Halloween activities for older children and teenagers

This is a collaborative post

I've always enjoyed having fun at Halloween with my children, but now that they are older we've sadly moved beyond Halloween toilet roll tube crafts and dressing up in sweet costumes for trick or treating. It doesn't mean that they are too old for the fun though, there are still plenty of crafts and activities that are more suited to older children. Here are some of my favourites!

Carving pumpkins

This is the classic Halloween activity, and is definitely one of our favourite Halloween traditions. I'm not the best at carving pumpkins myself, and I tend to stick with a simple grinning face. But there are loads of pumpkin carving templates available, and if you can trust your teenager with a sharp knife then they may enjoy attempting something a bit more complicated.

Photo credit Andy Holmes via Unsplash

Doing some Halloween themed baking 

My favourite Halloween bake was these Halloween iced gingerbread biscuits. They are so simple to make, and with some clever icing you can make all sorts of different designs. Even if you don't have any specific Halloween cookie cutters you can still improvise with what you have - I used gingerbread men cutters for mummies and Easter egg cutters for skulls! You can also make really simple Halloween cupcakes with some edible eye decorations and a selection of icing in vibrant colours. 

Making Halloween decorations

The children might have grown out of toddler Halloween crafts, but you can still get them involved in decorating the house for Halloween. Just bear in mind that as they get older their imagination might turn towards more realistic and gruesome ideas! You could think about a theme for the whole house, including window displays, lighting and garden decorations. I also love the idea of repurposing some of their toys into Halloween decorations, like old dolls and stuffed animals. Then on the night itself they can dress up to help hand out sweets to the younger visitors.

Photo credit Jen Theodore via Unsplash

Painting ceramic decorations

My children have always enjoyed pottery painting, and there are some lovely kits available, either classic Halloween designs or maybe something a bit more grown up like a decorative pumpkin or sugar skull. I find that the kits don't always contain the best paints, so we usually use our own acrylic paints and take the time to mix the correct colours and let the layers dry in between coats for a nicer finish. 

Taking photos at a pumpkin patch

They might be a bit old now to pose prettily next to an aesthetic pumpkin display, but if your teenager enjoys taking photographs then they might still enjoy a visit to the local pumpkin patch. It's a fun family day out and they can take some photos to share with friends on social media.

Photo credit Marius Ciocirlan via Unsplash

Having a scary Halloween adventure

If your teenager doesn't scare too easily then they might enjoy something a bit more adventurous like a Halloween themed escape room or horror maze. In the UK these are becoming much more common, and although they are a little too terrifying for me I can imagine that plenty of teens would love them, especially if they can visit with their friends rather than their boring parents!

Have fun celebrating Halloween with your older children!

Craft ideas for a teen girls sleepover or craft afternoon

This post contains Amazon affiliate links

My daughter has hosted several sleepovers over the last few years, and I always like to have an activity or two that will keep the girls busy and away from their screens for a little while. My requirements for a sleepover craft - a project that can be completed ready to take home, something that doesn't require too much supervision or cleaning up, not too expensive or too many materials needed, and a finished product that will be a nice reminder of the sleepover and their friends.

Of course these craft ideas are perfect for groups of boys as well, I'm just writing about my own experiences! These are all crafts and activities that have been tried and tested with great results.

Mini diamond painting kits or stickers

I love all the different diamond painting kits that you can buy, and a small project is perfect for a sleepover. We've had many different kits over the years, and the sticker kits are particularly good because they are inexpensive, really quick to complete and come in all sorts of designs. I would choose something like this Diamond Painting Sticker Set (affiliate link) because there's a wide range of designs and everyone can complete several. We've used them to decorate notebooks and storage boxes.

Pottery painting

Hobbycraft sells a great range of pottery painting kits, and they are often on special offer during the school holidays - there's usually a big display near the entrance and sometimes they are as cheap as £2.50 each. They come with a few paints but I usually get out our own acrylic paints for a wider range of colours, you can buy some great value sets of acrylic paints from The Works Save up a few old margarine tub lids for paint mixing, and gather paintbrushes in different sizes for large and small areas. Just make sure that everyone is wearing older clothes, or provide aprons!

