frugalandthriving.com.au » special occasions

some ideas for mother’s day

Melissa — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:00:20 +0000

It’s Mother’s Day on Sunday. This will be my third Mother’s Day. Does the picture give you an idea as to how I hope to be spending my Mother’s Day .

A good book (or, ahem, dear, an e-reader) and time to read it would be nice too.

I’ve written in the past on ideas for Mother’s Day gifts, rather than reinvent the wheel, I thought I would share the links here:

18 Frugal Mother’s Day gift ideas
A Few kid’s craft ideas for Mother’s Day
Mum on Mother’s Day (written by my mum)

Also, here are some links for handmade gift ideas – things to make for your mum:

Finally, I came across this idea a while ago for creating a lovely gift – a gift from mum to the kid’s. If you’re a scrapbooker, then you could incorporate this idea with scrapbooking.

How do you hope to be spending Mother’s Day?

Have you read these articles?:

what is lent and what does it mean to you?

Melissa — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 14:00:42 +0000

This is a guest post by Louisa Peterson from Delivery Hero Australia.

Growing up in a secular family in Sydney meant that Christmas was about presents and Easter was about chocolate eggs.

To be perfectly honest I’ve never really taken much of an interest in religion, but somehow this year I started wondering about Easter. What is Lent and why should I care about it? If you’re not a Christian, does this tradition make any sense?

Actually after doing a little bit of research, I think the answer is yes, it seems like we can all take something from Lent. As I’ve since discovered (thank you Wikipedia), Lent is a period of forty days of fasting before Easter. It’s a tradition primarily observed by Orthodox and Roman Catholics, and some Protestants.

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on the Saturday before Easter Sunday. This year that means it finishes on 7th April – which makes it 46 days instead of the usual 40.

According to the Catholic Encyclopaedia, the three traditional practises of Lent are prayer (justice towards God), fasting (justice towards the self), and almsgiving (justice towards your neighbours).

If we take a contemporary look at these practises, we could interpret them as reflection, fasting (or giving up a particular vice) and giving something back to charity or to your community.

I guess for me, the important thing here is the point of reflection. There are other times like New Year’s Eve where we contemplate the previous year and make resolutions about what we want for the new one. So perhaps Lent is another way to help us reflect on who we are, our relationships, and what we’re doing in our lives. Often we’re so busy with family (especially if you’ve got kids) and work, that it’s difficult to find a spare minute to reflect on where we’re heading.

It makes sense to check in with ourselves from time to time to see how our plans are panning out. If you’re a hedonist (living in Sydney in summer makes it easy to fall into this trap!), then sometimes it’s good to take stock and for example, give up alcohol for one month – just for a change. Fasting could also take the form of giving up meat, chocolate, cigarettes, your favourite TV show, or consciously cutting down on your internet use. It’s about self-discipline – something as adults we often forget to practise because we can stay up as late as we want and get pizza delivery whenever we like!

If do you give up something like alcohol, cigarettes, coffee or chocolate, it’s a good opportunity to take note of how much money you spend on this ‘vice’. You might be pleasantly surprised (or possibly shocked) at how much money you save during this period of ‘fasting’.

Extrapolating from there, you could flip it 180 degrees and use those 40 days to do something you’ve been meaning to do for years. Tear yourself away from the internet for one hour a day, and start reading that book you never have time for. Sign up for a yoga class, learn Japanese, start jogging, swimming, crocheting, or do a Thai cooking course.

Once you’ve had some time for reflection, and decided to give something up and/or re-focus your energy, it’s time to address the third aspect of Lent: giving. This can take many forms, whether it’s your time, or a financial donation to a charity or cause. You could go through your wardrobe and take your old clothes down to Vinnies or the Salvos. Giving could also be volunteering at a soup kitchen, old peoples’ home or local YMCA. It could be cooking a meal for your friends who have a new baby – or babysitting; helping your neighbour’s kid with their maths homework; or mowing your Grandma’s lawn. It’s about looking around and seeing where you can give something back to your family, friends and neighbours, and your community.

Giving to those around us helps to take the focus off our own lives for a minute. Often today we’re so wrapped up in our own careers, families and day-to-day problems, that sometimes it’s good to broaden our perspective and remember that we are a part of a community.

