The Magic of Christmas at Home

What have we been up to recently? Have we a new family recipe we've loved we want to share? Do we want to highlight a particular area of Hertford? From National Make a friend day to pizza dough recipes you can find it here. We are specialist days out bloggers and when it comes to days out with the kids locally we aim to give you the lowdown. So do head over to our tried and tested pages too.

From Hertford's Number 1 mummy blogger (in google search results- last updated 24/9/21) and Tots100 chart featured parenting blogger and one of the leading mummy bloggers in Hertfordshire (Rank 3 in Google searches 24/9/21) and rank 4 in google searches for "Hertfordshire bloggers" (11/21). #kayleigh&theboys

Published: 1st November 2022

Santa

We know that for many of you this year is a little different and big fancy santas grottos may be out of budget.

It is also worth checking out any budget friendly grottos at local school fetes and winter fayres.

Or you could use the Portable North Pole App to create a magical video for your child from Santa

The spirit of Christmas

This year why not give something back this advent period. Perhaps start a reverse advent calendar for the local food bank or donate to HertFood. HertFood are putting together hampers and gifts for those in the local community who are struggling this festive period. Hertfood is liasing with local schools to ensure the gifts and hampers are received by those who need them most. Why not involve your children in the process and help them to learn to appreciate what they have and who they have this festive period.

Baking

Make Mince pies- cheat and use shop brought mince meat and ready to roll pastry.
Have a hot chocolate with all the trimmings whilst watching a Christmas movie. (We saw a great tip for making a homemade hot chocolate bomb here:)
Or how about some three ingrediant Candy Cane fudge? We have our own recipe here

Or even the most amazing slow cooker hot chocolate recipe.

Decorate a Gingerbread House

Either purchase a kit (ready made houses currently in Aldi for £5) or make your own for a fun filled festive activity.
Make your own magic reindeer dust, mix oats, sugar coloured with food colouring, bird seed and hole punched bits of coloured paper to make your own reindeer dust for xmas eve. Please place in a bowl inside your home if including sugar and paper. If intending to scatter outside please use oats and birdseed only.

Arts and Crafts

Salt Dough Decorations – 1 cup of flour to half a cup of salt and a small amount of water use Christmas cookie cutters to cut out xmas shapes and poke a hole through with a pencil. Cook on low in the oven for 3 hours or until dry (alternatively dry for up to a week in the airing cupboard) paint and decorate the tree.

Decorate your doors as snowmen

Make a bauble wreath how to here.
The Wonderden have some amazing craft packs to download here.

Buy rolls of brown paper and let the kids go crazy painting xmas shapes on it and use as wrapping paper .
Write your Christmas cards- get the kids involved too!
Raid that craft cupboard, use what you have. Have lolly sticks? Make lolly Christmas trees. Paper plates can be used to make snowmen, white paper can be used to create hanging snowflakes , the possibilities are endless.

Activites & Games

Scavenger Hunt - why not take part in our scavenger hunt here:
Build a Christmas grotto/den- prior to lockdown i visited poundlound and stocked up on lots of cheap xmasy bits that my children can now use to decorate their bedrooms. If you want to make this extra special why not book The Greatest Sleepover (pictured below) and TipTop teepees for a Christmasy sibling sleepover.

Movie night- Thanks the the wonders of Netflix, Amazon Prime, Now TV or Disney plus there are an abundance of Christmas movies. Theres some great ideas here.
Board games night- Why not invest in a new christmas board game this Christmas- theres some great ideas here.
Card games night- Not strictly Christmas related but theres something to be said for the humble card games such as Uno, Happy families and snap.
Create a 2021 wish list jar - all add things the family would like to do next year
Christmas Lego - I'm sure most of you probably have an abundance of Lego at home so why not embark upon a mass family lego building contest. There are some great ideas on Pinterest here.
Candy cane hunt- a simple cheap and cheerful activity. Hide Candy Canes all around the house and or garden and settle down to enjoy a cup of tea whilst the kids find them all. You could make clues if you wanted to.
Blast those xmas tunes- Christmas disco anyone? Put some christmas tunes on and throw an improtue Christmas disco.
Make paper chains- an oldie but a good one. Cut strips or paper and stick together and cover your home in paperchains.

Elf on the Shelf

Love him or loathe him Elf on The shelf has become a huge part of the run up to Christmas for many families. We've found 50 fun ideas for your elf this December.

Outdoor Local Activities

We hope that the yarnbombers will be back soon in some capacity so keep your eyes peeled!

You could also take a walk around your local area to see the Christmas lights for a socially distance activity why not take a walk into town and view the lovely displays.

We hope this has given you some festive ideas for how you can still put lots of sparkle and festive cheer into the run up to Christmas from the comfort of your own home.

Whatever you chose to do we wish you a festive period of love, family and making new memories.