Glow's Ultimate Christmas Gift Guide 2013

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I love Christmas. L O V E, love. It might sound corny, but my favourite part is giving people presents. Yes, even more so than receiving them. That look on their face when they open it and really like it (or perhaps are just really good at faking it) just makes me go all warm and fuzzy and gooey and stuff.

I have a few people that are hard to buy for though and I search high and low through the catalogues and the gift guides to see what is out there because ain’t no chance I’m wading through the shops with a baby and a threenager waiting for inspiration to hit.

Instead, I’m making a list (and *ahem* checking it twice) and heading online as much as possible. To circumvent the extortion that is delivery prices, I’ll be using the Click & Collect service at BIG W. It’s pretty simple: you shop online like you usually would, then select which store you’d like to pick it up from – it’s available at every store. It takes a couple of business days and you’ll get a text or an email when it’s ready to pick up and all you do is show photo ID. No gigantic check out queues, no trolleys with a mind of their own, no children begging you for every single toy you pass and no delivery fee. Fab. Plus you don’t have to wait around all day for couriers and delivery trucks or worry that your parcels will be knocked off if they’re left at your front door in the universal “I’m not home” position.

To help you out a bit, I’ve collated my top five presents in a few categories for you. It’s kinda a wish list for what my family want, so, err, do keep that in mind if you’re coming over to my place on Christmas Day.

Glow's Ultimate Christmas Gift Guide 2013

Donna Hay, The new classics - $28. This chick is amazing. I view her books with a sheet of plastic over it to prevent the drool ruining it.

Jamie Oliver, Save with Jamie -  $24. The flagship roast is the bomb diggity!

Preserving starter kit - $35. Because Mason Jars are all the rage, or so Pinterest tells me.

Maggie Beer, Maggie’s Christmas - $34. Nawww, I love Maggie. I love her quince paste more though.

Russel Hobbs Stick Mixer - $49. No kitchen should be without one of these. I’m a devoted fan.



iPad Air - $568. Fancy pants thinner and lighter version

Canon EOS 600D Digital SLR - $494. Team this with a book about photography so they actually know how to use the settings

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes - $64. (PS3, Xbox360 or WiiU) Super heroes and LEGO? Yes please!

LEGO Star Wars Death Star - $598. No explanation needed. It’s the Death Star, c’mon!

Doctor Who Dalek War Box Set - $33. Exterminate! Doctor fans will appreciate a box set.



Sperling Deluxe jumbo picnic rug - $28. Team with a homemade voucher entitling the bearer to one romantic picnic

Armor All Detailing kit - $24. Because they might not be able to clean a toilet, but the car is always pristine

Keter Cool Bar - $68. After being all rugged you need to cool down, right?

Lifetime netball play system - $79. I always wanted one of these but was never allowed. Poor me.

Caribee Quencher Hydration pack - $54. Map Guy would love this when he goes mountain biking.




iPod Nano - $158. Team with an iTunes voucher and you have an awesome present

Hunger Games box set - $30. Because everyone should know the book is so much better than the movie

Laser ipod/iphone speaker dock with alarm clock - $38. Waking teens up is hard work, at least this way they’ll wake up to their favourite tunes

One Direction Secret Diary Set - $5. *insert hysterical screaming here*

Despicable Me 2 DVD - $28. Huzzah for minions!



Classic Case of Dr Seuss - $50. You cannot go wrong with books!

LEGO creative bucket - $38. They won’t even realize they’re learning while they play

Crayola Marker Airbrush Kit - $30. Encourage creativity with funky stationery

Skylanders Swap Force: Flynn's Ship Storage - $88. WOO! Skylanders are everywhere!

Barbie digital camera - $40. Look at the world through your child’s eyes – I love lookingat the photos Tricky takes – cars, his own feet, erm, dog poo, and puddles feature heavily in his snaps



Wonky Donkey Boxed Set - $16. Because everyone needs to know about the spunky, hanky panky, cranky, stinky dinky, lanky, honkey tonkey, winky, wonky donkey.

Tinkers Sand and Water Table - $30. Water tables are a great way to cool down on a hot day.

Little Yellow Digger box set - $16. This is such a brilliant book, one of Tricky’s favourites

Bright Starts Jungle Safari Gym - $40. Bobbin bats at her Jungle Gym and talks to the animals.

Fisher-Price Ballapalooza - $128. If these came in adult size I would buy one immediately. Child size will have to do.

