Christmas is my favourite time of the year. It is a time to slow down, take stock, gather the family and reconnect with old friends. It gives me great joy to dress up the house, cook up a storm and celebrate the season with those I love. And part of what makes it special is that I get to do it together with my kids, who are home for the holidays.
Except.
This year we travelled to Sydney for a family wedding in the middle of December which saw us returning just three days before Christmas. Three days before I was due to host two dinner parties at home. I did what any grown woman who seriously underestimated how much she had to do while overestimating how much time she had to do it in would have done — I panicked! But with some encouragement from the husband to just do what I need to do, I got down to work.
Fortunately for me, I had done some forward planning, thanks to the fact that I will be collaborating IKEA for the next few months to write about some of my favourite IKEA products. (Yes, I’m so lucky, aren’t I!) I don’t know about you but I LOVE IKEA! My husband is always very wary about visiting because I can never walk away without a whole bunch of things that I didn’t intend to get! But I can’t help myself. The best thing about IKEA is that they have a lot of functional, great-looking solutions to your home needs that don’t break the bank. I like knowing that what I get is always nice yet also usually value for money.
What I wanted to achieve — To involve my kids in getting our home ready for Christmas and the gatherings, notwithstanding the fact that I had three days to do it. This was important to me as I wanted the kids to have a stake in our home and our parties, that they would not think of it wasn’t just Mummy’s party. Of course the other reason was to keep them gainfully occupied while I did everything else! So here are some of the things we did:
1. Make PYSSLA Bead Tree Ornaments
My kids love playing with melting beads so one of the tasks I set them was to make some decorations for the tree. I hunted down some patterns online and set them to work. We’ve used different beads before but I was really pleased to pick up the PYSSLA Beads from IKEA because they are really value for money. A big tub of mixed beads with enough beads to make over a hundred designs cost just $9.90! If you don’t already have peg boards like we do, you can also pick up the PYSSLA Bead Shape (set of 4) for just $2.90. In fact, I highly recommend that you do as the round and heart-shaped board are very useful as they have different peg placements from the square one, which in turn allows you to make more designs.
To create these tree ornaments, simply:
- Sort your beads into their colours. (While this is not completely necessary, I find it helps the work flow when kids are not constantly digging for the right colours.)
- Place the beads on the PYSSLA Bead Shape to create your desired design.
- When complete, cover the design with ironing paper. (There are two sheets in the PYSSLA Bead Shape pack. Or you can simply use baking paper.)
- Bring your iron over and turn the heat on. I use the cotton setting so it is HOT.
- Iron over the design still on the PYSSLA Bead Shape under the ironing paper, checking to see that the beads melt and stick together.
- When this is done, I like to place the whole Bead Shape with the ironed design under a heavy book to cool. This prevents the design from curling.
- Once it the beads have cooled, remove the books and peel off the ironing paper to reveal your final deisgns!
- String up the pieces and you have your new ornaments for the tree!
A bead stocking and a candy cane sit pretty on the tree.
The kids had fun doing this and I loved that I could leave them to create their designs independently. They only needed to help with the ironing. Of course, leaving them alone did mean that I also ended up with a colourful mis-shapened stocking and a Pacman but hey, that’s part of the fun!
2. Decorating PEPPARKAKA JULGRAN Gingerbread Christmas Trees
I was feeling a bit guilty about the lack of any festive baking this year, but because I had the foresight to grab some PEPPARKAKA JULGRAN Gingerbread Christmas Trees from IKEA’s Swedish Food Market the children still did get to play with icing! These gingerbread trees were the easiest things ever with the only assembly being the slot the two pieces of the tree together. Being pressed for time, I bought ready-made icing and popped it in a piping bag. Took out a tube of Smarties chocolates and set the kids to work! It was not difficult at all and a lot of fun! The hardest part to me was making sure that they didn’t eat the icing or Smarties chocs before they were done!
Very proud of her handiwork!
The taste test is very important…
The completed trees made great pieces for our Christmas table and were much admired. And I didn’t deny them forever — the kids got to munch on their trees at the end of the night. I considered it an added bonus that they were yummy with that unmistakably Christmas-y spiced ginger taste!
Gingerbread trees — easy to assemble, decorate, and so good to eat!
Maybe next year I’ll be brave enough to try the PEPPARKAKA HUS Gingerbread House!
3. Create a Hot Chocolate Corner
I admit that this was mostly for me because I love hot chocolate! The kids were most enthusiastic. I suspect it was the marshmallows…
The sign the kids drew.
A little corner for a little pre-dinner or post-dinner drink. For me, it’s my new haunt for a morning cuppa, with a handful of marshmallows, a malteser or two and a dash of sprinkles. With a peppermint candy cane stirrer, anyone?
My happy hot chocolate-y space!
Some of the IKEA products that I used to put this together: VINTER 2015 Tins, VINTER 2015 Tapes, KOREN Jars in two sizes and a length of SÄRDAL LED Lights (12 bulbs) on the side of the tray for the fairy light effect.
And so with the table set and the presents wrapped, we were ready for Christmas!
Presents at the ready!
The table is set and dinner is served!
The feeling of having your home and heart ready for Christmas (even if only in the nick of time) and seeing the ones you love sit down to tuck in with gusto into the food? That, my friends, is Christmas magic for me.
*This post is the first in a series of posts sponsored by IKEA. All ideas, opinions and feelings of warmth and fuzziness are my own.
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