Preparing for Christmas crafting

As he approaches 3, for the first time this year Harry is anticipating Christmas (even if much of what he knows about it has been gleaned from Peppa Pig). It's an exciting time of year for little ones, and so I want to make the most of it with him. I started collecting Christmas crafting things in the sales last year and have picked up a few bits this year too. I also purchased a fantastic wooden advent calendar, which I've been after for a while, and I'll be putting together some ideas for little treats to put inside.

So now I'm going through all the things that I've collected and putting together some kits to make up some Christmas crafty things (look out Grandparents!). We're also off to Center Parcs in December for the third Christmas running, and rather than pay a fortune for him to do the Christmas crafts there I'm going to get some activities ready that he can do in our villa to help keep him in the festive mood. Last year I printed out lots of Christmas colouring sheets and took blu-tack to stick them up around the walls.

I like to buy craft packs that contain lots of themed bits that you can either use to put together the suggested items or to come up with something yourself. These are usually around in the sales after Christmas in supermarkets.

I've also had some luck with Ikea in the post-Christmas sales - you can often pick up plain ornaments for, quite literally, pennies which you can then decorate yourself. I'm still thinking about what to do with these shiny baubles, I'm wondering about sticking coloured tissue paper on to them and adding paint or glitter glue.

Every year after Christmas I diligently cut out the pictures on my Christmas cards with zig zag scissors. I use them to make gift tags for the next year, but have far more than I'll ever buy presents, so I'm sure we can come up with a way of using them.

Below is just a small selection of my Christmas themed craft bits. I've got lots of ideas! The only thing that I'm never sure how to use are those pom poms, we've collected quite a few. They are always difficult to get to stick to anything. I've got some lollipop sticks and googly eyes, so maybe snowman puppets or plant sticks.

Whatever we make I'm sure there will be lots of glitter involved. It's not Christmas crafting without glitter!