This week, I was in my local supermarket and my four year old pulled me to see something….. the first Selection Box of the year! (I can guarantee, last year’s selection boxes are well gone in our house before the new year began!) My daughter reminded me that Santa brought her one. For a second I thought ‘surely I didn’t let Santa leave MORE chocolate for my children on Christmas Day’ and then I remembered that she got one when Santa visited a weekly club she attends, so I said, ‘Yes, you’re right, you got that at ….club’ to which she replied, ‘and when he visited our estate’. She was right, she received two selection boxes from Santa last year and her sister received three! I’ve nothing against selection boxes but I do have a problem when my children start to think that it’s normal to eat chocolate every day and I know I’m not the only parent who feels strongly about this.
So, if you’re organising a Christmas party this year whether for a business or an organisation, can I help you think outside the ‘Selection box’ and tell Santa to bring an alternative gift for the children? I know many Christmas parties work on tight budgets but there are certainly fun stuff that Santa can bring that cost about the same price as a selection box, will last longer and won’t result in obesity and rotten teeth! So, I’ve made a small list under 3 categories – €3 or less, €5 and €10.
Santa presents that cost Santa €3 or less
- Scratch and Sniff Stickers
- A Return Ball
- A Sticky Gel Creature
- A Box of Street Chalks
- Pick Up Sticks Game
- Rattle Magnets
- A Moody Squeeze Face
- A Moulding Sand Egg Timer
- A pull out colouring poster. I stock Space and Fantasy ones.
Gifts Santa could give that cost €5
- A self inflating whoopee cushion
- A set of 10 bouncy balls
- A Jingle Stick
- A wooden Magic Wand
- Some temporary tattoos – I stock dinos, weather emojis, space, heroes vs villains. animals, unicorns and sweet mimi.
- A net with 102 Marbles
- A dino hatching egg
- A set of juggling balls
Santa Gifts that cost €10
If Santa is visiting the boys and girls in a club or society (like the GAA), he usually just brings something small. But often businesses have Christmas parties for their staff’s children and when this happens, he tends to be more generous. Here are a list of toys that cost just €10
- A 2 piece puzzle – this one here is a Numbers one.
- A baby crocheted rattle. I sell Ice-lolly and pineapple ones.
- Mosaic Pictures Craft Set
- A Lotto Game
- A 16 piece jigsaw. I stock the Ice-Cream Van one.
- Magic Velvet Colouring Books with Markers. I stock the animals one.
- Lacing Pictures Activity Box
- A fabric baby book. I sell the Dinosaur ones and Farm Animal ones.
- A reusable sticker calendar.
I’m really excited about the upcoming Christmas season and although I appeared a bit disgruntled about the number of selection boxes my girls received last year – the reality is that I ate most of the chocolate (and they were too young to notice!), so I can’t really complain about that!
Enjoy the run up to the season and I hope, if you are organising a children’s Christmas Party, that this little blog will have given you some inspiration. If you are organising a corporate Christmas party for children and your budget is bigger than €10 per gift, I stock lots of more expensive toys, games, crafts and kits so please browse my website or send me a message and I can try and help you select toys that will work best for you. Also, since I just stock small quantities of toys, if you want to buy more than I have in stock, send me an email and I can order in the quantities that you need.
x Suzie
At this time of year, lots of people get concerned about the delivery of their orders. You can see some shipping queries answered in this blog. Or, you might be interested in hearing what some people receive in stocking stuffers.
