(AD) Christmas Gift Guide for 7 Year Olds

So its nearly Christmas and parents all over are trying to work out what to get their kids for Christmas. As a parent of a 7 year old I sometimes struggle with what to get him. I'm hoping that some of the things in this gift guide will give other parents of 7 year olds some good ideas on what to get them for Christmas or even 7th birthdays!

The first item we are looking at for James is Little Brain Paint Sticks. He has seen these advertised on TV for months and they look brilliant! 

Science Mad Chemistry Lab. James has started to do science at school this year and they have been doing experiments in their classroom. 

Even though this is for age 10+ we felt it was something that James would get a lot out of and that it would help him with his education. He has really taken to starting science this year in year 3 and he comes home raving about what he has been doing. A few years ago, James had a volcano kit when you added water to the two chemicals and it flowed like lava.

Then we have Heelys! Now James only found out these existed a few weeks ago when he saw his school friend with a pair on one night when we were on our way to Beavers. 

He had been asking for roller skates but we figured something like this would be safer for him! I cannot wait to see his face when he opens these. James unfortunately has inherited his clumsy gene from mummy, and mummy thought if he had roller skates he would probably end up in a&e with a broken bone!

Next up with have Paint Sticks from Little Brain. James has seen these advertised for months on TV and has been banging on about us getting some. 

The reason I like these is the fact they are twisty like crayons and you don't need water or brushes. I have always avoided paint with the kids, but these are something I can see James having a lot of fun with. 

Then we have the Which Way Game. This is another STEM item which we think is fantastic. We have been looking at a lot of STEM items for James this year as he is now in Year Three at school and we want him to enjoy his learning at school and at home. 

Its based around a programme on Cbeebies called Messy goes to Okido. The aim of the game is to help Messy get across the board to his friends.

Its aimed at 4-8 year olds so I can see this being something we can play as a family to teach both boys coding skills. Four fantastic new games from OjO for STEM fans are open for investment through the Kickstartercrowdfunding platform until 25th November 2019.

So these are just a few items that would be suitable for boys and girls aged seven plus. I think James is going to really enjoy using these. 

**We were sent these items free of charge in exchange for featuring in this Christmas 2019 Seven Plus Gift Guide**

Merry Christmas

From All of Us

xxx

Winter Woodland at Baltic

Now that December is here we are fully in the countdown to Christmas! We have already done our Santa visit and now we have been to Winter Woodland at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Arts!

Winter Woodland is a fun craft and song session on Saturday and Sundays running for the rest of December!

We were booked in for the 10am opening session on December the first! Once we got into the centre we made our way up to level two via the glass lifts. James was absolutely loving the view up the river from the lift! Once we got up we were greeted by some elves who told us all about how they sort all the Christmas cards and make sure they get to where they are going!

We were then invited over to the craft area to start making some Christmas decorations based on woodland animals! Freddie at this point had got very upset and scared by the people dressed up as elves that daddy tried to calm him down while mummy did some crafting with James who was really enthusiastic! Eventually Freddie came and sat on my knee and calmed right down when he found a glue stick and some googly eyes and he had fun with them!

James had such a good time making a fox and a robin and even an erm alien! Mummy made a fox with a bit of help from Freddie!

Once we had finished crafting it was time for some hot chocolate and marshmallows while

we helped to write a 12 days of christmas woodland animals song! There was also a room to the side which had bubble lights and plastic ice blocks and fake snowballs in! James loved this snow room and him and Freddie had so much fun launching snowballs at Daddy!

Tickets which are priced at £13 for one adult and one child are still available for these sessions which are running on December 8th,9th,15th,16th,22nd and 23rd! Baltic have very kindly offered readers a 20% discount using the code WINTER20. Tickets can be purchased here

We had such a good time and would highly recommend this for other families as a way of getting into the Christmas spirit!

**We were gifted our ticket in exchange for this review. All words are our own and Images were supplied by Baltic**

My Favourite Christmas Presents

So I have been toying with writing this for a while and I've finally found the time to sit down and write it!

So what were my favourite presents?

Number One: My Be necklace
This was in my gift bag of presents from Andy and the Boys. The small disk says Be and the larger disc says things like Kind, Strong, Happy etc. I absolutely love this and wear it most days!

