Ever since I became a Mum, I have always been a real fan of crafting with the girls. I love how it completely engrosses their minds and imaginations, keeps them calm and is an ideal way to spend some screen free, quality one on one time together. I also love keeping their creations to look back on fondly in years to come. My Mum did the same with me, and now I am a grown up it’s so lovely to look back and bring back some of those fond memories from my own childhood.
Before Neve was born, Erin and I used to complete lots of craft activities together, and although the quantity has reduced somewhat since her sister arrived, we still make time where possible to drag the craft box out from under the stairs and have some quality time with the stickers and glue. Now that Neve is getting older, she is starting to become a little bit more creative in her own right, and enjoys nothing more than sitting colouring in or playing with sticker books with her sister.
On the run up to Christmas, we’ve teamed up with Baker Ross to try out some of their fab Christmas Craft sets which are ideal for under 5’s, and all fantastic value for money. Whilst Baker Ross do have a wealth of individual supplies to purchase, these craft packs are ideal for crafting on a budget, with just the right amount of ‘ingredients’ to create some fun designs with minimal mess, minimal left overs and minimal waste. With small and large kit sizes available, the Baker Ross craft sets are ideal for birthday parties, gathering of friends or simply to keep the little ones busy as the excitement of advent starts to set in.
In case you aren’t familiar with the brand, Baker Ross are one of the leading suppliers of arts and craft products to schools, playgroups and organisation across the UK, and are a family business that’s been around since 1974. With over 3000 items across their range, they offer hugely competitive prices and a one stop shop for all your crafting needs.
Read on to learn more about the Baker Ross crafts we’ve recently been putting to the test. I’ve also secured a massive 20% discount off their already fanstastic prices – simply use the code LUCY20 at the checkout to amend your basket. Happy Shopping!
Gingerbread Man Mix and Match Decoration Kits
The gingerbread man mix and match decoration kit comes with everything you need to create different designs of gingerbread man decoration for your Christmas tree, and come as a pack of 6 or a pack of 30 depending on your requirements. The pack of 6 includes 6 foam gingerbread men and a huge range of stick on accessories including hats, scarves, buttons, bow ties and sweet treats and retails at just £3.75.
Each gingerbread man come with a little hole at the top of his head and ribbon to thread through so that they can easily be looped on to your tree or hung around your home. They are completely mess free and easy to make with no glue required. Erin (aged 5) was able to do this activity completely unassisted, peeling off the backing paper from the stick on accessories, and adding them to the gingerbread base to create her different designs.
For a bit of sentimental value, we then added a little sticker to the back of her designs from our roll of Christmas Handmade By Stickers – which are just £1.95 for a roll of 180. These are great for adding that personalised touch if you are planning to give any of the creations away as a gift for friends of family, and a useful way to encourage younger ones to practice writing their name.
Elf Door Mix and Match Card Kits
Next we decided to make some Christmas Cards to send from the girls to our family who live a little further away. These Elf Door Mix and Match Card Kits are adorable, and again are available in packs of 6 or 30 depending on your preference.
The smaller pack comes with 6 different coloured elf door cards and envelopes, with lots of bright glittery peel and stick accessories to really help bring them to life.
Although a little trickier than the gingerbread man set (due to some of the foam pieces being a little more intricate in nature), Erin was able to make these Elf Door cards on her own with minimal assistance, and I think the finished cards look absolutely great.
Penguin Bauble Decoration Kits
Next we decided to make some more decorations for our tree with this adorable Penguin Bauble Decoration Kit – these would be ideal for a festive birthday party activity or to pop into a party bag for guests as they leave. What starts life as a plain black Christmas bauble is very quickly bought to life with the addition of some felt stickers.
Erin did need a bit of support with this one, as due to the spherical nature of the bauble, there was a bit of a knack to applying the stickers smoothly. That said, the instructions are visual, child friendly and very easy to follow, so older children would definitely be able to do this without any help.
