The Final Word

We were honoured to be invited to share some of our favourite things of the year with the super cool indie blog Kid Independent. And as guest poster for the final day of the year, well that's just tickled us pink! Or should that be blue?

Happy New Year Family Game

Ooh I love Hip Hip Hooray! Always a haven for inspiration and complete graphic envy! Here's their Top 10 fun play and do's for Friday night's festivities at home.Yep, like me you will be counting down to the next decade from your sofa!

Whether you manage to stay up or celebrate before the bells chime, I wish you a big cheers for a very Happy New Year!!!

You can download the Family Bingo Game here and Top 10 list here.

Brothers Trimm Top Tips

Apart from our wide and varied selection of Ace Apparel, Boys Toys and Bumper Bedrooms, I thought I'd share what you lovely readers enjoyed the most this year.
Thanks so SO much for reading and writing and sharing your time with us. I hope what we've found throughout the year has raised a smile, broadened your imagination and shown you that there is more for boys out there than you thought!

Now pull up a pew and enjoy another little look into the wonderful world of paper at Upon a Fold, the eco conscious Tegu toys, tooth-brushing tunes with Lah Lah, plus the very wonderful circus bedroom by Kate Dixon. Ta Daaaaaaa!

Flokk Colour Wings from Upon a Fold

Tegu Toys

Kate Dixon's Circus Bedroom

There's No Place Like Home

Christmas really wouldn't be Christmas without the Wizard of Oz, now would it? Our Reel Time contributor Julie Murnaghan has shared one of her favourite movies of the season. When finding this clip on You Tube I have had the two boys pleading with me for more trailers of 'the witch and funny lion'. I remember as a girl being both slightly terrified of those flying monkeys and totally captivated by this ultimate fantasy flick.

A Very Punky Christmas

We have asked some of our Brothers Trimm contributors and friends to share a few ghost's of their Christmas pasts. To start us off here is one of Chris Familton's favourite yuletide tunes. Just think parents, it won't be long before your boys discover punk, pierce their nose and give you a whole heap of attitude. I can't wait...

I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK...

I am in love with this shirt. That's it, what more can I say? OK where it's from for starters! It's a reversible 100% cotton, wash-it-forever-and-it-still-looks-brand-new soft, cosy Polarn O Pyret lumberjack piece of heaven...

We hope stockings are filled with treats and delights...

some scrabble, a scooter, maybe even a bike!

Just one thing we ask, just a simple 'Please Do'

 Say Thank You, Oh Thank You to those you hold true

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Linus explains Christmas

For those of you who believe or make-believe, here's a little thought for Christmas Eve, Charlie Brown style.

Make and Do: Button Christmas Decorations

Button Christmas ornaments are a fabulous Make and Do Project as almost all the necessary supplies are readily available and very cheap.  I had a big jar of buttons that didn't seem to belong to anything and combined with a pack of pipe cleaners we were all ready to go with a great Christmas craft activity.  This is an activity that can be done by children as young as two, Baby Pirate is two and a half and with a little help every now and again he loved it.  Threading the pipe cleaners through the button holes was great for improving his eye hand coordination and the organising of the buttons was great for sorting skill development.  All in all, a great Make and Do project!

Materials:

Buttons
Pipe Cleaners
Scissors
Ribbon

Making "wreath" button ornaments:

Select a pipe cleaner and start threading!
When they have decided that there are enough buttons on their wreath, loop the pipe cleaner ends together and wind closed.  Trim off any excess and then tie a ribbon on to the bare spot of the wreath  making a loop.  The loop can now be used to hang the ornament.

Making a "tree" button ornament:

Select a pipe cleaner and make a little dent in one end to stop the buttons sliding off the end of the pipe cleaner.  Then sort out the buttons into large to small size order and thread onto the pipe cleaner starting with the largest on the bottom.  We topped ours off with a little red star found at Spotlight.  Then wind a little loop into the excess pipe cleaner and thread some ribbon through!

Bullseye!

Struggling to keep the two boys appeased in a shop yesterday, my patience was saved by this fine little game, strategically placed under the cash desk. While I whisked around the shop rounding up my last Christmas purchase, the boys were thankfully distracted attacking the roll up dart board with the magnet arrows (no pointy sharp ends here!) A great game to whip out after the Christmas feast is over, it's sure to amuse the young and older boys in your house!

Tuning in to Christmas

Well we're halfway through Christmas week and we are very much on the slow and low-down here at The Brothers Trimm. If you've been overplaying 'Baby It's Cold Outside' in sympathy for all those freezing in Europe, perhaps you might like a few new tunes to treat the kids (and yourself)

Lucky Diaz - Under the Tree

Renee & Jeremy - Little Drummer Boy

Thanks to Cool Mom Picks

Trimming the Tree

While we (hopefully) put the shopping behind us, we can now settle into last minute trimming and general Christmas countdown traditions. Here is a sweet Make and Do project, from a rather lovely blog called The Magic Onions. I hope you enjoy some time for this.

Hot Cocoa for Water

I guess you are racing around, tackling last minute shopping and hopefully ticking things off that very long list! The kids are almost finished school and if you are living down in this neck of the woods, you know you have the next two months of school holidays to embrace (or endure!)

If you are in need of a worthwhile task for your boys during the holidays, and in the spirit of all things Christmas, I have an idea that everyone might just enjoy. Fancy helping some good people out? Well be inspired by Jen Cooper and her merry band of wonderful women from Joyababy, Sophie & Lili, Mommy Pants, Charlotte's Fancy, Mini Me Baby Gear, Nilsen's Life, Little Miss Heirlooms, Babiekins Magazine and Momfluential)

They invite you and your family to set up a hot cocoa stand or cocoa party in January, donating proceeds to help prevent millions of little mouths drinking putrid water. Teach your kids about the essence of charity - set up your own campaign at charity:water.org or simply buy a few cups of virtual hot cocoa from their Classic Play! Hot Cocoa for Water stand. While The Brothers Trimm would probably rather drink all the cocoa than sell it, we have decided to help kick start the Cooper campaign a little, in the hope that more people might follow suit.

