Christmas 2023

[coconochanel]

My local The Range was just starting to set up their Christmas displays when I was in today. Managed to wriggle myself amongst the cardboard boxes and pick up two ceramic LED ornaments. They’re so cute! Look so much nicer in person and the lights don’t pull as yellow as they do on picture. House was £4.99 and present was £2.99.

The glue on the house is a bit messy and the trees fall off quite easily but I think I can sort it with some superglue.

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EDIT - for the gonk lovers they had LED ceramic ones

Ooh that house is cute.

 

[Kim Mild]

Saw that they had mince pies in Morrisons today.

 

[kelly123]

Saw that they had mince pies in Morrisons today.

I loved the salted caramel ones they did in Aldi a few years ago

 

[peekachu]

I loved the salted caramel ones they did in Aldi a few years ago

I’m so happy someone else remembers these and I wasn’t just imagining they existed! Please bring back the salted caramel mince pies Aldi, it’s what we all deserve

 

[Chocolategoggler]

Saw that they had mince pies in Morrisons today.

I love their deep mince pies

 

[calmyourritas]

Saw that they had mince pies in Morrisons today.

They had them in Sainsburys too

 

[Tofino]

Phew! I found this thread yesterday and spent all this time reading the whole thread which has taken forever because if anyone mentioned anything that even slightly interested me then I had to go off and google it and would then get easily distracted by other things.

I have previously struggled to justify buying off Shein due to the ethics of it, but having seen it mentioned on here and then coming across these I think I’m going to have to place my first ever order. And I think I’ll do a huge order so I feel a little less bad about the environmental impact!

I just LOVE the idea of a song-of-the-day advent calendar for my 6 year old who doesn’t understand Christmas but does love Christmas music. (He loves all music). And the Christmas movies will be good for me.

I’m actually thinking this might make a good gift for my friend and her daughter but to give for the start of December with some Christmas mugs, hot chocolate packs, some xmas dvds etc. I sometimes think the Xmas Eve boxes can be a waste if you could have enjoyed some of the items all December.

 

[Shesaidwhat?]

Gonks - do we love them? Or hate them? I do have a few but I don't put them out every year. They seem to have gained in popularity the last few years

Sorry I’m in hate camp. Why is there a gonk for every season? They don’t even have a face. why are they wearing Santa hats and rabbit ears but have no eyes?

 

[Caledonianprincess]

I'm going to be starting shopping next week and need to buy for my 8yr old and wee one who will be 7 months old it's been so long I don't know where to start with what to get wee one. Any ideas? My oldest loves Lego, science and gaming so I can kinda work with that but the youngest I am stumped on
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Phew! I found this thread yesterday and spent all this time reading the whole thread which has taken forever because if anyone mentioned anything that even slightly interested me then I had to go off and google it and would then get easily distracted by other things.

I have previously struggled to justify buying off Shein due to the ethics of it, but having seen it mentioned on here and then coming across these I think I’m going to have to place my first ever order. And I think I’ll do a huge order so I feel a little less bad about the environmental impact!

I just LOVE the idea of a song-of-the-day advent calendar for my 6 year old who doesn’t understand Christmas but does love Christmas music. (He loves all music). And the Christmas movies will be good for me.

I’m actually thinking this might make a good gift for my friend and her daughter but to give for the start of December with some Christmas mugs, hot chocolate packs, some xmas dvds etc. I sometimes think the Xmas Eve boxes can be a waste if you could have enjoyed some of the items all December.

@Tofino wee C will love the music one! thank you so much for posting it

 

[Imjusta_Teenage_Dirtbag]

Those of you with children - What traditions do you have with your little ones? It's my daughters first 'proper' Christmas this year and I'd love to start some traditions as my family didn't really have any growing up so not sure where to start... (I've already booked a Santa visit at the zoo ) x

Just found this thread so wanted to share a couple of things we do with the kids…..
- trip to see Santa, usually a garden centre but last year we did Tulleys Farm in Crawley….it snowed and was so frigging xmass-ey so don’t think I can beat that this year
- each year my 2x kids pick a bauble each for the tree….and it can be anything they want (have done this since each were babies). So amongst the really nice baubles etc I’ve collected over years we have a glittery rubber duck, balloon shape dog, Brussel sprout wreath, pink unicorn, sausage roll (paper chase did some brilliant novelty decorations!)….you get the idea they love it and brings a little fun to the tree
- there’s a road by us (South London) and most of the houses go all out with the Xmas lights…they’ve done it since I was a kid and it’s like a charity thing now. So we go and take the kids down for a walk to see all the lights etc

 

[al255]

I’ve just had a look and there’s some lovely ones for 8 month olds (ish) with books, think I’ll get one. Tempted to get a Bluey one but that’s more for me than her

I always get my daughter the hot wheels advent calendar and then she gets a cheap 99p chocolate one off family (like you she never remembers the chocolate one). The works do a Julia Donaldson Book Advent Calendar which I'm going to buy as it looks fab!
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Just found this thread so wanted to share a couple of things we do with the kids…..
- trip to see Santa, usually a garden centre but last year we did Tulleys Farm in Crawley….it snowed and was so frigging xmass-ey so don’t think I can beat that this year
- each year my 2x kids pick a bauble each for the tree….and it can be anything they want (have done this since each were babies). So amongst the really nice baubles etc I’ve collected over years we have a glittery rubber duck, balloon shape dog, Brussel sprout wreath, pink unicorn, sausage roll (paper chase did some brilliant novelty decorations!)….you get the idea they love it and brings a little fun to the tree
- there’s a road by us (South London) and most of the houses go all out with the Xmas lights…they’ve done it since I was a kid and it’s like a charity thing now. So we go and take the kids down for a walk to see all the lights etc

Awwwwww!! We do the novelty tree decoration too.. last year my daughter picked a blue sparkly tricerotops and he's still in my kitchen on the shelf but it's just lovely. We've got the ones from nursery too and then random ones. Christmas isn't about the aesthetic when you've got kids

 

[coconochanel]

Next have loads of Christmas stuff on their website now but I just don't need anything.