While I stumbled across Lent a little late this year, I’ve decided to give up chocolate – as difficult as this temptation is, with all those chocolate bunnies on display! Actually it’s an important one right now! I’ve also been meaning to try Pilates, so I’ve signed up for a 10 week course, and I’ve offered to babysit my friend’s toddler for the next few Saturday nights so she and her husband can go on dates together.

What do you think? What would you give up for 40 days?

Louisa Peterson is from Delivery Hero home delivery solutions for Australians. Louisa is a food, travel and lifestyle blogger who is working on kicking her chocolate addiction. When she isn’t blogging about all things food-related, she still enjoys hitting the kitchen to try out new recipes, travelling and going to the beach.

[Mel’s P.S. This week I wrote a guest post for Yahoo7’s Moneyhound website on making your own Easter hampers on a budget, you can find it here. I hope you have a wonderful Easter holiday.]

the best gift you can give on valentines day

Melissa — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:00:29 +0000

We used to ignore Valentine’s Day. Like many, we thought it was nothing more than commercialisation at it’s worst. When people have run out of things to spend money on, why not get them to buy stuffed gorillas (or tigers) holding love hearts?

But I changed my mind to some extent (notice the switch to ‘I’, hubby doesn’t have a choice in this). I’ve come to believe we don’t celebrate enough in our culture, particularly in Australia. Any excuse to celebrate a special occasion should be grasped with both hands. Wring the life out of life. Find joy when ever we can. So why not start with ‘official’ calendar holidays?

Marriage and children have also influenced my change of heart. It’s a lovely sentiment to argue that any and every day should be an opportunity to show affection to the one you love, but the reality is that it’s easy to take each other for granted when consumed by the daily grind of everyday living. Romance can get forgotten when there’s work to do and children to raise and dishes to wash.

Valentine’s Day can act as a reminder to take pause and appreciate the special person or people in your life. And to have fun making red cakes.

And what would be the best gift that you could give or receive on Valentine’s Day?

TIME. Quality time, whatever that means. Time without distractions. Attention. Listening. Conversation. Focus.

You don’t need to shop for this. No money spent. But it is more valuable than anything that could be purchased, particularly in a world where we are time poor and as a result, time stingy.

Giving your time means more if you’re undistracted. It means leaving the phone and the TV off. It means leaving your worries, your anger or resentments in the other room. It means having fun, being content, laughing and relaxing. Sometimes it means giving without receiving in return.

If you can manage this on other days besides Valentine’s Day, all the better. It’s important. Spending attentive time with the people that matter is what keeps us connected. DH and I realised this when we found we often went weeks without spending any time together at all, let alone ‘quality’ time. So if you’re like us, and need a little reminder every now and then remember: there’s nothing un-frugal about Valentine’s Day – it’s what you do with it that matters.

How are you celebrating Valentine’s Day?

Have you read these articles?:

it’s a wrap–christmas gift wrap on a budget

Melissa — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:00:10 +0000

I’m in two minds about gift wrap. On one hand, the anticipation that builds as you unwrap a gift is an important part of gift giving. It’s the surprise when you tear away the paper that’s part of the fun.

On the other hand, Christmas wrap can put an unnecessary strain on the budget and is certainly a strain on the environment. It’s hard to find stats, but the UK alone uses around 8,000 tonnes of the stuff each year – that’s around 50,000 trees. Even if we recycle the paper (which is a good thing) that doesn’t bring back those trees. And it takes a long time to grow replacement trees just for five seconds paper-tearing delight.

This isn’t a new concern of mine. One year, when I was about fifteen, I gave my family gifts wrapped in recycled newspaper. It didn’t go down well. It was a little bit messy too. So I admit, I have a few rolls of Christmas gift wrap in the cupboard. To peer pressure (or in this case, family pressure), I succumbed.

Below are a few ideas on how to save on Christmas gift wrapping, including how to save on the traditional wrap, if that’s your thing.

1. Buy after Christmas

So, you were super organised 11 months ago and purchased discounted gift wrap in the January sales, right? No, neither did I.

If you did, Christmas wrapping will be a breeze this year. No shopping for stationery. Inexpensive wrap. Otherwise, possibly something to keep in mind for next year / week.

2. Buy in bulk from a discount store

You could buy expensive gift wrap or the cheap, thin stuff from the discount store. I opt for the cheap, thin stuff. It does the job for a fraction of the cost.