___ ...___ ... ___

These are, of course, all available at BIG W!

I asked some of the kids at Tricky's pre-kindy what they wanted for Christmas and this is what they told me:



For the chance to win a $100 voucher to spend at BIG W tell me what is on your Christmas wish list this year?

Homemade Holiday Fashion

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Now I could sit here and tell you to wear the latest designer outfit on Christmas day. I could use words like ‘on trend’ and ‘arm party’ or whatever. But I am not on trend as my elastic waist banded pants will attest, and the closest thing to a party my arm gets is the Hokey Pokey. Because that’s what it’s all about.

So instead, I’m going to show you some homemade fashion using some inexpensive shoes we grabbed at BIG W this week. This would be a great activity for pre-schoolers through to tweens and some teens (depending if they’ve reached the grunty stage yet). It will work well for a one on one session with just your child, but if you gather some friends together and have a crafternoon party you can have a fashion parade at the end.

Tricky and I set ourselves up in the carport for a crafternoon with our stash of goodies from BIG W and got to work personalizing our footwear. We started with the big guns – the canvas shoes! A pair of these, already decorated, would make a sweet gift (gardening shoes for Nanna perhaps?) but how cool would it be to give a plain pair and a packet of stampers? It’s a great gift activity for less than $15.

As you can see we went to town with the stampers and the glitter glue then Tricks decided he’d like to think outside the square. And so it came to be that one shoe has a balloon and the other a button, stuck right on top. Ahhhh pre-schoolers. Love ‘em.

Things to use on your canvas shoes:

• Glitter glue
• Stamps
• Markers
• Puff paint
• Pens

 Then we whipped out the Wavezone thongs, which at less than $3.50 are a steal!

As you can see from the top image, I grabbed a handful of those impossible to blow up balloons, cut them in half and tied them on in a simple double knot. I was stoked with how they turned out and think it is actually really effective. I would totally rock these pool side for a bit of fun!

Tricks decided to make Monsters with his thongs and proceeded to glue googly eyes on… until he noticed the pom poms and changed tack. While he was doing that I glued some buttons on to another pair.

He was so proud of his canvas shoes and thongs and he proudly showed them off to Aunty Penny who had been jiggling Bobbin on her lap for most of the time.

“Wow, Tricky! Those shoes look fantastic! Where are you going to wear them?”

To which he replied “On my feet.”

Doesn’t get better than that.

Other ideas for your thongs:

• Tie on strips of scrap fabric – use an old shirt that doesn’t fit anymore.
• Wind wool around the straps
• Braid over some friendship bands
• Tie a scarf around the straps then around your ankles
• Glue on sparkly gems
• Use glitter pens to draw designs

So I'll be wearing my fab canvas shoes on Christmas Day for sure. I'm not sure what else I'll be wearing but I'm thinking maybe something from the exclusive Peter Morrissey range. I took some change room selfies to help me figure it out:

To win $100 tell me your top Christmas fashion tip?

How to create the ultimate Christmas Table for kids

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Do you hear that? A mixture of sleigh bells and exasperated sighs? That is the sound of Christmas zooming towards you. You’re gonna blink and it will be here already, so best you get cracking and start thinking of what will be happening at your place.

Having little ones around at Christmas makes it so magical. Their faces lighting up when they come running out to check if Santa has been yet (he has, he has!) has got to be one of the best sights in the world. But when it comes to getting toddlers and preschoolers to the table for Christmas lunch you might need to be a little creative to lure them away from their awesome new toys. A beautiful table fit for the pages of a magazine, whilst looking amazing, is not always practical when you have three foot tall bulldozers running around.

So here are a few ways to create a child-proof table that will encourage them to put down the new LEGO and actually have something to eat! Now, I’m no decorator or party planner (I don’t see an old pallet and immediately want to repurpose it into a table) so this is aimed at other creatively challenged folk like me!

Create an inviting table
Set up a fun kids table by heading to the BIG W Christmas aisle to check out all the cute (and budget friendly) things available. I used:

• A plastic table cloth for easy clean up at the end of the meal - $2
• A length of wrapping paper for colour - $2
• Santa and Penguin drink bottles - $3 each
• Display stand - $4
• Brightly coloured bon bons - $5 for 12
• Gingerbread house kit centrepiece - $10 
• Goodie bags - see below

Goodie bags are goooooood
A few inexpensive toys and choccies in a goodie bag will go down a treat. I used:

• Santa and Penguin goodie bags - 2 for $1
• Pudding chocolates - $2 for 10
• Chocolate coins - $2 for 10
• Bubble blowers - $2 for 2
• Candy canes - $2 for 30
• Disney bauble - $2 each

Have a fun centrepiece
With a mile a minute three year old and a baby I won’t have too much spare time on my hands over Christmas so I’ve gone the easy (well, easier) route and bought the $10 BIG W Gingerbread House Kit for our table centrepiece. It’s great for time poor folk (and those too addicted to Candy Crush) because it comes all ready for you to put together. No baking, no templates and no cutting out shapes!

