The fun and festivity of Christmas are all around us! Our towns and cities are bedecked with strings of sparkling lights, Christmas markets firmly ensconced in many of our town centres and ancient marketplaces, and our village greens are adorned with mighty Christmas trees ready for people to gather around, sing carols and roast chestnuts. Well-known songs merrily waft out of every shop and radio station and our screens have a seemingly limitless supply of feel-good festive movies to watch. The Christmas season is well and truly upon us.  

Despite all this merriment, we are still in Advent, traditionally a season of quiet reflection, preparation and even fasting! Christmas is the time of year when Christians remember and celebrate the miraculous birth of Jesus and the traditional Christmas period lasts for twelve days, from Christmas Day until Epiphany on January 6, which commemorates the visit of the magi to the child Jesus. Hence, the carols and poems about the twelve days of Christmas focus on those days after Christmas Day itself. 

Within the last few decades, however, the seasons of Advent and Christmas have gradually merged into one, and the traditional time of preparation and contemplation has given way to glitz and tinsel. Undoubtedly, many of us would welcome reclaiming a quiet bit of downtime before Christmas hits! Our first thoughts will always be towards crafting, and so below are some suggestions for twelve crafting activities for families to do quietly at home and take a break from Christmas fever! They are all simple low-cost projects to work on peacefully, carving out some quiet time away from the general bustle. Remember to make yourself a warm mug of your favourite beverage, put on some gentle music and light a scented candle to add tranquillity to your oasis of calm and creativity. Then, if you decide to sell your beautifully made creations, maybe at a festive fair or market; don’t forget about Craft Public Liability Insurance UK.  

Or, you might choose to gather family, friends or neighbours for a crafting session. This too could be a haven of peace amid all the busyness. Crafting together offers a perfect opportunity to chat; share memories, exchange traditions and reflect on the year past and the one to come. A glass of mulled wine and a plateful of mince pies will add to the homely atmosphere. Of course, if children are involved, the noise levels will be raised, but they too need to have the volume lowered sometimes and some focused activity with time to talk – it could become a new family tradition!  

So, here are our twelve suggestions. Enjoy!  

A Christmas wreath

This could be as large or small a project as you like. There are many ideas online, or you could buy a base from a florist shop and decorate it with greenery, ribbons and other trinkets. You could prelude this by a walk in some local woods or fields, collecting evergreens and berries.   

Advent calendars

Buying new calendars each year can be costly for both your purse and our planet. There is certainly a market for durable handmade fabric calendars (don’t forget your craft public liability insurance UK). However, if you want to make an easy, no-sew calendar with your children, we suggest using felt. You can glue twenty-four small pockets onto a large rectangle of felt, held up by a piece of dowelling. The children will have fun cutting, sticking and decorating and enjoy seeing their creations come out each year. 

Christmas stocking

There is a market for these too, but if sewing is not your thing, felt and some basic blanket stitching will produce stockings which last for years. Your children can decorate their own! 

Paper chains

A fun way to spend an afternoon for your family, these will add an instant seventies party vibe to your home.  

Candy cane decorations

Another easy one for children, using either red and white beads or twisted pipe cleaners.  

Snowmen

These can be made with toilet rolls, cotton wool and coloured cardboard? 

Christmas cards

Either a good family activity or a peaceful time with friends, chatting around a table of card supplies. Friends and family will be delighted to receive a unique hand-crafted card through their letterbox. 

Potato print wrapping paper

A great, though potentially messy one for little ones. Spread a roll of brown wrapping paper on the floor and allow your small artists to print away with their potato stamps. We suggest doing this towards the end of the day, followed by a bubble bath, easy supper and Christmassy bedtime story.  

Origami stars

These are fun to make and you can put a little LED tea light inside to add extra charm. 

Christmas tree crochet bunting

This is a project you can take out and about with you or work on in the evening while watching a Christmas movie. 

Clay stars

This is a great one for regulating any over-excited children. Kneading dough or clay is very calming and it’s fun to cut out stars with cookie cutters. 

Felt tree decorations

A quiet one for yourself; gather some felt and embroidery threads and create stars, hearts and gingerbread men. These could be great to sell, so do check our website for craft public liability insurance UK. 

We wish you some peaceful hours of creating beautiful crafts, precious memories and new traditions!  

(Breathe deeply. Slow down. Allow each of the stresses to momentarily fall away.)

