Harry Potter, spies, etc Children's present packs

[3bunnies]

I have noticed that a few posters (thinking Bea Remus etc) have collected lots of little bits together to make a themed present. I was wondering if you have / are doing one of these you could tell me what you are giving, so I can blatantly steal your ideas Think I might save dd1's snitch necklace and make a harry potter themed present for dd1's birthday in Feb. Interested in any other ideas for other themes- ideally using cheapish short cuts instead of branded expensive things, and maybe one or two key items which tie it together.

All the sets I've seen written about on here sound brilliant! I'm doing a big craft kit full of basics this year although not sure that counts really. I would have LOVED a spy kit as a child (and have bought myself an Optic Wonder for my stocking )

Last year there was a thread about a boy who loved to invent things so there were lots of suggestions for things to put in although helpfully I can't remember what. Loads of stuff like paper and tape etc.

I've seen several people wonder about science kits, a lot of those you can buy have poor reviews unfortunately. That is a possibility for a home made set as there are heaps of experiments you can do with kitchen stuff, and things like a magnet and iron filings etc. Bung in some goggles and a white coat, maybe a project book/clipboard to record experiments on.

Cooking/baking sets would be a great possibility too, and doubtless cheaper than a ready-packaged set. Stuff like silicone moulds, childsized wooden spoon/rolling pin, heaps of funky sprinkles, food colouring, cake cases etc and maybe vouchers for "a cooking session with mummy/daddy" if it's not something that's done a lot (like at my house... very rarely get around to it). You could make it a bit more personal by getting character ice cube trays (you can use these for chocolate too) - you can get shapes like lego bricks/people, pacman, dr who characters, even a Star Wars Death Star I think.

Re spies I did this in the summer.

Check out alphbetglue's e magazine on spies.

Think it was just a couple of pounds and you get a page of random letters to cut up to make anonymous letters.I cut them up and put them in tiny brown money envelopes.

There were secret code cards and lovely instructions for invisible writing(lemon juice you iron) in an envelope they have to iron to read.

I put in a cheap black magnifying glass each and a black police notebook.

Also they had some books- Harriet the Spy,The Mixed up Files and Ruby Redfort.

There is a big book list in the magazine.

I love this kind of present.

For Harry Potter, book shops sell tiny boxes with teeny stickers and a 'something' in them - eg one has a snitch, another has the horcrux locket etc. They are quite cute and about a fiver each. Other ideas might be a charm bracelet with a dog (Sirius), a wolf (Lupin) etc. You could also put in a piece of black velvet for a cloak maybe, and book tickets for the studio tours as the 'big' thing to tie it all together.

Spy kit - those glasses/nose kits for a disguise?

Somebody on here once did a Famous Five style solving mysteries box, with ginger beer, string, old fashioned toffees, a torch etc. I was very jealous of that one.

Baking kits, as below, are good and easy to adapt for different ages.

We did dd2 a disguise kit once, complete with non-prescription 'proper' NHS glasses, ears, moustaches, noses, face paint for drawing beards etc etc. She loved it.