Wyevale Garden Centre Santa Grotto Review

Wyevale Garden Centres have wonderful Santa's grotto this year at certain branches. We visited the Wootton, Northampton branch today and I can review in very favourably.

It is £10 per child (plus 50p booking fee) and the children meet Santa and his helpers, take home a real mini Christmas tree and receive a present.

Upon arrival we were greeted by the elves and put a magical seed in a pot.  We were then taken through to Santa who was just lovely.  My son knows he's not the real Santa as he's too busy but one of Santa's trusted helpers.  He did a fantastic job so can maybe have a Christmas bonus! He had a cracking joke which I won't spoil and with a little bit of Christmas magic the seed became a mini Christmas tree.

You are then lead through to another room where you can decorate your tree and have a look at the photo taken in the grotto.  The images were really good and we had 3 to choose from.  We paid £11 for 2 images in mounts. This is entirely optional and was not at all pushy.

I came away feeling thoroughly festive and with 2 happy children.  My daughter is 11 and sadly is in the non-believer camp (sob!) but was still happy with her gift and mini tree.  The grotto had a nice relaxed Christmas vibe with cheerful elves and a well planned and decorated layout.  We really enjoyed our experience and I would whole-heartedly recommend.

The Wootton branch was also offering free Christmas story telling but we missed the time slots which on Sunday were 11.30, 12.30, 1.30 and 2.30.  They are offering free activities on Saturday's and Sunday's throughout the festive period.

For more information or to book click on the link below.

Santa Grotto Link

Disclaimed: I was given 2 children's ticket in exchange for this review.  I paid for the photos myself  All opinions are 100% honest.

Foodbank Awareness in Northampton

I wanted to raise some awareness of food banks.  Unfortunately they are still needed and at Christmas time a lot of food bank charities ask for extra donations.  Your donations will help families & individuals in need.

For the last 3 years I have given a small donation to the Trussell Trust using the text service.  You can text FBUK14 plus the amount E.G. FBUK14 £5

You can make donations in several ways and there's loads of information on their website.  Links below.

In 2017 I found out about a local charity called Restore Northampton. 

Unfortunately hunger is not just a third world problem, right now in Northampton there are many people living on the edge of poverty and The Food Bank has been able to help 1000's households and families who have experienced a crisis of some type.  The Food Bank provides emergency packages for local families and individuals.

So I decided to make a food donation instead.  I took this to the centre on Sheep Street, Northampton (I had a slight problem with entry!!! If you go use the back door.) Donations can be taken Tuesday & Thursday 1-3pm. (Do check as this information was for 2017)

They have a suggested food list on their website which I have included for information.  It is mostly tins, dried food items and toiletries.  They are also running an advent calendar campaign.  They suggest a food item each day for you to collect and the full box is then donated on the 24th December. Suggested items so far are biscuits, nappies, coffee, toothpaste, tinned meat, shower gel and deodorant.

There are 14 locations for food donations.  The website has all the details.

Another local charity is the Hope Centre tacking homeslessness and poverty in Northampton.  In Northampton there are 60 rough sleepers every night. You can donate money or food/clothes but they do have specific requirements so please check first.
. If you are able or interested in donating you can click on the links for more info.

Restore Northampton

Trussell Trust

Northampton Hope Centre

Thanks for reading

Emma xxx

Merry Christmas

Easy Christmas Crafts

Here's some easy Christmas crafts to entertain the kids throughout December.

I'm not a crafty mum at all but honestly these are painless and the kids will have fun.

Easy Christmas Paper Bag Stars.  All you need is paper bags, glue stick and scissors.  Easy Peasy. Click on the red link below for full details.

Paper Bag Stars

Paper Bag Stars - Easy Christmas Craft

Easy Christmas Paper Bag Stars

White Clay Dough Christmas Decorations.  All you need is cornflour, Bicarbonate of soda water and ribbon. Click on the red link below for full details.

White Clay Dough

White Clay Dough Christmas Decorations

Merry Christmas

Emma xxx

Santa Grotto Review - Enchanted Forest Weston Favell Northampton

On Sunday I was invited to try out the new Santa's Grotto at Weston Favell.

This year they have gone for an enchanted forest theme with 120 real life fir trees! Believed to be the first live forest to be created in an indoor shopping centre, you walk through the fairy lit forest to meet the one and only Father Christmas/Santa.  Little ones can meet Spud and Eve Weston Favell's own elves and spot the animals as they walk through.  There is a small craft area at the beginning for children to decorate a tag and write their wish list.

I loved the real trees but I did think they would be more spaced out creating more of a forest walkthrough but the effect is nice. The lights are lovely and staff really good.  Santa's cabin is really cosy & well decorated just as you'd imagine.  Santa was very authentic and little ones will love him. 

My 7 year old said he did a very good job even though he's Santa's helper and must have been trained by the real Santa well so praise indeed. (He believes the real Santa stays in the North Pole because he's busy but sends helpers to the grottos.)

It costs £4 per child and my children both received a book as a gift.  If you book online there is a booking fee.

