A letter to my 10 year old on his birthday

Darling boy, today is your 10th birthday and although I’ve known for some time that today you’d be waking up a whole year older, it’s a bit of a blow to realise that I’m now the parent of a human being in double figures. A ten year old no less!

2020 has been quite the year, mostly for reasons we would probably rather forget. You’ve endured this year with your characteristic cheerfulness and always been the one to crack a joke at the gloomiest moment and have us all laughing again.

This year has been a challenge for us all, you’ve tried your hardest during those long months of home schooling, which I’m sorry to say, we all grew to hate. You’ve been brilliantly brave about not seeing your friends, and not spending time with anyone but your fairly boring 40 something year old parents for months on end.

It shouldn’t be this way. You should be out in the park with all your friends after school, you should be huddled in the playground swapping Pokémon cards and going on Cub camps and all of those kind of things. Instead you are making the best of things and I’m incredibly proud of you.

It’s not been easy, being back at school has made a huge difference to you and your happiness and we’ve talked endlessly about your birthday plans. I’m sorry my love, there will be no traditional birthday party, but instead it’s a zoom party with some of your friends, and that’s fine.

We can’t even gather the whole family around the table for cake and celebrations. Instead there will be a socially distanced walk around the park with your Cousin and your favourite takeaway curry for tea. Of course your Dad and I will make a fuss of you and you can expect the biggest, most colourful cake you can imagine. But it won’t be the same.

I will make this up to you. I promise.

A letter to my 10 year old on his birthday

It’s hard to find some highlights to remember for this year. For me it’s been the small things, or what may seem small to anyone else. Being able to spend so much extra time with you has been brilliant. During lockdown we read more, did crafts together, went on walks, we baked and snuggled down to watch films together. Most importantly we laughed together and that saved me and I hope it helped you too.

Every day I’ve spent as your mum has been an absolute privilege. You are the brightest bean, you’re full of love and care and kindness for everyone you meet. I couldn’t imagine a day without a cuddle from my squidgy little baby. Although these days my squidgy little baby is almost as tall as me and has legs that go on forever.

Of course, with your new great age comes new responsibilities. Now you are ten we will expect you to tidy up after yourself, brush your teeth without complaint, help cook our evening meals and be able to find your own shoes in the morning (they’re normally where you threw them the night before).

When you were born, I wanted to raise a kind boy, full of care for others, and I think we’ve managed that. You are not perfect (a quick glance at your bedroom can confirm that); but you have all of the qualities which I hope will help you become a lovely and loving adult. I wish you believed in yourself and your abilities as much as we do, and as much as your teachers do too. You are brilliant.

Sometimes I find it hard to believe that my little baby is 10. Where did the time go? Thank you for filling the last ten years with love and laughter. I hope you have the best birthday we can manage during lockdown. If 2020 has taught me anything; it’s that stripping everything back to basics can make us appreciate everything all the more. And that life is sweet, especially with you in it.

Happy birthday to my best boy xxx

A letter to my 10 year old on his birthday

Free Printable: Nice List Certificate Template

Download your free Nice List Certificate printable here today!

Now November is upon us, my thoughts are turning to Christmas. As I write this, we are in the middle of a pandemic and we are locked down and unable to go out, winter is settling in for the season and there doesn’t feel like there’s too much to cheer about. This is why this year I’ve decided to go all out for Christmas.

It may be smaller than we’d like, we might not be able to go to church or meet up for celebrations with friends and family, but I will be decking the halls brighter than ever before. I want to bring some extra twinkle, sparkle and love into my home and one of the ways of doing that will be really pushing the boat out for my son.

The Twelve Days of Christmas at Tatton Park 2017

That doesn’t mean I’ll be spending thousands of pounds of the latest gadgets, games and gizmos; it means I’ll be sprinkling some extra Christmas magic about the place. Part of what I do every year is a Christmas Eve Box and it always, always brings good cheer. I never really spend very much on it, it’s just full of fun things to do on Christmas Eve and it’s as much a part of our Christmas as turkey and Christmas stockings!

One thing I’m adding this year is a Nice List Certificate. It’s a simple thing and a nice little addition to the box. It’s also free, which is also quite important this year when many people are tightening their purse-strings.

Download the Father Christmas version here

As I was making one for our use; I thought I would make two versions and make it available for you to download for free too. I made two versions because some people call the big bearded man Father Christmas and some call him Santa Claus. So I’ve made one of each and you can take your pick!

Download the Santa Claus version here

All you need to do is print it out and fill in the name of the child on the nice list. I’m hoping it will serve as motivation for an early night and no early morning Christmas stocking opening! Merry Christmas!

Free Printable: Nice List Certificate Template

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Retro Toy Review: Spirograph for a new generation

We were sent these Spirograph sets for the purposes of this post. All images and opinions are our own.

When I was a kid we would occasionally visit a distant relative who had an old second hand Spirograph set. Half of the bits were missing and you had to go hunting for a spare biro to use it; but it provided us with hours of rainy day fun. I’d forgotten all about it until we received a couple of Spirograph sets to play with. Happily they were delivered right at the start of two weeks of Covid isolation; good planning Mr Postman!