Bracelet making

There is some adult supervision required with this one to avoid bead spillage disaster! Hobbycraft is a great place to buy beads as they have a pick and mix selection so that you can pick out some special beads that are themed to the girls' interests. Teenagers at the moment love making beads to wear and swap at concerts, and they like to include words so some letter beads are a great type of bead to include. Clay beads (affiliate link) are also really popular and come in a huge range of colours.

When it comes to putting a bracelet together I like to keep it really simple. I buy some clear stretch elastic thread (affiliate link) and cut a length that fits easily around the wrist with some extra at each end. I use a bulldog clip on one end to stop the beads slipping off, and then the girls thread on the beads that they want. When it's long enough to go around the wrist, tie it really tightly with a triple knot, then secure with a big blob of superglue before snipping the ends. You can read how I made some bracelets for myself here - simple stretch beaded bracelets.

Bath bomb making

This is a fun one for younger children, with some adult supervision! You can keep things easy and buy a bath bomb making kit like this one (affiliate link) or else there are lots of recipes online for making your own. The only drawback to this is that you do need to have some moulds to use, and some of the ingredients might not be ones that you have in the cupboard.

Shrink plastic keychains

We've been playing with shrink plastic for years, it's a lot of fun! We recently used shrink plastic to make some cute keyrings. You just need to buy a set of the shrink plastic sheets (affiliate link) and draw on your designs. We printed out some Sanrio characters that could be traced over and then coloured - follow the instructions on the packet to check how much the image will reduce in size and what type of pens or pencils to use. If you are making keyrings, the most important part is to punch a hole in the design before you put it in the oven! Then when it has shrunk and cooled you can attach a keychain or coloured ball chain (affiliate link) so that it can be attached to a school bag or notebook.

Decorated letter shapes for room decorations

A wooden initial letter is a great keepsake and looks great on the wall. Hobbycraft sell some pretty ornate wooden letters which are easy to paint or colour using marker pens. You can also buy fun wooden fillable letters which can be decorated with fake flowers and pom poms or choose simple mache letters which can be covered with decopatch paper and glue.

Bringing back memories of my Maths GCSE

I did very well in my Maths GCSE back in the nineties if I say so myself - I got an A*, which was one of only a few in my year. Maths didn't come easily to me, but I'm good at memorising things so I was able to remember equations and processes without necessarily understanding exactly how the maths behind them was working. I definitely peaked at GCSE level, I couldn't have coped with taking it any further!

Harry has an instinctive understanding of maths, and he also loves reading around the subject. I've never had to give him any help with his maths homework, and when I caught a glimpse of it the other day I had no idea what it was about. Mia on the other hand is just like me. She is capable of doing the maths and she's in the top set, but it doesn't come naturally and she needs to put in the work.

Recently I was called upon to help her with her homework on quadratic sequences. Some elements were vaguely familiar but most of it was long lost to time. But the big difference between now and then is the fantastic access to resources that the online world has brought us. The homework is completed online, and there were links to videos explaining how to do each step of the process. A quick Google brought back loads more information, with different websites explaining the concept in different ways so that you could find the one that made the most sense to you.

Photo credit Antoine Dautry via Unsplash

I must admit that the last and most difficult questions did defeat us, so I'm hoping that her teacher can work on them with her. I find that my brain just doesn't seem to work the way that it used to, I'm so out of practice and I just can't muster up enough interest in it to make myself focus!

How I entice my teenagers down from their bedrooms

When my children were little they always wanted to be close to me. They only went to their rooms for sleeping, and they never got up to any mischief because they were always in the same room as I was! Now they are older they prefer their own space a lot more, and spend most of their time when at home in their bedrooms. This started during the pandemic, when they did their home schooling video calls in their rooms, but of course it's a natural part of growing up too. 

Sometimes it's nice for me to have a bit more peace and quiet to work on my own projects! But I do also miss them, especially at the weekends when sometimes it feels as though the entire day has gone and I've hardly seen them. So I've been trying to find ways to entice them out of their rooms and into spending some time with me.

