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.

We bought a pizza oven during first lockdown. I think it was about £270 but my goodness we have used it a lot and every time we use it instead of ordering pizza takeaway we save about £60 so soon make money back. We use a really simple doe recipe and it makes 5 large pizza and cooks them in 5 mins each. We bought a pizza paddle too. The oven heats to 350 degrees so makes base crispy but georgious toppings. My dh had it for his birthday as he is the pizza chef in our house. Kids absolutely love it. He even makes stuffed crusts. They come out very professional looking and tasting fab.

But of a silly one but, I put masking tape in zig zags wall to wall along the hallway and we pretended they were lasers that we had to make our way through Mission Impossible style.

For painting you can get huge blank canvases pretty cheaply and if you choose two colours that mix to make a nice third colour (think red and yellow rather than red and green) and add white you can finger paint or otherwise create an abstract masterpiece that can’t go too far wrong.

Or if you use water based paints and black tape (like electricians use) you could create a stained glass window.

Fondant is basically play dough for grown up if you fancied a bit of cake decorating.

Someone on another thread recommended this free online Escape Room www.escapedurham.co.uk/mr-x
I enjoyed it, although my 10yo said it was "boring". It might work well if you have two teams against each other for the added competitiveness.

There is a silent disco company near me who are hiring out equipment. My brother has hired it 8 times since March!

And not really what you were asking for but we recently bought a Eufy robot hoover. Hours of entertainment for all of us following him around the house for the first week!

We did this a while ago. Highly recommend. Lovely guy and so very patient with all the families doing it

www.pasteldenataworkshop.com/

Can you give your kids a budget and get them to come up with something?

This thread is brilliant. I’m stealing a lot of these.
Thanks @Rae36

I’ve just ordered a terrarium making kit from Etsy for mine. We have done it before and put in railway model figures, we’ve also made some out of fimo to go in.

It seems like I’m not the only one to have lost all enthusiasm. I did ok in lockdown one and two. This one feels harder to summon up the enthusiasm to come up with ideas and implement them.

Oh. Jamie oliver does online follow along courses
www.jamieolivercookeryschool.com/online-cooking-classes/

Pool table, if you have the funds and space!
Or a dart board.
Hula hoops and you all have to learn to do it. It isn't as easy as it looks!
Origami.
Pancake Day coming up, so make sure you have lots of toppings.
Have a cocktail evening, with different drinks, umbrellas, fancy straws etc.

Pool table, if you have the funds and space

We have a table football table in the attic, I'd forgotten all about that! It's a nuisance because it takes up lots of space, and because it's so far buried in the attic it will take me ages to get it out, but I will make the effort for the holidays.

I'm going to put the gazebo up outside for the week so I'll be able to put it outside. I wonder how much a dart board costs, I'll look that up. Then it could be like a beer garden and maybe the older teens can have a pal round to the garden for some alcohol-free beer. That's a good idea.

Struggling to find a hot tub to hire, that's a shame. That was a genius idea. I've contacted a few places but they're fully booked over the holidays.

Needle felting kits

Will they play card games, or something like Dominos?

Some board games can be a bit long and involved, but exploding kittens always gets suggested on here, and there's now a family friendly version of Cards Against Humanity so if you can find something they'll happily play together with for a while, it could be worth the investment.

That's Dominos the pub game, for clarity, not pizza delivery, although obviously they'll like that too.

Dominos pizza delivery, I've added that to the list for another day. And we can play dominos while eating.

My week is nearly full, I'm going to run out of time. Oh no, we're going to need more time stuck at home!

A raclette

Op, b and q and possibly Argos have inflatable hot tubs in stock. I have the Hawaii and it is AMAZING. Incredibly sturdy, brilliant fun and it's been out about for the last year. It's about £500 but you will likely pay £150-200 for a weeks rental and due to Brexit, prices will be increasing by around 1/3 very soon. They are made in Italy and are now subject to extra import fees etc. There is a fb group called Lazy spa uk that can offer all sorts of advice and help to get started and keep it going and reduce costs etc. But when prices increase, you will likely be able to sell yours on if you no longer wanted it and would get a decent chunk, if not all, of your money back.

We downloaded a local treasure trail for my birthday at Xmas. There is a children's version and it took about 2.5hours. We did find it quite difficult but it included local sights that we weren't aware of.

Thanks for this thread, there are some fantastic ideas here. Will come back when I can think of some to add.

www.peterinthepan.co.uk/ This is a really nice pizza kit. Comes with everything (and you can get vegan if you want) and is delicious. And not expensive. My kids thought this was awesome.

Some brilliant ideas here!

We turned up the heating and got our swimsuits on the other day - sunglasses, holiday music, inflatable palm tree. Indoor grill-a-que and cocktails (non alcoholic for DCs)

Have you got Outsmarted? It's a board game but linked to online so the questions keep updating to be recent and are age related to the specific players

Chocolate fondue is cheaper than buying a chocolate fountain, we do a family one for dessert on Valentine's Day. Buy a mixture of fruit and cookies/waffers/pretzels etc for dipping.

www.amazon.co.uk/KitchenCraft-Chocolate-Fondue-Set-Ceramic/dp/B000IKUBII/ref=pd_sbs_4?psc=1&pf_rd_p=92878142-c05c-4f4d-82b6-21f96d3338d3&pf_rd_r=EZ0MSGJR3N1JT5J4ME4F&pd_rd_wg=uOpfg&pd_rd_i=B000IKUBII&pd_rd_w=cTpZI&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&pd_rd_r=c7e4caff-584f-4dc6-8bb9-bba79925f674

@oobedobe

Chocolate fondue is cheaper than buying a chocolate fountain, we do a family one for dessert on Valentine's Day. Buy a mixture of fruit and cookies/waffers/pretzels etc for dipping.

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I second this. A lot easier to clean and you don’t need to add any oil.

We’ve got a plug in one, one of the few gadgets I find worth the cupboard space

I get these science/ art/ craft subscription boxes advertised to me a lot; www.kiwico.com/

No idea if they’re any good but might be the kind of thing you’re after if you’re wanting a kit through the post.

These look like amazing escape room type games.

themysteryagency.com/

Thank you so much for the hot tub idea! Hoping I can get one.