Christmas gift ideas for readers

If you are looking for a fun or useful gift for the reader in your life this Christmas then look no further - I've collected together a lovely range of book and literary gifts that you may not have thought of, and that will definitely be appreciated by the book lover on your gift list!

For reading in bed

Bed is my favourite place to read, it's warm, cosy, and away from the rest of the house. We don't have many cushions so it can get a bit uncomfy, I'd love a proper support cushion so that I could sit up properly! I've also got my eye on one of these portable tables that you can prop up over your lap, the perfect place to keep a notebook and pen, a drink, and a plate of biscuits!

For reading on the move

When I go on holiday or for travelling I always take my Kindle, because I like having access to as many books as I can, including new titles and old favourites, so I always have something that I'm in the mood for reading. I find a waterproof case really useful, it's great for reading on the beach or by the pool (and I also use it at home for reading my Kindle in the bath!) A personal reading light is always useful, as the ones on planes don't always point where you want them to or might disturb fellow travellers. If you are reading while sitting in once place for long periods I like this tool that holds the pages open without causing you cramp in your hands

To mark a place

You can never have too many bookmarks! I know that I have loads, and yet I'm always hunting for a scrap piece of paper to use when I need one! You could buy a lovely personalised bookmark, or even have a go at making one yourself.

To make sure that books come back home

My library is very fluid, I'm always lending out books and passing on the ones that I've finished with. If you want to make sure that a particular book always returns to you it's a good idea to mark it in some way, whether that's with an embossed stamp or just a simple book plate.

To store and display the book collection

I love having my books on display, and there are some really unusual bookshelves around if you are looking for something a bit different. I can't also never have too many bookends, they are a great way of making your shelves look tidier, especially if you like to display other items as well as books.

I hope that you find some inspiration here!

Photo credit - Prasanna Kumar via Unsplash

Hama bead gift ideas for all ages and abilities

Where would my Hama bead craft blog be at this time of year without a Hama bead gift list? I've used many different Hama bead products and kits over the last few years, and so I thought I'd put together some gift ideas if you are thinking about buying Hama beads for friends and family. I've included some ideas for Hama bead crafters of all ages, as well as a couple of extra ideas for those people that already enjoy Hama beads and might be looking for something a bit different.

For young children - the very first Maxi Hama bead kits

Maxi Hama beads are the very largest size of bead, and are aimed at children around 3 or 4 years old. I must confess that my children started on the next size up, the Midi beads, straightaway so we never used this size of bead, but they look like a brilliant product for young children and would also be very easy to reuse if you didn't actually iron them - a great way to improve fine motor skills. A kit would probably be a good place to start although might be a bit limiting as the boards can only be used to make one shaped design. A tub of beads and a simple pegboard or two would be a fab way to spark their creativity.

For older children - working with the Midi Hama beads

The Midi Hama beads are the most popular size, and are aimed at children aged five and over or adults. They can be used by younger children (I wrote here about my daughter using them when she was two) but little ones will need to be very carefully supervised to make sure that the beads don't end up somewhere that they aren't supposed to be.

If you know that your recipient already enjoys using Hama beads, then you can't go wrong with a large box of mixed colours. If you want to introduce them to the craft then there are some brilliant gift sets available to get them started by working on some fun and easy projects. In my experience these kits always contain plenty of beads so that there will be some left over to make some other items, and they often come with some fun, shaped boards.

For adult crafters - making projects using mini Hama beads

Related post - Hama bead projects for adults

I personally love working with the Mini Hama beads, because you can use them to create some really intricate and detailed projects. They can be fiddly to use though, especially at first! If you are buying Mini Hama beads for an adult crafter I'd recommend beginning with a kit to get them started. However if you know that your recipient already enjoys using the mini beads, then there are some really good value packs of mixed beads available which include many beads in a wide range of colours.

Related post - A guide to mini Hama beads

For seasoned Hama bead crafters

I'm pretty sure that any regular Hama bead crafter would be very happy with a massive tub of mixed Hama beads in either mixed or plain colours - I know that I would! But there are also some fun themed Hama bead kits available that might inspire them to try out some new ideas. Finally, a pretty and practical storage solution for all those beads would definitely be welcome!

