Secret Mum Club with Sophiena - The Present Mix-Up

Episode Date: December 5, 2024

Welcome to the Secret Mum Club Christmas Crafts! Each week, Sophiena and Emma share festive tips, creative crafting ideas, and ways to keep the kids entertained. This week, it’s all about gifts! Plus, a listener's secret has the kids convinced Santa needs glasses. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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I like it, it's quite formal. Was it? It was a little bit too formal for us though. Hello you slags! Hello, this is the Secret Mum Club, I'm Safina and I'm Emma. And welcome to your first Christmas Craft Thursday episode! We're going to be chatting all about DIY and budget Christmas activities so you can build your very own Secret Mum Club Christmas. Shall we jump on in? Club Christmas. Shall we jump on in? Right, listeners, welcome to your Christmas crafts corner. Every Thursday this month, we'll be sharing a little craft you can try at home to make your Christmas a little bit more magical. And each week, Sophie will be teaching me a new craft.

Has to be that way around. I feel like you need to bring at least one craft to the table. What are you bringing? This is not my jam. But I'm learning and we'll be having a go at it right here in the studio and then you can catch the full tutorial over on our YouTube channel at Secret Mum Club. That's the full thing on YouTube. You can watch a whole video of me and you, me and Emma on the old YouTube. The people are always saying they want more. Well, that's why you can get it. You got to go to the Y to the T. The full version.

Y to the T to the weak to the T. We've got a different theme every week. And this week's theme is... Chris. And this week's theme is... Chris. Chris or crafts. It's not.

It's gifts. It's like crafts and Chris. What? Too many. Too many. Too many. Too many words. So we're kicking things off with a budget-friendly Christmas Eve box. Right. Explain to me.

Explain. So I don't do Christmas Eve boxes, but I'm not against them. And I have done them previously. I don't know whether I was more inclined to do them when the babies were little and were into more crafting. Yeah. Even though they do love crafting, crafting now, crafting. It's hard to say. I think it's crafting and Christmas together. It's too much.

It's too much. Too much for my teeth. I don't tend to do them anymore only because I feel like they're a whole lot. Yeah. So like if I was to do a Christmas Eve box now, it's super on a budget and it would be Christmas Eve morning. Yes. And it's something, an activity for them to do for the day. Because Christmas Eve for us in our house, I'm not sure on everybody else, is a really quiet day.

We're trying to make it magical. We have our pajamas, we snuggle, we have hot drinks, we have little snacks, we have movies. Like that is our- Cozy. Yeah, a really cozy Christmas Eve. We don't tend to do much because Christmas Day is always so fucking busy. And because I was, I wasn't in the world of social media back then, but I was very much watching the world of social media and I got sucked in and I was like, I need to do this. Make the Christmas Eve boxes. I think there's an age,

like a sweet spot as well for what age they're good for. Like mine are probably a bit too little at the moment. Yours may be a little bit too old, but I think it'd be what age they're good for. Like mine are probably a bit too little at the moment. Yours may be a little bit too old but I think it'd be cute when they're like four or five and they'll be into like doing because the ones we put together were so easy, so on a budget. So on a budget. It would keep them entertained all day. And this is basically what I would do now but I just wouldn't put it in a Christmas Eve box. I buy them brand new colouring and I buy them pencils and the pencils tend to see us out for the year or the pens see us out for the year. So if anything, it's

something for us to do all day as a family. But I am an advocate of this, that I do buy a board game. We've bought an absolute whopper for this one. And we have a board game. We'd have them throughout the year, but we have a brand new one for Christmas Eve. So the babies get pajamas again and they put their new pajamas on. They have a brand new one for Christmas Eve. So the babies get pajamas again, and they put their new pajamas on. They have a bath on Christmas Eve morning, put their pajamas on, and that's how we stay for the day. Do you know what I'm really excited for that era?

