Hi Everyone,
Can you believe that Christmas is just around the corner? For me, the last couple of months have been a blur, between changing jobs, moving homes & a gazillion renovations... I haven't had the opportunity to craft much, sadly, but I am hoping to get back to card-making in 2023! Woohoo, can't wait!
In the meantime, I thought that I would share some of my recommendations for (mostly!) Christmas-themed personalised books & stories for the big & little Special People in your lives, from the Wonderbly range.
If you have never heard of the Wonderbly books, you can read more about them on my blog here and here. I can wholeheartedly recommend all of the books in the photo below, as I have had them tested on my own kids (that's not to say, of course, that their other books are not worth your attention - I just haven't had the chance to review them myself... yet):
There's definitely a good bit to choose from on the Wonderbly website for Christmas themed books: there are options for Baby's First Christmas, there is a fun family option where you can personalise the story with kids & parents/carers alike, and there are some other lovely Christmassy options like The Elf Who Saved Christmas, Christmas wishes and the Christmas snowflake story.
However, if your child already has some of the personalised books in their collection, and you're looking for something a little bit different - my recommendation would be the Bumper Christmas Edition of "Where are you?" (or just the original version of same, if you're not into Christmas-specific books/gifts). This is a book that will keep your child busy & excited for hours, will allow their imagination spread its wings, and will make you - the adult - giggle, too!
My kiddos already have the standard "Where are you?" version of the book, as well as the "The journey through time" version, and - I kid you not! - they have been keeping their respective copies in their beds for weeks now. Just before they go to sleep, or early in the morning when the rest of the household is still sleeping, they like to open one of the pages and explore. And every now and again we sit together, and I read & explain the more complex parts of the missions to them, keeping them busy during those "boring" afternoons.
Unsurprisingly, my 4 year old and my 7 year old find the books interesting for different reasons, but I love the fact that even the 4 year old (who cannot read herself yet) finds the book entertaining. The girls love not only the fact that the books are personalised for them, but they also find the artwork really fun, creative and the more they look at the pictures, the more fun stuff they discover.
The Christmas version will be a present for the girls' cousin, since the Christmas bumper version is pretty much an expanded version of the original "Where are you" book we already own (so this would be the only reason I might not be recommending it for you - if you own the original version already).
I mentioned something about the books being fun for adults, too, right? Well, not only are many of the picture scenes giggle-worthy, if you read the book in detail - you might find a lot of the information really funny (and I would actually say that some of the info will be more amusing for the adults than for the kids, which I personally found great - it's kind of like "Shrek" or "Frozen 2", where - depending on the age - the audience gets something different from certain scenes). Want an example? Go on the search for "Herb Girls", who just *might* remind you of a certain girl band from your own childhood, LOL.
[As always, please let me know in the comments if the codes no longer work - I can hook you up with a new one!]
Affiliate disclaimer: if you purchase the books via the links in this blog post, or use the above coupon/discount codes, I will - at no additional cost to you - get a small commission from the sale, as I am a Wonderbly Ambassador, but please rest assured that all of my above opinions are honest, and I would not be putting that much effort into writing a long post about something that I don't personally endorse or believe in!
I have no idea if I will manage to write another blog post before Christmas, so just in case I don't:
I wish you a wonderful & magical Christmas,
and here's to 2023 full of fun, love & new adventures!
Mirella