You could also point them towards my blog post sharing an entire year of Hama bead project ideas - An entire year of Hama bead project ideas

Gift guide - Pixel art style craft kits for adults

This post contains a gifted review item.

I really enjoy working on crafts that give a pixel art style effect - where tiny coloured elements are placed together to form a larger picture. My favourite craft of this type is probably cross stitch, but that can be a very time consuming hobby - one of my cross stitch samplers took me seven years! 

There are however plenty of different crafts that give a similar look to cross stitch, and are much easier and quicker to complete. I thought that I'd round up a few craft kits that would make the perfect gift for someone that wants to create something beautiful, without it taking too much time or requiring too much skill.

Dot Art Sticker Books

Firstly, I was recently sent this Van Gogh Dot Art Sticker Book to review, one of two sticker art books which represent famous and popular paintings in London's National Gallery. You can choose from Van Gogh's "A Wheatfield, with Cypresses" and George Seurat's "Bathers at Asnières", and each book allows you to understand how the artists used colours to create vibrant and luminous scenes, by recreating the work of art in stickers.

The kit contains a large poster canvas formed of coloured outlines, along with thousands of coloured round stickers. You just need to match the stickers to the outlines on the poster to recreate the painting, and it doesn't matter if you don't get it exactly right as you'll still end up with a beautiful and unique work of art.

Diamond painting

Diamond painting has become very popular over the last few years, and it's easy to see why. It's a very satisfying craft that can be completed quickly and easily, and you can buy a wide range of different kits which include everything that you need and are very reasonably priced. I bought my sugar skull diamond painting kit in the US, and we bought my daughter a Unicorn diamond painting kit which was a lovely project and looks brilliant when framed in her room.

Mini Hama beads

Regular readers will know how much I love working with Hama beads, and while they are a little more fiddly than the crafts above I really like the intricate results that you can achieve. This Russian Doll mosaic picture was adapted from a design that I found online, and I also like the small kits that you can buy which have some lovely designs and plenty of spare beads to use for your own projects.

I hope that I've given you some inspiration for gifts for that crafty person in your life, or maybe even for yourself!

Hama bead gifts for adults

With Christmas approaching fast, if you want to get creative and craft some of your own Christmas presents it's definitely time to be thinking about it. A few weeks ago I shared a blog post with some Hama bead projects that children can gift to their friends, and so I thought that I'd follow this up with a post on Hama bead projects that make great gifts for adults.

Some of these crafts are brilliant for children to make for the adults in their life, but there are also some projects, particularly those using the tiny mini Hama beads, that are fun to make for your own adult friends that can be both useful and decorative!

Related post - Ironing tips for Hama beads

These Hama bead covered pen holders are really easy to make, and take advantage of the way that an ironed Hama bead piece is pliable while still warm and can be moulded into different shapes. The Hama beads are ironed as a flat design, and then curved to fit the shape of the jar or tin before being glued into place. They are a fun way to brighten up the desk, and also make useful storage.

I love the Tiled Russian doll picture that I made a few years ago, and it sits on a small wooden easel above my desk. It's a really nice decorative piece, and the mini Hama beads make for a really intricate design. I think a picture like this would make a lovely and unusual gift!

Related post - A guide to mini Hama beads

I also used mini Hama beads to make these Mini Hama bead decorative plant markers. They were fun and simple to make, and a great way to brighten up plant pots.

Another decorative piece that I love is my Hama bead quilt style picture. This picture was a way to use up the odds and ends of Hama beads in different colours that we had left over from various kits. I keep it in the bathroom and it makes me smile while I'm brushing my teeth! A small child could easily put together a picture like this which would look lovely framed, and you could help them out by letting them choose from a selection of Hama beads in colours which work well together and which suit the recipient's decor.

Coasters are always useful, and I've written a whole post with lots of different designs for Hama bead coasters, also with different themes like Halloween or Easter. A set would make a lovely gift!

