Christmas Calendars 2012

Finished and hung, ready for tomorrow. Hurrah!

(And for those of you who want to know what is in this year's calendars, read this post)

Xmas is still coming!

Still working on the Calendars - realised today, with 1 day to go until they need to be hung, ready for Saturday morning, that I forgot to get stamps for the numbers.

Flashback to Kindy: cutting up potatoes to make shape stamps...

I wonder....

Yay! Saved the day. It wasn't so easy cutting them with needy child clinging to leg, but they're close enough -  they're for a 4 and a 2 year old, they won't notice.


Speaking of presents for a 4 and a 2 year old, their main presents, that I have been working on for the past few weeks, are coming along nicely.

They still need to have their bridles sewn down to stop them from sliding up the nose (see horse), I have some bells to sew on the sides, and of course, I still need to attach them to the sticks (which I won’t do until just before Xmas, as it makes them so much harder to hide!)  I'm so excited about seeing the boys' faces when they find these under the tree!


UPDATE - Here are the finished beasts on their sticks!:

 

A Birthday Present for Finn

In the mornings the boys love snuggling on the couch under blankets - we all have our own TV blankets - I made Max one last year and Andy and I have our own. Finn is now old enough to have his own, I hope they'll stop squabbling over who is using whose! This came from a super-duper easy-peasy tutorial from Cat Taylor Design. How fabulous is that navy and white shark fabric?

Xmas is coming...

Which means it's time to start organising and putting together Christmas Calendars for my two little lads. As I said last year, we always had calendars when we were little, and they are for me one of the most memorable things about Christmas when I was young.

Finding 24 little presents is probably a whole lot easier these days, compared to back when Mum was making them, with $2 shops popping up in every group of shops. However, it is still a challenge finding age-appropriate gifts, things that aren't wasteful - toxic plastic toys that break within half an hour - and toys that will be enjoyed and played with more than once. I also look for packs that can be separated, as even at the $2 shop it's pretty easy to rack up a big bill when buying 40 or so little presents!

This year I decided to supplement the little toys with activities - for each I made a card or a ticket to represent what it is we are going to do. Because of this I had to think a little more carefully about what goes on what date, making sure that activities fall on weekends or non-kindy days.

Since I had a number of people ask last year what was in all the packages, I have taken photos and written a list - but don't tell the kids!

Top row is for Max, bottom for Finn. There are only a few days when they get different presents.

From left to right, the 1st - 24th Dec:

1. Picture of Father Christmas from here, along with cotton balls to stick on his beard each day.











2. Activity: Visit Father Christmas in the Enchanted Forest (for a Santa photo)
3. Chocolate coin
4. Farm animals
5. Bubble mixture
6. M: Homemade learn-to-make-pompoms kit/F: Money box (Finn McMissile)
7. Sheriff badges
8. 5x 10c coins to put in money boxes

9. Activity: Go out for ice cream ($2 taped to pic of ice cream)












10. Chocolate coin
11. Balloons
12. Farm animals
13. Candy cane
14. Stickers
15. Farm animals
16. Activity: Pic of goose - off to feed the ducks/geese/swans.
17: M: Paint a Santa ornament/F: bubble mixture

18: Activity: Bake Christmas biscuits (Christmas cookie cutter)












19: Chocolate coins
20: Glowsticks
21: Police badge

22: Activity: Visit to Transport Museum












23: Stickers
24: Candy cane

All wrapped up they look like this:

All that's left to do is make the calendar!