We’re amid a Christmassy, wintery whirl where our to-do lists can become out of control, we can feel as if we are running around in circles and our relationships can become strained. Maybe it’s time to take some time out, and what better way to do this than to pull on some wellies, wrap up warm and head out into the serenity of the natural world?

When our brains are on overload simply to get through the challenges of each day, they have little room left for creativity; therefore, we need to find the space to get our minds and bodies back into balance before we can expect any great spurts of creativity.

Walking in the outdoors has so many benefits to both our physical and mental well-being. It is generally understood that a thirty-minute walk several times a week can increase cardiovascular fitness, maintain bone strength and keep weight in check. Walking a short while after a meal can moderate blood sugar and aid digestion. In addition, walking during the wintertime can boost your immunity as a burst of cold increases the production of white blood cells which are the frontline defence against infection.

The benefits to both our mental and emotional well-being are also well documented. This is backed up by our own experience. Exercise per se is a stress buster, helps us deal with anger and frustration, and lifts our mood. Time spent in nature gives us a fresh perspective of our problems and we often come back feeling more peaceful. When we combine exercise with being outdoors, the benefits are doubled! So, why not carve out some time and head out for a good, brisk walk or a gentle amble this weekend?

Wherever you have chosen for your walk, be it a secret woodland, a muddy footpath across fields and vales, some wide-open moorland or a swathe of beautifully landscaped parkland, you can appreciate your surroundings with all your senses. Slow down and focus on the fresh, frozen world around you, and let your creativity begin to flow. Come on a wintry walk with us to find some fresh and frosty inspiration!

What can you see? The skeletal winter tree line can have a stark beauty in its own right as it stands tall and resolute against a steely grey sky. Crimson berries stand out in contrast with evergreen hedgerows and clambering ivy. If you look up, you may spy some mistletoe with its white berries and dusky green leaves. A conifer wood will have plenty of fallen pinecones; take a look at their intricate spiral design. Could you gather some of these delights and create a stunning, natural wreath, a candle holder or maybe a striking table centrepiece?

What can you hear? If you’re in a woodland, the rustle of leaves or the crunch of pinecones beneath your feet is very satisfying. Why not take a flask of tea or hot chocolate and a package of cake, find a sheltered nook and sit for a while enjoying your surroundings? In the stillness, you will hear a variety of bird songs and may also hear the swishing of branches overhead or even the scurry of tiny mammals.

What can you feel? For children who explore the world through touch, any outdoor space is a sensory delight. If you have come out with the whole family, maybe you can send the children off on a sensory treasure hunt. Ask them to bring back objects with the following textures: smooth, rough, soft, hard, bumpy, slimy, cold, warm (a glove or mug of tea!), squishy, bendy, brittle…the list is endless. All these wonderful textures can spark our creativity too; what about some felt tree decorations, some chunky yarn bunting or some silky-smooth ceramic candle holders?

What can you smell? Take any dog for a walk and you’ll know quite how many fascinating smells there are in our countryside! For us too, it’s worth taking some deep breaths and luxuriating in the delicate scents all around us. From a mossy, musky woodland aroma to the freshness of a heathery moorland, nature inspires us with fragrance. If you make candles, wax melts or soaps this indeed is a veritable feast for your imagination. For the rest of us, while we can’t bring these scents home with us, we can add some other ones to our Christmas decorations using cinnamon sticks, dried oranges and cloves.

What can we taste? Unless we know a little about foraging, there is a limited supply of edible plants during the winter. However, you can enjoy that warming flask of tea and some safe cake!

Once you’ve invested in your well-being and enjoyed a wintery walk, you may have come back bursting with an idea or two for the next crafting project. Or, you may just be feeling more relaxed and ready for a hearty casserole and a cosy evening around the fire. Either is good! However, if you have some ideas brewing, you might think about a craft stall in the next few months. If so, you’ll need to consider craft stall insurance UK. If you take out your craft stall insurance UK with us, we will look at your unique business and ensure you have a package which suits your business requirements. As a family business ourselves we highly value each of our customers and communicate directly with you. So, pick up the phone or drop us a line and either Sam or Naomi will be here to answer any questions you have about craft stall insurance UK.

We hope that during this Christmas season, you will make time to enjoy the beautiful world in which we live; while this might take more effort for those of us living in the middle of a big city than for our fellow crafters in the remote Scottish Islands and Highlands, it is well worth the investment of time to come back feeling better and re-inspired. Happy walking!