Easter Alternatives - Gift Ideas For Kids

It's more than likely that your little ones will receive plenty of sweet treats from friends and family this Easter, so you may wish to avoid any extra E numbers by purchasing chocolate-free gifts!

Whether your child is 2 or 10 these ideas should help you pick the perfect present.

• Frizzie the Lamb and Diva the Canary are part of the 'My Blue Nose Friends' collection, featuring a blue nose and patches, and they are arriving in stores just in time for Easter! They are seriously soft to the touch so ideal for plenty of hugs and with their own unique character they are lovely for role play games and more. Frizzie is forever getting lost as she is a curious little creature whereas Diva loves to be the centre of attention! At £5 these are perfect for play this April - and even great for grown ups that collect them too.

• Yellow Moon is a firm favourite when it comes to crafts and their Easter product range is bound to please any creative child. With Scratch Art Egg Decorations, Suncatchers, Daffodil Wreaths and Easter Sprinkles galore they will certainly help to keep your kids entertained until they return to nursery or school. There are even Bunny Cards to make and send to loved ones! The Mini Mes really like these items, especially Minxy.

• The kids can enjoy a colour-in eggstravaganze this April with a table cloth, bunting and Easter egg hunt clues to doodle on from Eggnogg. Colouring is not only ideal for rainy days indoors, it has endless benefits for children when it comes to concentration, imaginative and coordination skills - they can learn while having fun without evening knowing it! The bunting will decorate the garden nicely and the table cloth keeps little ones busy while waiting for their Easter feast. The Mini Mes have really liked colouring a different section each mealtime and finding how many eggs and birds there are in total.

• You might worry about your child's sweet intake but you can feel guilt-free with Goody Good Stuff with their all-natural gum range. They are free from fat, meat, dairy, alcohol, gluten, egg, nut, soy and gelatine so ideal for allergies too. We really like the Strawberries & Cream and Tropical Fruit flavours in particular but there are 8 varieties to choose from something for every taste. A great food gift without the chocolate.

• With Eggling you can grow your own plants at home this Easter, inside an egg - its fun and educational for kids! The egg already contains peat mixture and seeds so it's as simple as cracking the top with a spoon, adding a splash of water and then popping in some sunlight to create your indoor garden. The kit comes complete with a terracotta tray and extra seeds to use. Once your plants have grown for as long as 5 months within the egg you can place it directly into soil to continue flourishing! There are three herbs, three flowers and four special edition Egglings to collect. 

What gifts will you be buying this Easter?

*We received the above products for the purpose of a post. The thoughts given are honest and our own*

3D Christmas Tree Craft

I remember doing this craft at school when I was little, my parents still bring it out each Christmas, so I thought it would be nice to create some 3D Trees with the Mini Mes too!

It's very simple to do and ideal for building hand eye coordination and fine motor skills for toddlers and pre-schoolers in particular. It's still a nice decorative piece for older kids (and grown ups) too.

Equipment

Coloured card

Scissors

Pencil

Glitter Pom Poms

Glue Dots

Firstly, you need to draw a Christmas tree onto a sheet of green card, making sure both sides are identical so that it will balance and stand up once complete.

Next, put another sheet of card behind it and cut the drawing out so there are two identical trees.

Cut a slit in one tree from the base to the centre and then cut a slit from the top to the centre on the other tree. This is so they slot together.

Decorate your trees with whatever you wish. 

We used glue dots to minimise mess and glittery pom poms for a festive look! We got these and some other Christmas craft materials from Yellow Moon.

Once you slot the two pieces together they should stand alone.

You can add a star on top too for a finishing touch.

What Christmas crafts have you been making?

WIN a Craft Bundle from Yellow Moon #ChristmasGiftGiveaway

Christmas is a great time to get crafty! Making gifts with the kids is not only good fun but it can save you pennies too. You can also make your own Christmas decorations so your home has a special personalised touch this December.

Yellow Moon is a favourite shop of ours as they have a huge variety products at affordable prices.

They have kindly provided a box of items to ensure you and your family can get creative too!

• This pack of 4 tealight holders would be a lovely stocking filler for your own little night owl when decorated with a selection of fine tip porcelain pens.

• Each knitting kit includes yarn, 4mm plastic knitting needles, stuffing, plastic needle, self-adhesive felt decorations, wiggle-eyes, ribbon bow and instructions to create 2 cute seasonal items.

• You can make your tree sparkle with this lovely sequin bauble kit. A great craft activity that develops hand eye coordination and pattern skills too.

• Bracelets and key rings make great presents for friends and a bumper bead pack will help you to make quite a few with plenty of cord and elastic included.

