Are the big chain stores stealing Christmas from us Mums?

When I was a small child a mere 25 years ago, my Mum despaired at having to make me costumes for school plays and fancy dress. I was always dressed in black tights and a leotard with something attached! Stars for Christmas, a swimming cap and paper beak as a blackbird. Tin foil over said swimming cap to turn me into a soldier... you get the picture.

Had she been a Mum to a young child in today’s society she would no doubt have rejoiced at the array of nativity costumes available for under a tenner in the supermarkets. I’m sure there are plenty of busy mums and those who are useless at costume making that would join her in thanking the costume gods, but where does that leave those of us who ‘want’ to make their kids costumes?

I’ve always been crafty and for years have been looking forward to the day I could pop a tea-towel on my sons head and turn him into a shepherd, or stuff some brown tights to make a donkey tail and ears.

“Who’s stopping you”? you might ask, well the supermarkets are.

It all comes down to peer pressure. I can’t embarrass my poor son now. Imagine him, the only little mite in leggings and a leotard standing amongst a whole host of ornate shop bought costumes. He’d look totally out of place and Mummy would look like she didn’t earn enough money to pay for a costume.

So supermarket bosses, I appreciate you need to do what you can to make money, but please don’t cash in on those parents who are either too busy, cant be bothered or are not particularly crafty. You’re ruining an age old tradition and a dream that many of us have been looking forward to for years!



By Claire Mackaness (Sadly unable to create mummy)

Essex Mums Updates

Good morning everyone,

I hope this glum sunday morning finds you all tucked up in bed or home in the warm! I just wanted to give you an update of a few things that have been happening on Essex Mums recently, as well as things to come.

Parents' Guide
I've been asked to write an Essex Mums column in the quarterly magazine Parents' Guide. The Parent's Guide is a free magazine, given out in schools, clinics etc. and covering topics that are of interest to parents in Essex, and offering unrivalled information, advice and articles of direct relevance to them and their families such as education, health and lifestyle.

It's an amazing opportunity for me to have to be involved with such a fantastic magazine and promote the site and I really hope I can do it justice. I plan to discuss things that have come up on here that I think will be of interest to other parents such as hot topics, things that have caught our attention etc. If any of you have something you'd like to say, let me know and I'll see if I can include it! It might be nice to have a little bit from other people too.

I also thought it would be great to include some of what's being posted on the blog, so get writing! I'm still offering a £20 voucher for the best blog post each month.

The Parents' Guide website is here: http://www.theparentsguideuk.com/index.html take a look.

The winter edition comes out on 14th December so keep an eye out for it and for me!


Alternative Christmas Gift Guide/Shopping Guide
The Alternative Christmas Gift Guide has been a great success, with over 60 great ideas for places to shop online, offering something a bit different and an opportunity to avoid the High Street this Christmas! Many are also offering discounts, so make sure you take a look: www.essexmums.org/christmas.html

I've decided to make the Shopping Guide a permanent feature following a few requests from users/advertisers, so keep an eye out for a new page in January! If you're interested in advertising your own product, please contact me for a great introductory rate!

Places to Go
I've recently started work on a detailed 'Places to Go' section: www.essexmums.org/places.html. This is big undertaking and a gradual process, but offers in-depth information about places to go in Essex, as well as the opportunity for you to leave comments on places you have been to. If you are the manager of an attraction and would like to be listed, please let me know.

Competitions/discounts
I've recently had a lot of companies asking me if they could feature competitions on the Essex Mums site and offering discounts to our members, so I've decided to create a dedicated page for this which will start in January, so watch out for it! If you have something you'd like to offer our Mums, get in touch!

Monthly features
Make sure you check in on the homepage www.essexmums.org for new features every month. As well as seasonal information about what's on, the new year will bring some interesting features, including a Health and Fitness special in January, a cloth nappy special and a young parents special. If you would like to get involved in any of these, I would love for you to be! Also, if you are have a product or services related to these categories, I would love you to advertise with the site during the feature and would happily offer a 10% discount on any ads you decide to get.

For you
Finally, please remember that the goal of Essex Mums is to make your life better, easier, happier and fuller. If there is a way in which you think the site can be improved, or something that would benefit you, no matter how big or small, please contact me and I'll see what I can do. I'm especially keen on getting the site more involved in community activities, charity campaigns etc. so get in touch if there is anything you think it can help with, whether it's promotion on the site or something more active.

