Toys that bring double the joys!

So Christmas 2018 is now behind us and it means that I can finally share with you how we chose to do ‘Gifting’ slightly differently in our house for our two young boys, Jackson being just 15 months & Brody who is 6 years old.

Last year for our youngest’s first Christmas I had a good sort out of toys so that each toy box had age appropriate, a safe selection of things in it for both of them. Especially important in our house as they very much share their play space together.

We’ve since extended our toy storage which is fab and now have a lovely area to store books, toys and sit and read together at home thanks to the good old Ikea Kallax! I do feel as a mum having two boys does have it’s perks as they really enjoy a lot of the same things and can share toys nicely despite the age gap between them. It’s pretty much disappeared now to be honest now that Jackson’s a confident toddler. We have various things such as puzzles, games, lego, duplo lego, toy cars, books, trains and so on for them to play with together. You know how it goes every year with birthdays and Christmases the list just keeps growing and it can be quite hard to keep up with.

So our main focus this Christmas has been “fewer better toys” and “alternate them” every so often so that they get time to play, explore and learn about each thing without feeling overwhelmed by having too much or likewise becoming bored of the same thing.

Therefore we looked at some different toy ideas to what they already have and that are pretty much ageless so both boys can share the enjoyment of playing together.

We’ve also looked at practical things such as new clothes, new water bottles, swimming towels, days out to local attractions which will last the whole year and I love it! I hope the boys will enjoy and make good use of it all. Some of the gifts are also pre-loved or made from sustainable wood, quality toy brands such as Hape, Le Toy Van, Goki … and so on so I’m hoping if looked after most will last and they may even be passed on in years to come.

The other factor for us also as Eco aware parents, is that we tried hard to gift things that not only I know they will enjoy, but buying organic clothing, sustainable wooden and responsibly sourced toys, even plastic free items or handmade items for our family has also been forefront of my mind this year. The quality, craftmenship and supporting some local businesses and other parents by buying pre-loved items from them feels very rewarding and of course has saved ‘some pennies’ along the way too.

Parenting is not always an easy ride at all and as children get older and families grow, knowing what to buy, even “where” is best to buy from is very difficult these days in our ever expanding market place. It’s also so important to be aware of waste and how toys are made because some can actually be dangerous due to chemicals, cheap materials used and so on. I dread to think of the amount of toys that will sit around unloved, be thrown out as they’ve broken, or haven’t even got a look in since Christmas. Especially when there are so many families across the world that go without or are living in very poor conditions it’s absolutely heartbreaking.

So now Christmas has been and gone and my family will be reading this I’m more than happy to share some ideas with you for alternative, unique, handmade, pre-loved or new gifts for all the family. I won’t overwhelm you with a massive list of all the businesses and people we’ve used here, I’ve listed just a few in the gallery info below, so if you have any questions please do feel free to send me a message here: katrina@mothersons.co.uk and I will try to help as best I can.

However I will mention one that has brilliant this year in sourcing most of the boys new toys and that is https://yesbebe.co.uk/

We’ve only placed a couple of orders with them which was a set of Ecochic london travel bags which have had so much use already and I recommend these to everyone as they seriously are some of the best quality and bags of all sorts of shapes and sizes for the family. Plus they come in so many colours and fun prints you have to make travelling fun right!?

Also Yes Bebe are one of the few companies around that offer a savers plan. So throughout the year you can order clothes, toys, cloth nappies, home items and so on and pay it in installments which is great. They also have monthly subscriptions and mystery boxes so if you really do enjoy surprises or shopping in a different kind of way you may just find something special here.

I also have to say just how good the customer service is as they are quick to respond to any queries, provide help and really care about their work and the environment, trade ethics, standards it seems. There is also 3 Yes Bebe pages on facebook so do pop over to take a look there, aswell as their main Yes Bebe website.

We also got into the swing of being more environmentally friendly and got all Scandanavian inspired with our gift wrap! by using brown paper packaging, brown paper roll, tissue paper, ribbons and string, stickers and I think it looked fab! Are you aware that most normal gift wrap IS NOT RECYCLABLE! and just because its paper it can’t go in your household recycling? Well I certainly wasn’t in the know about this so it’s another valuable thing I have learnt this year and it was such as easy swap to make I think I’ll be wrapping this way come Christmas 2019!

So lastly I’ll leave you to enjoy the image gallery below! Sharing is caring in my book.

Handmade Gifts!