October is here and that can mean only one thing!!
Halloween ๐
I love a bit of Halloween, mainly because bats are my favourite animals, and it’s their time to shine, but also because I love a good horror film and I just love the spooky, autumn aesthetic.
Each year, I make a little Halloween hamper of sorts for my Nephews and Niece, and since the whole ‘Boo basket’ trend is going around, I thought I’d do my kids’ take on one…
Here they are!
Ideas for fun things to include…
Firm favourites with kids at the moment… slime! And fidget poppers. Both of these are only a few pounds in Tesco.
A cute little Halloween themed teddy. One of my nephews loves spiders, so I’m sure he will love that. Then I got the cute little pumpkin for my nievlce and the cute little frankie for my other nephew.
Some fun little cups which I’m sure they’ll get lots of use out of!
I also like to get them something to do or something crafty. These little ‘Paint your own wooden characters’ Halloween themed, of course, are from Asda for 2 (each pack has 2 characters inside!)
And finally…
Some edible goodies!
What’s Halloween without a sugar overload ๐ ๐คฃ
I picked up the good old classic Freddos from Tesco in a multipack, and the Halloween chocolate lollies are from Aldi.
Fingers crossed, they will enjoy these! Hopefully, this has given you some inspiration if you fancy putting one together, too.
A few weeks ago it was mine and my twin sisters’ 33rd birthday – woohoo! It actually fell on a Sunday which was the day we were actually born.
Here is how we spent our birthday weekend…
Saturday
We started off the Saturday with a delicious lunch at Revs. The sun was shining big time.
Me & Sarah (along with my husband Tim) met our friend Dan there.
Me & Sarah shared some delicious picky bits. The tater tots with garlic & chilli butter were INSANE. I was really impressed with all of the food and I’d love to go back.
We also had a bit of fun taking some photos in the photobooth โ๐ผ
Once Tim and Dan had gone home me and Sarah went to Boom Battle Bar. We had a round of Mini Golf and did a spot of basketball on the machines. We each had a frozen cocktail each to round off the afternoon.
We picked up some smaller picky bits on our way home from town and ate those before having a nap (because, sun โ๏ธ) and then went to the cinema. We watched ‘Fall Guy’ (with Tim too!) It was really good.
Sunday
Sunday was our actual birthday, so we decided to meet up for a nice brunch and do our usual present exchange together. We went to this lovely brunch spot along the waterfront – again, the sun was shining beautifully (we got very lucky with the weather!!)
Delicious!
Once we had eaten, our respective families got together at our Mum and Dad’s to open our presents from them.
Me & Sarah also got a little spontaneous birthday present for ourselves (pic below) ๐
In the evening we enjoyed a nice family meal together with our older Sister, Mum, Dad, Brother in laws, Nephews, and Niece.
Here’s to year 34! Let’s see what it will bring ๐โญ๏ธ
I love stockings and finding little bits to go in them, (helping out Santa obv!)
I generally go by the rule of something edible, something to do something to wear, something to pamper and something fun/silly!
I feel like the fun/silly present is easier to be more specific, depending on who the stocking is for…
So, here are some general ideas for you!
A book ๐ Festive theme optional.Because is there anything for festive than a Chocolate orange ?!A pampering face mask!A useful item but also nice to receive, u think they are handy and its always nice to try new ones.Something fun! A little game like Top Trumps, Uno or Dobble are great for Christmas morning/day time for a bit of fun. I love Dobble.A new Christmas decoration. Little personalised or initial ones are cute.A CLASSIC. No explanation needed.A little filled bauble with some treats! Cute and a little different.Christmassy socks! Or cosy ones. Either way, who doesn’t love a sock (and they are always handy hey!)
Another little pamper product such as a bath bomb or something similar. Lush have some funky, festive ones.
Today has been both festive, productive and fun.. my kind of weekend in the run up to Christmas.
Me & hubby had a little lazy start, followed by a yummy breakfast because there is no better way to start a weekend.
After that I went Christmas shopping with my sister, which was fun!
And we well and truely shopped until we dropped.
But, I managed to get the everything that I needed!! Which is awesome.. I mean, I nearly lost an arm under the weight of my bags, but its all good because the Christmas shopping is done!