3. Make your own gift wrap

Save money and make gift wrap that little bit special by making your own. You could use butchers paper or brown paper, but this will be super cheap and environmentally friendly if you use recycled paper. Brown paper bags (the ones that you get shopping at certain stores) are a good option, just cut them open and decorate. This can be a great activity for children in the lead up to Christmas.

4. Recycle last year’s gift wrap

Recycled gift wrap works best if the gift you’re giving is smaller than the original gift you received. Unwrap gifts carefully and take a little time after Christmas to cut off sticky tape, flatten paper and fold neatly for next year’s gift wrapping.

5. Recycle different papers and containers

Comic book pages, newspaper, magazines, old maps, old CAD plans, old paper bags… the limit is what you have on hand and your imagination. It takes a little bit of creativity to make recycled papers look special, but it can be done (see below for ideas).

When wrapping funny shaped gifts, giving homemade food gifts or making up hampers, have a look at recycled containers you have around the house. Clean recycled jars can be a nice way to present food gifts (particularly the coffee jars with the push on lid), as well as fancy packaging that you have received as a gift (Ferrero Rocher chocolate boxes and the plastic fancy Lindt chocolate boxes come to mind here). Or take a recycled box like a shoe box or a chocolate box and wrap (and glue) paper to both the box and lid separately, turning a recycled box into a fancy gift box.

6. Theme your wrap

Plain brown paper doesn’t have to be boring or look cheap. Dress it up with some ribbon (that can be reused next year) or other decorations and theme your gift wrap to make it look special. For instance, you could have ‘white Christmas’ themed wrap with white paper, white ribbon and some collected holly or gum nuts for decoration.

Here are some great and frugal ways to dress up your Christmas wrapping:

Newspaper bow @ The Wind and the Sail	Recycled packaging wrap @ Lovely Indeed	Recycled gift wrap @ Crafted Love
Magazine wrap @ Abmatic/k	Comic page wrap @ Crafting a Green World	Magazine gift bow @ How About Orange
Bay leaf ribbon @ Daisyley	Pine cone ornament @ Elisa Mclaughlin Designs	Coffee filter as wrapping @ A Subtle Revelry

7. Wrap in fabric

I have to be honest and say I don’t think this is a very frugal option unless you use thrifted fabric or reuse the fabric year after year. Fabric wrapped presents can be expensive if you’re buying fabric every year.

I have seen pics around the web of gifts wrapped in recycled woollen jumpers or red and white shirts gingham shirts and they look pretty good – it’s about thinking outside the box.

8. Wrap the present in the present

A novel idea is to make the wrap part of the present. For instance, give gifts in calico shopping totes or make your own bags. Wrap gifts in tea towels, hankies, sarongs or clothing. Put a wine bottle in a pair of new socks.

9. A clever way of building the excitement on large gifts

Rather than wrapping large gifts, give the recipient a card with clues on how to find the gift. A gift hunt adds to the fun without the need to go through reams of paper.

10. Buy after Christmas

So you don’t have reams of Christmas wrap from this year’s January sales? Then you can stock up next week in the post Christmas sales…for next Christmas.

I admit, the idea of tackling January sales crowds for cheap Christmas wrap is my idea of hell on earth, but if you’re in the shops, you may as well grab a few roles. And if you wait a few weeks, you may even find rolls that are even further reduced (without the need to tackle the crowds).

What are your frugal tips for Christmas gift wrap?

Have you read these articles?:

christmas food traditions

Melissa — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 14:00:55 +0000

When I was growing up, much of our Christmas traditions involved food. In fact, Christmas day was a big gastronomic event the likes of which we never saw for the rest of the year.

When it comes to the pleasures of the table, the day stands out in our family calendar.

It started early in the morning with ham, poached eggs and a smear of Australian mustard on toast for breakfast. At least one year, dad had a butcher friend brine a ham and then dad baked it in a scone dough case. It was the most succulent and tasty ham ever. There is no comparing real ham on the bone to the watery stuff you buy at the deli. The ham lived in a pillow case in the fridge and when it was all gone, mum would freeze the bone until winter and make pea and ham soup. Nothing wasted. The eggs we ate were fresh from a friend’s yard and the bread was (in later years) handmade.

