Wunderlustblog: BLOGMAS

Yankee Candle at Christmas - 12 Days of Blogmas

By Heather Rowe 12:00 BLOGMAS

Baileys Choc Orange Hot Choc - 12 Days Of Blogmas

By Heather Rowe 21:19 BLOGMAS, drinks

Christmas Eve Box - 12 Days of Blogmas

By Heather Rowe 12:00 BLOGMAS

Happy Blogmas Day 6! When I was younger we never did Christmas Eve boxes however we d...

Happy Blogmas Day 6!

When I was younger we never did Christmas Eve boxes however we did always open 1 present from under the tree. As I've got older more and more people have started making Christmas Eve boxes for their families.

As I live alone and usually wake up Christmas morning by myself I have never really seen the point in making one for my family. That is until this year when I had the idea to make a Boxing Day box.

Boxing day for me and my family is usually spent chilling out at my house in our PJs eating bacon sandwiches and left over Christmas snacks whilst playing games and generally having fun. So this year to make things a bit more festive and special I wanted to create a box for each member of my family to open and enjoy on boxing day.

So for this post I thought I would share some ideas for making the best Christmas Eve/Boxing Day boxes without breaking the bank.

Miniature alcohol

Anyone who knows me will know that I love anything in miniature and so one thing I always buy for anyone is a miniature bottle of alcohol. For my boxes I wanted to get everyone a mini bottle of their favourite drink! My favourite place to get alcohol minis from is here as I find them really affordable and they usually have very good delivery time.

Chocolate

Chocolate is great for anybody no matter their age and why not treat someone to some festive chocolates.

Lip Scrub/Face Mask

When it comes to beauty products I'm more likely to buy someone something they wouldn't buy for themselves. So I feel like lip scrubs or face masks are something which can be a bit more of a treat whilst also not spending too much.

Hot Chocolate Tasters

This is something that can cost you barely any money to make and can be tailored to the specific person you are creating the stocking for.. eg (white, milk or dark powder)

Fluffy Socks

This time of year can get very cold (depending on where you are) and so what better than getting someone some fluffy socks

Face Masks

In normal times I wouldn't include this in a Christmas Eve box, however this year things have been very different to normal and as everyone is required to wear one in shops and at work (some people not everyone) I thought it might be nice to help get into the festive spirit. I may decide to give these out earlier than Christmas eve though so they have a chance to be worn.

Christmas PJS

Whether you are a dress up for Christmas kinda person or a pj person who doesn't love festive pjyamas! I picked up these cute ones from Shein the other week and I love them!

Festive DVDs

If you're anything like me you will love watching Christmas films this time of year So I wanted to pick up a copy of everyones favourite festive film.

Peppermint Bark - 12 Days Of Blogmas

By Heather Rowe 12:00 baking, BLOGMAS

Christmas Outfit Ideas - 12 Days Of Blogmas

By Heather Rowe 12:00 BLOGMAS, Style

Festive Bucket List - 12 Days Of Blogmas

By Heather Rowe 12:00 BLOGMAS

Happy Blogmas Day 3! I hope everyone is enjoying Blogmas so far! For today's post I wanted to write something different. Back in May ...

Happy Blogmas Day 3!

I hope everyone is enjoying Blogmas so far! For today's post I wanted to write something different.

Back in May I wrote a post about the things I wanted to do once the first UK lockdown was over (you can check that out here if you are interested) and it was one of my most popular posts so for this post I want to share my festive bucket list with you!

See Christmas Lights

The first thing I'd love to be able to do this year is to go on a night time drive around our local area to check out everyone's Christmas light displays! I remember always loving doing this as a young child and it's definitely something I would like to start doing again.

Festive Movie Night

Who doesn't love a good movie night and what could be better than one that only includes Christmas films! Nothing like getting cosy under blankets with snacks surrounded by Christmas lights and decorations.

Go Ice Skating

As things stand this is probably the one thing on this list I am unlikely to be able to do however it is definitely something I would still love to try soon!

Attempt to make my own Peppermint Bark

I have always loved Peppermint Bark and although I spend alot of my time baking and experimenting with recipes, Peppermint Bark is something I've never tried to make before. So my plan this year is to not only attempt to make one but also blog about my experience making one and what I did.

Make A Christmas Inspired Hot Drink

If you saw my post a couple weeks back you will know that I had some fun making an Autumn inspired Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate and I had so much fun with the planning of that recipe and making the drink that I wanted to do something similar for the festive season.

Visit a garden centre

This may seem like a strange thing to want to do for some people however, anyone who knows me will know that every year I buy or am given a new bauble for my Christmas tree. Also who doesn't love a good garden centre Sunday roast!

Decorating For Christmas - 12 Day Of Blogmas

By Heather Rowe 12:00 BLOGMAS

Blogmas Intro - 12 Days Of Blogmas

By Heather Rowe 12:00 BLOGMAS

Top 5 Tips For Planning Blogmas

By Heather Rowe 12:00 BLOGMAS

For the last regular post before Blogmas starts I wanted to share my top tips for planning for Blogmas and how I plan it. PLAN AHEAD The big...

Blogmas Planning 2020 - Plan for blogmas

For the last regular post before Blogmas starts I wanted to share my top tips for planning for Blogmas and how I plan it.

PLAN AHEAD

The biggest tip I can give for planning for a series as busy as Blogmas is to make a plan way in advance. As crazy as it sounds I started jotting ideas of down around August (maybe even earlier) this will be way too early for some people however I like to have a rough guide of posts I wanna write over a space of 4-6 months.

WRITE AHEAD

Although I plan my content months in advance I will usually wait until closer to the time of posting to write the post. I usually start writing a plan for a post around a month before the post goes up, this is so I have the bare bones of the post I wanna write and am then able to go back closer to the time and edit it. Having something written out already that just needs adding to is incredibly helpful, especially when you know you won't have alot of time.