When I got home from town I had a nice, relaxing, festive bath.
Gotta love a Lush Festive Bath product.
This one smells so good and is a reusable bubble bar! ‘Elfie Stick’
It was so nice to chill after a fun but hectic time in town.
Feeling refreshed, I have now spent the evening sorting out what I bought, wrapping some more presents.
Super festive!
I’m now about to start decorating our second tree… because I decided one was enough and so I grabbed another one today, in town.
I love getting a bit creative at Christmas and adding that personal touch to my gifts.
Hampers are a great way of doing that.
You can select things that are super festive as well as things that you know someone will love, thereby adding your personal touch.
My festive faves to add to a hamper are:
โขMince Pies โขChocolate โขSavoury bits
โขStollen โขNuts โขBiscuits โขSweets
To add a personal touch I like to add:
โขTheir favourite chocolate โขVouchers
โขBath bombs โขShower gel โขBooks
If you are making a family hamper I like to add:
โขChocolate Santa’s โขChocolate coins
โขMini games โขCard games โขPuzzles
โขTheir fave toy โขCraft packs โขSweets
Food is one of the best parts of Christmas and making someone something they can enjoy and share is great if they are harder to buy for or if it is a shared, family present.
This is also a great present for older relatives such as grandparents, aunties & uncles etc.
You can pick up hampers from loads of shops:
โขThe Range โขB&M โขHome bargains โขThe Works โขTK Maxx
They come with the shredded paper in the bottom, cellophane and a ribbon which adds that finishing touch to your hamper.
I always put my hamper into the cellophane diagonally, in the centre and then gather up the edges of the cellophane above the basket and tie with the ribbon. You can then neaten it out and rearrange the cellophane as necessary.
Getting the cellophane part right can take a few goes, YouTube videos are great if you havn’t done it before.
I can’t believe it’s now less than 10 days until Christmas day!!
I love the build up to Christmas and I feel like it is going so quickly this year.
I’ve used the weekend just gone to get the last of my Christmas shopping done
I havn’t had time for a late night shopping trip this year, which is a shame, so I thought I would head into town on Saturday and finish up.
Armed with my list and some determination to finally get it done I managed to power through and grab all the last little bits that I needed.
It was quite a chilly day which did make it feel quite festive and with the Christmas lights on and the Christmas market in full swing it was quite lovely.
So festive ๐โ
Before I headed to the football with my dad I had enough time to stop at a coffee shop for a nice, warming caramel latte and a little read of my new Christmas book.
(The Christmas stocking & other stories by Katie Fforde)
I felt very Christmassy after this. All we need to do now is get the last foodie bits for a few hampers I am putting together and of course Christmas party/snacky bits. We are going to grab these when we do our food shop.
This year, as Noah is now 4 and old enough to get involved, I thought it would be nice to create our own shoebox present for the Shoebox appeal (Link above to the website if you’d like more info)
The appeal consists of sending your own christmas present to a child in need, in a different country.
You wrap up a shoebox, choose a gender/age range and fill the box up with age appropriate toiletries, toys, games, accessories, arts and crafts, writing tools and so on, and send it off to the appeal to be delivered to a child in need.
Noah really enjoyed picking out the items to go in the box for ‘the little boy’. He wanted to give it to a little boy who is the same age as him (4 years old).
We went into town and into Wilkinson’s (Wilko), to see what we could find to fill our box. Wilko has a variety of departments so I thought this would be a good place to go to get lots of different things for the box.
Wilkos is brilliant and their stuff is so reasonably priced that it is perfect for a project like this.
–Stickers –Colouring pencils –Chunky Crayons –Plain sketch book –Pencil case stationary set including pencils, rubbers etc –Two different sized note books –Paint set with brush –Superhero stickers –Pirate colouring/activity book.
Once we had got everything that we wanted we headed home. Sarah wrapped up the box for us and then we filled it up with the goodies we had bought.
Its lovely to think that a child will receive the items you chose, and that they will get something fun but also useful. We are very lucky to be in the position that we are in so its nice to give something back.
There will also be a video up on mine and my twin sisters youtube channel ‘Roseanne & Sarah’
Roseanne Byford 