Anything food related is a good one for Mia. A few times I've taken her out to the café at the garden centre around the corner and treated her to a fancy hot chocolate and a cake. As a bonus there is a Hobbycraft in the same retail park and so we often make a stop there too. We always seem to have a voucher to spend, or else there is something on special offer!

I can also entice them downstairs to watch something together if I provide a favourite snack like popcorn or chocolate fingers. And Mia loves baking, especially if licking a spoon is involved!

Sometimes I'm able to drag one child at a time out for a walk. We have a little loop that runs down through our estate and back through a foresty footpath. I entice them with the promise of some private talking time with just me which they like, it's a good way to both get some exercise and also chat through anything that's bothering them.

Recently I've got back into doing jigsaws again and I've discovered that they both like helping out from time to time. Mia spotted this Squishmallow jigsaw while I was browsing on Amazon the other day, and I had a voucher so I bought it for us to do together. It's a very challenging one! I'm trying to keep away from it during the day so that we can do it together!

I also like to find a television show or film that we'll all enjoy watching together. At the moment I'm sitting down with Harry and we are working our way through Red Dwarf, which has recently been put up onto iPlayer. I was a massive fan as a teenager and watched it over and over, I always have a Red Dwarf quote in my head! But I discovered that there have been three more seasons that I've never even watched because they were on Dave and I didn't know how to watch them! So we are just about to get to the new episodes which is quite exciting. Harry has also been loving Look Around You which is also on iPlayer, it's a sort of spoof science television show series which was on a few years ago. It's very surreal and very funny. 

Sometimes I can persuade the children to come downstairs and sit at the kitchen table with me while we all work on our own projects, especially if there's a pack of biscuits involved. They often do some homework, and I like seeing what they are up to at school. They also do things without screens, like reading or drawing. It's nice to all be in the same space but still doing our own thing!

I much prefer this stage of parenthood to the early baby and toddler days!

Tips for taking a long haul flight with older children

A few years ago I wrote this post - Flying long haul with two small children. We were lucky enough to fly long haul several times with young children - it was worth it for the experiences we enjoyed but it was hard work! After appreciating how much easier our more recent flights have been now that the children are older (14 and 12) I thought I'd write an update with tips for flying with younger teenagers!

I always make plans in advance around flight times. For example if we have booked a night flight I know that the food may not be served until a couple of hours in. If we eat a good meal at the airport then we can settle down to sleep straightaway. For a daytime flight, if we've had an early start I try to encourage a nap at some point so that we can keep going when we arrive. I always set my watch for the new time zone before we get on the plane and then try and work to that as soon as possible.

We make sure to choose our seats as soon as we can so that we can sit together, and I like to be near a toilet. We try to book a row of seats including an aisle so we can get in and out without disturbing others, and because we book special meals like child or vegetarian we are served first, which means we can nip to the toilet while it's empty because others are still eating!

Photo credit Alexander Schimmeck via Unsplash

Everyone in our family is responsible for their own bag which contains their devices, plenty of snacks, teddies and so on. It's packed in a bag which will fit under the seat in front so that they don't need to disturb me to retrieve things.

For a night flight we pack lots of things to help us be comfortable - a travel pillow, sleep mask, ear plugs and teddies for example. We wear comfy clothes and layers, and when settling down to sleep with a blanket make sure to put the seat belt on over the top so that it can be seen in case of turbulence. When the children are asleep I usually rearrange them carefully and make sure that any loose items like headphones or teddies are well secured!

On that note, as the children get bigger their headphones get smaller, so from experience you need to be extra careful with them as they can easily get lost in the seat! 

I've always found the seat back entertainment on long haul flights very good, with recently released films, television box sets and games as well as the map showing where you are. You can usually check in advance to see what will be showing on your flight which is a good idea as sometimes there is so much to choose from that it can be overwhelming when you are actually sat there.

Finally I now set the expectation that the children are in general responsible for entertaining themselves. They can go to the toilet on their own (although I often end up going too!), they can choose what they would like to drink, they can plan their entertainment and bring along things they might want or need. And if it looks like I'm sleeping then they will have a much happier Mum at the destination if they leave me to it unless there's an emergency!