DON'T DO TOO MUCH

Another tip is to really think about how much you can handle and the kind of time you have. Everybody is different and the best thing to do is to work out what will work best for you. If you want to share a post everyday go for it, if that's too much, post every 2 days, a few times a week or even once a week.

DON'T PUT TOO MUCH PRESSURE ON YOURSELF

No matter how regularly you choose to post this Blogmas don't put too much pressure on yourself. The whole idea of Blogmas is to have some festive fun and share it with your readers. Don't put yourself down if you miss a post or are unable to post as much as someone else.

WRITE & PHOTOGRAPH IN BULK

Writing posts and taking photos in bulk can be very time consuming however you can also get ALOT done in one sitting which is great for those who don't have much spare time in their day. I usually spend one of my days off bulk writing posts for the upcoming month and the other day getting pictures for both blog posts and Instagram content.

Blogmas Post Ideas

By Heather Rowe 17:00 BLOGMAS

Ultimate Christmas Playlist

By Heather Rowe 12:00 BLOGMAS, entertainment

Christmas TAG!

By Heather Rowe 12:00 BLOGMAS, tag, Tag Posts, tags

It's currently December 19th which means that there is only 5 days to go until Christmas Day! For today's Blogmas Post I d...

It's currently December 19th which means that there is only 5 days to go until Christmas Day!

For today's Blogmas Post I decided to take part in the Christmas TAG. I posted a Christmas TAG as part of Blogmas 2015 and wanted to do something similar this year.

For this year instead of just taking one TAG and answering the questions I decided to search though most of the different Christmas and Winter TAGs and make up a combination of all of them as well as including some of my own questions.

Do you like to stay in your PJ's or dress up for Christmas?

I think as a family we have always dressed up as for Christmas as it has always been a special event for us

Do you open your presents Christmas Eve or Christmas Morning?

This is always a hard question to answer as sometimes it's both, if we are spending Christmas with my dad then we will either have a '2nd Christmas' at home on either Christmas Eve or Boxing Day as we aren't spending Christmas Day there.

Have you ever built a gingerbread house?

Surprising, no never. Who knows, maybe this year could be the first!

What's your favourite Christmas meal or treat?

Unlike a lot of families, unless we go out for a meal we don't have a roast every Sunday so events such as Christmas and Easter are like a one off for us so my favourite Christmas food is definitely the roast!

What's your favourite holiday movie?

Again this is a fairly hard question to answer as there are so many to chose from! For me its between the Home Alone series and The Holiday

Have you ever made a snowman?

I've made a few! None of them even close to Christmas though

White lights or coloured lights?

I like both, in my room I have a white tree so I prefer white lights however in the living room we have a green tree so we use coloured lights.

When do you put up your Christmas decorations?

For as long as I can remember we've always put our Christmas decorations up on December 1st (or as close as is possible)

Favourite Christmas Song?

Tomorrow's post will be my ultimate Christmas playlist, but my all time favourite Christmas song is definitely 'Fairytale of New York - The Pogues & Kirsty McColl'

Favourite Christmas Throwbacks

What's your favourite thing about Christmas?

Winter Post Ideas

By Heather Rowe 12:00 BLOGMAS

12 Days of Blogmas - Winter TAG

By Heather Rowe 17:00 BLOGMAS, tag, Tag Posts, tags

Last year as part of Blogmas I did the Christmas TAG , so this year for day 9 of Blogmas I decided to do the Winter TAG! Top 2 Winte...

Last year as part of Blogmas I did the Christmas TAG, so this year for day 9 of Blogmas I decided to do the Winter TAG!

Top 2 Winter Beauty Essentials

1. Lip balm and hand cream

2. red lipstick!

Top 2 Winter Fashion Essentials

1. Ankle boots

2. Oversized hoodies & Jumpers

What shoes do you tend to wear the most in the Winter?

Ankle boots are my go to shoe in the winter! You can easily pair them with anything!

Favourite Winter accessory

Scarves! You can never have enough of them and they can look great with most outfits! Oh and they keep your neck warm too!

Favourite Winter nail polish

Either a dark red or white and silver

Hot Cocoa or Apple Cider?

Definitely Hot Chocolate! I've been loving Costa's Lindt Hot Chocolate but any hot chocolate is good for me

Favourite Winter candle?

Yankee Candle Christmas Treats

Snowboarding or Skiing?

I've never done either so I couldn't say. I've done something similar to snowboarding and hated every minute of it so many skiing?

Have you ever gone Ice Skating? Are you any good or do you FAIL miserably?

I have actually been ice skating quite a few times and although I'm definitely not great at it to start with (yes I can be one of those annoying people going round holding the side getting in people's way) the longer I spend on the ice the more actual skating I'm able to do!

Does it snow where you live?

Very rarely! It's mostly just cold and wet

Have you ever made a snowman?

yes! 2 in 21 years

Favourite Christmas/Holiday song?

This is actually a pretty hard one! Last year I would have probably said The Pogues Fairytale of New York but I have been loving Chris Rea's Driving Home For Christmas and Meghan Trainor's I'll Be Home

Favourite Christmas/Holiday movie?

My All time favourite Christmas movie is Home Alone 2 - Lost In New York

What is your favourite Winter treat?

I'm not sure if this counts but every Christmas we always get a tin of chocolates each (you know, the massive £5 boxes - celebrations, roses, quality street etc), it's always been one of our traditions

If you were to ask Santa for one thing and you were guaranteed to get it, what would it be?

Probably a planner or something organisational so that I can organize my life better

Do you have anything fun planned for this Winter?

I've mostly spent the Winter season working, however I did spend a weeked last week in London as a Christmas/Birthday present to myself