Help me make Christmas special please!

[MinnieMummy]

So this year for the first year (, I am 37) we are doing Christmas all by ourselves instead of going to my parents (that would be a whole other dull thread on why not) and I'd really like your suggestions for how to make it a really good one for the DCs (4, 2.6 and 7mths). The whole period I mean, not just the big day.

• pjs on Christmas eve, of course
• Father Christmas footprints made out of glitter (but doesn't it go EVERYWHERE??)
• photos of family on the tree which they put on themselves

What other suggestions do you have? We don't do church, so that's out, but I'd love to hear your ideas/traditions/what worked or doesn't.

Oh, cooking will be courtesy of Mr Marks and Mr Spencer, mostly!

An Advent calendar that you can put bits in yourself. Someone on another thread suggested a combination of chocolate coins, Advent themed activities or xmassy activities and odd small presents.

Reindeer food to sprinkle outside so they can see where to go was another one someone suggested

I'm going to make a pud with my family on Stir-up Sunday. Not so much for the pud itself as I'm the only one who likes it but for the doing something together thing. My dp is a bit reluctant but will go along with it for the sake of my over-enthusiasm & the fact that I think it'd be nice to do something all together

Make decorations, don't have to be anything fancy, we'll be doing paper chains again.

Do your shopping online then you don't have to drag grumpy kids round the shops! Or arrange babysitters so you can go do it in peace

I'd forgotten about Santa tracking - excellent! Plus we have some Christmas-themed paper chain stuff from last year that we never got around to actually making.

Reindeer food - home-made?? How?

Porridge oats & glitter, shaken up together fr the kids to sprinkle outside.....the glitter helps them see where they need to go

ooooh, and, carol singers are always scattered around our marketplace,not sure if they are there through the week but definately on a weekend or all go to a carol concert or something like that. I love wandering round listening to them

We like this...

portablenorthpole.tv/home
You can make message for kids from santa

But also. We had our first Xmas just us las year and it was absolutely blissful (I love all our extended family and feel bit guilty but it was!)

We made each other stockings from Santa.

Decorated the lounge with paper lanterns, paper streamers etc. DD made picture sof Santa. We invested in lots of fairy lights so on Xmas morning it was ablsolutely magical!

But more important, we just relaxed and did what we fancied: chose what ever food we wanted (didn;t have to make three different spuds to appease family and no veggie option for my Mum etc), played with presents all day, watched films.,, sigh... was lovely.

DD enjoyed making delicious food (tiffin is easy - wizz biscuits and choc in processor, add metled butter, raisons if you fancy then press in tin. NAUGHTY!!! but deliiocus fo rxamas)

Will be looking out here for ideas....

We did the porridge oats and glitter thing - word of warning though - if it rains overnight, it looks like you have a puddle of glittery vomit on your doorstep

All had hot chocolate and sang Christmas carols on Christmas eve before bedtime.

Our advent calendar has little drawers so we put in a chocolate for each person (this is DS1's highlight of the Christmas season) and as we're religious, we also put in a little scripture/part of the Christmas story.

We spaced presents throughout the day (and in fact boxing day too) giving the boys plenty of time to play with and appreciate each present. They loved it and even so had present overload - hence keeping some for boxing day!

I decorated the boys rooms with fairy lights too so when they woke in the morning it looked magical, then all came downstairs to have stockings in living room

This year we are doing an activity a week for the christmas. Easy peasy chocolate truffles, sugar cookies, mini mince pies and parcel cakes.

Then I do a Christmas eve Hamper ( use willow laundry basket )

I put in New mugs (cheap ones )
Snowman soup hot chocolate
christmas puzzle
mini alcohol for adults
new christmas book ( i have a collection )
Add door hangers for children.
The new pyjamas.

Christmas film of choice eg Muppet Christmas

Line the basket with a cheap fleece throw from primark.

Lay out gifts can wrap with tissue I used green/red tied around the top from Hobbycraft last time.

I am also doing a Charity Shoe box for a little girl. As I have an all boy household !

www.samaritans-purse.org.uk/.

My DP family have Snwoman gifts on boxing day a big box with small pressies or some snowman gifts like these

pinkpetticoat.blogspot.com/2008/11/snowman-kisses.html

Same here MinnieMummy I'm the same age and never hosted Christmas

This year I am being a grown up and doing it all by myself - with possibly a bit of help from Delia and Nigella.

brookeslay I love your Christmas Eve Hamper tradition and I am going to borrow that idea and pretend I thought of it myself

I put a photo on my profile just click pictures and you will see my hamper :)

love the idea of the hamper, my two will be 2 and 3 this year, our first christmas when they both notice something is happening!