Later in the morning we would have morning tea of fruit mince pies, nibbles and choc-coated almonds. When we were older, when Santa had become a story and dad had retired from work, we would open our presents during morning tea time. When we were younger, dad worked shift work so Santa stocking presents were opened first thing in the morning, but ‘under the tree gifts’ waited until dad returned around 2pm. I guess that’s a good lesson in deferred gratification, but it also spread the excitement of the day further and gave us time to play with and get to know the Santa presents.

Late in the afternoon came lunch/dinner. We always had a full roast. There is nothing in the world like mum’s roast. Every year, despite the heat, mum served up roast pork and crackling, roast potato and pumpkin, beans, homemade gravy, homemade stuffing, apple and cranberry sauce. The whole shebang. Each year she worried that the pork was a bit dry or the potatoes didn’t crisp up enough, but to us, it was the perfect meal every time.

Last year I had a go at cooking Christmas lunch (that’s a stretch of the truth, really. Mum did most of the cooking in my kitchen and I helped. A little.) It was hot as hell. There’s a lot of love that goes into those Christmas dinners each year.

After lunch was always summer fruit to cleanse: cherries, rockmelon, nectarines. Then we lay around full, sitting on the front porch watching the galahs in the big gum tree and playing i-spy while the sun set, or arguing politics when we were much older.

Much later in the evening, much much later, we would finish the day off with traditional Christmas pudding complete with custard, cream and a twenty cent piece hidden in it.

Nowadays, we celebrate Christmas more often than not with DH’s family, which means the more Australian fare of prawns, cold meat, salads and pavlova. While that’s nice too, it doesn’t carry the same nostalgia as childhood traditions, and I think what made our childhood Christmas dinner so special was that it’s something we didn’t eat at any other time of the year. Turkey and plum pudding, for instance, are a one day a year taste sensation (apart from leftovers, of course). Cold meat and salads were what we ate on Boxing Day. And the day after. And the day after that.

It’s got me thinking about the types of traditions that we will create as a new family that our children will grow up with. Do we want to continue the tradition of making the Christmas feast something special and memorable? Something different to what we can cook up every other day of the year? Do I want to spend half the day in the kitchen? Our traditions are important, but they are also what we make them. There is no perfect. They are something we build, little by little each year. Starting next year .

What will you be feasting on this Christmas?

Image from the State Library of Victoria used under the creative commons licence.

Have you read these articles?:

planning a christmas budget

Melissa — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:00:12 +0000

This is a guest post by Justin Toladro from Life Insurance Finder.

Political satirist Stephen Colbert recently said on his show in regards to the holiday season:

We are once again spending money we don’t have on things we don’t need to give to people we don’t like.

While there was undoubtedly a level of sarcasm in his rhetoric, in some ways, Mr. Colbert is right: as a consumerist society, we are so overwhelmed with the mad dash to buy as many things for as many people as we possibly can this season. The shopping fervour only increases with each passing Christmas season, and with Australia’s consumer debt crisis at record highs, perhaps spending more money isn’t what we need right now.

With this in mind, there are several things you can take into consideration while planning your Christmas budget. Depending on what your holiday festivities entail, this may be as simple as pumping up your food budget, or something more drastic, such as gifts for all members of the family, new decorations, bakery and meal money, and more. If not kept in check, Christmas spending can get way out of hand; as such, creating a tight budget with enough room to handle expenses that may unexpectedly arise is an absolute must.

If your income is lighter than average this year, then make adjustments accordingly. For gift exchanges with friends or family, perhaps suggest that each person chooses just one other person to give and receive gifts. This way, everyone gets something but nobody has to buy something for everyone. Better yet, you may want to consider a moratorium on gift-giving and replace it with handwritten cards for each individual or just something as simple as a family dinner together. Gift-giving frenzies were inspired by stores looking to boost their sales during the wintry season; don’t fall into the trap of thinking it’s a mandatory event and burning through your available cash with this mindset.

When it comes to decorations, consider buying things used or pooling old decorations with friends and swapping them out. This way, your decorating scheme gets a revitalised look without any added costs. Setting a strict spending limit on decorations—if you so choose to go out and buy more—should be implemented before you spend a single dollar. If you want them to last longer than one holiday season, then perhaps setting a higher limit in order to buy higher quality embellishments can be taken into consideration. Cheap lights and décor items break easily and most likely won’t last, so even if it means spending a little more than you initially had hoped to, going for quality over monetary affordability can be quite beneficial.

