Our Christmas Eve hamper

Our Christmas Eve hamper

  

I've already shared with you one of our new Christmas traditions we've tried for the first time this year - our reading advent calendar. Another tradition I thought I'd start was to make up a hamper of goodies for us all to share on Christmas Eve and I thought I'd show you what I've decided to put in it this year. With all Christmassy things, there can be a tendency to go crazy - it's tempting to buy every single Christmas decoration and every Christmas jumper and it can all get very expensive and become over the top. I haven't spent an awful lot of money on the items in our Christmas Eve hamper. Instead, I've tried to think of things that could be brought out on Christmas Eve year after year, in order to keep costs down. I'm well aware of just how expensive Christmas with children can be, particularly now that we have two of them!

The idea of a Christmas hamper is really rather simple. You get a large hamper/basket and fill it with things that can be enjoyed in the run up to the big day. Again, as with the reading advent calendar, the items can be new or things that your children already own or use - bringing old items out that haven't been used for a while is exciting too! The hamper itself I purchased from eBay but for a more inexpensive solution, you could use a cardboard box and wrap it in Christmas paper. Another idea might be to make up individual shoeboxes for each child instead. I decided to make a single hamper, as Isla is not really old enough to use most of what's gone into it this year, so it made sense just to make a joint one.

The first items I purchased for the hamper were a Christmassy DVD (The Snowman) and a copy of 'The Night Before Christmas.' The DVD gives us the perfect opportunity as a family to snuggle down together before bedtime, when the vegetables for the Christmas dinner are prepared and everything's ready for the big day. I lined the hamper with this huge cosy fleece blanket (Primark, £6) and this will keep us nice and warm whilst we're snuggled up on the settee.

Next up, we have the snacks, an absolute essential for film-watching! Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without chocolate, so I've included some gold chocolate coins and chocolate Santa and reindeer figures (these ones are hollow with smarties inside). To go with this, I picked up some Wispa hot chocolate and bought a new Christmas mug to put it in.

A major part of the preparation on Christmas Eve involves getting ready for Santa's arrival, so I've included some items for Tommy to give Santa, who'll be incredibly tired from travelling the globe and need something to keep him going! For Santa, I've put in a small box of cookies, a carrot for his reindeer and some reindeer food. The reindeer food, mug and cookies came as a set from Primark for £4. If you can't find any reindeer food (to be honest I imagine it's pretty hard to come by!), you could use porridge oats sprinkled with glitter instead. We intend to sprinkle ours outside the front door. I found a gorgeous little platter for Santa from Matalan (£6), which reserves a space for the reindeers' carrot, Santa's drink and his cookies.

Another important part of the preparation for Christmas Day is the hanging of our stockings, so I had two personalised ones made and have placed these in the hamper for hanging up on Christmas Eve.

Also included in the hamper (well not quite in - it was far too big!) is a 'Santa - please stop here' sign I picked up from our local garden centre. We'll stick this in the ground outside our house. I've also bought a magic key for Santa from eBay. He'll need it because we don't have a chimney for him to travel down!!!!

Last but not least, I've included a new pair of wintery/Christmassy pyjamas for Tommy and Isla to wear on Christmas Eve. I struggled to find Christmassy pyjamas in Tommy and Isla's sizes this year for some reason, perhaps because I left it quite late this year. Next, Primark and Matalan all have some nice ones. These ones were bought from Asda - Isla's were £6 and Tommy's were £8.

I'm hoping that the hamper helps build up the excitement towards Christmas Day. In addition to the items in the hamper, we also plan to track Santa's progress across the globe via the Internet and, depending upon its timing, watch out for his sleigh in the night sky (or the ISS as it's otherwise known).

Here are some other ideas for gifts for your hamper: Christmas socks/slippers, hot-water bottle, Christmas craft packs, door-hanger for Santa, Christmas-themed earrings or reindeer antlers, a Santa hat, Christmas bath bombs, popcorn, a special outfit for Christmas Day or a new teddy. I'd love to know what you have/are planning to put in your Christmas Eve hamper this year if you're doing one!