10 reasons why Christmas will never be the same now you’re a mum

Keywords: Christmas, Kids, Family Christmas

People often say that Christmas isn’t the same when you don’t have kids as you miss out on all the magic. When you have kids, you get to see their thrill and excitement when they realise that Father Christmas has been and left a whole bunch of gifts for them. From leaving out milk and a carrot on Christmas Eve to them ripping open the wrapping paper the next day, here’s why Christmas becomes a bit more meaningful when you can see all the joy it brings to kids.

Sure, it’s fun for kids, but what about you as a mum? One thing is for sure, Christmas will never be the same again! If you’ve got kids, you’ll certainly relate to these following ways the festive season is so different than what it used to be.

A family Christmas = An expensive christmas

If you thought that Christmas was expensive before you had kids, just wait and see how much you end up spending on gifts now that you have a little one to buy for! There are a lot of parents who say they won’t go overboard on the present for their kids but then end up buying so much – even if their child is still a newborn! Cheap Christmases? Not now you’re a mum…

Father Christmas steals the limelight

You will have gone to all the effort. You’ll have spend ages finding the perfect presents for your kids, will have spent hours wrapping them and kept them hidden for so long… but the only person who gets the thanks on the day is Father Christmas! Ugh.

You need to think of creative hiding places for gifts

When the kids are little, it’s easy to hide their presents. However, once they start growing up and are able to see up to high places, you’ll find that they start to hunt around the house looking for their presents – no matter how many times you tell them Santa has them at the North Pole. You need to be creative with your hiding!

Get ready for a 4am wakeup call

Remember when Christmas Day meant sleeping in and having a lazy breakfast? Well, you can say goodbye to that now you have kids! They will be up wide awake ready to tear into their presents at 4am – sometimes even earlier – because of all the excitement! At least you will have chance to get a nap after dinner.

Tears and tantrums will happen

It doesn’t matter what you buy them, there will probably be something missing from their Christmas list… and that will end in tears and tantrums. Kids are likely to end up tired and restless towards the end of the day too, especially if they’ve had a lot of sugary treats, so that means even more tears!

Prepare to hand the remote over… the kids will take over the TV

Were you planning on watching the Coronation Street Christmas special? I’m sure the kids will have different ideas…

Expect some serious sugar crashes

Of course, there will be chocolate throughout the day. It wouldn’t be Christmas otherwise, right? And let’s not forget about the pudding and all the mince pies. That’s a lot of sugar, even for older kids, so you will probably have to deal with them being hyper before finally crashing out at some point of the day.

No more Christmas hangovers

At least there are some advantages of a family Christmas with kids. You won’t be hungover anymore! The Christmas Eve tipples will be kept to a minimum because you will need to be up early the next day, so that means you can enjoy the big day without a headache.

You might *cough cough* get complaints at the table

You will spend hours cooking the turkey to perfection, but if your child isn’t happy or doesn’t like something then you should expect complaints. No matter how long you might have been slaving away in the kitchen! You might find you get a request for burger and chips from them too. Just take a nice deep breath…

Batteries, batteries, batteries!

Make sure you have plenty of batteries at home! The majority of popular toys sold around this time will usually take batteries and it always seems to be the case that you never have any new batteries whenever you need them, right? Well, make sure you aren’t left battery-less or else the kids will end up rioting! Start stocking up so they will be able to play with every toy!

Do some of these points resonate with you? Ho-ho-how has your family Christmas changed since having kids?

If you need a few ideas for how to entertain the kids over the holidays, then we do have some of the answers. Hopefully these will help Christmas be a little calmer despite the family chaos:

• Lollipop covers for a little bit of fun in the stockings perhaps?
• Christmas posters that the kids can colour in to decorate the house,
• Some Christmas wrapping paper with a retro feel, and
• Lots of ideas for Christmas Tree crafts as well.

You’ve got to agree there are some amazing ideas here – but we’ve got more suggestions for a family Christmas here if you need them as well:

• Imagination Tree has 50 ideas to make a family Christmas magical for you and the kids,
• For Modern Kids has some wonderful ideas for family movies, and
• Tidbits of Home has a few ideas for decorating the family home.

Come visit us again – regardless of Christmas or any season – we always have LOADS of fun things for the kids to do. Subscribe and see!

Cheers for reading as usual.

Helen

Helen

Helen is a mum to two, social media consultant, and website editor; and this site is (we think) the only Social Enterprise parenting magazine!Since giving up being a business analyst when juggling travel, work and kids proved too complicated, she founded KiddyCharts so she could be with her kids, and use those grey cells at the same time.KiddyCharts has reach of over 1.1million across social and the site. The blog works with big family brands (including travel) to help promote their services, as well as offering free resources to parents of kids under 10.It gives 51%+ profits to Reverence for Life, who fund a number of important initiatives in Africa, including bringing running water and basic equipment to a school in Tanzania.Helen has worked as a digital marketing consultant (IDM qualified) with various organisations, including Channel Mum, Truprint, Talk to Mums, and Micro Scooters. She loves to be creative in the brand campaigns she works on.Get in touch TODAY!

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