legoland too.

And tonight, DS asked if he could sleep in our bed (he does this every now and again) DH is off work tomorrow so he said yes and a very smiley little boy is now asleep in my bed. One of us will have to go in his bed but it'll be worth it

message in a bottle- sent one out to sea- got a postcard back - was lovely.

This thread has been in my head today - we made cottage loaves today (I have vivid memories of the magic of watching bread rise ... & the deliciousness of home made bread!) & our den was on my bed with ALL the cushions & bed clothes from all the beds/sofas (dh was delighted when he got home....).

I was thinking of the things that I remember from my childhood, that I try and recreate for the dcs, & a couple stand out:

• doing things at 'the wrong time' - a normal train journey home is totally different when done early in the morning, and a breakfast picnic on a hill is fab in warmer weather. Anything that involves staying up late (even if just to lie in the garden & watch the planes stars) is always fab
• 'breaking the rules': when you're allowed to do stuff you usually aren't. I vividly remember my dad letting my jump on their bed as a special treat, & 'driving the car' in a campsite.

The best thing the lovely lady who looked after me when I was small ever did was to get me up when it was still dark (I was about 3) and take me on a walk to the beach to watch the sun come up over the sea. The whole sky turned the most wonderful pinks and oranges, and the sea reflected the sun's glitter. That is something I'll never forget, but perhaps you'd need to wait till it gets warmer!