Guest Post by Thia of TheHonestMums-Club.co.uk

It’s that time of year where the parents among us are frantically trying to find ways to entertain our young children and get them excited for Christmas. At least I am, a total Christmas lover and my son must love Christmas as much as me!

If your children love being outdoors like my son, I had a think about what sorts of activities he would enjoy & ones we could all enjoy as a family. Bundle those little munchkins up and take them outside for lots of fun!

Here are a couple of outdoor Christmas activities I have planned to hopefully get Emerson a little excited.

Candy Cane Hunt

Think Easter egg hunt but with candy canes and Christmas treats you and your family love! To do this I am using my mothers garden, as ours isn’t very big and I’m inviting a few of my friends and their little ones! This is perfect if your children love the outdoors, just bundle them up nice and warm. I am going to hang up a few string lights, especially as we are planning to do it around 5pm, also 1YR olds could always follow the string lights along to find their little treats!

Christmas Market

Good o’le Christmas markets. You have to love them, everyone is in the Christmas spirit & enjoying themselves. Depending on which one you can get to, you’re sure to enjoy the festivities. I always recommend researching the area before you go, especially with young children. Bath is mostly cobbled streets where the market is, so unless you have a all terrain pram I would suggest a carrier if you can. I definitely think my son is going to love it this year, he is intrigued by everything and wants to touch & get into everything. It’s also a great opportunity for him to try new foods that we wouldn’t necessarily have any other time. Think his senses will be overloaded with Christmas! This is also a great one for all family members.

Santa’s Grotto

This is a no brainier. But I have to include it, we didn’t get the chance to go last year but definitely going to try this year. Wait in those long queues so we can’t meet Santa. Children love meeting Santa so much. Depending on where you are going, you can make a whole day out of it. Have a day full of Christmas fun, maybe get a few ideas on what your kiddos really want from Santa this year.

Garden Centres

So call me crazy on this but, who doesn’t love a garden centre at Christmas?! If you have never been you must go, it’s magical. Especially if you find the good ones, the ones that go all out and have all the different colour schemes imaginable, set out for you to fall in love with and want 6 Christmas trees at home. Can you tell I love them? We have an amazing garden centre near us and it’s a tradition for my best friend, our babies and myself to all go look around. Spend too much money and then stuff our faces with ‘fancy food’. No idea why we like to call it that. If you’re lucky your garden centre may hold special events around Christmas. Our garden centre will be holding a tea or breakfast with Santa, where the children get to decorate gingerbread biscuits with Santa’s elves. Although trying to get a 1YR old to do this may prove difficult, most toddlers love arts & crafts and most of all getting super messy.

Santa Fun Run

These are amazing! A sea of Santa’s, raising money for charity. Now I won’t lie to you I’d much rather watch from my window and donate money to the charity. Especially after working until late the night before. If I am off this year I definitely would love to take our son and run with him in his pram of course! What a great outdoor Christmas activity, which also helps others but everyone taking part raising money for charity. For many years my mum and I watched from the bedroom window, cheering them on. Then donating in the evening when Santa would go around on his sleigh with Christmas music blasting from his beautiful sleigh (on wheels). Great way to teach your older children on giving at Christmas too. Even if you walk it, you’re still taking part and helping a great cause.

So there you have it, all the outdoor Christmas activities I have planned around working full time in retail. I’m sure there are an abundance of activities to do with toddlers but, these are just my favourites that we have done pre-baby.

Now we’re excited to bring him along and start family traditions for our crazy son that loves the outdoors.