Being a stay at home mum to older children

From time to time I meet new people, usually connected to my husband's work, and of course they always ask me what I "do". When the children were very small it was easy to say that I stayed at home to look after them, but now that they are older and firmly established at secondary school I'm starting to feel a bit more self-conscious about it.

I do some work here and there but not enough to make much of a contribution to the household finances, and so it's my husband's job that supports us. He works very hard and he often travels for work so I'm the one that looks after the children and the home. It suits us both well, but I can't help feeling that it's a bit indulgent to be able to be at home all day when there are plenty of parents both managing to work full time even with much younger children. 

But I do seem to keep busy. My husband often does the morning school run and I will usually exercise then, but if he's away it can be mid-morning before I've finished a run or swim and had a shower. I usually spend most of the morning doing housework, which is all down to me, along with general life admin - there always seem to be e-mails from the school to read and take in, trips to be paid for, tradesmen to contact and so on.

Then after making lunch for us both I might sit down to write some blog posts before going out to do the school run, and this is also my chance for some hobby time because after school it's full on with making dinner, packed lunches and helping with homework. Putting the children to bed takes longer now than it did when they were little because it's my time to catch up with them both for a chat, and once that's done I'm usually ready to head to bed myself with a book!

Photo credit Annie Spratt via Unsplash

I'm the default parent, the one that is there for an ill child, the ones that makes the dinner for everyone and tidies up, the one that knows what is going on with school and the one that checks everything is sorted out. I know that I don't need to justify our set-up, and I also know that I'm very lucky to be in this position. I wish that I found it easier to acknowledge it to other people!

I'm glad I didn't have a smartphone as a teenager

As my children get older and become more and more attached to their phones it makes me so glad that I didn't have one when I was a teenager! I do talk to the children (a lot!) about sensible smartphone use, switching it off to concentrate on a longer task, no phones before bed and so on, and to be fair they are both very good about it. But it feels as though so much of their life is spent online these days, from homework to socialising to entertainment.

If I had owned a smartphone back then I would never have been able to sit down to my homework with a phone pinging away. Even if it was on silent or in the other room I would be thinking about it and worrying that I was missing out.

While constant access to a search engine with all the answers is brilliant, it makes the children more lazy. I was helping Mia with some science homework, which was questions based on a chapter in the text book. She was doing the homework by googling rather than reading back through the pages, and although she always found the correct answer I can't help but feel that the information isn't retained in the same way.  

The phone makes it so easy to procrastinate because a quick scroll is much easier on the brain than really thinking about something. I would have found it so easy to just grab my phone if something in my homework wasn't making sense, rather than working through it. I definitely would have found it difficult to get to things like music practice when I had easier entertainment on offer.

There's also the social aspect of the phone, and seeing what everyone else is up to at every moment. It must be so easy to feel left out if you are seeing pictures of your friends all out together and you've not been invited. Fortunately my children don't use social media yet, but they do use WhatsApp which has status updates similar to Instagram, and it has caused us issues with "games" like tagging your favourite friends.

Photo credit Bruce Mars via Unsplash

Out and about, I'm always dodging teenagers that are walking along with a phone in front of their face. The other morning I nearly hit a boy in the car, he walked right out in front of me while looking at his phone. Luckily I was driving slowly and was easily able to stop. What will they be like when they start driving if they can't put their phones down for any length of time?

I know that I'm sounding like a judgy old lady, but I actually find it really scary to think about what addictive apps like TikTok are doing to children's brains and attention spans (and of course my own too, I struggle with my own scrolling issues!) Maybe I need to lighten up a bit and just accept that this is how the world is now!

Things that are easier now the children are older

I am really appreciating this time of life with my older children as I struggled a lot with the baby and toddler years. I didn't like the unpredictability and the hassle that came with even the simplest tasks. I found it difficult coping with the way that my life changed overnight, and although I was happy with my new role as primary caregiver it took me a while to adapt to it. 