Then there is the matter of food. Home-cooked meals and cookies are not only fresher but also more affordable than store brand foods. Potlucks are great for this time of year, allowing each individual to make their specialty dishes and contribute to a fantastic meal for all. Don’t forget to account for holiday sweets in your budget!

So, with Christmas almost upon us and carols in the air, taking the time to steady your financial situation and plan out a specific budget well in advance can keep you from overdoing it on the wallet-crunching this holiday season. Christmas was never supposed to be about spending more and more; it’s about family, friends, peace, and goodwill. Keep this in mind while creating your Christmas time budget.

This article was written by Justin Toladro from Life Insurance Finder, visit our site to compare life insurance policies that best suit you and your family.

Have you read these articles?:

tip tuesday–taking a plate

Melissa — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 14:00:05 +0000

This tip comes from Julie in the US. Thanks Julie, for sending in your great frugal tips.

Cruising a thrift shop, I picked up 2 nice dinner plates (each different). One of the ideas I just came up with I want to share because it is FRUGAL AND THRIFY TOO!

I am buying a somewhat large scented candle to place in the centre of the plate, and surrounding it with homemade cookies (biscuits?) to bring as a hostess gift to a party, and the other to have around to use in the same way for a BIRTHDAY gift.

Picking up plates and/or bowls is super at thrift store/jumble sales. How often do you have to retrieve a plate or bowl after bringing over food to an occasion! Now you can just tell the hostess or group of keep the plate and pass it on to the next person, when they need a plate for goodies. WIN-WIN!

Another thrifty idea is a tea towel as the wrapping over cookies or breads instead of the regular cling wrap – a nice little hostess goodie for her to keep. I do this when I cover stiff cardboard with aluminium foil, then ‘gift wrap’ that with the tea towel.

This is a great tip. Having the plate to pass on at the next get-together is a great idea. You can also collect mis-matched plates as serving plates. What I really love about the way the Japanese set their table is that no plate matches! They select crockery for its individual beauty and the table is an eclectic array of crockery.

“Wabi Sabi is a theory of Japanese aesthetics in which imperfection and transience are considered the touchstone of beauty…it embodies the spirit of perfectly imperfect” [source]

Have you read these articles?:

help a reader: love, marriage and money

Melissa — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:00:44 +0000

I received this comment the other day and I thought that rather than let it get lost in archives, I would share it here today and ask you if you have any advice or help to give. The comment was:

“My boyfriend and I are pretty much on the same page as far as our thoughts regarding finances go. We are planning on getting married next year, but as it’s his second marriage and he has two children living at home, and we’re both paying mortgages he is REALLY happy to scrimp and save on EVERY aspect of it, whereas I have never been married before so I feel there are some areas I would like to splurge a bit – like my ring, dress, reception and photographer… We’ve discussed areas we could save, does anyone have any tips?”

Firstly, I think it’s awesome you’re both on the same page when it comes to finances. Money can be a major point of contention in a relationship, so if you’re both like-minded when it comes to spending money, that will be a boon in the future.

It’s not unreasonable at all that you want to have a nice wedding. Like you said, this is a new experience for you, you want it to be special and you should remind your partner that.

My advice is to first sit down and discuss and agree upon a set budget. How much are you both willing to spend in total on your wedding? Weddings can be expensive (the average cost of a wedding in Australia is around $30,000), but they don’t have to be.

Once you’ve worked out a budget, you can then start planning what you can afford to splurge on and what you need to scrimp on. Are you comfortable hand making invitations, for instance?

The most important thing is to remember that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a wonderful day.

For example, when it came to our wedding, I bought my wedding dress for $130 on eBay. It’s a gorgeous dress and I loved it. We hired a photographer who was just breaking into the wedding photography business, and as he was building his portfolio, he was priced at a much lower rate than more established photographers.

I could have sworn that I wrote an article on saving money on a wedding, but I can’t find it, so I must have just dreamed that I wrote it, something I will have to write about in the future.

If you can help with tips or advice, it would be wonderful if you left a comment below.