There are just too many people drinking really REALLY filthy water and while we enjoy a boundless supply from our taps, so many kids out there sure don't.

Snap - Robot!

Here's a great little memory game, that combines colour, pattern, recycling and one very cute character. Good stocking filler, that's for sure!

Make and Do: Potato Stamp Wrapping Paper

A classically simple yet supremely effective crafty project can never be beaten. See how boys can have fun printing and creating for Christmas,with  thanks to our fantastic Make and Do Pirates!


Admittedly this isn't the most original Make and Do Christmas activity, however it is definitely a perennial favourite.  I have fond memories of potato stamping as a child and thought that we might give it a go this year.   The Captain loved it and the mess wasn't nearly as bad as I had feared, in fact it was almost non-existent.  Although, next time I will remember to put a smock on first!

Materials:

potatoes
paint
paper (we used a roll of brown paper from ikea)
a knife for cutting the potato shapes
a texta

Making the potato stamps:

I cut the potatoes in half and then drew a star, a Christmas tree, a bell and a bauble onto the inside half of the potato with the texta.  Using the knife I then cut around the shape, a couple of millimetres deep so that the shape was then raised from the rest of the potato surface.

Once the potato stamps are made it is time to get stamping.  Select some paint and pop it into a container that is wide enough to fit chubby little hands clutching potatoes and set them to work!

We wrapped a present for Grandma in his wrapping paper and he was thrilled with the end result!

A helping hand

If (like me) you're wrangling your boys through the Christmas shopping, travelling home to see family or simply in need of an alternative activity whilst out and about, I think you might find these useful. Keep them in your bag for the inevitable question "Are we there yet"!

Every little helper needs one

If you're 'TRIMMing' your tree this weekend, you may need this hat for Santa's little helper!

Our favourite Christmas story

We borrowed Wombat Divine over the weekend from friends and are now so enchanted by both the illustration, sentiment and gentle spirit of our new favourite hero. Mem Fox's gentle tale of a wombat's dream to star in the Bush Nativity is humorously told and generously illustrated by the very talented Kerry Argent.
Does he get the part he hopes for? Now would we spoil the surprise for you?

Stress Free Joy

With this week leaning more towards doing than buying, we are so terribly pleased to welcome Jennifer Cooper from our very favourite Classic-Play. (See, that's her over on the Great Scott button on the left). With a heart bursting with warm generosity and enviable creativity she shares with us a very simple family activity that well, simply speaks volumes.

“The littlest things can bring such stress-free joy.”

Jen wrote that the other day in her sticker post and truer words were never spoken. Case in point: take our family’s chalkboard wall. For very little expense and the simple application of a couple quarts of chalkboard paint, a wall has now become a new source of entertainment for our whole family.

I think the person who has most enjoyed the wall’s metamorphosis, is my five-year-old son. Since the wall went up, he has spent hours drawing cities complete with hotels, a zoo filled with monkeys and elephants, blimps, crystal balls (my kids have decided that Santa has a crystal ball and that’s how he sees who’s naughty and nice) and race tracks that spans across all ten feet of wall space.

Now this is actually quite miraculous considering the epic battles waged in the past over getting him to hold a crayon properly. We have spent many afternoons crying (both him and me) over homework that required writing or drawing. But this? Well, there’s just something entirely magical about a blank canvas five times your size. The possibilities are endless.

The chalkboard wall has really become something of a family affair. Throughout the month of December, our family is celebrating Christmas with activities we can do together—things on our list include: look at holiday decorations, trim the tree, dance to Christmas music, decorate sugar cookies, etc. The other night, it was my husbands turn to choose the activity. His idea? Make chalkboard Santas! He traced outlines of each kid on the wall and handed them the chalk. It absolutely tops my list of moments I never want to forget.

And it’s all thanks to a fresh coat of paint.

Paper Decorations - Made and Do

If you are one of the many Irish Mums stuck inside due to the Arctic weather, here is my little gift of crafting solace for you.
This morning, quite spontaneously, we raided the rather paltry craft box and managed to salvage some coloured paper, stickers and green paint. With Christmas music blaring from the far end of the house we set about destroying the kitchen table and enjoyed a really lovely morning, snipping and smearing to our hearts content. It just made me think - the simplest of things can bring such stress free joy. Our little paper cut outs now hang in Daddy's kitchen and above our beds with pride.
If you are stuck inside again today, why not get a snipping too. We've even included a much fancier method, using doilies, that I found through Upon a Fold for all you fancy pants crafters!

While Dublin freezes...

we decorate our paper tree in summer clothes!

Bed Bugs

Oh how refreshing to see some really smart bed-linen appearing for boys. When I recently saw a predominantly black coloured bed set with young boys in mind, I was horrified by the designers thinking! What kind of inspirational message is that for bed time? 

When pyjama stripes, trucks and super heros have quite frankly done their dash, you start reconsidering your options, certainly for older boys when it comes to dressing their beds. So when the likes of The Lowercase and Dwell Studio produce bed-linen like these below, I happily breathe a deep sigh of relief for all sleep boys out there. Now, sweet dreams!

Tiger Kat Duvet Set by lowercase

Fox Duvet Set by lowercase

Ovals Grey Duvet Set by Dwell Studio

Skyline Duvet Set by Dwell Studio