Organising a Gift Wrapping Cart / Station

I like having a selection of wrapping paper and bags in our house ready for when I have to organize a gift for someone or my daughter or son need to wrap items when they are staying with us .

However for quite some time I've been complaining that I couldn't find the items I was sure I had already bought and I seemed to be wasting a lot of time searching around trying to remember where I had put them.

So when I saw a wooden kitchen cart for sale on Facebook marketplace and I knew it was a really good price I had the idea of creating a Gift wrapping Cart or Station as our American friends would call it.

I know I am not the only person who buys things in advance.

I know I am not the only person who puts them away somewhere which seems to be logical.

I know I am not the only person who hunts around frantically looking for the items I bought and put away in a logical place but now I can't find them.

Obviously I am not as organised as I would like to be or need to be.

So I really needed to organise my wrapping paper and gift bags

I had made a first attempt at getting everything together some months before I saw the kitchen cart advertised but it was not a great success.

The bags had been gathered up and put into this plastic 3 drawer container and it did hold many bags that were not too big

BUT

there were a few reasons why this was not a success

1.   There was a piece broken off at the bottom corner of one of the drawers and was quite rough so I had to remember not to grab the drawer at the corner.

2.   It was reasonably fine for holding bags which were not not large - I still need somewhere to put the really large bags I had.   (you know the bargains we buy when we see them)


3.   I do like to use gift bags as much as I can but the younger kids within the family tend to prefer paper wrapping on their presents so that they can tear it off as quickly and roughly as possible and the only way to keep paper in this set of drawers would be to have sheets folded up and although I do have sheets like this I do hate folds in the paper on presents.

    So Mostly I buy rolls of paper and they would just be too long to fit in the drawers so they were still in a green bag I had bought some years ago however each time I took out a roll even though I would put it back into the bag (eventually) I would often leave the bag down somewhere and then forget exactly where I had left it the next time I needed it.

4.   I also have tissue paper to use in the gift bags and it is always folded so it will in the drawers okay but when I hunt through a drawer for a suitable bag or paper or tissue I found that the tissue paper got rather messed about.

5.   Then I needed to keep gift tags somewhere plus sellotape and string and ribbon and bows and scissors.

6.    The main reason that I disliked my choice of the plastic drawers was not the actual drawers but the difficulty in moving the set of drawers as they were not on castors and the fact that castors could not be attached because of the style of the bottom of them and also that it was too low to do wrap anything on top of it.

So a sturdy wooden cart on castors with shelves 

and a rail

and a drawer

and has a top that could be used for wrapping

was looking great to me.

I am a great lover of baskets for storage and have in the past grabbed up some bargains when I have seen them so I knew I had baskets which could work with this cart.


I had 3 sets of these 3 baskets which were in 3 sizes.

I also had a lovely box which had come with Gin Sing as a gift from our in-laws in South Korea and it could be put to use with the cart too.

So how would I go about using the box & baskets?


Would I put a basket on each of the 3 shelves?

Would I put 2 baskets and the box on the shelves?

It would really depend on what was in the baskets and how they would fit into the shelves once they had the contents filling them.


So what I had would have to be sorted into types and sizes starting with the gift bags.


A lot of my gift bags were of the same size and I started to place them in the largest of my baskets

but there were many others as well

so they had to be grouped into 2 lots to be put in the other two smaller baskets.



Then the papers

and the tissue papers

Because of the more flimsy nature of the paper and especially the tissue paper I decided they should probably be all in the Box and I knew they would all fit well in there.

The box was able to sit on the top of the cart or it could go on the top shelf so a choice had to be made about that.

But before that I had that other paper to cope with - the rolls of paper but I knew exactly how I was going to store them and yes it was on the cart okay.

In fact those rolls were one of the reasons I was really drawn to using that cart because I knew they could sit upright resting on on of the shelves and held on by the side rail or handle.

So that after they were put on the cart I had to decide about the final placing of the box and the baskets.

Would it be box on top with baskets on the shelves

except that the top shelf would not hold the basket due to height so I had to take the gift bags out and lay them flat on the shelf.


Or

Would it be box on the top shelf with largest basket on the top and other two baskets on the bottom 2 shelves?

However 2 things were left to finish off

1.  How would the drawer be used?

2.  What about the really large bags I also had that never fit into anything?


Well

The drawer will hold all the gift tags, scissors, sellotape, pens etc. that we also need to have a fully working wrapping cart / station but at the moment I do need to go out and buy some more gift tags or make some as I only have about 2 left.

and as for the very large bags this picture of the finished project will explain about them

Now if anyone has any ideas what I could use the long ties (see pic below) that came around the sets of baskets for I would be grateful for your suggestions just let me know in the comments because I hate to not use something and hate to throw something out when it might be useful later.