I’ve never actually made a gingerbread house before, I usually make gingerbread men, so my first attempt at the house, was, err, interesting. I asked Tricky to help and he was so excited, but ended up mostly wanting to watch and cover the place in sprinkles.



Serve some fun food
I’m all for kids having the same meal as the adults, but sometimes having a few finger foods that are just for the little ones is great.

Santa Hat Strawberries – Pipe some whipped cream on a small muffin or pikelet, pop on a strawberry, then add a blob of cream on top. Voila, Santa hats! If you don’t have a piping bag place the whipped cream in a sandwich bag and snip a tiny bit off the corner.

Santa Face Savoury Crackers – Cut salami in to hat shapes (I cut a circular slice in to quarters to save time). Pipe a dot of ricotta on to a cracker to ‘glue’ the hat on. Pipe more ricotta on to create a beard and the trim on the hat. Don’t forget the pom pom on top! Hint: if the ricotta is too thick to pipe, add a little water and stir thoroughly.

Sandwich Stars – OK so a cheese and vegemite sanga isn’t really gourmet, but if you use a star cutter then all of a sudden it’s a Christmas cheese and vegemite sandwich and thus tastes so much better.

Win $100 to spend at BIG W by telling me your top Christmas table decorating tip below

10 steps to the perfect Christmas tree

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It is nearly Christmas. You’ll already know this because people have been posting those “it’s x days til Christmas” memes on Facebook since October and the decorations are filtering in to the stores. Pretty soon you won’t be able to go anywhere without tripping over some tinsel. This means it is time to put up your own Christmas Tree! Here’s my simple ten point guide to putting up the perfect Christmas tree:

1. Pick a pine. Small or large? Standard green or will you go for something funkier like the BIG W black Christmas tree? Be careful, once you go black…

2. Scheme your theme. I’m a rainbow gal myself but I think ombre trees will be all the rage this year.

3. Tune in.Whack on the Christmas Carols - you cannot go wrong with the Bube. Mmmmm mmmmm Santa Bay-by!

4. Tilt up the trunk. Plop it in the middle of the room and go for it. It’s almost all done for 0you before you even take it out of the box so it won’t take long. Have a vacuum handy for stray pine needles.

5. Light it up, baby. Test the lights before you put them on! Then start at the bottom with the transformer/controller and walk around the tree winding the lights all the way up. Since you were so clever and put the tree in the middle of the room this should be super easy. Except for the whole so dizzy you fall over bit. We used the 200 LED starter set from BIG W because they use very little energy (I spend enough at Christmas time as it is, I don’t need a huge power bill too) and because you can add on extra globes later.

6. Tinsel time. As above but with tinsel. Make sure you honour the time honoured tradition of using it as an impromptu feather boa. Take a selfie.

7. Location, location, location. Now you’ve finished with the lights and tinsel, put your pine prince where you actually want it to sit. This way you only have to decorate the visible side, saving valuable egg-nog drinking time. Plus you get to hide the ugly decorations from Aunt Gertrude around the back without feeling guilty because hey, you did actually put them on the tree.

8. Beads and baubles and bling, oh my! Make it fancy. If you’ve got small children helping you let them know that putting all the baubles on one branch isn’t really ideal. When they do it anyway, just move them when they’re not looking.

9. Skirt around the issue. Pop a tree skirt on to make it ultra fancy or grab some material if you don’t have one. That nice skirt that doesn’t fit you anymore that is still shoved at the back of the wardrobe will work well.

10. Top it like it’s hot. Angel or star? This year I’ve gone for the BIG W LED star because at night all lit up the star is always missing! This way the whole thing is a-glow. And I’ve got a thing about things being Glowless, ya know.

I went and asked some unsuspecting shoppers at my local BIG W what had to be on their tree this year:

Win $100 to spend at BIG W by telling me your

top Christmas tree decorating tip.

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