I have started Christmas Shopping and I am happy and excited.

[SecretPlansAndCleverTricks]

Got a little stash of books and stocking fillers hidden away upstairs

hugs self with excitement

thumbs nose at Christmas-In-June-Refuseniks

All fab ideas, thankyou, off to look at mini kitchens!

ikea mini kitchen is loverrrrly, may be half price they have a sale on just now.

I bought dd a bike for xmas last month and a pencil sharpener top trump cards and a dictionary yesterday

RecursiveMoon what about a christmas book? We didn't do a christmas eve hamper last year but we got my brother to dress up as santa to visit :) my little girl had just turned 2 and was so excited. He gave her a present of christmassy pjs, a soft toy and I think chocolate coins. I think we may have to make this our new tradition haha.

Does anyone have any good ideas for gifts for a one year old? Both my girls birthdays are in September and I'm struggling to think of things for my youngest. I never bought my eldest any happyland / little people so wondered if this would be good for her?

at 1 year old I got dd bath toys and books and new cot bedding set and wrapped ups ome clothes and other practical things i would need through out the year even shampo lol

Our Christmas eve hamper has;
Pjs for ds, me and dh
A new bauble for ds
A Christmas book (last year was the snowman, this year is Twas The Night Before Christmas)
A Christmas film (this is year it's Arthur Christmas - in honour of ds as he has the same name)

We visit MiL on Christmas eve and all dh's brothers and sisters are there too so we make Snowman Soup for them all there.

There isn't any chocolate in the hamper because ds will only be 2 but I might sneak some in for me. I'd like to put bath bombs in the hamper too but both ds and dh react badly to them so can't. I could have one but it's no fun on my own

Hello, I've already bought a fab Christmas book for him, I just wasn't sure what to keep for his stocking, and what to have on Christmas Eve! Magneto, oh yes, we do the Christmas bauble thing too - again, I wasn't sure what was stocking / what was Christmas Eve.

MN has been great for picking up new traditions .

I put lots of every day things in DS's stocking too, like a bath sponge and bubble bath. He's still using his bubble bath! I want to get him one of those expanding face cloths this year, and some bath crayons maybe.

recursive we did the Christmas eve hamper for the first time last year, I put in new pjs, bubble bath, expanding facecloth, new toothbrush, and a chocolate snowman. Dd was 3 and loved it, will put in DVD this year.

We do the Elf on the Shelf, so when he arrived on 1st December he brought dd an advent calendar, Xmas colouring books and an Xmas story book. We then read the Xmas book for most of December.

I have taken these all from mn!

sayhellotomylittlefriend my dd loved the happy land stuff and played with it constantly, it was really hard wearing too.

buzz, what's the elf on the shelf? Oh my .

I need to start shopping. I had a dream a few nights ago, it was Christmas eve, and all the presents were bought and wrapped. I suddenly realised that I hadn't bought anything for the stockings and all the shops were shut. I panicked like mad and finally woke up in a cold sweat. 😲

Recursive as well as stuff you mentioned we also included an annual each for the LOs (both with a christmassy cover) and a letter from the elves.

We left the hamper on the door step and got a neighbour to ring on the doorbell and scarper, it was truly magical!!

LOVE the idea of Arthur's Christmas DVD, me and youngest DC didn't get a chance to see it last year and I gather its brilliant!

I shouldn't read this thread. I am now googling gift idea's and have just told my dp we need to get Arthur Christmas dvd to watch on christmas eve, he looked at me like I was a bit odd.

I like the look of happyland but I'm just worried my eldest (who will be 3) will get more use out of it just now and my youngest won't be interested. I guess it would be good to get them something they could share and start a little collection of it though. My only other ideas for her are a wheely bug or a ball pool.

Hello, we got a Wheelybug for DS when he was about 14 months. It's fab, he quite often has a zoom around on it. We got the large one, as recommended by MN.

Amazon have the large ladybug ones for £53, that seems like a good price, is it? I quite like the cow one too. Lucky you said that about buying the large one as I probably would have went for small.

Arthur Christmas is a lovely film, we saw it at the cinema last year (one of our Christmas Traditions)

We do a Christmas Eve Hamper (my DC are 12 and 10).
I bought lovely big boxes from HomeSense.
New PJs, Christmas mug ,sachet of instant Cadburys hot chocolate, an annual, a bag of sweets, little biscuits and mini gingerbread men, a Lush bathbomb,chocolate coins.

This is seperate to their Christmas morning stocking which gives DH and I a very welcome 30 minutes peace/lie in.
It was left in front of the fireplace for when they came back from their walk.