Hama bead photo frames are another good present that children can make for adults, and they can then be gifted containing a photo of the child, or a relevant print or postcard. I've made several different types of Hama bead frames over the years, and I think that these cheerful summer themed ones are my favourites so far.

Finally, magnets are always a useful gift, and these retro Tetris inspired Hama bead magnets will definitely appeal to adults like me that remember spending hours playing Tetris when they were younger! These designs are super easy to make and are also a lot of fun to play with!

And if you think that your adult recipient would also enjoy crafting with Hama beads themselves, you might like to point them towards this blog post - Ten Hama bead projects for adults!

Upping the jigsaw game - some products for puzzle lovers

I've always loved doing jigsaw puzzles, and over the last few years as I've had more time to myself I've had fun completing many. But my enjoyment in completing a jigsaw puzzle increased significantly when I treated myself to a large jigsaw mat and holder. I bought the Puzzle Mates Portapuzzle Deluxe and it really has made a huge difference to speed and efficiency with which I can complete a puzzle, meaning that it's not nearly as daunting to start a new puzzle as it used to be.

This board opens up fully, and also contains two removable inserts which are each half the size of the jigsaw building area. If you have the space to leave the board fully open on a large table you can lay out all the pieces from a 1000 piece jigsaw, making it much easier to sort pieces by colour or to hunt for a specific piece. If you leave one of the sides empty you can fold up the puzzle and put it away to clear some space. I would absolutely recommend this board or something similar if you enjoy doing jigsaw puzzles!

I thought I'd do a bit of research into some other products which might make solving jigsaw puzzles easier and more fun. The second most important thing that I discovered was some form of sorting trays. I've been known to improvise by using trays or even paper plates to sort out pieces by colour or type, but the good thing about trays like this is that they can stack to save space, they are stable, and they make it easier to keep track of all your pieces and prevent them getting lost.

If you are really serious about jigsaw puzzle completion then it's great to be able to devote an area of the home to them with a dedicated jigsaw puzzle table. I can't get away with one of these at the moment, but luckily I have a dining table that I can usually dedicate to my puzzle habit.

If you want to display your jigsaw once finished you have a couple of options. Personally I put them away within a day or so of completing them, as for me the enjoyment in a puzzle comes from the assembly. But you can buy special glue - an adhesive that is applied to the surface of your completed jigsaw allowing you to preserve it in its finished state. You can then frame the jigsaw and keep it out on display.

If you don't want to glue your jigsaw (and personally I never would!)  there are also frames which you can buy to display a finished puzzle that don't require the pieces to be stuck together. 

I hope I've inspired you to give a jigsaw puzzle a go.

If you aren't convinced I've also written about the benefits of doing jigsaw puzzles, it's a great hobby!

Christmas gifts that children can make with Twinkl

I love encouraging the children to make homemade gifts for friends and family, and today I'm sharing some fab resources from Twinkl to help your children do just that. There's a huge range of printables that can be customised by children to make a gift by themselves, as well as instruction sheets that children can use to put together the perfect gift.

These resources are all available as part of a Twinkl subscription - visit the Twinkl website to find out more and to see the latest subscription packages.

For parents

I love this Christmas Voucher Gift Book. It contains individual vouchers which can be printed and stapled together to form a book of coupons which parents can exchange for various things like a foot massage, a hug or an hour of uninterrupted 'you time'. You can also print customised vouchers with your own ideas, I'd love to see what my children came up with as treats for me!

I would also like to receive this Christmas Cookie Mix in a Jar which contains the dry ingredients for making a batch of cookies along with a printable recipe card with full instructions. With a bit of help children can practice their measuring skills by filling the jars, and then the jar can be decorated using stickers or chalk pens and tied with ribbon.

Image credit Erol Ahmed via Unsplash 

For Grandparents

These Woven Paper Hearts take a bit of practice to make, but once you have the knack they don't take long at all and you can experiment with your own designs and colour combinations. Start by printing the simple template to practice, then use it to cut out your own coloured or patterned paper. Once assembled the hearts can either be used to hold sweets, or hung up as reusable decorations for the Christmas tree. Making smaller ones is a great way to use up colourful scraps of paper, or you could reuse old wrapping paper or coloured envelopes from Christmas cards.

These simple Christmas Candle Holders make a lovely gift and could be personalised with the name of the child and the year. As an extra gift you could buy a pack of seasonally scented tea lights to go inside.

And another jam jar craft - these Christmas Plants in Jars are very sweet and should be easy to look after indoors.

Image credit Twinkl

For siblings

Slightly older children might enjoy sewing and decorating some Felt Stocking Christmas Craft which can be filled with sweets or a small toy. They can be personalised with the recipients name, and are reusable too.

Image credit Twinkl

These Santa Gift Box Christmas Decoration can be printed in full colour and just need to be assembled with a little bit of parental help. They would make a lovely gift filled with sweets, and are a lovely Christmas decoration too. You can also print penguin and gingerbread man themed boxes.

For a friend

The slime craze shows no sign of dwindling, and I think most children would be delighted with a batch of Christmas Tree Slime. In fact the giver will probably have just as much fun making up the slime for a friend, using just a few basic ingredients.

Another lovely gift for a friend is a Christmas Basket which you can print out, colour in and fill with sweets.

For a teacher

Teachers definitely deserve a gift at Christmas, and Twinkl has plenty of ideas. I love this Flower Pot Teacher Gift with a label that you can print to thank your teacher for all their hard work.

Or else you could help children put together a simple Teacher Relaxation Kit which comes with a list of ideas for things to include, and a label that you can print to remind your teacher to relax over the school holiday.

Image credit Monique Carrati via Unsplash

Finally, a lovely way to present any gift is with some Christmas Gift Tags that can be coloured in and personalised.

Twinkl also have lots of great Christmas decorations that you can print. I shared some last year in this post - Decorating your home for Christmas with Twinkl.

I have been provided with a Twinkl Platinum membership in exchange for sharing the resources on my blog and social media.

Gift ideas for young Pokemon fans

I love putting together gift guides, and it helps to give me some inspiration for things when I'm doing my own shopping! So after the Pokemon Go craze of a few summers back that still continues in our house, here are some fab gifts for the young Pokemon fan in your life. None of these ideas are sponsored in any way, they are all things that I've found while hunting around for gift ideas myself. 

If you know someone that enjoys playing Pokemon Go, then they will definitely be speeding their way through their phone battery while they are out and about. A portable charger would be a great gift, and if you want to stick to the Pokemon theme then why not get them a Pokemon Pokeball Power Bank

To get children away from the electronic devices, how about trying a Pokemon themed card or board game that the whole family can join in with. My children love Monopoly and so they would love to play this Pokemon Monopoly, a fun twist on the popular classic.

There are plenty of Pokemon books and guides which children will love poring over to increase their knowledge of the Pokemon universe. A good start would be the The Official Pokémon Encyclopedia, and if they want to up their Pokemon Go game there is plenty of information in the Pokémon Go Unofficial Field Guide to study when they can't be outside playing.

And while you are out and about, I know that my children at least would love to have a Pokemon cap to wear to make sure that they look the part!

For our Advent calendars a few years ago we bought the children some mini Pokemon figures to go inside the wooden boxes. There are lots of companies selling these little toys on Amazon, so make sure that you check the reviews and where the product will be shipped from as some have quite a long delivery time. The quality also varies, and you will most likely get some duplicates. Be warned, they are cheap and they aren't official figures, so may not pass muster with true Pokemon fans. But our children loved them and at 2-3cm tall they are a nice size and would also be great for party bags or as prizes for party games.

I hope that you've found some fun inspiration for your little Pokemon hunters!

Christmas gift ideas for a Minecraft fan

Since Minecraft entered our house just over a year ago, it's fair to say that first Harry and now Mia are reasonably obsessed with it. They play in creative mode and build all sorts of things, sometimes in their own games and sometimes together, and I really love seeing the creative ideas that they come up with. With Christmas approaching I've been having a look around for a few Minecraft related gift ideas, and I hope that you find this post helpful if you share your home or life with a Minecraft fan.