Have you read these articles?:

tip tuesday–family gift wrap

Melissa — Mon, 30 May 2011 14:00:03 +0000

It was DH’s birthday the other day. My intention was to make some personalised gift wrap with the little fella’s doodles or hand prints or something like that, but time slipped away and other jobs took priority.

So instead, I wrapped the gift in a spare fat quarter of fabric and tied it up with a bit of ribbon lying around.

The great thing about this?

No waste. No sticky-tape.

You still get all the pleasure of presenting an attractively wrapped present, and the surprise that comes with opening it, but then the ribbon and fabric go back in the wardrobe for other uses.

Have you read these articles?:

18 frugal mother’s day gift ideas

Melissa — Tue, 03 May 2011 14:00:49 +0000

It’s Mother’s Day on Sunday. Just sayin’ (ahem, dear). This is my second Mother’s Day. Last year I got a clothes airer. Terribly un-fun, but I actually asked for a clothes airer (and it’s had a lot of use over the last twelve months), so it’s all good.

What’s your idea of the perfect Mother’s Day gift? I’m not sure if I’m allowed to say this, maybe it’s not something mothers are supposed to admit out loud, but I’m going to confess it: as a mother of a young toddler, the best gift I could get for Mother’s Day this year is time alone.

Time to drink a whole cup of tea. Time to sit in the sun and read a whole chapter or do some sewing without having to tend to the demands of toddler, husband, or cat (who decides it’s dinner time as soon as I sit down). Time to daydream without thinking I should be working.

I think one of life’s most delicious luxuries is quiet solitude. You don’t appreciate it until you don’t have much of it.

On the other hand, if your children are older and you don’t see much of them, or you work or you’re not an alone time person, you might be wanting the exact opposite for Mother’s Day: time with you kids. Or maybe you’re a kid yourself (adult or otherwise) or a dad looking for some ideas. Below are a few frugal Mother’s Day gift ideas.

1. Time. As I mentioned before, give mum time to do her favourite things: crafting, a long soak in the tub, listening to her favourite CD, reading, coffee out or whatever mum enjoys doing. Or if you don’t see mum much, give her the gift of your time.

2. Good behaviour. Nothing says ‘I love you, mum’ more than a day without sibling bickering, mischief or big messes for mum to clean up.

3. Breakfast, lunch or dinner. Give mum a break from the cooking and by doing the cooking for her. The most important thing (besides a tasty meal) is cleaning up afterwards. It’s not much fun for mum having to clean up a big mess.

4. A letter. On real paper. In your handwriting. A handwritten letter is a dying art but something so special. Who doesn’t love getting a letter in the post? This is especially good for mum’s who live far away.

5. A list of reasons why mum is great. I’ve read of other mum’s who have received this gift. It can be quite funny if you have young kids, the reason’s why they think you’re great.

6. A collection of the kid’s art works. You could put it in a folder or bind it. A good gift for nanna as well.

7. Another gift for nanna is a brag book of photos of the grandkids.

8. A story written especially for mum.

9. Pot plants, plants or seeds instead of flowers.

10. Special time with your mum. If you don’t get to see your mother much alone, it’s usually with your kids, or your partner, one on one time with your mum to catch up would make a special gift.

11. A picnic in the park.

12. Time with mum where mum chooses the activities. Sick of watching Shrek? On Mother’s Day it’s your turn to choose the movie or other family activity.

13. A mix tape. Or more likely, an iPod playlist of mum’s favourite music. An oldie, but always a good gift.

14. A home video. You could compile video you already have or make new videos telling mum why she’s so great. A good gift for nanna too.

15. A scrapbook. Collect photos, kids art, special mementos, writing, and make your own scrapbook for mum or nanna.

16. Gift cards. Create your own gift cards with things like quiet time, vacuuming, washing and other services mum can ‘cash in’. Check out the tutorial on making your own personalised gift cards in Word, cut them out and snazzy them up with some scrapbook paper, glitter, stickers or whatever takes your fancy.

17. Gift hamper. Gift hampers are a great gift idea if they are personalised. Get together some of mum’s favourite things or some pampering products and maybe include some of the ideas above like a mix tape to make up a personalised hamper.

18. For more ideas check out last year’s Mother’s Day post: Kid’s craft ideas and the year before: Mum on Mother’s Day.

Have you read these articles?: