Christmas gifts for mums and mums-to-be

My final gift guide for you today!

Mum's are kind of the forgotten ones when it comes to Christmas time. With the hustle and bustle of getting everything ready and buying all the gifts, it's the perfect time to treat the mama in your life.

One thing I'm big on for mums is self care, because we all know that mum's never put themselves first so it's the job of the gift givers to push mum's into treating themselves.

So my gift guide for mamas and mum's to be is packed with treats and good stuff!

Christmas Gifts for your fave foodie

Christmas is all about the food right?
Well it is for me anyhow, after the presents, of course!
And one thing I love is foodie presents, and luckily, so does Dann. However we have pretty much all the standard kitchen utensils, so I've been on the look out for new and obscure bits.

So my foodie gift guide, perfect for the food fan in your life, who spends all their time in kitchen.

Christmas Gifts for a Photography Fiend

You guys know I'm like the biggest photography fan ever right? I'm still learning, and feel like I could keep learning new things every single day, but I love photography and camera stuff.
To be fair, if you've been reading this blog for a while you'll know how much I adore photos, so I think this might be my favourite of all my Christmas guides. 

For your favourite photography fiend and camera lover, here's my top pics.... (yes that was intentional!)

Christmas Gifts for your geek friend

I always always find Dann incredibly difficult to shop for, in fact, guys in general are pretty hard to shop for. So my fail-safe is always geek inspiration.

Of course I know that not all geeks are guys, but I will admit this guide was inspired by the guys in my life, and a little something, something for the geeky girls.

So I've pulled together some of my absolute favourite geeky gifts, perfect for any lovable nerd.

Christmas Gifts for a toddler

Christmas shopping for kids, particularly babies and toddlers, can be a bit of a mine field. What do kids really want? And possibly more importantly, what does mum and dad want the kid to have?

To kick off my gift guide season, I've put together a few of my favourite finds, perfect for toddlers - including a mix of keepsake items, as well as role playing toys and educational and fun play room additions.

#OneLessWorry How We Get Christmas Ready

My favourite time of year is almost upon us, but I have to admit I usually start my Christmas prep way before December hits.
I like to think I'm a pretty organised person, and that quality seems to go into over-drive when I start planning Christmas.

One of my favourite things about Christmas is actually the present buying. I just love buying gifts, and I really love shopping for them. Searching out that perfect gift just gives me a little buzz, especially when I know they are going to love the gift.

But this means preparing early as one thing I have learnt from becoming a mother is shopping centres, kids and crowds are a cocktail for catastrophe, even if the pushchair does give you ample storage for all those bags.

Photobook fun with Lifecake

We're a little obsessed with photos... in case you hadn't noticed. 

I take literally so many, and I can't share them all on social media. Well I could but I think a lot of people would probably start to get a little frustrated with the photo spam. 

And I really think my photography addiction has escalated since I had Henry. I just don't want to miss a cute photo opportunity, or capture a memory. 

Although I do really believe in being in the moment too, I just can't help having a camera in hand to grab those candid moments and the fun family photos. Plus I have literally the worst memory, so I find having photographic evidence really helpful for remembering all our little adventures and family moments. 

Since last year, we've been using the Lifecake app to store a good (read very high) percentage of Henry's photos. These include ones of him on his own, but also family ones too. And we basically have an online photobook, in time order (the app reads the meta data of the image and orders them in date order based on the image information - though you can edit if it isn't correct). You can read all about the app in this post from last December - look out for the very cute Henry photos at six months old!!

Although I do love having all our images backed up (again... I literally have our photos backed up in so many places as I worry I'm going to lose them all!) and the timeline is fab, nothing beats real printed images. 

I, of course, have photo albums to put my printed off images, because they are my ultimate faves. But I also really love photobooks, especially as gifts. 

Lifecake have now introduced their own photobook* service, and I was asked to make a little video all about the process.

Christmas Eve box

We're properly getting into the Christmas spirit over at our house, and are loving creating lots of new traditions for our little family. After all, Christmas is all about family and traditions.

