Bubbles
Washing up liquid, sugar and warm water make good strong bubble mix …great for a windy day.
Marcy
Long life toys
Invest in durable toys like a skipping rope and football that will bring many hours of fun compared to a plastic character that will be out of favour in a year.
Helen C , Wales
Bath toys
Bath toys can get quickly boring but aren’t cheap either…try bath time entertainment with sieves, plastic cups, dolls who need a hair wash, plastic ponies and bowls and definitely jump in yourself.
Sue, Nottingham
Fancy dress
Old armbands, woolly hats, single scks, worn out shoes, past it sunglasses, ripped dressing gowns what treasures they are!….Pop them in the fancy dress box to give your kids hours of fun ad to kick start their imagination.
Sarah, Derby
A picnic
Have a teddy bears picnic. Send out some little child coloured-in postcards inviting your little ones friends to bring their teddies and their packed lunch for a teddy bears picnic at yours. Grab some toys, decorate some fairy cakes and sing some songs. A fab playdate, cost free..
Lucy B, Wirral
A trip to the theatre
• Book to go to the theatre in a group. There may be a free ticket (or even free tickets) if a large number goes. The saving on the free tickets can be shared across the group – saving money for everyone! Car share on the day for additional savings and take your own refreshments!
Helen W, Nottingham
Bathing Products
Use combined products such as an all in one baby wash as it does hair too so no need for a separate product (a little goes a long way) Have days where you use nothing and try just a very simple moisturiser post bathing, Little babies need nothing for the first month or so! Keep your toiletries simple and to a minimum your baby really doesn’t need them (or all the other bath seats, toys collecting frogs etc. we are encouraged to spend our money on!
Kirsten, Birmingham
I just want to say thanks for the tip about bubble mixture, i didn’t no you had to add sugar my 5 year old daughter and 2 year old son are always asking me to make bubbles and they never work. I no what i will be doing with my children tomorrow 🙂
Maria x
Spiral painting
You will need:
– balls of different sizes, textures e.g. ping pong, golf ball, marble etc (note:supervise use of small balls with littluns if risk of swallowing!)
– different coloured paints, mixed up quite runny, in deep saucers or bowls.
– a spoon in each pot of paint
– a round tray with an edge (plant tray, baking tray etc)
-plain paper cut to fit base of tray
Instructions:
1) place paper in base of tray
2) drop a ball in each bowl of paint
3) lift out with a spoon and put ball (one ball at a time works best) into the tray
4) swirl around making trails across the paper
5) remove ball and replace with a different paint-coloured one.
6) continue until happy with artwork!
Probably best done on wipeable surface or outside!
Author
Thank you what a great idea
Hi All!
I’m hoping this will be invaluable to those of you living on a budget check out ilovefreegle.org a not for profit recycling/reuse group based in the UK Freegle has over 300 branches and more than 1.67 million members giving and getting stuff completely free of charge. It’s a bit like eBay without the money. You can give or get just about anything so long as it’s free and legal. Freegle also actively encourages clubs, schools, playgroups, charities and other not for profit organisastions to post for resouces free of charge. Most branches have a cafe group so members can mail each other. Freegle (Which means Free Giving Locally Easily’) has only one goal ‘To Stop Good Stuff Going to Landfill’ you can even offer broken white goods, then post responding to an offer or post a ‘Wanted’ ad. When that one breaks down put it up on the site and get another one. You never have to buy white goods ever again. Freegle has already won many green awards both locally and nationally so they must be doing something right. There’s a ‘Find a Group’ link on the site, just plug in your area or postcode and find the branch closest to you, follow the links and register it’s free to join and free to use. If there isn’t a branch near you Freegle will train and support you completely free of charge to open a group in your area, there’s lots of back stage support. It’s a true ‘Win/Win’ organisation.
Enjoy!
Hi all!
This isn’t really a money or time saver but more a ‘Family Saver’ how many of your little ones are suffering needlessly from teething pain? Even your GP’s and dentists don’t give out this information. If you think about it if you didn’t brush your teeth you would eventually get gum disease?
It’s the same for babies, you only get a temperature when you have an infection and that’s what is causing the pain associated with teething. Babies get red or flushed cheeks another sign of infection and the dribbling is the bodies way of trying to flush out the infection.
The cure is very simple and very cheap, throw away all of the teething lotions and potions, dummies and the teething rings and once your little one is coordinated enough not to poke themselves in the eye buy several baby toothbrushes for them to chew on
The problem starts when the gums open up to allow the teeth through milk and food debris collects there and creates an infection. Initially you can help by using a clean facecloth dipped in quite hot water and test it so that the heat from the facecloth is quite a bit warmer than milk. You can add a teaspoon of salt to the water which will help get rid of the infection, then making sure to check around the gums clean out the mouth, be gentle till your baby gets used to it do this after every meal or drink unless it’s water of course, even juices have sugar in them, and will quickly come to look forward to the relief this affords them. No dummies, just the toothbrush to chew on they’ll be cleaning their gums while getting relief from the pain.
It sounds drastic but after a few days of relief for your baby and for the family as a whole as the infection dies down the pain lessens. My record for this cure is 4 days, after 10 days you’ll have to check your babies mouth to see if any teeth are coming through!
I had gum disease as a teenager and it was really painful, the only relief I got was from biting down on something, the problem was that as soon as I stopped the pain would return. Which is also why babies get so tetchy when they’re teething. Warm food also gives relief but only while it’s being eaten. You don’t need to use toothpaste on children till they’re 4 or 5 years old they just need to use a toothbrush and rinse their mouths properly, and just think, you won’t need to encourage your babies to brush their teeth when they’re older because they will already have it ingrained along with the relief it brings since before they could talk. This will save you heaps of distress and sleepless nights. If you’re baby is in nursery please tell the staff about this so they can keep up the regime.
Regards
Liz
Liz… thank you for your post! My baby is teething and I’ve been trying everything… gels, teething rings, homeopathy, etc… but my little one is still suffering!
I will try the toothbrush thing tomorrow morning!
Thank you, thank you and thank you!!!