Thanks for reading and a big thank you to you all for making the site such a success. We recently broke our page view record with over 65,000 page views, 8000 visits and more than 2000 unique visitors in November, and have stormed into the Alexa rankings as the (approximately) 20,000th most viewed site in the UK! For those of you who haven't posted in the forum recently please come and say hello. So many of us have become great friends, so I know sometimes it might seem intimidating for newcomers, but I can honestly say I have never met a more welcoming group of Mums as our very own Essex Mums. I'm genuinely proud to call them friends and hope you will become one too!

Kind regards
Louise
www.essexmums.org

PS. If you haven't already, please follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/EssexMums and become a fan on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Essex-Mums/120425092939

Unique Ideas for Christmas on Essex Mums

Are you looking for something a bit different this Christmas? Kids have too many toys, looking for something handmade and ethical or just a bit unusual? Come and take a look at the Essex Mums Alternative Christmas Guide! It's full of ideas for unusual presents and has plenty of discounts just for users of Essex Mums! Keep checking back too as there will be more added over the next few days - you're sure to find something you like!

www.essexmums.org/christmas.html

If you have something you'd like to advertise yourself, please get in touch as there's still plenty of time.

Please let me know if you have any comments, and send this on to as many people as you can!

Thanks

Louise

Official Prediction Of Christmas Best-Sellers

Each year the Toy Retailers Association releases it's prediction of what the 12 best selling toys will be at Christmas.

This year's list includes toys from Hasbro, LEGO, VTech and other popular brands, and to reflect the current financial climate the list only includes toys under £50.

The 12 dream list toys 2009 in alphabetical order -

Bakugan Battle Pack Available From £15

Battle Strikers Available From £20

Ben 10 Alien Force Kevins DX Action Cruiser Available From £18.99

Bendaroos Mega Pack Available From £15.99

GO GO Pets Hamsters Available From £9.99

GX Racers Tightrope Terror Available From £14.99

Kidizoom Multimedia Digital Camera Available From £39.99

LEGO Games Minotaurus Available From £15

Monopoly City Available From £19.99

Princess Peppa’s Palace Available From £30

Sylvanian Families Caravan Available From £34.99

Transformers Movie 2 Voyagers Figures Available From £17.99

Read about & compare prices for each of the top toys here >>

What do you think about the 12 toys chosen?

Are there any toys that you think should have been on the list, but aren't?

Are there any toys on the list that you don't think should be on the list?

Are any of these toys on your children's Christmas lists?


List compiled by Paul Dixon who runs the website Christmas Toy List which is full of toy ideas for Christmas 2009

Toy Review: Hama Beads

These are probably one of the best inventions EVER! They are plastic beads that come in 3 different sizes. The larger ones for 3+, midi for 5+ and mini for 10+. You have different shape plates with pegs on them to place the beads onto. If you really like a pattern or picture, you can then use the ironing paper, or normal greaseproof paper, and iron them to make the beads stick together.

I used to love making patterns and pictures with these when I was little and then just a couple of weeks ago when OH and I were out looking for extra birthday presents for his daughter, I saw these and had a blast from the past. OH wasn't sure and had never seen them before, but as they were quite cheap for a small packet of 1000 mixed beads (midi size), we bought a couple of packs with a couple of shape plates. We didn't really expect much enthusiasm from her but she loves them! She's even taken one of the ironed patterns home with her so that she can take it to school tomorrow to do a show and tell about it.

I've found I still enjoy doing them, it's quite relaxing too and its nice that we now have something we both enjoy doing together when my son is in bed.

We've said she can iron the ones she really likes and use them to decorate her bedroom. It's amazing how quiet it keeps her too! She normally doesn't stop talking from morning 'til night!

You can also buy these in box sets to make specific pictures like animals, princesses, Lion King and some boyish ones too.

So if you have creative children who like hands on sort of things then I definitely advise these as a stocking filler for Christmas!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_0_4?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=hama+beads&sprefix=hama

You can buy them cheaper on ebay and also sold in The Entertainer toy shop too.


Review by Claire Davis