Of course the children aren't allowed to play Minecraft all day, but I'm pretty sure that some days they spend a great deal of time thinking about it, and researching and planning what they want to build next. Harry gets a lot of inspiration from the Minecraft magazines that I buy him occasionally. His favourite is Mineworld Magazine, although he doesn't get it often as it's quite pricey, a subscription would be a great gift!

He also has quite a few books. For a quick easy read that he still returns to again and again he enjoys Stampy Cat: Stampy's Lovely Book, and he always enjoys reading the latest Minecraft annual which is available now - Minecraft Annual 2020 and very reasonably priced.

A thicker and very in depth reference book is the Minecraft: Blockopedia. It is stored in a sturdy presentation box and contains information about every single type of block that you can play with in Minecraft. It looks very complicated to me, but Harry loves it and his copy is very well thumbed. It's also quite educational - he knows all about different rocks and minerals which he has learned from this book!

If your child is just starting out playing Minecraft, Mojang do a range of official guides, and the Minecraft: Beginner's Handbook is a very good place to start. There are several more books in the series too which make great companions.

One thing that Harry is lacking and which will be featuring on his Christmas list this year is Minecraft apparel. There's a huge range available, and as he's a little short on nightwear I have my eye on a Minecraft dressing gown or a set of Stampy Pajamas. I've also seen some of his friends in one of these Eat Sleep Mine Repeat hoodies which come in a huge range of colours so you can find one in your child's favourite style.

When not playing Minecraft on the PC the children love role-playing Minecraft games. Harry has a few of these little Minecraft toys like this Minecraft Steve Action Figure, fun to play with and keep on display.

Crafty children will love the range of Minecraft paper crafting sets that are available. We have several of the kits, and I particularly love the look of the Minecraft Paper Craft Overworld Deluxe Pack which comes with over 90 pieces. Harry has had fun making stop animation videos with these sets.

Finally, if you are feeling crafty yourself you can easily make some little Minecraft themed gifts. In my blog post with some ideas for Minecraft party bags you can find out how to make Minecraft bookmarks and notebooks, or perhaps some Minecraft keyrings. Great for children to make and give to their school friends! And if you want to decorate your home this Christmas you might want to have a go at the Minecraft Hama bead Christmas baubles!

Christmas gift ideas for people who love to travel

I love putting together gift guides, and it helps me with my own Christmas planning! When I write my gift guides, they generally aren't based on things that I've been sent to review, they are purely things that I either own myself or have seen while browsing and on social media, and that I think would make nice gifts for people. So I'm starting off with a Christmas gift guide for people who, like me, love to travel!

Starting off with the practical things that are helpful to all travellers. We have found a digital luggage scale very handy. It's one thing weighing your suitcases at home before you go away, but at the end of your holiday, along with extra bits and pieces that you've picked up on your travels, you have no idea how much the suitcase now weighs. A little scale is small and light and can be taken along with you to check your bags before you come home and save repacking at the airport. It's also great for checking the weight of your hand luggage if you have a restriction.

A set of luggage tags is also a nice idea, and you can either go for fun and colourful, like some patterned luggage tags, or go for something a little more grown up and sophisticated. Last year I bought my husband a smart leather luggage tag which I had personalised with his initials.

You can also help your recipient find their luggage at the airport with some rainbow luggage straps and help them in their packing with a set of travel bottles that they can decant their toiletries into and make the trip through airport security a little easier.

Travellers love to both look back on their travel memories and plan new adventures. I've written before about the Travel Listography which I really enjoy filling out.

I'm also hankering after one of these gorgeous personalised notebooks from Hope House Press. You can also choose from a huge range of notebooks, journals and diaries.

We have a large world map hanging on the wall of our study which I love looking at with the children, but I'd also really like one of these scratch off World maps so that we can record the places that we've visited.

I also enjoy reminiscing while sipping from my world map mug, and how about wrapping your gift in World map wrapping paper!

Finally, if you are feeling crafty, why not make a display frame, like this one from Rachael Jess - Creating a Keepsake Box. It's a fun way to both show off and store those little mementos that otherwise get lost, like travel or attraction tickets.