One of the things I've seen on Pinterest and Facebook over recent years is Christmas Eve Boxes, and I fell in love with the idea. Of course, having Henry meant I needed to start the tradition straight away.

I love the idea of getting the Christmas joy started as early as possible (in December, I'm not completely insane), we get our decorations out on the 1st December and do little trips out to the local Christmas Markets. We have an advent candle, and next year will do advent calendars too. This year though just made sense to start our Christmas Eve Box, and I thought I'd share how I've done it, and on a budget too.

Remember when we lived here - a keepsake to remember

You guys know how much I love books. I mean I've talked about them enough over the last few months haven't I?
The thing is I loved books as a little girl and would literally be reading all the time. It was a running joke in my household that you couldn't get my attention as I always had my nose in a book. And I have so many fond memories of the books that shaped my childhood (some of which you can read about here) that I want to make sure that Henry gets that same experience.

I really think books make the most perfect gifts. Maybe it was your favourite book from when you were little (like when Alice and Arran bought Funny Bones for Henry just because they adored the book as a kid), or it was a book you really wanted to read but never got the chance to (we have the entire Faraway Tree collection from Emily, which I have never read, but am so looking forward to reading to Henry when he is older), or maybe it's a book that they can treasure forever.

Earlier in the month I wrote about Lost My Name and their amazing personalised books. We adored their first book, so were over to moon to receive their second one - The Intergalactic Journey Home*. Whereas the first book talked all about creatures that spelled out your little ones name, The Intergalactic Journey Home is space themed, but ends with your little one coming home - and of course it's personalised to your actual home.

Lost My Name - the perfect children's gift

I love books.
I love children's books.
I love books as gifts.
So a children's book as a gift is like the perfect present to me.

The thing with books,is that can create the most amazing memories - more so than any toy. They're pretty timeless, especially if they're taken care of. They can become hand-me-downs to your children, and kept for nostalgic reasons for decades. You can see some of my own children's books in this post, which I will be reading to Henry.

Anyway, I always like books as a gift. I don't think you can really go wrong with them. You can get classics, or pop-ups or something modern. Or you can get something truly personal.

The Lost My Name books* are pretty much the perfect gift for a little one. Something they can keep forever. A story about them that will stay with them til adulthood.
(there's a 15% off link at the end of this post too so you can get your own!)

Wild friends for little dreamers - Kippins Baby Comforter

Who knew babies would need so many toys?

But all those toys are a huge part of babies development, from teaching them different textures and colours, to comforting them. 

I'm a big believer in multi-tasking, especially when it comes to children's toys.

So when I was sent the Kippins Baby Comforter* by Crab and the Fox, I knew it would be a hit with me and Henry. 

FOOD: Homemade Honeycomb (aka Hockey Pockey)

This year for our friends and family we are putting together little packages of homemade bits and bobs for Christmas. We're trying to save money and doing Christmas on a budget this year, but wanted to show we'd put lots of thought and effort in, and what better way than homemade yummy treats.

I thought I'd share one of my recipes for you, which I think you'll all love, and it's super simple to make, and kinda fun as it's a little bit like a science experiment.

This recipe is from Nigella Lawson, and can literally be made in 10 minutes.

What you need
100g castor sugar
4 tablespoons Golden Syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons Bicarbonate of Soda
Greaseproof paper for the tray

How to make
Mix the sugar and golden syrup together in a pan off the heat
Place pan on the heat and melt the mixture. It will then start to bubble (approx 3 minutes) - do not stir, swill the pan if you want to but no stirring
Remove from the heat and add the bicarb
Immediate whisk the mixture (this is the fun sciency bit) where it will foam and go a light gold colour
Pour onto a tray (use greaseproof paper to make it easier)
Let it set (put in the fridge to help
Once set smash, and put in a box/tin

Store in the fridge until gifting

We're also adding a tag to our boxes saying it is best served chilled.
It also goes well crumbled on top of ice cream or a fruit crumble!