The children still rely on me a lot of course - I wrote recently about the things that my older children still need me for - but generally what I'm needed for these days are things that I find easier and that I can have more control over. 

I've always found the school run quite stressful, but it's much easier now that they are both at senior school. At drop off I pull up outside the school and they jump out. For pick up my main worry has always been that I'll be late or can't find a parking space, but now they come out by themselves and have their phones I know that I can just give them a quick ring and they can either wait for me at school or walk to wherever I am.

It's really nice to be able to leave them at home for periods of time. When my husband is away I can go out for a run or pop to the shops by myself. My husband and I often go out for walks together, and we have even been out for an early dinner just the two of us!

When it comes to food I'm much less stressed now about what they eat, in particular my son who has always been a fussy eater. I cook him what he likes and he can cope by himself if he's in a situation like a school trip where he has to eat what he's given. He makes his own lunch and breakfast now and my daughter is perfectly capable too, although she's a bit more reluctant. I do still make their packed lunches though, it's just so much easier for me to just get on with it, production line style!

I really appreciate the fact that our house is no longer filled with a mess of colourful plastic. We recently had a big sort out of the Lego and Playmobil and although we have more toys than we need for their age at least it is all confined to their rooms now. At one point we had toys all over the place!

We recently organised opening bank accounts for them so they now have a proper debit card and regular pocket money. They have both been really pleased with this and it has given them more independence - on Mother's Day they took themselves down to the local shop to buy my boxes of Maltesers and they can buy themselves chips at lunch.

I enjoy having proper conversations with them. We talk in the car and over dinner about things that are in the news or what is going on with their lives. I spend quite a bit of time with them both at bedtime which is their opportunity to discuss things privately with me.

Photo credit Gilles Seguin via Unsplash

It's not always easy of course and they both need a lot of emotional support which I do find draining at times. But I am definitely preferring this stage of life!

Things that my older children still need me for

I am very much enjoying the fact that now my children are older they are less dependent on me. I love being able to pop out for a run or to the shops without dragging them along with me, and I'm very glad that those nightly reading records are now a distant memory.

But even though they are slowly becoming more independent, there are lots of things that they still need me for!

Taking to school - this is the big one. We made the decision to send our children to school in the nearest town and we are very happy with our choice as it's a great school. But the public transport options are limited, and so for the moment they need to be driven there and back. Luckily our family setup means that we can do it.

Plaiting hair - this was proven when I went away for a few days at the beginning of the year. Mia likes to wear her hair in two plaits, and it's not something that she can do herself. I'm pretty good at plaiting -  she has such unruly hair that I've been plaiting it at least once a day for about ten years now. But my husband lacks the skill so they had to come up with a ponytail hairstyle for her while I was away!

Putting to bed - they both still like to have an individual chat with me before bed.

Printing things - Harry has got this sorted but Mia's laptop doesn't seem to want to do it, so I'm often being called upon to print an urgent piece of homework.

Washing and sorting clothes - I spend a lot of time doing the washing and getting it ready. I do have a new rule - clothes that are put in the washing pile inside out are returned washed and folded but still inside out!

Making food - Harry can make his own breakfast and lunch now which is brilliant! But Mia still needs a bit of help, she claims to be scared of the toaster. I make the packed lunches but to be honest it's easier for me to just get on and do it than have everyone faffing around making their own!

Removing spiders from bedrooms and bathrooms - I'm not very good at this myself but I will grit my teeth and get to it with a glass and piece of cardboard.

Emotional support - they often have things going on that need to be talked about. It can be hard work but I don't mind being there to talk to, it's an important part of my job!

But even though some of these things might be a bit of a pain, I do know that I'll definitely miss them when I'm not needed any more!

Using the Marie Kondo method to declutter an older child or teenager's room

For a little while my teenage son's bedroom had been descending into chaos, so I decided that we would tackle it together at the beginning of the summer holidays and have a really good clear out and clean. I'm a big fan of the Marie Kondo method for decluttering and organising, and so I decided that we would use this method in his bedroom. It was really successful and his room looks so much better now,  so I thought I'd share how we used the method on his room.

