Saturday, November 07, 2009

Great gifts for before Christmas day!

and the winner is....





congrats Ike... look for a surprise in your mailbox shortly! Thanks to all for your comments. happy holidays!





As I was perusing websites for the next great holiday gift, I came across this shrinky dink holiday kit. What a great idea, a craft for us to do before the holiday as the buildup starts for the big day. Which then sparked my memory that it's time to order my legos advent calendars.

You see every year we get an advent calendar. And every year we exchange gifts with some old neighbors, still friends. So one year I ordered extra advent calendars and sent them early so they would have them before Christmas. I made sure to mark the box Please Do Open Before Christmas. Legos can be small for little kids and not so super for little girls,

so I found the littlest pet shop







and polly pocket advent calendars.





I see that they have My little Pony,












and Barbie calendars as well

Everyone loved their gift that year. I repeated for the next 2 years, until I came across the







Elf on a Shelf. Here's info on him here. We received him one year as a gift to enjoy early as well, you place the elf on a shelf somewhere in your home and he observes the children's and parent's behavior in the house each day and while we sleep reports back to Santa. Then next morning he appears in a different spot. The fun begins once you name him, read the companion book, and then trying to find him every morning. I must add that this tradition is a commitment as your elf needs to remember to report to Santa each evening, and finding new spots to appear can get challenging? My out of the area friends loved their elf on a shelf, my local friends already have one. I believe he's available at Hallmark now, so make sure he's still a novelty before you gift one. So this year I am back to the advent calendars, I even found that the legos from the years past are worth a substantial amount of money (unopened of course). As the boys get older one set will not do as they fight over whose turn it is, and some days are better surprises than others. So We really enjoy the playmobil sets.



We have, Christmas in the Park, and A Knight's Duel.
Compared to the legos, those pieces tend to last long as they don't have to be assembled.
I highly recommend amazon.com to order your calendars as they are very hard to find in stores, and amazon will mail them to the person you wish to receive them for you. I did see the legos advent calendar at Target with a $5.00 off coupon in their Christmas catalogue.



Some other ideas are Christmas cookies sets, you can buy sugar cookie mix, sprinkles and cookie cutters and send them as a kit. Or the gingerbread tree kit is worth the money.





Super easy to do and they come out pretty cute.
Have fun building up to the holiday. It's a memory maker for sure and adds to that reason for the season feeling.

Tell me some of your before Christmas, customs or traditions. I will pick a random winner Sunday November 15, 2009 at midnight and send you a shrinky dinks holiday tree for leaving a comment.



contest available to us residents only.



Suzanne

7 comments:

Misti said...

Hi, Suzanne! I love this! What memories. For us, our tradition is loading everyone up (grandma's included) and going out to look at Christmas lights. We turn on Christmas music in the van, take along some Christmas cookies to eat! It's a great time. I love to hear every ooh and ahh the kids make. Those are the most precious things. Merry Christmas to you and yours!

RR said...

We always have a huge potluck dinner. Good food and good friends, what could be better?

Unknown said...

How exciting! Our Christmas tradition also involves taking in the lights, but we do it right here in our neighborhood, and we walk! It is fun to bundle up, admire our neighbors decorations, and then come home to hot chocolate and a treat!

Ginger said...

I feel like I'm walking down memory lane right now!! LOVE the advent calendars! When I was a child, there was a live nativity at a local church. You stayed in your car and drove through a barn which was full of animals and of course, the holy family, wise men and angels were at the end. It was my favorite thing to do during Christmas and we usually went several times. I would love to find something like that close by (hint, hint, Ms. Researcher!) Hope to see you very soon!!

Susan and Brook Selby said...

love the shrinky dink holiday kit. We make shrinky dink ornaments each year as a way to commemorate the blessings we received the previous year.

Sarah Dupuis said...

Look at me, I've un-disappeared! We always do advent calendars and have a playmobile nativity, which my kids love to set up in the wrong places. Of course they do, they're my kids!

Ginger..Life College used to have this type of thing, but I don't know if they do anymore.Alternatively, you can go to Bethlehem Walk, but you walk through, not drive.

See you soon, I hope!

Sue daisy said...

just saw the playmobil nativity at target and learning express, figured we could get one to compliment the fisher price nativity set, where santa always end up in the manger.