Christmas is coming and this means one thing, more toys to litter my home!

My little boy doesn’t have massive amounts of toys but still, my house is being invaded by the large ride on toys, diggers, cars, Duplo and various tools (can you guess I have a boy?! My attempts to infiltrate gender-neutral toys has not worked!). My little boy would love more toys and far be it for me to deprive him of these but I do find myself shuddering as my dream of an ‘all wooden, picture-perfect, grand designs living room’ fades off into the distant abyss, as more and more VTech trash enters my world. (Like  the dream living room could have been a reality anyway!)

So whilst I cant control what he receives, I may be able to influence Father Christmas and reduce the number of ‘treadable- swearables’ that will litter the floor of my house and eventually end up in the bin!

So here are some ideas for your little lodger‘s stocking this Christmas.

Stockings for me are one of the things that truly sums up Christmas for me. As a child, I  have vivid memories of waking up in the morning with pure excitement to a bursting stocking, sometimes because my mother had decided to give us a box of tissues that year and it was literally bursting out! All of the gifts inside were cleverly chosen to capture our attention, stop is in our tracks and ensure we didn’t leave our beds for at least another hour, so Father and MotherChristmass could get an extra minute in bed!

So my little boy has recently turned two years old, so alongside some dramatic tantrums, and the rather annoying repetitive phase of” I do it”  that haunts my getting out of the house in the morning, I also have a little monkey who likes to wake up early, 5:30am in fact! So my thinking this year is to get him to sit in bed for just one minute longer and let me and his dad have an extra minute in bed and this is my attempt to take on the role of Mumma Christmas and begin the tradition again.

A recipe for a toddler stocking:

1# The token tangerine. Those aware of traditional Victorian traditions will know that an orange was a treasured thing and even nowadays a stashed tangerine in the change bag can be a godsend! So that goes in first.

2# Chocolate coins. Now, these are optional, I know the that Christmas is full of chocolate for kids so feel free to change these for other things, even raisins or apricots. I, however, am a gluten for punishment and will include these. Who wants to negotiate with a sugar-induced toddler having a tantrum? I do!

Stockist: Fairtrade Chocolate Coins (These are fancy pants ones but cheaper ones can be found in the supermarkets and pound shops, as I’m sure you know already!)

3# Socks. Now these may sound boring, and they are, but my boy always needs socks! Wrap them up several times will keep them occupied for at least a few minutes.

Stockist: ZARA

4# Buttons. My little man loves treasures so I shall be including a selection jar of buttons, found treasures and a few stones (of course) which I will wrap up and he can enjoy pouring them out, never to be found again, probably in his bed, or better yet our bed.

Stockist: SewMuchtoDo

5# Toothbrush. [See 2#] This might be obvious considering the treats on offer over Christmas but my mother started us kids every year with a new toothbrush, and I’m continuing the tradition.

Stockist: Boots

6# Paintfree Colouring Book or Magazine. These are not only good for Christmas but for car journeys and cafes!

Stockist: John Lewis

7# Little music box. Optional, could drive you mad but it was so pretty!

 

Stockist: Tindalls

8# New shirt for Christmas day. We always had a new smart outfit for Christmas Day and this is something for them to open too.

Stockist: NEXT

9# Pretty wooden toys

Stockist: Unknown

10# Chocolate soldier. Now please don’t think I’m one for popping along to the V&A for all my Christmas gifts, I wish! But this was really nice and I loved how traditional is was!

Read more from Emily at:

www.instagram.com/mummasandmore