Local Life - Wigan - December 2020

16
ON A BUDGET
Free and low-cost ideas to make Christmas magical!
Try a digital advent calendar (£3.70)
The Jacquie Lawson advent calendar is a firm favourite in
our house. (I love it as much as the kids.) A new game,
story or creative activity is released each day throughout
December. The calendar is centred around a Christmassy
scene, and many of the activities then become part of
that scene. So your child might decorate the tree, dress
up the snowman or create a wreath to hang on a shop
door, for example. See www.jacquielawson.com/advent.
Look for low-cost elves (£1)
A branded Elf on a Shelf could set you back over £20,
so look for alternatives. I picked up a couple of small
bendable elves for £1 each from Tiger a couple of years
ago, which did the job just as well as a bigger elf – until
the dog got hold of them!
Send a message from Santa (Free)
Santa has been
wishing my kids a
happy Christmas
through a Portable
North Pole (www.
portablenorthpole.
com) video for
years. The shorter
personalised video
is free to create
and is pretty much
guaranteed to
delight younger
children. (It’s also
worth looking in
your phone’s app
store for Christmasthemed
apps like
Santa Spy Cam and Elf Yourself.)
Organise a second-hand scavenger
hunt (£10 or under)
Most children enjoy a scavenger hunt around the house
or garden. The most successful one I’ve organised for
my children involved a load of Shopkins and other mini
figures that I picked up second-hand from Facebook
Marketplace for under £10. The elves that I mentioned
above also create a treasure hunt every year, with a series
of clues leading to a craft activity, gift-wrapped sweets or
a small toy.