What fun stuff can we get delivered for the family?

[Rae36]

School holidays here next week, a whole week of nothingness stretching ahead of us. Can't see our family, can't do anything except go for walks.
There's me, Dh who will probably be working, and 3 kids age 9 to 14.

I fancy getting stuff delivered a few times during the week to cheer us up but I need some inspiration.

I've ordered an afternoon tea to come one day, they'll like that. Cakes and stuff.
I thought about an escape room kit.

Has anyone got any other great ideas? I wondered about some kind of craft kit that we could do together but I'm not sure where to look for such a thing. I fancy making some massive art for the wall or something but I'm not very imaginative. I need someone to tell us what to make.

Can anyone recommend any good cooking or baking kits?

We're all so sick of each other that if I suggest cooking together they'll roll their eyes and complain, but if something fun arrives in the post and it's not seen as my idea they will be more inclined to do it I think.

Any ideas welcome, thanks. I know there have been dozens of threads like this recently but I am so frazzled I can't face looking back at them all.

I recall someone in the Christmas threads saying they got a tie-dye kit for about those ages, and they loved it. Maybe that could be something crafty you could all do and keep.

We are currently really into jigsaws, we purchased a few online (some are 500 piece, 1000 piece, few smaller ones for the younger kids to get involved with as well).

I'm going to order a family photo jigsaw, that's a good idea. The kids all look quite similar with similar coloured hair and all so they will hopefully find it fun working out which person the bits belong to. Then I can send it on to my parents and they can do it too.

We ordered some marvel diamond painting kits during lockdown 1, kept teens and younger entertained for an afternoon.
There are loads of places round here that are offering an afternoon tea box delivery.
We tried candle making but it was poor value for money in terms of “entertainment” - it was super speedy to do. Although the candles were lovely.
GBBO are apparently doing a subscription service to get equipment, ingredients and a recipe once a month, haven’t looked into that myself but may be worth a look.
We set up an indoors amusements arcade during the October half term, we made a ‘grabber machine’ using a claw grabber thing and a massive box of teddies, had some plastic eggs (which I think were from Easter crafts we didn’t bother with last year ) and filled them with Lego mini figures and made a sort of penny machine where you could win an egg, made ‘skittles’ out of empty bottles and also made something like this pic, throw the ball in to the tubes to win ‘tickets’ which they could then ‘spend’ in the ‘sweet shop’ which was the kitchen side with treats on that were labelled with how many tickets you’d need to buy them.
It took a day to prepare, the dc all got involved with making everything and setting it all up and we had loads of fun.
Don’t think I could ever be arsed again though loads of ideas for that sort of stuff if you google it though.
I saw an intriguing escape room type thing advertised on Facebook just before Christmas but I can’t remember what it was called unfortunately, you unlocked the clues and at the end the person who had paid for it could leave a message/video/photo from themselves. Looked quite cool, maybe I took a screenshot, I’ll have a look.

you could hire a jacuzzi!

@Rae36

I'm going to order a family photo jigsaw, that's a good idea. The kids all look quite similar with similar coloured hair and all so they will hopefully find it fun working out which person the bits belong to. Then I can send it on to my parents and they can do it too.

We used www.fabulousphotogifts.co.uk/ - came v quickly...we used a collage of photos (agghhh why!? it's v tricky!)

Sorry, this was the kind of thing we found and copied...
Plus, found the link, but it says average age is 15+ so may not be up your street.
I’ll share it anyway in case it’s of any use to anyone else, it looks good and think I’ll get one for mine to do over the coming half term break.
theenigmagram.com/

@Rae36 a company called 'the marshmallowist' does marshmallow toasting kits with a VEgan option!

Mine loved a tie dye kit, was so easy. Love the hot tub idea.

Don’t think I could ever be arsed again though

Yes that's part of my problem. After all this time I really can't be arsed. A lot of these ideas like the family cluedo sound fab and I'd probably have thrown myself into organising that a couple of months ago but now, not so much. I put on a massive Halloween extravaganza just for us, it was so much fun. But I just don't have the energy for all that now.

That's why I want things that drop through the letterbox ready to go with minimum effort on my part.

Just be careful when ordering a family photo jigsaw, choose a really clear, sharp photo.
DH ordered one and they said the image wasn't clear enough so we chose a different image, which was approved, but was slightly blurry when we received the finished item.
And dont do what we did and choose a photo where you are all in similar colours..... it turned what was supposed to be family fun piecing it together, into a bit of a mindfuck

Baker Ross do some really nice craft things. We’ve been enjoying decorating the ceramic birds and stars. They have a huge range of bits and pieces.

We had fun with a tie dye kit recently, just used cheap school PE to shirts with it. Kids were very happy with their creations.

Battleships is good

Not sure if this has been mentioned and it's something you're effectively hiring not buying, but one of our local escape rooms has an option where you hire the kit for 3 hours (and have officially 1 hour from when you "start" to complete the "game") then they pick it up again - not sure if others around the country are doing that?

Karaoke microphone

Chocolate fountain!- mine loved this

Ooh, a chocolate fountain! Do you think you can hire them anywhere? I don't really want to buy a chocolate fountain and a waffle machine and a doughnut machine, but if I could hire all of that for a day and they could just feed themselves absolute rubbish all day that would be fun. Then I guess they would feel sick and maybe I'd get a few more hours of peace while they lie on the sofa recovering from the sugar high.

I have bought an escape kit from amazon.
Love the cluedo idea!

The Naked Marshmallow company do great kits this one is a vegetarian s'mores making kit
smores

I'd second/third a tie dye kit, mine loved it as an activity and it was surprisingly simple yet effective. The one we got was just on Amazon.

I think if I had the budget to get some things in I'd aim for a mixed week
Monday: walk followed by marshmallow kit
Tuesday: craft or jigsaw
Wednesday: screen day
Thursday: baking or craft

As it is we are trying to save up atm, so I'm going to try and be good and organise cheap crafts and activities but realistically it will probably be a week of far too much screen time and some muddy walks!
Fruday: big treat- hot tub etc..

@TheChosenTwo the enigmagram is an excellent idea. The oldest has a birthday coming up soon so I'm going to order that for him. It might be a bit hard for the youngest for them all to do together so I'll save it for a birthday.

This is a great thread, thanks so much.

I've ordered a jigsaw, I think the diamond art looks fun, I've got a cream tea thing coming one day with lots of cakes. I've had a quick google of chocolate fountain hire but they all look like massive things you would hire for a wedding, not so much for just 5 of us in our house, so I'll have to look again. And I'm going to look up hot tub hire.

If we could have one new and different thing to do each day that would be perfect.

@Rae36 ask on Facebook, they’re the kind of thing people buy, use madly for weeks then pack away never to see the light of day again! You probably know people who have most of that lot.
I know what you mean though; I had a lot more enthusiasm during lockdown 1, less so in number 2 and really nothing left now.
Dh and I have both been working (out of the home) and come the holidays I’m ready to drop although I still work throughout the holidays - dh will be at work during half term so just the dc and me to entertain, I too will be looking into more stuff that I can order to just drop through my letterbox!
I’m dreaming of a week in front of the fire with some good books

Pizza making kit
Burger making kit

Lots of food things!

Online family quiz

I got a marble run off Amazon during the first lockdown. I'm not sure who loves it more - me or my 5 year old!

We ordered a same-day delivery of birthday cake last week and had a little party in the afternoon (spoiler: it wasn’t any of our birthdays). It was great! I also highly rate Gousto/Hello Fresh boxes for cooking together.