So yesterday was my birthday
and I am 32, gosh that makes me feel old. I swear I only blinked at
18 and here I am today. I have to say though if I am going to have to
be 32 and lets face it I have little say in the matter, I am happy. I
am a 32 year old who has a great husband and a lovely little girl, I
cannot complain at all, in fact that's the greatest gift of all.
Today was such a cute day at my daughters school. I came to pick her up as I normally do and discovered that she must have performed a news bulletin to the class to announce my birthday. I had 16 little cuties which immediately told me "it's your birthday Ellas mum, happy birthday" so lovely. It is amazing how kids can make you feel so special with the simplest things.
Speaking of kids and birthdays (didn't I tie that in well?), my daughter is in Kindergarten this year and I have dubbed this year, the year of the parties. It seems that almost every month we have multiple parties whether it be for school friends or for friends outside of school. I think it is absolutely lovely that my daughter has so many parties to attend and she just gets so excited about each and every one.
I love accompanying her along to these parties as I have gotten to know the parents well and it is a nice opportunity to have a catch up while the kids play. It is the buying of the gift for the birthday child which often stumps me. Obviously I know what my child likes but I do find it challenging to buy for others.
I would often be out and about and spot an item and would think "that would be good for a present" but would always think "well we don't have any invitations at the moment". Now we just know that is the cue for an invitation to arrive promptly. I would then seek out the aforementioned item only to find it sold or find that I simply could not remember what that fantastic gift was or where I saw it.
I kept thinking to myself there had to be a better way. Something that meant I was not scrambling around trying to find something suitable or shopping for the present on the way to the party.
I recently heard of an idea which grabbed my interest which I have now implemented in our house and that is to have a present box. Whenever we are out and about at the shops and I see something on special/on clearance/generally budget friendly or simply just too cute to miss out on, I will buy it and pop it in the box. I keep the box in the cupboard in our spare room and when it is party time we simply check the box and see what we can use. It is usually the case that we use something/s from the box than add to it (usually a book or some craft items - these things are always great!) but this is working out to be alot less stressful and easier for mummy.
Here is a pic of our present box contents at the moment
My local Kmart recently closed down and they were clearing out all their Crayola stuff at incredibly cheap prices so I stocked up as craft stuff is always a winner.
When we have birthday invitations I still take my daughter to the shops and let her pick out the card and paper for her friend and also any additional items we are adding to the present so she feels included but this helps me alot.
Lets face it, having a present box is also more budget friendly and who doesn't like to save money when they can?
I thought id come up with a list of suitable gifts for boys and girls for a present box for my blog readers, if you'd like to start one.
BOYS
* Matchbox cars
* Lego Mini figs
* Yo Yo
* Temporary Tattoos
* Colouring books
* Pencils/Crayons
* Chalk
* Books
* Stickers
* Balls
* Water Pistols
* Puzzles
* Card Games
GIRLS
* Hair clips
* Barbie doll
* Stickers
* Colouring books
* Pencils/Crayons
* Skipping Rope
* Music CD (think ABC, Disney etc)
* Costume Jewellery
* Books
* Littlest Pet Shop Individual Toys
* Puzzles
Then theres shopping for your own kids birthday presents, but that's a blog post for another day :)
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