The Marie Kondo method involves sorting possessions by category. You start with categories of items that have little sentimental attachment and can obviously be removed. The main categories are clothes, books and paperwork, and then you move onto the smaller categories which can be customised based on the sorts of things that you own. 

I came up with a category list before we started, and I also added things as we went along. I've shared our category list below, and I'll go into detail about each one.

Downloadable a printable version of the checklist

Before you start, if possible clear a sorting area and gather together large boxes, bin bags, and bags for charity donations. As you sort you will find things that belong to later categories or to a new category so it's a good idea to have somewhere to keep them. Prepare for a few days of mess!

We did the declutter slowly and worked on a category or two every day. I planned the next day's category in advance and where possible gathered the items together in my sorting area. That way we both knew what was coming up. If we had a busy day then I planned a smaller and easier category to work on. 

I also cleaned as we went along, for example pulling out the bed to hoover underneath and giving the window a good clean. As the room begins to empty it's a good opportunity to think about whether your existing storage systems are working, and whether you need to look at repurposing or purchasing new storage.

Clothes - For me this is the easiest category for children as it's really obvious which things have been grown out of and can be passed on. I also keep on top of it anyway - every time we pack for a holiday I take out the things that no longer fit! I take clothes that are still in really good condition to the charity shop, and those which are a little more worn to the supermarket recycling bins.

Books - Again I find this quite an easy category as children's interests change so quickly and they grow out of books. But I am also quite careful here as I've recently found myself re-purchasing some of my old childhood favourites! So I found Harry a large box for carefully chosen 'sentimental' books which he can keep in his wardrobe.

Paperwork - I tried to start with the least sentimental items of paperwork, so for a child this includes instruction leaflets for toys, schoolwork, old notebooks, certificates and all the random pieces of paper that end up lying around. Some of the paperwork can be dealt with in the sentimental category, for example photos, letters and postcards, diaries and journals. 

Bags and accessories - Hats and caps, jewellery, belts, ties and so on.

Stationery - I like to sort this into 'current' stationery, including school pencil cases and desk stationery, and 'spare' stationery for when this runs out. Make sure that the pens all work, pencils are sharpened etc. and there isn't too much excess in the spare category. 

Decorative items - Pictures on the walls, cushions, blankets, fairy lights, ornaments and trinkets.

Jigsaws and games - Always a satisfying declutter as the boxes take up lots of room! I included card games, board games and puzzle games in this category.

Large toys - Playmobil sets, dolls houses, marble runs and so on.

Construction sets - For my son the majority of this category was Lego, also KNEX, Meccano, and magnet activity sets. 

Action figures and dolls - Also the accessories that go along with them like bottles and clothes.

Small toys and collectibles - Figurines like Pokemon toys, Shopkins, LOL Dolls and I also included trading cards. If you are getting rid of these then it might be worth looking at whether it's worth selling as they may have some value.

Completed craft projects - This was a surprisingly large category. Pottery painting efforts, sculptures from school and various other creations. Luckily much of it was no longer wanted!

Soft toys - Possibly the toughest category! But I found that putting stuffed animals together in one place really helped to see just how many there were. Our school loves to take these as donations for the soft toy raffle at the summer fair.

Sentimental - All those precious things that are much harder to part with, although my son was much more ruthless than I expected. I found that we had different ideas about the things that would be sentimental to him, so I had to let him take the lead! It could be photographs, ticket stubs, holiday souvenirs, postcards, gifts from friends or relatives, journals and so on. 

Extra categories - All children are different and you are bound to come up with extra categories as you go along. For example - toiletries and makeup, computer games and gaming accessories, DVDs, sporting equipment, badges, craft supplies.

Photo credit Kenny Eliason via Unsplash

For me the most difficult part of the tidy is getting rid of the excess items. There are lots of options - passing things to a younger relative or friend, selling, donating to a charity shop or recycling for example, and ideally it should be done as soon as possible. I like to at least get things neatly packed up so that I can grab a bag or two to take to the charity shop or deliver to a friend when I get the chance.