Marie & Mr Bee Kids Book - Book Review

It's time for another Children's Book Review.

Today it is a book for young children about a girl and a friend she makes.

We have always felt that books are very special to our family and share a love of reading but now that Fred and I have got to the "grandparent stage" we are once again looking at, buying and reading books that are suitable for young children.


So when I heard about this book and the fact that the main character is a girl in a wheelchair I was quick to get a copy but unfortunately very slow to review it.


I did buy this book and I am not being compensated in any way for this review.


So let's have a look at

Marie & Mr Bee

As with another Children's Book I reviewed

SSHH Don't Wake The Baby! - Christmas Children's Book Review

We got our grandchildren involved and here is a short taster of how we did that:

If a book is meant for that young age group then it should be tested with children of that age.

We have 3 grandchildren Matthew 4 years and , Ruby almost 3 yrs now and Sarah the baby, all of whom fall in this age group.

Unfortunately Sarah was having a nap during this part of our facetime with the kids and this time we did not have the pleasure of cuddling with the other two on the couch as we would normally do to read a story book to them - well we are in lockdown at the moment so all our time with them is spent online.

You can see how we manage this in 10 Easy Ideas for Facetime with Kids



Well back to testing out the book.

You can see from that brief video above that this book is very bright and colourful with beautiful illustrations and very clearly presented with a lot of detail which means that the children will enjoy coming back to the book for further readings as they will not have remembered all the fine details of the pictures on each page even after several readings.

Look at the concentration on those faces below as they listen to Grandpa read the story.

Here is the front cover of the book

Here you can see the back cover of the book

There is also a pancake recipe included in the book - for the children to help the grownups to make and them and then everyone can enjoy eating them.

Now that I have told you about this beautifully illustrated book which I believe would be a great book for all children especially to make them more aware of the similarities between themselves and children with disabilities because they all have imaginations. 

I want to say that I believe it would make a great gift for any family to read together.



The book actually comes in two versions although the difference is very slight.

Zooming in closer to the front cover you can see that my version is the Scripture version denoted by this symbol on the front cover.

So you can choose between one which has a Bible verse included on the last page or one which does not.

This book is written by Margaret Welwood  and illustrated by Coralie Rycroft and you can check out  Grandmasbookshelf.net  for more info on this and other books by Margaret.




You can also watch this longer video of reading Marie & Mr Bee together. 







So Deciding thought on this book?


Yes it's a big Tick from me and Fred and the grandkids.

Disclaimer:
I have NOT been offered a free product to write this blog post nor any other compensation. 

I bought this book myself. 
The views expressed here are completely my own.

10 Easy Games to Play on FaceTime & Zoom with Kids

Are you stuck in the house?

Are you are confined to home?

                             or just a long way away from your grandchildren? 

 Then you probably need some good games to play together 

                            when Face Timing or on a Zoom Call with your grandchildren.

If So  

THEN 

This is the place to find

10 Easy Games to Play with Kids on Face Time or Zoom.

Previously in   10 Easy Ideas for Face Timing with Kids   we talked about how when we are having to face time our young kids so often instead of visiting them or having them round to our homes we can't just talk all the time we need to be more interactive and in that post we had 10 great ideas which we had tried and tested with our grandkids.

One of those 10 Easy Ideas was to play a game together.

So in this post I am going to help you by suggesting 10 Easy Games and then from that you can think up others by just using variations of these ideas.


So here we go with

10 Easy Games to Play on Face time or Zoom with young Kids

1.  X & O's

Our first easy game to play together is the first game nearly anyone learns - X & O's.

Our daughter-in-law is good at sewing and has had some good creative ideas that she has made for the grandkids.

One of these is a material form of this game which she can put into a bag along with the usual books and paper and crayons we have all carried in our bags at different times when we took the kids out in the car or to a restaurant etc.

But of course you don't need to have anything as good as that.

If you are using Zoom then you can bring up the whiteboard on your Zoom call and use it for playing hangman. 

Or if using Face Time just use paper and felt tip pen  (shows up better over the screens) and some paper and some way of propping up the paper.

then you just need the kids to direct you as to where they want their X or O to go each time.


Just before we went into lock down I had found a great laptop stand which I can adjust the angle and height of and it has been used for most of our face times either to hold up a book we are reading or a paper pad as I draw things.
I got it on marketplace for a third of the normal price.

You can also switch over and let the kids do the drawing or placing for you to play the game.

2.  Hangman

Our second easy game to play together is the pencil and paper game of Hangman.

Again just like X & O's you can use the whiteboard on Zoom or paper and pen on face time.

Of course you will need to use a felt tip again to show up well for the kids and remember to write clearly and larger than normal to make it easy to see.