This set does require the addition of a bit of glue if you want to add the penguins feet to the bottom, but we were quite happy with the effect of the penguin without. Mixed in with our gingerbread man, I know these are going to look great on our tree this year.
Christmas Pudding Pom Pom Kits
I used to absolutely love making pom poms with my older sister as a child, and even though they used to take me absolutely ages to thread all that wool through the little circle template, the finished effect was always fun to see.
These Christmas Pudding Pom Pom Kits are a great child friendly first introduction to the world of pom poms, and like with all the other Baker Ross kits, come with just the right amount of wool to ensure that you don’t a) run out or b) end up with yards and yards of left over.
Using the little pudding templates, I showed Erin how to loop the wool around and around until the entire template was covered. We then used a pair of scissors to cut around the edges and remove our cardboard loop to create our adorable mini Christmas puddings.
Erin absolutely loved these, and whilst this activity took far longer than the rest, seeing the expression on her face when she saw the finished design was just priceless, and definitely made it worth the wait!
For the younger ones, or for craft activities on a more basic level, Baker Ross also have lots of craft kits and items which can be used in more of a free play mode, with no instructions, no set method of creation and no limitations on the end result!
I totally fell in love with these Nativity Sticker Scenes which come with four different scene cards representing the back drop of the stable in Bethlehem where Baby Jesus was born. Each card scene comes with a sheet full of stickers, with all the characters from a classic nativity including Mary, Joseph, Jesus in his manger, the three kings, and lots of farm yard animals.
As Neve is only two, her placement of the stickers was slightly unorthodox (with a flying donkey and a camel on the roof of the stable!), however she enjoyed bringing her creation to life so much, and was super proud to show Daddy when she had finished! Adorable!
At less than £1 each, these little sticker scenes are perfect for Christmas Eve boxes or as a calm little activity for Christmas Eve.
The Christmas Sticker Roll is exactly what it sounds like – a giant roll full of Christmas Stickers – which can be used however and whenever your little ones like. Whether its bringing their Christmas Cards to life, popping some on to their Christmas wrapping or a simple face creation activity like we did below, the roll has 400 stickers for just £1.49 – an absolute bargain!
Finally, and also ideal for younger crafters are these Gold and Silver Jumbo Paint Pads, which are ideal for handprint crafts like this adorable handprint reindeer design. Handprint crafts are a great keepsake item, perfect for looking back and reminiscing at just how small your little ones hands were, but are also loads of fun to create together. The girls absolutely loved stamping their hand down into the large wet paint pad, before pressing their hand on to the paper and seeing their prints appear before their eyes.
The pads are ideal for reducing mess, and the paint wiped off really easily with a baby wipe, so no need to worry about gold finger prints all over your house.
Overall, we’ve had an absolute ball so far with the Baker Ross craft kits, and having not shopped from them before, I will most definitely be buying my craft supplies from here in future. I have previously purchased from high street stores, and can honestly say I would have probably spent double the amount to get the range of items I have here, and I am so impressed with the quality of these products for the price.
You can check out the full range of Christmas Crafts on the Baker Ross website here.
***BAKER ROSS CHRISTMAS GIVEAWAY***
Fancy a winning a huge bundle of craft products from Baker Ross worth £50?!!! One lucky winner will win a surprise box jam packed full of fun craft activities for you and your children (contents may vary). To enter simply check out my gleam app below. UK Entrants only.
Baker Ross Craft Bundle Giveaway
Giveaway opens 14th November 2018 and closes 11.59pm on Sunday 2nd December. As always our standard giveaway terms and conditions apply. Good Luck!!!
If you can’t wait to get crafting and want to get shopping for your crafting supplies now, head to the Baker Ross website and enter the code LUCY20 at checkout to secure your 20% discount!
Happy Crafting!
*This is a collaborative post. We were sent a range of items from Baker Ross and compensated for our time however as always all thoughts and opinions are our own*