Me and Stefan were saying the other day, I can't wait to be a board game playing family. And if my kids aren't into it, I'm gonna force them. I would say I was at a point where I was forcing, but now we're definitely there. It's so nostalgic for me. It is for me too. People always say, oh, do you have any traditions?

And I'm always like, no, no, I just do the bog sand of everybody. And then when I mentioned on my Instagram a few weeks ago, everyone was like, that is such a lovely thing. You have traditions, yeah. That's a tradition, like you have a lovely thing. We put new pajamas on, we sit in them all day, and then we have a board game

and we just play it on rotate. I love that. But talk to me, boxes, what went in? Things to go into the boxes. We had coloring paper sheets. So you can either buy a coloring book, again, which is super cheap. They can come in like a roll, can't they?

And you get loads in there. You can even buy that and divvy them up if you have two, three, or multiple boxes. Yes, to make them go a little bit further. Coloring pencils. Yeah. Pens, whatever you want to put in those. Pens, if you're brave, I don't let them have them

in my house. Crayons, if I could get away with them, but the children get really angry at the crayons because they are waxing. Yeah, bugger to get off the wall, actually. Joseph started drawing on the wall and that is not fun. That is not fun for anybody. We had some stationery.

We had rulers, a sharpener, and we had some erasers. Yep. That little Santa eraser. That was very American, wasn't it? Eraser. A rubber. A rubber. Yeah, I'd call it a rubber.

A rubber. Stickers. We also had a little coloring cup. They were so cute. They were really, really cute. Everything that was in the box is actually from the works. Yes. If you're in the UK, it's the works.

I don't know if you can do the works online, actually. I don't know. Hit us up, the works. And you could do like a little, you can take the coloring out, color it in and pop it back into the cup. I've never seen that before. So basically when you put the paper back in,

it's protected from the water inside. And it looks like you've decorated your own cup. Yes, yes. The color of it in, which is really cute. But you can go with anything on that one. Also we go paper cups, like plain white paper cups. And decorate them. Another idea, yeah, and just decorate them

from start to finish. You can either paper mache them or you just color them in. But we, we've always done like a paper cup as well. That's a good one. We did do a squishy sensory toy. Yeah. For when things get a bit stressful at Christmas. And I think this is a really good thing. And again, you can get them, you can buy them in bulk and we had some leftover from like party bags. Well, which I've kept like through the year. And then I just put them in there because sometimes the day's overwhelming, isn't it? They've got something to fiddle with or squish or maybe a soft toy, little teddy or something like that. We put that in there and then we

did some DIY hot chocolate pads. Now these are, I think are the things you already have in the house anyway. Yeah. So I had little kilner jars, which, or you could use like a jam jar that you've got left over. Even a Tommy TP formula pot. Yes. Just chuck it in there. Chuck it in. Pour it in, it's even got a pouring lid on it.

Bit of drinking chocolate, bit of marshmallows. You have to remember, and something I will say, and I'm a massive advocate for this, is that children don't know the cost or the value of an item. Yeah. All they know is the memory of how it felt when they received that.

Yeah. And the things that they did. So I don't want people to think you have to spend loads of money on these things, because children don't know how much things cost. Yes, or be overwhelmed by how much time it takes, because I'm not one to make a lot of effort, but these boxes were so easy.

So easy. And quick, you'll see on the video how quickly we put them together. So quick, so easy, and the boxes cost us no more than 10 pounds. Yeah. So that's with the box and everything inside as well. And even if you don't want to do it,

that's also fine. Absolutely fine. Yeah, put a film on if you can't be bothered. That's me, thank you. That's me too. We do have coloring, but yeah, however you want to do it, please don't take any stress or pressure from social media to

fucking do these shit because children don't, they remember the moment they don't remember oh do you remember that time you made me a Christmas Eve box and it cost 150 pounds? No, they don't remember that. I think they'll love something like that. I think they'll appreciate it. They will appreciate that. And it might keep them quiet while you're getting your last minute jobs done. They're never going to know though that it's 10 pounds are they?

They're going to go bloody hell she's fucking tight. William at school we got one for 150 quid. No they're not, they're never going to know though that it's £10 are they? They're not going to go bloody hell she's fucking tight. It's only a fella. William at school we got one for £150. No they're not. They're never going to know. Joseph doesn't know the value of anything. He's asking for 10 Toy Story figures. I'm like that's going to come to £300.

So let's choose one or two. Let's choose one. Yeah. He's like I want them all. No, no. No, no. We can collect them. Okay.

So Christmas Eve boxes aren't the only thing you can make are they, Soph? Absolutely, there are loads of crafty gifts you can do. You can get the children involved in making gifts for your family and friends instead. Yes, such an idea. This is one that I absolutely adore and I won't lie, I still do it and I will continue to do it probably until the children are about 25, 25, 30. We like to make our own greeting cards to send out to family rather than buying cards. Although I know the cards you can buy go also to charity. Yeah. We do our donations elsewhere throughout the year. But so we make our own Christmas cards at home.

So we do like the mistletoes where you take a footprint of the baby and you can do like two footprints and put the red bow on there and do mistletoes. Oh, you're so clever. Or a footprint for the reindeer. And then put some little antlers on. Put some little antlers on. Hand is a Robin. So you would put the handprint on the paper and then this becomes the Robin's head and these are

like the feathers. And then the little bow. Yeah. So there's lots you can do. And again, also, I do feel like this one is a good one because you can take such good pictures on your phone that you can send out a digital greeting card. Yeah, you don't have to actually post them and pay for stamps have got bloody expensive. Again stamps are really really expensive. So if you can create them, even edit them in CapCut or something like that and add some text. And send a picture to your family and friends.

You can even edit them in app of social media. Like you can edit it in Instagram and screenshot it and save it from there and send it out to the world or whoever you wish to send it to. So there is things that you can do instead to send your Christmas cheer. That's nice. I normally don't bother with Christmas cards,

but that's nice. To him, yeah. It's a nice one. Plus yours are quite far away. I always think it's a lovely gift though for a grandparent because they love that. They love stuff like that. My mum relishes in it. Yeah.

Not when she gets Eden's size six foot on a card though. She has to go for an A3 size of paper now if she wants to mistletoe. It's a poster. Talk to me about decorated picture frames. I hadn't heard of this before. This one is a really good one. Yeah. But it's how good you are with having that kind of, obviously we talk about pictures.

We're a believer, believers. We're believers. We've got the Secret Mum Club art gallery. Yeah. So it's how you feel with that kind of stuff in. But again, I also feel like you can put it away in the Christmas box and every year add to like your Christmas decorations.

So what you buy a normal picture frame. You buy just a cheap frame that you can get from like IKEA. Sometimes they're in the sale for like 50p at IKEA. And you can either put paper on it to create a border depending on how things are gonna stick to it. And then you decorate it however you wish. Pipe cleaners, you can even do hand prints of the baby's hands and stick them onto the corners

of the frames or a foot and a hand. You've got glitter, stickers, ribbons, however you want to do it. Go bloody ham on that. And then if you go out for a Christmas day out and you meet the big man, put it in the frame and then you'll cherish it forever. And then every year you can have your Santa picture

and the children's created frame. And they go away. How they've grown up every year, you can like chronicle it. So ours just go away in the Christmas box every year. And then we get them out. And then we add a new one. Oh, that's cute. And then you don't have to have them all year round but they've got a safe place to go. Yeah. So yeah, that's another little sneaky peeky for you there. Honestly, it's like Blue Peter over here. I know, I don't want to say I'm a gem but you know. All right, you can watch the full video of

us making those Christmas Eve boxes over on our YouTube channel as I said, it's at Secret Mum Club. And if you have any gift in Christmas crafts that you do, let us know what they are. After the break we'll have one of your Christmasy secrets! This episode is brought to you by VoucherCodes.co.uk, the UK's most trusted voucher and discount code site and app. There's nothing better than saving a bit of money when you shop. Especially at Christmas with all the gifts to buy. Absolutely. It's great to save a little or even stretch your budget to get someone a nicer gift. Everyone wins.

