There's nothing I love more than the festive season. The pretty twinkly lights, rich delicious food, and the festive feel good music played at every opportunity. It can be such a busy time however, and one thing I truly love doing is spending some time making with my kids. We all get some quality time together, and at the end of it, we come out with either some kind of Christmas decorations to adorn the house with, or homemade gifts, so it's win win!
There’s no doubt about it, Christmas can be an incredibly wasteful time of year, and so the new ‘upcycle your own’ snow globe activity kit aims to counteract this. The kit comes with a selection of Christmas trees, bells, tags, ribbons and eco glitter to get you started, and then you provide the rest. My kids had so much fun going through their nik-naks to choose which would sit perfectly in their respective jars (a mango chutney and old jam jar!). I often go through all their tiny things wondering what to do with them - it was so satisfying to see them used instead of squished down the back of the sofa! I’ve always had a bit of a thing for snow globes - maybe my over watching of Mary Poppins as a child. But I totally wanted to get in on this too, which is surely the sign of a great activity!
We made a pink panther snow globe in the end! I’ve had this since I was child and could never part with it, so it feels lovely being able to display it and give him a new lease of life! CeCe has pretty much shown everyone who’s entered the house and the jar's been shaken within a inch of its life! I think we’ve started what will become a new Christmas tradition! I love the thought of having a little line of them on the mantel piece.
Another activity box we have is the Christmas decoration kit. Thoughtfully designed, it has a little semicircle template with it which you can draw around to make beautiful circular patterns all over the wooden decoration pieces. The colours are such a lovely mix of festive and fun! I always forget how therapeutic painting is until I actually do it - this such a fantastic mindful activity for kids, in what can be such a heightened time.
I think the decorations look just as lovely as ornaments mixed in with all my household trinkets. Our tree can get on the ‘over-done’ side, so I love putting a few scattered amongst our other ornaments.