Number Two: Earrings
I had been saying for months that I needed new earrings as Freddie had pulled some of mine out and had lost the backs. So for months I haven't worn a pair. I love these pearl earrings that Andy and the boys got me! I don't normally wear drop earrings but these are simply gorgeous and I have already worn them on a number of occasions including Christmas Day

Number Three: My Coat
My parents gave me money for christmas and I said I was going to put it towards a new coat! I got this one at Matalan in the Sales for £25 reduced from £45! This coat is so warm and so thick, so it keeps me nice and cosy on the school run.

Number Four: Our Calendar 
My best friend and her husband got us this for Christmas and I love it! I normally forget to buy a calendar till the middle of January! This one we can add photographs to so I'm going to add photos of the kids to it when I get a chance! It also comes with a pen which is brilliant as I can never find a pen when I want to put things onto the calendar! I already have it filled in with lots of important dates for our family for 2018!!

and Number Five: My Heart Necklace
This was another present from Andy and the boys. I have worn this a couple of times since I got it and its so beautiful! 

These are my favourite presents for Christmas!! The coat has got to be the best investment I made as I have not been cold on the school run!! And by wearing my Be Necklace it reminds me everyday to be strong, be thankful, be happy etc!

Merry Christmas

Special Decorations On Our Tree

As it's nearly Christmas, I thought I would share some of the special decorations we have on our tree.

First off we have our Mickey and Minnie. We bought these in magic kingdom at Walt Disney World on our honeymoon.Walt Disney World has a Christmas shop all year round which we adored! We could have spent a fortune in there, but we settled in these adorable little bells. The first year they went on our tree was Christmas 2012 as it was our first as a family of three with James, who was four months old.

Next we have our little westie. We bought this in 2014 in memory of my dad's auntie who had died earlier that year. She used to have a westie and loved everything westie related so getting a westie in memory of her was the logical thing. When I found this in our local John Lewis I knew I had to buy it. It was Moyra all over and I think it would have been something she would have probably bought for her own tree as she loved Christmas! 

Then we have our gold star. This was also bought in 2014. This was bought in memory of my Nannie who we lost in the May of that year. James was extremely close to her and when she died we told James she had gone to be a star in the sky. James chose this on a trip to Tesco with mummy one weekend. Even now almost four years on James still tells me that Nannie is his star in the sky and he loves her.

This year we have added a gold Paddington Bear to our tree. The new Paddington film came out a few weeks ago and the local Fenwick department store has its Christmas window as Paddington themed so adding a cute Paddington Bear to our tree made sense.

So these are the special decorations on our tree. Do you have any special decorations on you tree that have special meanings? Let us know in the comments below!

Christmas Gift Guide

o it's finally that time of year to start your Christmas shopping! Hopefully you might have already started and be nearly finished! But in case you are not I've put together his little guide of some bits for mummy and kids!

First off we have the gorgeous Pouch of Power from the etsy store Splendid Elk! I actually won this in an Instagram competition a few months ago and I literally adore it! It's a perfect size to put my iPad in if I need to take it out with me. I also use it to keep my wallet and James wallet in in the changing bag so things do not get lost! This retails at £15.00 and can be found on the etsy shop here! 

Next up we have two fantastic products from Cuddledry. First we have the original Cuddledry handsfree baby bath towel. This is an apron style towel which keeps mum/dad dry when doing bath time. It has a double layer, with a hood which draws moisture away from babies skin and hair. I so wish we had invested in one of these for Freddie as he always soaked us at bath time! This retails at £29.95 and can be purchased here direct from Cuddledry or you can also find them on Amazon.co.uk 

Our second product is the fantastic Cuddleroar toddler towel. We actually reviewed this with Freddie and totally fell in love with it! In fact Freddie likes wearing it over his clothes too! This is brilliant for a wriggling toddler who likes nothing more at bath time than squirming out of his towel and running off naked around the upstairs of our house. Our Oldest son James is 5 and it actually fits him as well, This retails for £34.99 and can be bought direct from Cuddledry and also Amazon.co.uk 

Now we have two gorgeous products from Nibbling! Freddie is teething badly again with his last molars and when he has his dummy clipped to him, he is always chewing the cord it's on. That's where this amazing dummy clip comes in! The Octo dummy clip is made from 100% food grade silicon and is BPA free, meaning it is perfectly safe to be in a little mouth! Freddie fell in love with it as soon as it was clipped to him! He's had it in his mouth chewing on it to relieve the pain of teething! Plus it means no more soggy ribbon that mummy needs to put in the dryer with the washing! And when he was sick on it, like he has been on his fabric ones before, it was rinsed under the tap with hot water and a new dummy attached and handed back to him. The sicky fabric ones needed to go into the washing machine, which is a pain as then they need to be left to dry! This retails for £14 and can be purchased here!