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Everything. Bit of M&S. Nike. You love a trainer. I do love me a trainer. I mean it covers all bases. Honestly there's something for everyone. There really is. So this Christmas save on festive gifting with hand-tested codes that really work. Go to vouchercodes.co.uk for discounts that work. Terms and conditions apply. your whole family. Come on, Mufasa, let's get in some trouble. On December 20th, a kingdom of adventure awaits. We can do this. We're busy, let's hustle. Disney's Mufasa the Lion King in theaters and IMAX December 20th. Welcome back. We love a secret on the Secret Mum Club and you're all so good at sharing. So Emma, what have you got for us today? All right, this comes from Fran.

She says, hi ladies. Hello Fran. Last Christmas. Last Christmas, you gave me your heart. I was in a mad rush. That's what she says. Please can you sing the whole thing? The whole thing.

Ready? Last Christmas, I was in a mad rush. I was in a mad rush. Wrapping presents and asleep. Depri deprived mum. I accidentally wrote my eldest name. Alright, last Christmas I was in a mad rush wrapping presents and as a sleep deprived mum I accidentally wrote my eldest name on the gift for my youngest from Santa.

On Christmas morning they spotted it straight away and started questioning everything. I had to think on my feet so I told them Santa must have been in a hurry and got the names mixed up. Thankfully, they bought it, though now they're convinced Santa needs glasses. Should have gone to Specsavers. Santa should have gone to Specsavers. So the eldest has obviously opened the present, thought this isn't for me, looked at the label, says from Santa, and questioned everything. They're like, why is Santa getting shit wrong? Santa doesn't get stuff wrong.

No. He knows what he's doing. He's delivering presents to thousands of girls and boys. I won't lie. There's been times when I've been there and I go, oh, it's from Santa, but I don't write, I wrote from mom and dad. I'm like, oh, this is a gift from Santa.

And they're like, yeah, why is it saying mom and dad? Damn you that you can read. Oh yeah. It must be hard when they get to that age. When they can start reading. They start questioning things. And I'm like, oh, now I just don't fucking label anything. I just do color coded paper.

So you know what's for who. Yeah, so there is, there's a Santa paper. Yeah. It's the same paper every year. Yeah, if little ones are listening. Turn this off. Turn it down for a minute. So there's a Santa paper that I use for Santa's gifts.

It's always just a brown paper. Nothing else, just a brown plain paper. And that's what Santa brings their gifts in. And then they have color coded paper. So they know that some come from you and Chris. The majority. So this is again, something we talk about. The majority of the gifts come from me and Chris.

This is again again is a controversial and I'm not saying everybody should do this, but I, we do everything is from mom and dad. Bar Santa brings a bag. Santa brings the stocking presents or he brings some presents if they're a bit big for the stocking and they only get one toy from Santa. It's always something really small.

It's not anything extravagant. They get coloring, they get socks, they get chocolatey bits, they get all the little things, little toys, and then he gets a little toy. Because I never want my children to go to school and go, oh, Santa bought me a bike. Santa got me an iPad. And then there is a child that didn't get that.

So we try to be very, very conscious of other people. And we have explained to the children if that's what Santa buys other children, then that is the gift for them. But because mommy and daddy are very lucky that we are able to buy you these gifts, we buy them so that Santa doesn't have to give them to you. I quite like that.

Cause then when they do stop believing, they know they're still gonna get presents from you. It's funny. Cause when I was little, like I knew my mom and dad bought my presents, but there was a crossover period where I also still believed in Father Christmas, but I knew my mom and dad bought presents

and went Christmas shopping, and I always knew the hiding place where they were hidden in my mom and dad's wardrobe. Always knew mine. And I'd always obviously go and have a look, but I still believed in Father Christmas for a while, even though I knew that. It's funny, isn't it?