Depending on the age of the kids you can have them take turns at seeing if they hang you in the game.

3.  Bingo

Our third easy game to play together is the very well-known game of Bingo.

If you have a bingo game at home then you have a popper for getting the numbers so you can play the usual number bingo.

But most people may not have a bingo set so you can simply play picture bingo instead.

You simply need the following:

6 or 8 bingo cards 
Each card is square and has a grid of 9 small squares on it in 3x3 formation and each square has a different picture.
Make sure that you have NO identical cards  ie. no 2 bingo cards have the same 9 pictures.

15 -18 picture cards 
Small card squares - 1 of each of the different pictures you have on the Bingo cards.

9 blank card squares for each person playing
These are for covering the pictures on the Bingo cards as they are picked out


I would suggest a theme like Easter, Christmas, Flowers, Cars or whatever you know the kids like.

The theme will also depend on the ages of the children.

Simply prepare the boards and cards on the computer using clip art and have the kids or their parents print out the boards and you print out the small cards.

Of course you can have the same bingo cards each time or you can switch it up with different pictures on different themes or even have letter bingo.

4.  Guess the Song Game

Our fourth easy to play game is one that is more fun sometimes when the adults are doing the guessing because it can be harder for us.


Guess the song can be played in a few different ways:

• Adult plays part of the tune on guitar or piano or any instrument & the children guess the song.
• Adult hums part of the song and the children guess the song.
• Adult says some of the words from the middle of the song and the children guess the song.
• Swap round the roles of adult and children.

Another version can be to pick a theme and see who can think of the most songs about it.

ie. Goodness
Giving you songs like -
God is so good.    He's a good good father,    Lord you've really been good to me.

With Kids you can end up learning a new song from them or taking the opportunity to introduce them to a new song.

Check out my  RESOURCE LIBRARY  for help with new kids songs 

and also my

DEVOTIONALS PAGE  for ideas of worship songs.

5.  Scavenger Hunt 

Our fifth easy game is one that needs a little planning in advance.

Make a list of items that you know the children will be able to find in the house.

Then
a)  they can each be instructed to see who can be the first to find the item - being told one item at a time
b)  they can work together to find the item and see how fast they can do it
c)  they can work together and compete against grandad with nanny having made out the list of items


Again this game can been done around themes like

• colours - find a blue item 
• numbers - find 4 books
• letters - find any item that starts with B

If the weather is good and the parents don't mind them running in and out you can also take the garden as a theme and have them find things there.

6.  Charades

Our sixth easy game also needs a little planning in advance.

Sit down sometime and make lists of

• Cartoons
• Book Titles
• People
• Song Titles
• Animals
• Bible Characters

or anything else you can think of that the children know and your lists will keep you going for several face times together.


Just plan with their mum or dad in advance for them to help the kids make a list too so that you have to do the guessing and not just the kids.

7.  Guess the Book Title or Character Name 

Our seventh game is easy to play at any time.

Again use the whiteboard if on Zoom or use pen and paper on face time.


You can play it in two ways

a)  Like "Pictionary"  -  one person draws and the other one guesses

You can use the suggestions from Pictionary if you have it but making them up may be much more fun and personal.

b)  Like "Who Am I?"  -  one person has to ask questions to try to work out who the other person is and the other one answers and see if the questioner can guess the title or name in less than 20 questions.

Again you can make it very personal by picking family members, teachers, friends as well as TV & cartoon characters or characters from their favourite books.



So this actually gives you two games instead of one.

8.  Easy board game

Our eighth game is easy for one lot to play because only the people in one of the locations have to do all the work.

Get the kids to pick one of their easy board games like snakes and ladders and play it together.

This takes no preparation and no planning - they choose the game and they have to get it out and do all the dice throwing and moving of pieces for you as well as for themselves.


A good way of having some laughs when they deliberately try to make sure you don't get where you want to be etc.

A great example is Snakes and Ladders

Also can be good for teaching them to be honest and helpful when they would be tempted to cheat.

Or perhaps they would choose to play something they like to play in your house and then you have all the work to do.

9.  Hide & Seek

Our ninth game is almost the easiest to play at any time.

No set up, no list making, no printing out cards, no real hard thinking to be done.

If your grandkids are like ours then they will love to play hide and seek.

It does however need someone to move around with the phone or tablet when the kids are hiding so that you can see the locations in their home.

This is a bit like Hunt the Bear that is mentioned in  10 Easy Ideas for Face Timing with Kids  except that I don't think either Fred or I would fit in the many places that our bear Charmin has found to hide without being extremely noticable.

10.  Concentration Games

Our grandkids love Concentration or Matching Games and so do I.

If you do not have any such games it is easy enough to make some yourself.