Retro Toy Review: Spirograph for a new generation

I remember Spirograph as being a bit tricky to get the hang of, but once you’ve got it, it was immensely satisfying. If you’ve never used one before, you pick two differently sized plastic rings from the set; stick the larger one down with the putty (or blu tack if you’ve lost your putty); put a pen though one of the holes in the smaller ring and run it around the inside or outside of the ring using the gears (notches on the edge of the ring). It creates gorgeous geometric patterns and once you’ve got the hang of it, it is ace!

The Original Spirograph Deluxe Set

This set includes over 45 pieces with precision parts, pens and a durable storage case. The reusable Spiro-Putty holds the fixed position Spirograph pieces securely in place on the paper. Making sure that the ring piece is locked in position will improve the accuracy of the finalised design.

Retro Toy Review: Spirograph for a new generation

It’s suitable for ages 8+ and contains all you need to get started on your Spirograph journey. It costs around £28 and is available from Argos and a range of other retailers.

We both sat at the table, read the instructions and started Spirographing. There is a knack to it, and sticking your rings down firmly first really helps, but once you’re up and running, it’s great fun. The set does come with some paper, but it’s wise to have extra pieces of blank paper to play about on first. It was really cool to be using the set again, and very cool to be introducing my son to it all too.

Original Spirograph

This is a great set for creative kids (and adults) and it comes in a great kit which you can transport out and about, should you wish to visit a relative and need some entertainment.

The Original Spirograph Scratch & Shimmer Set

Out of the two sets, this was my favourite. It’s smaller and there are fewer pieces; but it contains that black paper which you scratch the top layer off and it is all shiny underneath. This makes for very dramatic geometric patterns.

Spirograph for a new generation

The new Scratch and Shimmer Spirograph Set contains both rainbow and sparkly waxed scratch sheets; as well as new glitter precision wheels to etch out the most colourful Spirograph creations to date. Simply set the wheels up, insert the drawing tool and let the creativity flow.

Spirograph for a new generation

Although the set does come with plenty of this special paper, you can buy more online and on Amazon if need be.

Spirograph for a new generation

It’s suitable for ages 8+ and contains all you need to get started on your Spirograph journey. It costs around £20 and is available from Argos and a range of other retailers. The set also includes a special collectible 50th anniversary golden die-cast wheel can be found inside.

Original Spirograph

It’s brilliant to see Spirograph back and as popular as ever. Over our isolation period, we played with these sets often and they made for a lovely, mindful, calming activity for both me and my boy. They’d make great gifts for arty kids (or adults) this Christmas, and let’s face it, it’s good to have some indoor activities lined up to keep us all occupied during wet weekends and lockdown.

Make Your Own Yorkshire Tea Advent Calendar

Fancy Advent Calendars are all the rage these days. I’ve seen gin calendars, beer calendars, LEGO calendars and skincare calendars; but alas there are no Yorkshire Tea calendars. I have searched high and low for a Yorkshire Tea calendar (other tea brands are available) but ended up deciding to make my own.

Tea drinkers are usually fiercely loyal to their brand. My best friend loves tea, specifically Yorkshire Tea and with lockdown once more gripping the country, I felt it was time to make them a special Advent gift.

The idea is a simple one. Find a new Yorkshire Tea tea towel and sew individually wrapped Yorkshire Tea teabags onto it. It’s not really much more complicated than that, but here’s how I did it.

How to make a Yorkshire Tea Advent Calendar

You will need:

A Yorkshire Tea tea towel, I bought mine from eBay
24 individually wrapped Yorkshire Tea teabags, I got mine from Amazon
A permanent marker
A needle and thread

Making your Advent Calendar

Lay your tea towel on a flat surface and decide how best to place your individually wrapped teabags. I took a photo so I could remember what worked best, because I can be a bit forgetful. You might want to iron your tea towel before you start, I didn’t because I’m quite lazy.

Using the marker pen, number each teabag. Feel free to write a joyful message on the back of some of the packets if you wish. Shuffle your teabags so they are now in a random order.

Remembering the pattern of how you’re going to sew them onto the tea towel; take your needle and thread and stitch a couple of tacking stitches through the top sealed edge of the teabag. Sew each one onto your tea towel and continue until you’ve sewn them all on.

That’s it.

Should you be a bit worried that your sewing might not be up to much, you could get 24 safety pins and pin the teabags onto the tea towel instead. If you’ve gone for the sewing option; then I’d advise the recipient that a quick snip each day with some small scissors will release the bag from the tea towel and bring them some brewing up joy.

If you’re looking for more Advent Calendar ideas, you can read about my Reverse Advent Calendar or find out about some interesting Advent Calendars you can buy.

Retro Toy Review: Plasticine fun for creative kids

We were sent these Plasticine products for the purposes of this post. All images and opinions are our own.

I remember my childhood as being fairly Plasticine packed. It was one of those things which was brought out on rainy weekends to keep us entertained, and it did. I remember playing with it; creating little scenes, rolling it out and cutting out shapes and eventually muddling all the colours together until I had a giant blob of brown Plasticine to play with. It was all good fun and it remains popular today.