How do you keep your children entertained during the festive holidays? Share with NOW TV - chance to win £300 NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

The couple of weeks (or so) holiday from school at Christmas time can be a long slog once the ‘big day’ is out of the way, especially if the weather is not very kind.

NOW TV would love to know your top tips on keeping the children entertained during the winter school break - do you brave the sales, snuggle up for a movie afternoon, encourage long wintery walks or dig deep and go to soft play? How about some baking or crafts? What about older children? Do you limit device time or allow them some extra time with their tablets? When do you get any holiday homework done? What do your children like doing in the Christmas holidays?

NOW TV say “'With NOW TV, we have a host of family movies lined up for the festive period - from Frozen to The Polar Express and even the classic Sound of Music! Families can also enjoy newer movies like Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them and The Lego Batman Movie - all from the comfort of their own front room'

Whatever your tip or best advice for other parents, add it below and you will be entered into a prize draw where one person will win a £300 voucher for the store of choice - from a list.

Thanks and good luck
MNHQ

Standard Insight T and Cs Apply

Adventure days out to the beach or the local woods are always a hit

I invested in Netflix after a free months trial so we pick a movie a day, we plan days out, and love to make sweets for Christmas gifts for grandpa and grandma. We make peppermint creams from icing sugar, egg whites and various food colouring, rolled into balls and dipped in chocolate makes the time between school breaking up and the big day pass nicely.

Dad is home. He can do all the entertaining!

We watch xmas films together. They also love cbeebies pantomime very good. We go on walks, visit friends and family. We do some baking and making gingerbread houses.

Indoor picnics! my kids love them

Our days are going to be filled with baking and crafting, we have Christmas cards to finish making and cookies to make for santa. We love going for walks and catching up with our friends too. Always time at the end of the day to snuggle up together on the sofa and have popcorn movie nights

We get outside at least once everyday. Usually to some type of open space!! If it’s realky really vile I give the older one choices from just 3 things, usually baking, painting or den building

We get outside at least once everyday. Usually to some type of open space!! If the weather is really vile I give the older one choices from just 3 things, usually baking, painting or den building

a break from the house is always a good idea... deposit with grandparents for a few hours ;-)

Snuggled up watching films with hot chocolate.

We watch films, play board games, long walks with the dog in the forest, read books in front of the fire and bake. We have a great time without the stresses of work and school for a change!

Crafts, baking, nature walks, soft play, play dates. other than those I keep a list of other things we/he would like to do and we slowly work through those.

My daughter is home educated so 'school holidays' are never exactly holidays because everything becomes a lesson and she's always writing, reading, drawing so switching off and having down time is apparently not in her vocabulary. Last year she was chief designer at a cracker factory and had to ask everyone on boxing day a bunch of questions to create the best cracker and contents. She made graphs and created cracker jokes! This year she's going to be a head Elf and will design the best toy for her consumers- she loved it last year so i thought we'd do something similar again. The project incorporates maths, literacy, design tech.

Megan loves to read so a selection of good winter warmer stories is a must, she loves to craft with me and bake with her Daddy.

We're always stocked up with books because she runs her own review blog, i keep a mammoth load of craft supplies in the house- they're all organised in boxes by type- and i always stock up on Christmas crafts the year before so she has lots of choice. We've got boxes of different Christmas themed baking supplies that can be pulled out of the cupboard if she fancies whipping up something fun in the kitchen.

This year she has been all about using her pocket money to add to her Lego collection so i've been buying little bits and putting them away for Christmas Day so she'll be building for days!

We also dig out all the board games over Christmas to play together while Daddy has the holidays off from work. We watch Christmas movies or favourite movies and enjoy the odd duvet day downstairs with our cats.

This year we've tried to do more events with her- usually author ones are free and they're her favourite but during the holidays there aren't really any so we've lined up her first ever Panto trip, a visit to Santa, a Scavenger Hunt around town and a family cinema visit.

I have a box of 'poundshop' type bits in the cupboard ready for an impromptu crafting session, magic sand sets, play doh, etc. Nature hunt lists are great for any type of weather, (except torrential), wrapping up warm in wellies, splashing in puddles and hunting for sticks and leaves, burns off some excess energy. Then back home for hot chocolate, lunch and a bag of popcorn while vegging, in front of a funny movie. Tablets, computers or consoles are allowed, as a stress release after a day of school restrictions. Kids have as much right to 'chillax' as adults. I think its importnat to remember that not everyday has to be a regimented timetable of activities.

We do lots of walks ourdoors! We climb mountains, make bonfires, and we do lots of cooking lovely foods. We do watch a bit of Christmas film- goodness too!

WE go to stay with in laws for 4 days after Christmas so that's half the holidays gone. Then its a day putting away our new presents and getting rid of any old ones. WE normally then do things outside like have a winter bonfire, go to the local National Trust etc as we are all outdoorsy types.

Board games are always a fun one, and a great way for the entire family to get involved and socialise with each other.

we bake christmas cakes and cookies, have movie days and make lots of christmas crafts x

baking, crafting, snuggling and cooking cozy meals

We do all try to get out as much as possible, wrapped up warm we have fun on the coast. Our favourite Christmas activity is sledging on the shingle banks

We are members of London Zoo, so we jump on the bus and, depending on the weather, spend a couple of happy hours mooching around Africa, watching the penguins, or hiding in the butterfly house.
The membership has paid for itself and as we don't pay the entrance fee, we don't feel the need to see every single animal in the zoo.

Fancy disco in our living room!
Lights off, Christmas tree lights set to twinkle and songs blasting. We dress up in our finest too 😂

Welly walks and a warm bubble bath and hot chocolate on return!

Christmas baking! Making cookies or fairy cakes with festive decorations, fun for all the family and very entertaining!

We read lots of christmas stories, play games bake go for walks and of course watch lots of movies at home and cinema. Go to the local soft play go to a couple of pantomime s and visit relatives. We also catch up on some school work so the kids are ready to go back to school