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

I need to get going on the Christmas shopping - we are going away in November and are also having some work done on the house going into December, so the last thing I will want to be doing is dealing with shopping and wrapping with all that going on.

Saw some lovely hand made bath bombs yesterday which would be good for adult stocking fillers. Wish I had bought them now.

DD will be 3.8, really don't know what to get her for her main present. She already has a kitchen, loads of Happyland, a scooter, a bike and a trampoline. Any ideas?

Yes lots of hills :o at least with his smart trike DH can hold on to it with his non crutch wielding using hand. It's a shame as DS would do well with a balance bike and tbh I don't like the trike much, it's very clunky and hard to store. Oh well, he's getting a scooter for his birthday as that'll be just before he starts nursery and we are hoping he will be ok scooting to and from there. He probably would be ok with a balance bike by then, as he's certainly getting better at staying near DH without reins on, but we can't really justify getting one when he's already got the trike. Anyway DD got a scooter for her birthday last week and I think he's itching for his own one! :)

Hello MrsPear, I am trying to think of what we got our DD when she was 3. DS will be 3 this Xmas too. Is yours a boy or girl?

Can I join in?

Got my first christmas present last week: a book on robots for my godson in The Works bargain bucket for £1. Might see if I can find some robot mecano or similar to go with.

What sort of stcking fillers would you suggest for a one year old?

Hello fuzzpig a little boy. I already like this www.littlewoodenwonders.co.uk/learning-creativity/magnetic-weather-board.html but no idea about the "big present" which i usually spend around £50 on. And as for stocking presents little people, more books, maybe a dvd er help! I will getting a scooter for his birthday.

One year olds i would be still getting useful stuff

For anyone interested in Happyland, ELC have some sets with up to 50% off at the moment and if you put in the code CROCODILE at the checkout then you get an extra 20% off (got this from hotuk website). Plus delivery is free :)

I just ordered the starter set (normally £60 and is now down to £30) and a school bus with a few extra people and got it all for £28.80, total bargain :) wish I had the money to buy it all haha.

Hope that's useful to someone.

Oooh thanks for the tip. What age would you say Happyland is suitable from?

Ooh, you've reminded me, I'm not sure if we are going to do adults stockings this year, I'll mention it to DH. We used to do that when we first met (we both had crap childhoods so we did spoil each other rotten!) but we just focus on the DCs now. But it might be nice.

Our traditions - most of which are nicked from MN:

• stockings and one main joint present first thing, these are from Santa. He also gives DH and I a present (something like DVDs that we both wanted) as we have been good too :o everything under the tree is from real people IYSWIM.
• stockings contain edibles and random stuff like Disney or happyland figures (went waaaay overboard with this last year) but also always have magic flannels. They did have toothbrushes but I might not do that again as they obviously get replaced throughout the year anyway. I might get funky socks or something instead.
• Christmas eve - the elves deliver some jammies and a tree decoration each (gutted that Past Times is closed, we usually got them from there!). Last year they got a nice 'night before Xmas' book but this year it'll be the DVD I mentioned above. Possibly a book too though.
• we've agreed to always get a board game to play on the day but that will probably wait until the DCs are a bit older - ATM they get their own games suited to their age.

There's more I'm sure but TBH I've always been so disorganised that nothing really pans out. The only thing I've ever been on top of is the presents! And even that isn't great as I have tended to buy what I want them to have rather than what they would like to have. I also want to shift the focus a bit from the day being all about toys IYSWIM. It is totally my fault it's got like that.

Traditions I would like to have:

• lots of cooking and craft (ha.)
• a wooden advent calendar (anyone got recommendations?) - with a sweet in each drawer and then a 'promise' of an activity that day. There have been some brilliant threads on this in the past but I'm not sure I have the energy.
• something ceremonious about Xmas lists - DD is 5 so should be able to write her own for the first time! She doesn't see adverts though so I don't know where she would get ideas from.
• one day I would like to actually have a tidy house and an organised kitchen (ha ha ha.)

Happyland is supposedly 18m-4y but I would say from 12m. They actually make good stocking fillers - I got some figures and wrapped them individually when DS was one. He also got some toddler cutlery and possibly some trains or cars.

I got my son a wooden advent truck from Lakelands. Not very big drawers. A lindt chocolate fits but not chocolate coins. I want to get a Nativity set this year. More toy like than ornament type. Seen a "nice" wooden one.

