Xmas gift idea for the waltons

[stainesmassif]

Our childminder is wonderful, she has 5 children of her own under 10 and minds 4 more, can take up to 6....so I'm trying to think of a nice gift for the family, maybe a day out somewhere...am I being naive in hoping I can buy her a family pass somewhere that doesn't restrict how many kids she can take? We'd be happy to spend up to £100 for something really nice.....

Wow - aren't you thoughtful! I know with 5 under 10 that planning a day out to suit all can be tricky and stressful, although she sounds like someone far more organised than me so you could be ok. Some alternatives:

• a professional photographer to go to her home and get some great family snaps (again, this is something v difficult to achieve well without professional help)

• offering to look after the younger ones for a day, plus tickets to take the older ones somewhere more ambitious e.g. theatre, theme park?

• or even an adult option ... offering to babysit plus treating her + partner to a meal out somewhere yummy and a film?

why call them the waltons?

Cause they are so nice! (and a larger family, hope this doesn't offend)

sorry, brief reply there as was on itouch rather than laptop.

she is amazingly organised. i really don't know if i could take on babysitting her five (who are all beautifully behaved when i see them) - i can just about cope with my 1!
i know they really enjoy walks in the woods - i would buy them national trust membership, but they've probably already got it. does anyone else have any more ideas please?

babysitting should be a doddle with lots of them - if she's very organised they're all bound to be in bed by 7.30pm.

what part of the country are you in? the reason i ask is that i took my 5 children (eldest 10 years) to legoland in the summer. i was dreading it, but i have to say we had an amazing day. there's something for all ages and it's fairly stress free. can't remember how much it cost though.

funnily enough we are about 6 miles from windsor, so it would be perfect, but bloody hell, it's expensive!!!

do you use Tescos? We bought our tickets with clubcard vouchers.