Just one last thought - when it comes to decluttering with children I think that the age of the child makes a huge difference. With very young children I think it's best not to really involve them, and instead I would just do the decluttering myself. Many of their possessions are ones that they've been given and they outgrow things so quickly. 

But older children have many more things which are sentimental to them, and things that they've specifically requested as gifts or chosen and purchased with their own money. So I think that using the Marie Kondo method works really well with older children and teenagers. I also think that regular decluttering is a really good habit to work on while they are younger so that they learn to keep on top of things, and hopefully they will remember this method so that they can use it in the future.

Category list background credit - Alessio Soggetti via Unsplash

Travelling with older children

I've always loved to travel, and the children have been joining us on our travels around the world since they were very small. Obviously our travel abroad has been somewhat curtailed over the last couple of years, and we've just returned from our first long haul holiday in a long time - a wonderful week in Mauritius.

Something that I really noticed on this holiday was how much easier things have become now that the children are older.

When it comes to packing I just give them a list of clothes and they gather the items together for me. They pack their own toiletries (with a few reminders!) along with all the other things that need to join us - books, pencil cases, fidget toys and so on. This time I even got them to organise their own hand luggage and snacks - it's a long time since I had to prepare busy bags and little tubs filled with raisins!

We had good flight times for this holiday - two long night flights. Both children took themselves off to sleep when they were tired and slept almost the whole way, meaning that us adults could sleep too. I didn't even mind the babies that cried the whole way there and back as I was so grateful that they weren't mine to worry about!

I found that I could relax much more without having to constantly entertain the children. We sat by the pool or on the beach, and I could read my book while the children read or played on their tablets. They took themselves to the toilet if they needed it, and rinsed the sand off their own feet. They applied their own sun cream in the morning and washed their own hair in the evening.

We did a couple of sightseeing trips by taxi, and it was so nice not to have to worry about car seats. We also spent time snorkelling in the sea, and it was much more enjoyable now that the children can swim as well as I can. I was able to appreciate the fish myself instead of being constantly on alert!

We usually choose holiday destinations with a buffet meal setup as it works best for us. This was the first time that the children were confident enough to go up and help themselves to food, meaning that we could sit and enjoy our own dinner without having to constantly jump up and down to get them things. Then after dinner we were able to enjoy a drink in one of the bars, and we had some great family time chatting together. When they got restless we sent them off with a phone, and they amused themselves by taking videos of each other while still within our sight. 

These are all changes that have happened gradually, but it hasn't been until now that I've really noticed how all these things added up and what a positive difference it made to our holiday. I did love travelling with the children when they were smaller but it does make holidays much less stressful now that they are a bit older!

Celebrating a birthday with a Python coding theme

This week Harry turned 13 - we now have a teenager in the house! His current top interest at the moment is the programming language Python. Over the last few months he has taught it to himself, and he spends ages working away on his coding and writing programmes. So I decided that I would bring a Python theme to his birthday.

My first thought was the cake. The Python logo is pretty simple and could probably be recreated with fondant icing but my skills aren't that good so I cheated and bought a printed cake topper. There are lots of companies that do this, I used one that I found on Amazon and have used before. You upload your own picture and choose some text, then the printed cake topper arrives a few days later. It's slightly larger than the size of cake that I normally make but I was able to cut it to fit.

The trouble is that Harry doesn't actually like cake. He likes having the cake experience and blowing out the candles, which is why I made him one, but he won't eat it. So last year I made him a batch of biscuits to go with it, and I did the same this year with some Python cookies.

I was going to make a paper template and cut the biscuits by hand, but then I was really pleased to find a Python logo biscuit cutter on eBay. The company offers cookie cutters in a huge range of designs which are machine printed and I was very happy with it. It was a little fiddly to use admittedly, especially around the eyes, but it made some lovely shaped biscuits that were instantly recognisable (well, at least to those that know their programming languages!)

I piled everything up on a cake tray, along with some glittery candles and chocolate fingers which are one of the few biscuits that he likes. Then I decorated with yellow and blue balloons. I think he was pleased!