 

[Kim Mild]

I love their deep mince pies

I like the once with icing on top.

 

[Tofino]

Our family really struggles with knowing what to buy each other so the last two years we’ve used Elfster which has worked sooo well especially for my parents who just don’t usually give us any ideas. We tend to get things off our elfster lists and also surprises so think it works quite well. I started it for my son as people were always asking what to get him but it’s also worked for us as adults.

 

[ems1982]

Just found this thread so wanted to share a couple of things we do with the kids…..
- trip to see Santa, usually a garden centre but last year we did Tulleys Farm in Crawley….it snowed and was so frigging xmass-ey so don’t think I can beat that this year
- each year my 2x kids pick a bauble each for the tree….and it can be anything they want (have done this since each were babies). So amongst the really nice baubles etc I’ve collected over years we have a glittery rubber duck, balloon shape dog, Brussel sprout wreath, pink unicorn, sausage roll (paper chase did some brilliant novelty decorations!)….you get the idea they love it and brings a little fun to the tree
- there’s a road by us (South London) and most of the houses go all out with the Xmas lights…they’ve done it since I was a kid and it’s like a charity thing now. So we go and take the kids down for a walk to see all the lights etc

We live near each other we are off to tulleys this year and I know exactly the road you mean!!!!

 

[kelly123]

Next have loads of Christmas stuff on their website now but I just don't need anything.

Yes you do…….

 

[Hastaggifted]

I really wanted to go to a European Christmas Market. I was looking at strasbourg or Cologne but its so expensive. Maybe I should just go by myself

Yesterday my almost 16 year old son said he loves Christmas. I hope that's because of all the little things we do! Since he was little we spend a day going to the garden centres and the range to look at all their decorations and then into the cafe for a slice of cake. We've done longleat Santa train and the festival of lights a few times but when we went in 2021 santa was behind a perspex sheet and you weren't even allowed close. Put me off paying all that money so haven't been back since. I might just book the festival of lights, I haven't decided yet.
There's a garden centre here that have Santa's real reindeer. Kids love visiting those! It's free and it's not usually busy at it isn't advertised.
We have a garden centre that does a walk through which is really good with Santa at the end.
Arthur Christmas & The grinch are our favourite Christmas films.
Making "gingerbread" men (shortbread because 2 out of 3 kids and husband don't like gingerbread, weirdos)
I do the Elf but I don't moan all over Facebook about the bastard elves! I just do it for the kids reactions. The younger ones talk about them all year. Their favourite was when they elves drew all over daddy's face.
My daughters birthday is Christmas eve so it's a tricky one . Around that we mostly spend Christmas eve prepping all the food and the table for Christmas Day.
Norad tracker on the tv, Christmas music playing. Board games etc. Then big bubble bath, new Christmas pyjamas. Carrot, milk and cookie then into bed for the big man.
Then we have to do the check that they are actually asleep. Presents out the loft etc. We've had to set a rule of you can't come out of your room before 5.45 because one year they were up at 4am and I'm not about that Christmas life.
They have to sit on the top step of the stairs while we check he's been. Always my favourite to see their excited faces. Always my favourite photo opportunity too. I don't really have a set Christmas breakfast, but lots of orange juice (the only day it's unlimited ) and pastries. They most just eat chocolate anyway.
My daughter thinks Forerro rocher are Christmas chocolates so she gets the big box of those and it's the best present ever
Teenager has requested a big box of lindt balls must think I'm rich

 

[Imjusta_Teenage_Dirtbag]

We live near each other we are off to tulleys this year and I know exactly the road you mean!!!!

Such a small world! Hope you have a wonderful time at Tulleys, we’ve done it a couple of times and even though it is pricey it is a good whole day event. We couldn’t have done it better last time with the snow though, how xmassey is that!

 

[Em_]

I always get my daughter the hot wheels advent calendar and then she gets a cheap 99p chocolate one off family (like you she never remembers the chocolate one). The works do a Julia Donaldson Book Advent Calendar which I'm going to buy as it looks fab!
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Awwwwww!! We do the novelty tree decoration too.. last year my daughter picked a blue sparkly tricerotops and he's still in my kitchen on the shelf but it's just lovely. We've got the ones from nursery too and then random ones. Christmas isn't about the aesthetic when you've got kids

I didn't know you could get a hot wheels advent calendar, I'll have to get one for my son, he's hot wheels mad at the moment, thank you for mentioning it.

 

[ems1982]

Such a small world! Hope you have a wonderful time at Tulleys, we’ve done it a couple of times and even though it is pricey it is a good whole day event. We couldn’t have done it better last time with the snow though, how xmassey is that!
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Oh wow!!!!!!! That’s like out of a film!!!!!! Incredible xxx