*** WIN ***

For your chance to win a bundle of craft goodies from Yellow Moon you can enter via the Rafflecopter entry form below.

The giveaway closes on 1st December 2013.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Make sure you enter the previous competitions and return tomorrow for our next #ChristmasGiftGiveaway!

You can find out more information here: 

http://www.theminimesandme.com/2013/10/christmas-gift-giveaway-2013.html

7 Rainy Day Activities - with Yellow Moon

Living in the UK the weather is rather unpredictable and more often than not there will be cloud and rain and you probably won't want to venture outside! We received a lovely box of goodies from Yellow Moon recently, which came in very handy when the weather was against us earlier this week, and it definitely turned our frowns upside down. 

Tattoos

Glisten Up and Novelty tattoos are really easy to apply and remove when needed. The glitter ones were ideal for Minxy as she loves everything that sparkles and I even added one to my wrist too! She was able to select which colours she wanted and add the glitter herself making them quite a personalised product and a great value item for kids.

The novelty pack was unisex in the way it contained a selection of images that both boys and girls will appreciate and while Minxy opted for the cupcake Jamster was keen to try the pirate and dog!

Balloon hats

These were really great fun and a new activity we hadn't tried before. I did fear they would pop but they were rather robust and could handle some squeezing and twisting without any problems. I was pleased by how easy the instructions were to follow and I managed to make make Ascot, Cap and Crown hats on my first attempt with the set.

Neon Nail Art Kit

This was a favourite of mine as the colours were amazing! Having a nail art pen and gems combined with bright polish is a great idea as it takes minimal space up within your bag and keeps everything organised. It was simple to apply and Minxy liked drawing on her (and my) nails to add some pretty patterns.

Great for a mum and daughter night in!

Animal Sticker Activity Books

Even at 7 and 9 the Mini Mes love stickers and theses are ideal for keeping little ones entertained. The books have three themes; Sealife, Jungle and Dinosaurs and as they contain a variety of dot-to-dots, crosswords and other puzzles they will keep children busy when it's too miserable outdoors.

Super Gliders

In a pack of 12 there are plenty to go around and they are quick to make up and play. Seeing how far and high they would fly is great fun for old and young alike. 

There is little risk of damage to your home as they are light weight and they are very well priced - an ideal party bag product!

Face Painting

This is something the Mini Mes always enjoy as it can transform them into favourite characters and super heroes in a matter of minutes. The kit contained 6 face paint sticks, 2 sponge applicators and 6 stencils for face painting - it was really easy to do especially as there are small holes in each stencil to attach elastic or string to keep them in place.

Design a Gift Bag

This is a great way to style your own picnic, shopping or loot bag (or anything else you wish to use them for) and Minxy decided to use ours for both her lunch and as party bags. They worked well with pencils and felt tips and she spent some time decorating them to perfection. I'll be keeping these in mind with Halloween approaching!

What activity would you recommend for wet weather days?

*We received a selection of products from Yellow Moon for the purpose of this review. The opinions given are honest and our own*

My Mother's Day that was... crafts, shopping and pizza

I'd hoped for a bit of a lay in but the excited Mini Mes first burst into my bedroom at 7.59 on Sunday with lovely homemade goodies and then again a few minutes later with gifts they had purchased with the help of the Mr. I really like the things they make for me, they are from the heart, and I like to pop them away in their memory boxes for them to see when they are older. It's nice to look back in years to come and see how their skills have developed and remember good times.

 

 

 

The Mini Mes had taken our Yellow Moon delivery to their rooms the day previous to make me some gifts secretly, I was told to stay downstairs, and as only glue was required I didn't object to having some peace and quiet! Minxy coloured in 1 of 4 lovely mum pop up card for me which came complete with envelope and made a pretty pink best mum rosette style badge which she said she had found easy to do without my help. Both she and Jamster had a go at some scratch art hearts and wrote little messages to me with the wooden sticks supplied. This is a simple craft and as magnets can be attached to the back they will be popped on the fridge soon with some photos inside the centre - A lovely personalised keepsake. Jamster had also made a teapot trinket box and decorated it with foam stickers. He said it is to store all of my pens in and wedding rings when I get married!
 

 

 

 

Next we had a lovely breakfast at Wetherspoons and met up with my sister, her boyfriend and my parents, as a surprise for my mum, for a little retail therapy... although she ended up treating me to new lingerie and some nice bits from Lush too! In the evening we headed to Pizza Hut for dinner where the Mr and I shared a Meat Feast and the Mini Mes had pizza and unlimited access to the ice cream factory.

Smiles all round.

 

Did you enjoy Mother's Day?