I don't really remember how my mum and dad did it. All I know is that one year I didn't get any of the gifts that I found for myself because they obviously weren't mine. Oh, were they for Roxanne? The worst year of my life. I'll never live a dad. Well, that'll earn you for looking. I know, I know.

But no, we do tell the children, I don't know how my mum and dad told us, we tell the children that they only get one gift from Santa and then they get the necessities that Santa feels like they need. And we have said to the children, if you go to school after Christmas and the children, there's children that say, and they got all these gifts, there's no need for you to question

because Santa will support families that maybe aren't struggling this Christmas or do need a little bit of help in the house. But ours is Mommy and daddy are fortunate enough that we're able to do that for you. I like that. Yeah, and then there's no there's no stress or worry Yeah, but also Santa doesn't bring iPads to every child and then the parents who work their fucking arses off I know for the whole year. Yeah, then get no credit for it. And I think it's a bit sad It's a funny one as well the Santa Santa bribery. Like I know my- We're trying really hard this year not to do it.

Not to do it. Well I know for like friends of mine, some of them who are parents are like, I don't use that with my kids at all. Like I don't wanna say to them, if you're naughty, you won't get any presents because of course they're still gonna get presents at Christmas.

I know some people that are like, this is the season where I can really blackmail my kids and be like, if you don't behave, you won't get anything from Father Christmas. And I don't know where to like draw the line. I think Joseph's still a little bit too young for it, but I don't want to threaten him with like, cause honestly he's still going to get gifts.

But then also when he's being a little shit, I'm like, Father Christmas is watching me. There's like occasions when they're bickering and we'll be like, oh, just got to remember that the elves are watching and we want to make sure that Santa sees us as being like really good. and there'd be those things, but I'd never go, right, you know, back in shout out.

You're getting no presence, because you can't follow through on it. It's not gonna happen. And then that just creates bad feeling towards it, doesn't it? Plus from last year, didn't we, Dottie is still very scared of Santa being in the house. Yes, we've got to be careful about that.

Yeah, we're still not good with him just popping in, you know? So yeah, you got to do what works best for you and what suits your family in your house. But don't worry, Fran, it's a stressful time. It is a stressful time and I feel like we've all been there, my girl. Yeah, don't worry.

Don't you worry. They got their presents in the end. They did. And just like me, I've been there. I felt it. Wasn't just one present. My sister got all my presents from Santa. All of them. He marked all of them wrong. Santa's given Roxanne my presents. My mum was like, they're not, they're Roxanne's. I was like,

that was my Barbie. No, what was it? Dream foam. Oh, dream foam. Yeah. It's when my parents had specific locations in the living room where they'd set out everyone's presents, but every year they'd forget. So you'd sit down and start opening some and be like, this was my spot last year. Like this is my spot every year. Yeah. And then you start opening something

and be like, these aren't for me. We had the same spot every year. Yeah, but my mom and dad would forget. No, my mom and dad never did forget. It was always our spot. Yeah, someone's by the window, someone's by the fireplace. Someone's on the armchair. Yeah. Yeah. Cute. I'm so fucking excited. Have you had to cover Santa's slip

up? Let us know. You can email us hello at secret mum pod.com or we're secret mum pod on tick tock and Instagram and make sure to head over to our YouTube channel to watch us make our Christmas Eve boxes and we'll see you next time on the Secret Mom Club! Disney's Mufasa the Lion King. It's time I tell you a story. A story? About Mufasa and the prince who would come to be known as Scar. So glad I brought some crickets. Bring your whole family.

Come on, Mufasa, let's get in some trouble. On December 20th, a kingdom of adventure awaits. We can do this. We're busy, let's hustle. Disney's Mufasa the Lion King in theaters and IMAX December 20th.