Ooh this thread is making me so excited !! We alternate Christmas between my Mums and ours. DSS spend every other Christmas with us, so the year they're at their mums we have Christmas the day after Boxing Day, Boxing Day becomes our Christmas Eve then.

On our year I do;

• Carol concert a few days before, normally in the village where I grew up, it's so nice to catch up with people I went to school with etc.

• We have Shepherds Pie for dinner on Christmas Eve, I tell my DC that this is what the Shepherds would have been eating while they were on the hills waiting for the baby to arrive, and we are eating while waiting too. As a treat they are allowed to eat this on the sofa while watching Santa Claus the Movie.

• Then there is a knock on the front door and when DC's open it there is a present each (the new PJs) and a note from Santa saying that he has left them to help DCs sleep well while he is so busy (this was met with much eye rolling y 10 yr old DSS last year but he played along anyway).

• Children are packed of to bed at about 7.30 and I take my new book upstairs to sit on the landing while they go to sleep. I have tried to just leave them to it, but ended up yawping at 10 o'clock cos they were still awake, spoiling everyones evening .

• We always have croissants for breakfast.

• We have traditional dinner for second time in 3 days! Then have chocolate puddle cake for pud as none of us like proper christmas pudding.

Then New Years Eve we all stay at my sisters, have a huge fry up on New Years Day and go for a very long walk at local woods to burn it all off.

Sounds great ballstoit have you the recipe for puddle cake ?? cool name.

I have bought cello cones today for snowman soup, and going to get some star stamps to make up gift bags.

Treasure hunts are fun some clues suggestions
here

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=1359607

Am off to do school run but will dig it out when DC are in bed...so will hopefully post it by midnight

What's puddle cake? I'm intrigued . . . and snowman soup for that matter?

Better late than never ballstoit :)

essentialpackagingstore.com/projects/snowmansoup.php#SnowmanSoupCB

Sorry can`t doing whizzy links like some they always go wrong.

You can see my soup in my hamper in my profile lucysmam.

We do the charity shoebox - they love that.

Ringing bells when they are snuggled in bed. Although did this last year and DD (age6) was terrified because she though he'd arrived and she was still awake

special breakfast on Christmas morning - we have bagels and smoked salmon - a nod to Jesus being Jewish!

We always cook Middle Eastern food on Christmas Eve to symbolise the geography of the story and have champagne (or equivalent) when the nippers are in bed.

Carrot and pie for the big man.

Read Christmas stories all the way through December - look at anthologies on Amazon. And sing Christmas songs. We don;t go to church really but the children love a Christingle service. (Scandiavian trad with an orange with a candle - the chuch lights are switched off and all these wide eyed littlies are there clutching their candles in the gentle light and singing Away in a Manger. Brings tear to my eye.

Have hosted Christmas since I was 25 when Dad died and had 16 of us last year but this year might just be us 5. A cosy little family day is magical.

Have a lovely lovely time!

mine are older, but we have developed some great traditions....

make and ice cristmas cake - it doesnt matter if its garish pink with 100 sugary characters on top. They will love it.

We have a tradition of putting up our tree the first weekend after DDs birthday (mid dec) where each person has their own particular items to put on the tree in a particular order -dad does lights, I do tinsel, kids do baubles, then there are specific ornaments - dd does Mary, DS does Joseph, DS2 does Baby Jesus, they all do 3 kings, DS does Star, DD does angel. DH and I get quietly sloshed while this is going on...:D

We have an ELC nativity set of little plastic figures,which now also includes a fischer price "granny" after it was added lovingly by DS2. Now Granny has to attend the nativity every year too.

We go to Panto on Xmas eve. Always great for getting us all in the mood for Christmas. Then home dinner - usually a chicken and rice dish which is a family favourite. And a big sloppy pudding.

Then we play cards until about 9:30-10ish - newmarket, 5 crowns, rumey etc.

Noone is allowed out of bed until 7am. Then they all pour into our room and sit on our bed to open stockings! Every year, there are predictable items in the stockings.

Pressies are doled out one by one after breakfast by DH so we can all see what everyone has. If kids start to get bored, we halt proceedings so they can play with the toys they have received thusfar. This means pressies can go on all morning.

aaaah, I like that idea! Makes it much more interesting & exciting

These are great, thanks!

I think we will also take them to Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park and to a panto. My mum takes my nephews and I suggested she also take DS this year as he will be 4 but she so obviously didn't want to, grrr.

Putting The Snowman and Night before Christmas into my Amazon basket...

Except panto tickets for the four of us comes to £66... might re-think that one!!

Think I would too at that price, but I might have a look at our local theatre & see what they've got going on

Good idea Sunshine, will be googling all evening at this rate & have no time for MN