Our next nibbling product is this fabulous puzzle piece necklace. I absolutely love this as when I have Freddie in his carrier he is normally trying to either chew the carrier or chew what ever I am wearing. It was not too pleasant having to wring out my hoody strings after Freddie had been sucking and chewing them! They would get so wet and a lot of drool would come out of them!

 Now he will grab onto the puzzle piece and shove it into his mouth! He has got really painful gums as his final molars are coming through and the rough side of the puzzle piece really soothes him. This retails for £14 and can be purchased here!

Next up is the awesome Lamb and Bear! This fantastic unisex clothing brand is ran by one of my lovely blogger friends Alex. Freddie has had a couple of pairs of her leggings and they really suit him! They wash really well and well Freddie just looks adorable in them!!

Her latest collection has a mustard rhino print and a gorgeous flamingo print! Along with her signature Lamb and Bear print. She also does a gorgeous swaddle blanket, a zippy sleepsuit and matching mummy and baby headbands!

Freddie currently wears the rhinos in age 18-24 months and he is just about to turn 2 and he still has plenty of growing room in them! His last pair were in size 12-18 and he was still fitting into them at 20 months old! Prices start at £7 for a baby headband and leggings from £16!! The lovely Alex has a discount code for all you lovely readers! Just add the code LBFRIEND10 to get ten percent of your order!

I would like to say thank you to Cuddledry, Splendid Elk, Nibbling and Lamb and Bear for taking part in this gift guide for 2017!

**I was sent products in exchange for this gift guide and some I have purchased myself and added in as I love them so much!**

Christmas Shopping with Uncommon Goods

As a busy mummy of two boys, the easiest way for me to do my Christmas shopping is online! I hate taking both boys to the shops! Especially if I am shopping for Andy as James has a habit or telling him what we have bought! Its not too bad just taking Freddie shopping as he tends to just sit in the pram and snack, where as James will be moaning and saying hes bored every second! 

When gift website Uncommon Goods got in touch and asked me if I could put together a Christmas gift guide from their website I was thrilled! I decided to look for gifts for Andy, James and my dad! 

Uncommon Goods was formed in 1999 with its headquarters being in Brooklyn, New York. They make it their mission to support and provide a platform for artists and designers; in fact, half of what they sell is made by hand. They have also been rewarded for customer service every year since 2007!

The unique gifts for men section, on uncommon goods is fantastic! The first thing to jump out at me was this Stone Drinks Dispenser! I knew straight away this would be something that both my dad and Andy would love as they both love their whiskey and I'm sure they would both enjoy something like this! Plus I think it would look awesome on display in a lounge!

The next gift I found was this fantastic Home Brew Journal. My dad is into making his own Beer and Gin so something like this would be brilliant for him as he could keep a record of what happens when in the beer making process.

When it came to James this amazing construction plate and construction cutlery jumped out at me! James is completely daft about construction vehicles so I think if he got to eat his dinner using a digger he would absolutely be in his element!! 

Plus when James gets too old to use it, it could then be passed onto Freddie who is starting to get into construction vehicles thanks to his big brother!

I also found this amazing Ticket Stub Diary. Even though I was looking for dad, Andy and James something like this would have been brilliant for me when I was growing up as I used to go to a lot of concerts and saved all my tickets! I would have loved to have had something like this to keep all the memories alive!

Another thing I found for Andy or my dad was this awesome Beer Chilling Coaster Set. All that is needed to do is put the stones and caddy into the fridge or freezer to set them and then take a coaster out and put your beer bottle into it! This sound brilliant as they do not stick to the bottom of the bottles and they do not scratch the table!

I have had a brilliant time looking though the Uncommon Goods website and I can see myself going to this site in the future when looking for birthday and Christmas presents for family and friends!

**This is a collaborative post and I have been compensated for my time taken to write it*

Letter to Santa

**This Post contains an affiliated link!**

So its almost time for Santa to visit and what child wouldn't like to receive a letter from the big man in red! I know James would love to get a letter from Santa and He is already asking me how long till Santa comes!