Great. DD tuns one the week before christmas so I think a few Happyland things might be getting ordered.

A nice stocking filler I got last year was a Bigjigs wooden train each with their initials on (£1.99 or so new on eBay).

They also get a DVD each, not really a Christmassy one though, eg last year DS got the Cars movie. He also got a little Roary 'mini library' (one of those sets of tiny board books) which could be good for a 1yo if you don't mind them getting chewed! Or a buggy book?

It says it's suitable from 18 months Gnocchi and I've read a lot of reviews that say children up to about 5 are still enjoying it.

By christmas, my girls will be 1 and 3 so I'm thinking they'll both play with it.

Oooh just ordered the Happyland Rose Cottage. £30 down to £15 then down to £12 with the code. Thanks!

For a 3yo boy I would say toy cars or trains (wooden railway?) or animal figures? Wild Republic do some fab toys, my DCs have lots of their stuff including frogs, snakes, lizards, turtles etc. Their dinosaurs are great. We got DH the space set (astronauts, moon buggies etc) for fathers day. He loves it. He's 44. :o

I just realised we actually need to buy stockings! Decent ones that will last. We've only done stockings for 2 years, the first year I got crappy cheap ones and last year I used a giant one we found in the attic would like to have one each now (so 4).

Thanks for the reminder Hello (and for the 20% off code!). I've ordered DS the Happyland school and some extra school children to go with it (tsk, class sizes these days ).

I think we have come to the end of our happyland buying :( DS got all the space stuff at Xmas and they have the Olympic sets to open when the games begin. They will be getting lots of small world type stuff but I think I'll stick to slightly more grown up stuff now. One day I guess it'll be playmobil although that is hideously expensive.

Those with toddlers have you considered Duplo? My DCs love it. DD would be ok with Lego but I'm going to wait until DS is old enough as right now he would just eat the tiny pieces.

My dd loves duplo too. She has a farm set and a supermarket and plays with them all the time. I saw a caravan set I wanted to get her so I might add that to her christmas list!

Can't believe I'm buying presents in June, it's a bit mad. However, from September to November I have pretty much my whole families birthdays (2 daughters, mum, 2 brothers, 2 sister in laws and 2 grannies) and my dads is in December so I guess it does make sense to spread the cost a bit. Trying to justfy my spending :)

No justifying necessary on this thread I reckon :o

Ds has a small box of duplo but he doesn't like it very much, he makes me put it together then just pulls it apart and throws it. He can't fit the pieces back together yet which annoys him. Despite this I have a huge box of the stuff in my present cupboard which I got on offer last year and I'm planning on giving it to him this Christmas, but if his interest doesn't pick up it will probably stay in the cupboard until the year after.

If sticklebricks weren't so expensive I'd get him some of those instead.

Ds's stocking will have in it this year;
matchbox cars
some more schliech animals for his collection (got him his first few last year)
playdoh
a glove puppet "five little speckled frogs" thing
flannel
socks

I'd also like to get him some glow in the dark stars which someone mentioned upthread (or on the other christmas thread I can't remember sorry). I always wanted some of those as a child, my best friend had them and I was soooo jealous.

I used to have glow in the dark sheep :o

DD has GITD stars/moon/planets but they are actually wall stickers rather than plastic ones.

I remember sticklebricks! We don't have any as I think they are a bit old for them, but I am thinking of getting some kid knex or something like that for DS' birthday. They have lots of Polydron thanks to my nostalgia weakness.

Are Matchbox cars little die-cast cars?

Ooh, I've put some GITD stars in DS's stocking box! I'm going to make a list on my phone to make sure that I don't buy too much!

Sorry about all of the exclamation marks, I sound like some sort of Christmas-crazed elf .

I've finished mine been finished for a while. Just need to buy ds's tv nearer the time (thinking of the guarantee)

If I wasnt on mat leave I think id have more in but bills first.

Ill keep my eye out for any apecial offers and add them on here.

Popped into John Lewis the other day and they had sheets of end of line wrapping paper reduced from £2.50 to 20p so Ive got my wrapping paer for the year. Shame they didnt have anything paeticularly xmassy but at least its birthdaya sorted.

With a 1 year old, would you wrap alk gifts or would you actually set some.up ready to play with?