I did "Reindeer Food" with porridge oats, sugar dyed purple and some edible glitter stars I had.It would probably look lovely sprinkled on snow. It looked like a clump of vomit.Even the birds wouldn't touch it.

Most of the C.E.H. stuff I buy on sale ( BOGOFs. The PJs from Primark).

Unfortunately DD was ill on NY Day and threw up on her brothers Snowman Box. So I'll have to buy him a new one. [sigh]

Woman in Black will be my Christmas Eve film after DC in bed
They like Nativity and Elf and Home Alone.

recursive elf on the shelf is an American thing, an elf arrives to keep an eye on the dc in the run up to Xmas. He leaves every night to tell Santa if dc have been good, and when they get up in the morning he is a new hiding place which the kids have to find. I only started it last year after reading about it on mn, but it was great fun. Dd was only 3 and as soon as she got up she was looking for elf.

Ds has a large wheelybug and I would thoroughly recommend them, ours has repeatedly "fallen" from various sofas and tables (eek!) as ds experiments with what type of things he could ride it on and it still looks brand new after a year of abuse.

Dh has never read 'twas the Night Before Christmas! No wonder he's such a humbug!

I started saving for christmas last December (Park Vouchers), you don't get them until November so my main shopping doesn't get done till later.

We have a tradition that me and DH have a day off in December, we drop dd at school and then go to our nearest big shopping centre with a big list and get most of it done in one go, we also have a big breakfast at Frankie and Benny's and lots of nice coffees, DH even looks forward to it.

I start buying stocking fillers usually during our summer holiday, I pick up things DD spots in shops and DH distracts her while I buy them, little things like notepads, pens, key rings for her book bag.

She wants bunk beds for her main present this year - it sounds a bit mean buying her furniture but really she doesn't need a new bed, it's only so she can have sleepovers (horror), she'll get a couple of medium sized presents as well.

Christmas eve dd gets new pjs, a christmassy book, snowman soup and some reindeer food.

The smelly sprout is a good book for slightly older chidren, dd was 8 last year.

Oh and her bedtime story is aways the night before christmas, I bought a lovely copy when she was a baby.

Dd will be 2y 3m at Christmas and ds will be turning 6.

They'll get a Christmas Hamper with book, dvd, pjs and snacks and they choose a bauble each when we go see Santa.

I've bought a couple of presents so far but have been looking, I think ds will be choosing himself and changing his mind a lot so will leave his until last minute.

No idea what to get dd as she's getting ds's old happyland stuff for her birthday.

To the poster that asked re one year old...last year dd got a piggy bank with coins which makes noises etc think its fisher price she loved that, a ride on car, a megablocks farm and a pram. They were her favourites.

DD will be 5.6 and DS will be 3.4.

I have totally gone overboard in previous years and want/need to hold back this year. Between them they have far too much and because our house is so cluttered things never really get played with that well anyway. I can think of at least one little thing from Xmas last year that has never ever been played with through no fault of theirs I have mild hoarding tendencies and the biggest problem for me is toys!

I would like to get a wooden advent calendar for them both this year with activities rather than presents. Stockings should be easy - they love little play figures so I get things like Disney characters on eBay.

I really really want to do more crafty stuff this year especially with the DCs but I am supremely disorganised (eg I have gold/silver spray paints from last year which I never used!) and we have no idea what the situation will be (DH is waiting for 2 operations, one of which is pretty big) - cant even plan the summer really let alone Xmas.

I think we will need to spend a lot less this year. DH has been selling random stuff on eBay and despite using some of the money has over £100, should be much more by Xmas. We also started our money box on January 1st, we nicked the idea of putting in £2 coins. June 1st we opened it and had £110 which we used to buy amazon vouchers (rather than sticking it in the bank where it'd get used up)

I'd normally feel it was too early but I've a baby due mid-November so want everything done by mid-October. So glad you crazy lot are getting started

The smelly sprout book is on the list for DSS1 (7).

Fuzzpig I'm the same with having to cut back this year. When I look at photos of christmas last year it's crazy how much stuff they got. Also, I've recently been made redundant so won't be able to afford to go mad.

I think I have a problem with presents though. I always worry I haven't bought enough when the truth is my girls are so little they would be happy whatever they got so I'm going to stop worrying this year and just buy things I know will be played with.

Eastendywendy thanks for the suggestions, I'm gonna go for the fisher price pig and a ride on, still thinking about a wheely bug. My eldest had the fisher price my first dolly pram that I've been keeping in the loft for my youngest. My plan is to start buying soon so I have there birthday sorted early and can start saving for christmas :)