You can use photos of the family:

• print out two copies of as many pictures as you think the kids could manage
• get some card
• cut out the faces from the pictures
• stick them on the card
• cut them out in squares of the card making sure the squares are all the same size

To play:

• place the cards face down on the table
• each person takes it in turn to choose 2 cards
• if the pictures match they keep the pair
• if the pictures don't match they are returned to their place on the table
• the winner is the one with the most pairs
• you will of course have to do all the lifting and returning to place and showing of the cards to the children

OR

Let the children take charge at their end of the call and use a matching game they already have.





Other ideas would be to get pictures of musical instruments, cartoon characters, animals, shapes, numbers, letters, colours etc.

PLUS

                    let's not forget

Educational Games

find out from mum and dad if there are any particular things the kids are learning from school based lessons or homeschooling etc. that they need a wee bit of extra help on
 and incorporate those into a game.

10 Bible Verses of Encouragement When We Need Comfort

We all need encouragement and the best place to go is to the Bible.

In this blog Post I have tried to gather some Bible passages or Bible verses which will encourage us all when we are in need of comfort

I do believe that we should not just grab a verse and read it on its own but we should always lift our bibles and read a passage of scripture to make sure that we know the real meaning and context of each of the verses we are putting our trust in. 

I pray that you will do the same and only use this list to guide you as to where you may find help.

So here are 10 Bible verses or short passages for us to turn to in times when we are in need of  Comfort

1.   John 14 v 16-17     

The first thing to encourage us in times when we feel broken hearted or that our spirit is broken or those times when we need to be comforted because of feeling that we have lost someone or something, is that Jesus knew from the start that His disciples would need comforting and all of us to come after them would also need comfort in this world.

Jesus told His disciples in advance that He would not leave them comfortless and He means the same for all of us as well.

We find this in John ch. 14 v 16-17

Jesus says He will pray to God the Father to give us another helper or comforter who will be the Hold Spirit, the third person in the trinity.

Jesus knows how we all need to be comforted over aspects of life and so He asks God to give us a permanent helper.

2.   2 Corinthians 1 v 3-4

    

Here are two verses that prove how much God is a comforter to us.

Not just once but five times we have the reminder in this passage of the comfort He gives us.

Not only has He provided comfort for us but He is active in comforting us.

3.   Psalm 23 

This psalm is a Psalm of great comfort to us because if we read it carefully and thoughtfully we will see that the Psalmist is acknowledging how God is with us in everything and takes care of all our needs.

No matter what situation we are in we can take comfort from this Psalm

When we feel we may be in need:

The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
 He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

When we feel we may be near death:

 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

When we feel we may be forgotten as people are against us:

 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.

When we feel we may face only hardships in life :

 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;

When we feel we have no future :

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.

He comforts us with the greatest future in Him.

You may want to look further into Psalm 23

Here in the series Pondering the Psalms

4.   Psalm 119 v 50    

He gives us comfort to experience through His Word when we face hardships and afflictions of any kind.

We have the Holy Spirit as our helper and comforter and now we see we also have His Word to comfort us.

His Word is Truth.

5.   Psalm 147 v 3

Look at the comfort we can see in this verse.

Not only will God heal our broken hearts but He cares enough to bind up the wounds that we are agonising from.

This always reminds me of the care and comfort given by the Samaritan who stopped and saw to the wounds of the man attacked and left by robbers at the side of the road.  

Our God is greater than a good Samaritan - He tends our wounds giving us comfort as He heals us.

6.   Luke 4 v 18-19

Jesus himself read from the old testament to remind us all of the promise already given 

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,

Because He has anointed Me

To preach the gospel to the poor;

He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,

To proclaim liberty to the captives

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set at liberty those who are oppressed;

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” 

and He was the anointed one - He brings us comfort when we are brokenhearted.

7.   Isaiah 49 v 13

Looking to past instances of how God has acted always encourages us that He will act in a similar way again.

31 

Sing, O heavens!

Be joyful, O earth!

And break out in singing, O mountains!

For the Lord has comforted His people,

And will have mercy on His afflicted.

Here we have the proof that He has comforted His people so knowing our God never changes we know He will comfort us again.

8.   Psalm 34 v 18

I love the phrase here in this verse - near to

The Lord understands our hearts and knows how we feel so He will bring comfort and salvation.

9.   Matthew 5 v 4

In the Beatitudes the second blessing is on those who mourn - Jesus cares and He promises comfort.

10.   John 16 v 22

Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.

This comfort was given by Jesus to His disciples even though they did not fully understand at the time that He was going to die and what the future would hold.

We can take comfort in these words of Jesus too and more so because we have all the New Testament to back it up.

We may have sorrow and need comforted but our comfort is in the knowledge that we will one day rejoice with Him.