How to make it through the winter?

[Dinoctoblock]

So it was tough getting through the spring and summer in lockdown, away from usual activities and friends and family. I’m not saying there’s going to be another national lockdown, but it’s looking a bit bleak and I’m trying to think of things I can do to help my family through the next few months.

Looking for more ideas of stuff to stock up on/do. Here’s what I’ve thought of so far:

Snowsuits
Thermal vests and long johns
Fire pit with cooking plate for garden
Investigate insulating the hot tub
Fancy sledges
Rake out the fairy lights and put up from October onwards - inside and out
Identify safe spots to put candles in the evening
Start stocking freezer with Christmas food
Plan out Christmas cards/gifts the kids can make over quiet weekends

Any other ideas?

Jigsaws, really satisfying for adults

And 'restaurant' nights with special food

We will make a big deal over Halloween and bonfire night at home.

I’ve invested in serious waterproofs for the kids, and thermos flasks for outdoor picnics. It’s the rain that’s going to make me miserable so would like to be prepared!

The main thing is just going to be our attitude I think. For me I think I'll set my expectations low in terms of lots of activities. I'll try and find pleasure in simpler things like cooking, baking, home decor, board games, tv, books . There's still lots available to us so we just need to have a lot of patience and practise being accepting of the situation and finding enjoyment day by day.

These are good, thank you 😊

I like the restaurant night, we did a country themed day during lockdown, restaurant night sounds like a good alternative.

Specific ideas for making Halloween and bonfire night special also welcome. I thought we could use fire pit and speakers instead of a fireworks display. Stumped for other ideas.

Kids will pick up on our attitude to everything so I'm aiming to be as patient as I can ! Just keep reminding myself this is a short time which will pass and I'm not in any immediate danger so just be grateful for my home, family and what we can do. You've got some great ideas though ! X

Firepit, marshmallows, sparklers. That's fine.

I'm going to make a big deal of children's birthdays in school, because parties are not going to be the same while this 6 person thing is going on.

That’s a really good point, ohthegoats I’m a teacher too and I hadn’t really considered that. I will give some thought to how I can do that in school too.

I agree that it’s about attitude. Yes this can be depressing but it’s not forever. As a family we’re going to enjoy the simple things - walks, board games, movies, baking. Going big for Halloween and Christmas.
It will be spring before we know it

As long as museums and galleries stay open (and I think they will as they're controlling numbers heavily) we will be doing a lot of them over the winter. The annoying thing is having to plan and losing spontaneity.

How will people go big on Halloween? The big event here is a community trail where the kids collect sweets from all the shops
Feels a bit sad doing it by ourselves.

How old are your kids Bread Could you do a treasure hunt, perhaps?

Halloween - Glow stick hunt in the garden, Halloween food (pea soup, banana slices with choc chip eyes, I will hit Pinterest), dressing up, craft (spiders etc), maybe a string cobweb to climb through. Hot chocolate outside. Maybe hide sweets. Save the pumpkin carving for the actual day.

Bonfire night - we might make chocolate apples (kids too small to risk hot toffee), sausages in buns, sparklers in garden (not fireworks, I don’t like home displays), black paper and fluorescent paint for pictures.

All simple but will keep my two happy. Thankfully we’ve always kept stuff low key so they have low expectations. They’ve never visited Santa properly (just at the church fete, local mini railway) so aren’t expecting a big day out.

I was looking at the National Day list. Thinking of picking some as themes and planning how to celebrate those days. Yesterday was Wife Appreciation day but unfortunately husband didn't get into that theme🤨. Anyway next weekend there is better breakfast day and bunny day so thinking how we could use those days to make next weekend different and fun. Probably kids get to plan breakfast before i do grocery shop and do bunny crafts.

Just trying to make the house as nice to be in as I can as we are going to be here a lot over the next few months.