That's where Letter to Santa comes in! You can order a personalised letter for your child! With prices starting at £4.99  your child will receive a lovely letter from Santa! And on Christmas Day its self they will receive a text message! 

With Three different colour packs to choose from, where can you go wrong with ordering a letter for your child!

For the £4.99 pack you need to fill in the following information on the Letter to Santa Website - 

• Age
• Gender
• Relatives name
• Friends name
• Desired Present for Christmas
• An achievement from the year
• Their Home Town
• Preference of Santa Claus or Father Christmas

For £8.99 you get the same as above but with an added activity pack containing - 

• Personalised Nice List Certificate
• Door Hanger
• A Photo of Santa's Reindeer
• Double-Sided Festive Activity Sheet (Colouring, Maze, Dot-to-Dot)

I know that we will be ordering James the letter with the activity pack as he is five and for Freddie who will only be two we will be ordering him the £4.99 letter.

Letter to Santa are offering readers of Mummy To My Little Cheeky Monkey a 10% discount on letters and activity packs by entering the code B832 at checkout!

**We have not been paid for this post, but we do receive commission from any sales through out link!**

Santa's Odd List!

So it's the time of year when parents everywhere are taking their children to see Santa. 

This got me thinking about Christmases past and visits we have made to see Santa and the odd things my darling oldest son has asked for! Christmas 2014 when James was just over two, we took him to see Santa in a local shopping centre and he asked for milk and yoghurt! Then last year 2015 when he was just over three and Freddie was newborn, James asked for a white fire engine!

I decided to ask some of my fellow bloggers if their children had ever asked for anything odd or if I was the only one to have a crazy child! 

Amy from www.thesmallestofthings.com said Scarlett asked for chocolate because I wouldn't let her have any. So she said she'll put it on her kissmass list!

Jade from  www.lateforreality.co.uk said Ted's list has some odd things on. Marshmallows are one and 'so many books' is another. Today he asked for Sausage and Mash from Santa!

Kate from www.countingtoten.co.uk said M has just written her letter to Santa and all it has on it is a slap band. So her stocking can contain just one of those right? I can provide a pic?

Amy from www.2boys1mum.com said My eldest wants a real bell from Santa's sleigh so he knows that Santa is real. (He likes the book Polar Express!) 

Kate from http://myfamilyfever.co.uk said Max (3) has asked for spaghetti, a yellow pencil and a real Stegosaurus. 

Lucy from Http://mrshsfavouritethings.com said Last year Little Miss H asked for a block of cheese. We asked her if she wanted any special cheese. And she said no, just cheese. "I like cheese". We bought her a scooter instead. Bad mummy!!! 

Sarah from http://www.runjumpscrap.com said hmm possibly odd for a 3 year old...a chocolate fountain... what??  She knows she is not getting it as Mummy told Santa!

So it's not just me that's child asks for odd things! So relieved this year he actually asked for a game!

Christmas 2014

So that's it over and done with for another year!!

Next year I'm definitely going to try and be even more organised than I was this year even though I was still buying Andy little bits last week.

So was James spoilt??? Of course he was!

His main present was his own tablet! Yes I know he is only two but he can work YouTube better than me and I'm almost 30 (eek). He's spent last few months totally obsessing over my iPad and daddies Google nexus wanting to watch his nursery rhymes and also helicopters, fire engines and erm bin lorries on YouTube, so getting him his own seemed like a brilliant idea as it would stop him stealing ours and also means I can get some work done using the iPad again!!

He also got a remote controlled car from Andys parents and a digger, a fleecy jacket and best of all his very own camera from my parents! My best friend got him a thomas book with some figures which he loved and my mums sister got him a my first drum kit lol which will probably be going to live at nana and gagas house in the near future!!! 

We were expecting an early start from James as he normally wakes up between half five and half six, but no today he decided to sleep in and wake at nearer to eight am!! He must be taking after his mummy as apparently when I was a child my parents would have to wake me up on Christmas Day!!! 

Other little bits he got were some push along thomas and friends trains -Thomas, Percy mad Harold, a George pig dressed as Mr dinosaur, and probably his all time favourite - grandpas little train. He loves the train so much lol the episodes about it in peppa are his favourites now he can play with it and sing the song all day long! 

I'm just wondering when I'm going to have to change the batteries in it as it's been on all day!!!