I think it was good value for money and a nice experience.  After you can purchase the usual photos and key rings.  I bought the basic package for £10 as it was a nice photo and my 10 year probably won't come to a grotto again sob!

The Grotto is open from 17^th November 2017 - 24^th December 2017. 

Address for those unfamiliar with Weston Favell is -
Weston Favell Shopping Centre
Wellingborough Road
Northampton
NN3 8JZ

You can purchase tickets following this link -

Grotto Tickets

Opening hours are -
19TH NOVEMBER - 18TH DECEMBER

Monday to Friday	12.00pm - 6.00pm
Saturday	10.00am - 6.00pm
Sunday	10.00am - 4.00pm

19TH DECEMBER - 23RD DECEMBER

Daily

9.00am - 6.00pm

24th December

9.00am - 3.00pm

Merry Christmas

Emma xx

Disclaimer: I received 2 tickets in exchange for this review.  I purchased the photos myself.  All opinions are my own & honest.

Easy Christmas paper bag stars!

The kids love craft projects but I'm not the most crafty mum.  Sewing/Knitting etc is not my thing. 

This craft is super easy and anyone can do it.  Paper bag fold out stars.

All you need is paper bags, glue stick and scissors.  Easy Peasy.

I bought my bags on eBay for £2 but you can get them in loads of places.

Stick 9 bags together. You glue in a T shape. Along the bottom and up the middle.

Once all 9 are stuck together cut a V shape at the open end.

Then put a T shape of the glue on the top bag and fan out and stick together.

Voila fold out beautiful stars.  You can use any colour and attach ribbon to hang in windows, fireplaces or your Christmas tree.  We found 9 bags worked best but if you used larger bags 7 would be fine.

Enjoy!

Emma xxx

Christmas love it or stress it

I LOVE Christmas but having spoken to people & read various blogs it strikes me we put too much pressure on ourselves to create a perfect day & spread ourselves too thinly.

For me Christmas is not just about THE day its the build up & traditions.   I'm by no means perfect & stress about the usual things like money, when am I going to have time to wrap the presents & what to buy that awkward relative but I don't stress about Christmas day itself.

A lot of people seem to worry about squeezing in as many relatives, locations and activities into 24 hours as possible and making it all perfect. Some peoples schedules are dizzying and just what is perfect?

How can you enjoy yourself if you are clock watching, wondering when you can finally stop being a taxi & enjoy a large drink or single handedly feeding 15 people the perfect roast.

For me as long as I've seen my friends & family in the lead up to Christmas seeing them on Christmas day isn't the number one priority. Don't get me wrong it's lovely to see people but it's also lovely to relax & enjoy your children & their excitement.  Plus isn't that what boxing day is for!  With regards to the meal isn't it just a posher roast.  Why stress about it?

I always organise a big friends & family get together a week or 2 before Christmas I see everyone in one large swoop and I love it.  I also think it eliviates the pressure to squeeze too much into Christmas day itself.

It's one of my favourite Christmas events & has become a tradition.   I also love our annual panto trip, the kids Christmas concerts, the tree buying, seeing Santa & garden centre bauble browsing.  These are my Christmas bursts of happiness. It's not just about Christmas day itself.

I guess what I'm saying is remember people spread the Christmas cheer over a few days & don't stress about making just one 24 hours in the whole year perfect.  Kids will cry maybe grown ups too. Drinks will be spilt & no one will eat the sprouts even though its a new wondrous recipe.

Remember to enjoy yourself & note to self remember next year to actually pay into the Christmas saving club not just join!

White Clay Dough Christmas Decorations

A few weeks ago I saw some beautiful white reindeer Christmas decorations on The Imagination Tree website.

The dough only used 2 ingredients plus water & looked straight forward so I thought I'd give it a go with the kids.

My first problem however was working out the quantities. The recipe is American so uses cups. After several Google attempts I think I've found the right measurements. I had no idea it was so varied. For example 1 cup of flour is 150 grams but cornflour is only 130 grams!

You need:

1/2 cup cornflour 65 grams

1 cup bicarbonate of soda 180 grams

3/4 cup water 180mls 

Mix the dry ingredients in a sauce pan.

Pour in the water and heat.

Use a medium temperature & stir continuously.

It will start to bubble & thicken. 

Once it begins to come away from the sides & form a ball remove from heat & cool.

Once it's cool enough to touch you can knead briefly & then shape.

We used star, snowmen, bell and holly leaf cookie cutters.

The stars didn't work as I couldn't get them out of the mould however the rest were fine.

Remember to make a hole to thread ribbon through. I used a plastic straw to do this. 

You can then either air dry for 24-48 hours or oven bake. The website I got the inspiration from suggested 1 hour at 100c but ours took approx 2 1/2 hours to dry out.

Once dry & cool we decorated ours with felt pen & holly ribbon. You could paint, use glitter pens or leave white.

We also tried a second batch with red glitter in but it turned the dough pink & I don't think we heated it enough as it was very sticky.

The kids loved making them & I would definitely attempt it again.  Ours are a little misshapen but lovely none the less.

Why don't you have a go?

If you do let me see your results. 

Emma xxx 

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