Kids are now at an age we can watch Bond films so that helps, well the ones with Daniel Craig at least

I've said it before and I'll say it again - waterproof jacket and golf umbrella for supermarket queuing in the rain. Misery lies in the form of a normal coat, pocket umbrella and a downpour. 😂

This is a lovely thread

Yes to themed nights - do a few different dishes to share with a view to freezing portions of leftovers for other nights. And various sides. So maybe 2 or 3 different curries, some Bombay potatoes, HM naan breads, and tomato and onion salsa with a jar of chutney . Ok it’s a fair bit of work, but on a long day with nothing else to do, and with the benefits another day, and especially if there is a team effort involved, can be nice.

Baking - especially with DCs - under 1 can use a spoon to mix together flour and baking powder or use a fork to mix eggs once cracked. And getting progressively more involved as they get older.

Outdoors in the rain, when it’s not too windy going into woods is really nice. Make it an adventure rather than a fridge, and the DCs will enjoy it too.

Movie afternoons - put down a rug on sitting room carpet (much easier to pick up and shake off crumbs outside later!), and cushions, blanket etc, and have a picnic with popcorn and a drink or other movie snacks (plate of chopped up fruit works well to pick at), while watching a movie - close the curtains for even. More authentic experience.

A long slow craft project, like making a papier-mâché “pumpkin” for Halloween or snowman for Christmas (that needs a smaller and a bigger balloon shape).

Put on rain gear and go kick a ball outside.

Come in home, drop the wet gear, and warm up with hot choc and a biscuit (leave the ingredients ready before you go out and boil the kettle so it’s quick to do once you get back in).

Have decent rain gear (top and bottoms and boots) for all, and a few pairs of gloves and a couple of hats to allow those to be changed if they get too wet/cold but going back out to play with fresh ones. Perhaps a pair of ski gloves might be useful (waterproof).

Books. Encourage a quiet reading time every day, you might be reading a Tory to smaller DCs but older ones reading together and letting you read too can encourage a love for it for life. And you might read a chapter book aloud over the winter even if older - a few pages a day but something shared.

Definitely keeping a positive attitude helps here, althoug there is quite a lot of fake it till you make it on the part of the adults at least. Yes to decent waterproofs and getting put whatever the weather too.

Mine don't really go for theme night or that sort of thing, it always ends up feeling a bit forced. What worked well here through the first lockdown was keeping a few fixed things in the week, so Saturday night homemade pizza while watching a film. Friday nights we quite often get out the board games (ok and bribe the kids with crisps).

I've gone back to rotating some toys/activities out in the sitting room. They might be teenagers, but a box of Lego/KNEX out in the open still got them involved. They just don't think about it much when its tucked away in a cupboard. Same with the old games console.

Other things for me are spending some of this time doing a final spring clean/declutter making the space as nice as it can be. I always get I to that a bit at this time of year, but even more so this year.

Someone locally is drumming up support for a "pumpkin trail" for hallowe'en - everyone to put out pumpkins, drawings of pumpkins etc, and families can go round spotting the pumpkins rather than knocking on doors.

Could still do the fancy dress thing and stay socially distanced. During lockdown there were people around here going out for their "permitted exercise" in fancy dress, cheered people up. There was a Tyrannosaurus dancing in the streets.

Nov, Dec won't be so bad, you can get a lot of mileage out of preparations for Christmas. Jan-mar will be the difficult time. Get in some spring bulbs so you can watch shoots elongating and be reminded that another summer is on its way. Celebrate candlemass. It's going to be difficult.

I'm planning to get on board with toy rotation - always meant to do it, actually going to do it this time. My ds is 3, so young enough to be delighted about a toy he'd forgotten about. Also helps with de-cluttering.

I've bought myself a very good winter coat, and will do same for DSs (including v good waterproof dungarees things for little one).

Decent scented candles, TkMaxx sell really good ones. I've got a Spiced Pumpkin one ready to start using for October/November. Currently enjoying a Sea Side one or a Lavender one in the evenings.

I've ordered a lovely merino wool long cardigan from Woolovers to wear over a longs sleeve T-shirt.

We also started using our whistling kettle this week after out electric one broke, it's really cheering me up for some reason!

Low expectations here!

A whistling kettle does sound cheery!