Parenting

Fun Half Birthday Ideas To Put A Smile On Everyone’s Face

Updated on 19th April 2021 by Kate Williams | 3 Comments

Now, I know half-birthdays aren’t always the most popular idea with everyone (‘your kids will be spoilt!’ ‘why do you have to celebrate everything!’) but recently I’ve been thinking more and more about them.

All our birthdays are in autumn and winter and frankly? It sucks. I love the idea of a celebration in the warmer months and if that makes me a terrible person then so be it!

These half birthday ideas are simple and fun ways for you to celebrate with your kids (although there’s no shame in a grown up celebrating a half birthday either!) and are a great excuse to put a smile on everyone’s face.

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Creating Christmas Eve Traditions with Marks and Spencers

14th November 2017 by Kate Williams | 12 Comments

In someways I think that Christmas Eve is possibly an even more exciting day than Christmas. No, there isn’t the excited waking up early to open presents but that’s not necessarily a bad thing – last year my two made it to the grand hour of 11pm before they work up desperate to open their gifts and actually I’d like Santa to finally gift us with a lie in. So there isn’t the early wake up call but instead Christmas Eve is a day filled with excitement, of doing things together, of traditions, making memories and having a good time. Marks and Spencers asked us if we would share our Christmas Eve traditions and I was more than happy to help.

christmas eve traditions for kids …

50 Free Activities for Families To Try This Weekend!

Updated on 28th April 2023 by Kate Williams | 3 Comments

A couple of weeks ago I shared a list of free activities to do with your preschooler that proved to be super popular – it’s always nice to see your stuff shared a few thousand times on Facebook! One person did comment though that it’s nice to do stuff with the whole family so I thought I’d rise to the challenge and see how many free activities for families I could think of!

free activities families …

6 Activities for when your kid gets chicken pox

Updated on 25th June 2021 by Kate Williams | 3 Comments

Advert. Chicken pox is no fun for anyone involved. Both my kids have had it and it was horrid for them when they had it, horrid for them when they had to stay inside when the other one went down with it (stuck inside for another week) and it’s fair to say that I didn’t enjoy it much either, I spent one of my birthdays in the middle of my kids chicken pox outbreaks and the only time I’d been out of the house for two weeks was tag teaming with my husband so I could nip out and buy a pint of milk.

Sometimes your kids will feel really poorly with chicken pox and all they’ll want to do is rest but there’s often a period too when they are well enough to do ‘something’ but they’re not well enough to go out and about again so with that in mind today I’m sharing some activities for during chicken pox.

activities for during chicken pox …

5 Games You Can Play With Your Kids Without Having To Get Up

20th September 2016 by Kate Williams | 6 Comments

I love my kids but….well I think they’ve stolen all my energy. Actually I’m pretty certain they have because they seem to have it in bucketloads while I’m knackered. May be it’s something to do with all those nights (years?) they didn’t sleep? Who knows, either way the issue is that sometimes my kids need to play and have fun and sometimes I just need to sit down and not run around. Maybe it’s been a night without much sleep, maybe it’s because you’re ill, either way having had a few years to get myself sorted I thought I’d share my best games you can play with your kids without having to get up off the sofa – you’ll be pleased to know that a lot of these knacker your kids out too – bonus points right?!

5 Games You Can Play With Your Kids Without Having To Get Up

1 – Musical Statues

I played this for about half an hour at the weekend without having to move and man did I appreciate that! Pop on YouTube and get some tunes on while your kids bounce around – my kids current favourites are Happy by Pharrell Williams, Can’t Stop the Feeling by Justin Timberlake and Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars

2 – How Does This Animal Move

I made this game up when I was heavily pregnant with my second child and couldn’t cope with running around playing. I doubt I’m the first person to think of it but boy I was glad I did! Sit yourself down somewhere comfy and then get your kids to run around the room how different animals would; show me how a butterfly would fly round the room, how would a dolphin swim round the room? This normally keeps us going for as long as I can think up different animals.

3 – Eye Spy

This classic game is always a winner for us when we go out to coffeeshops and cafes but it’s good for at home too – after all it has to be things you can see not things you are going hunting to find!

4 – Musical Bumps

I make no apology for putting down a game similar to musical statues in the same way that no one apologises for having them both at birthday parties. It turns out that the kids parties you went to in the 1980’s were run by mums who had it all properly planned out (ummm, it was the 80’s for you too right?!). Mums sit still, kids go crazy. Kids are happy, you drink your cup of tea. Win.

5 – Baby is Sleeping

This one is from the happy days when my youngest child didn’t sleep through, also known as the first two years of her life (yes, really two whole years.) You lie on your bed and pretend to be a baby (stick with me on this one). Your kids give you milk and then you go to sleep. Sadly it’s only a game though so they get to do something to wake you up at which point you do big baby cries. I pretty much method acted that bit.

So there you go, those are my five pretty awesome games you can play with your kids while lying down on your sofa. If you have any more please add them in the comments section below so I can try them out!

Parenting

5 Games You Can Play With Your Kids Without Having To Get Up

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