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Letter From The Editor Dear Readers ‘Tis the season to be jolly! We can’t believe Christmas is almost here. Hold up, this also means it’s time to begin the shopping wars for Christmas presents. We know choosing Christmas presents for the kids can be a pain. But don’t get your tinsel in a tangle yet! We’ve got the perfect digital guide full of exciting and fun gift ideas for kids of all ages plus some great ideas on how to get kids involved in gift wrapping. There’s something extra too to get the Christmas ball rolling including where to catch the best Christmas lights and where to go for a Christmas feast fit for a king. Keep calm and get your ho ho ho on! Cheerios
What’s Inside? 4 Hottest Toys This Christmas 5 Top Gifts For Kids Under 5 6 Top Gifts For Kids Over 5 7 Where To See Christmas Lights 8 Top Christmas Lunches 9 Best Gifts For Teachers 10 The Best Places To Hear Carols 11 The Best Christmas Getaways For Families 12 Best Christmas Markets 13 Gifts to Avoid This Christmas Season 14 Best Stocking Fillers For Kids 15 Fun Ideas for Present Wrapping With Kids
The list is on. Better get those shopping trips underway to make sure you get your hands on these before stocks run out.
Hottest Toys This Christmas
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L.O.L Surprise Dolls Each toy is a mystery waiting to be unraveled with the outer packaging containing no information about what lies inside.
LEGO Boost This brand new range from LEGO combines the love of building LEGO, robotics and coding! Build the LEGO and use the app to code and customise each one.
Furreal Roarin’ Tyler The latest roaring fuzzy resident to hit the Furreal Friends kingdom is Roaring Tyler, The Playful Tiger. And his favorite way to play is to ROAR!
AKAI Professional MPK Mini We’ve found the coolest toy for budding musicians! This Mini MKII is a great starter musician’s tool for kids to start tapping out those tunes.
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Letters to Santa have been posted and the countdown to gift unwrapping has begun.
Playgro Music And Lights Comfy Car Beep, beep! This adorable plush car is the perfect place for hub to practice sitting up or for older babies to have some fun.
Top Gifts For Kids Under 5
Vtech Sit To Stand Music Centre Let’s sing and dance together! This super cool mic stand lets baby unleash their inner show topper.
Speedster Fire Engine Ahoy Fire Chief! Your little hero will be saving the day in no time with this classic metal ride on fire engine.
BRIO Rail and Road Quarry Set Lift and load! Calling all tiny train lovers, this train set is packed with play.
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Have you thought about what you’re giving your schoolaged kids this Christmas? Here are some ideas.
Stem Brain Flakes It’s not something you would have for brekkie. Kids can build to their heart’s content with these discs that connect to each other.
Top Gifts For Kids Over 5
Playmobil Space Rocket Get ready for takeoff… The rocket even has lights and sounds which replicate a life-like journey to the stars.
Spirograph Deluxe Set Get creative with the Original spirograph. Kids can combine art and maths to create endless designs. Chemistry Set for Kids Discover why rockets burn with colour with this comprehensive chemistry set for the young scientist.
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Nothing makes a child’s Christmas more aweinspiring than luminous trees and shining elves.
Boulevard, Ivanhoe One of Melbourne’s biggest and brightest displays. The neighbours pull out all the stops!
Where To See Christmas Lights
Lebanon Crescent, Mulgrave Take a trip to house #11 to see more than 100,00 lights spring to life.
Tennis Court, Mornington By far one of the most popular Christmas light displays around – see what the fuss is about!
Dalgetty Road, Beaumaris One of the most impressive light displays. Don’t miss it.
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Our favourite part of Christmas is the food. Here are some ideas for a festive feast.
Best Christmas Day Lunches Marley Spoon Still keen on the comforts of home this Christmas day but want to make the cooking part a little easier? Marley Spoon’s Christmas Box is the answer. Everything you need to get this year’s Christmas feast on the table in just two and a half hours, for only $249. The box will feed 4–6 adults and will be delivered on 23 December. Melba Restaurant Spend Christmas day at Melbourne’s most enchanting hotel. Be dazzled by the magic of Christmas while you eat, drink and be merry!
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Dutchess Your whole family can dine like royalty this Christmas day. A 3-course, sharestyle lunch.
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Say a little thank you to all those who helped make a difference in your child’s life.
Little Succers Tired of getting flowers and the same boring chocolate box? Say hello to Little Succer, the perfect gift for the young trendy teachers.
Best Gifts For Teachers
Monogrammed Stationary Your child’s teacher will think of them whenever they carry around these beautiful personalised possessions. Wine A bottle of wine is the perfect gift for a wonderful teacher in your life! Pick from a wide variety keeping your budget in mind.
Plant In A Personalised Mug Jazz up the traditional mug gift by placing a small ever grown flowering plant inside.
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Soak up the Chrissy vibes with family and friends on a picnic blanket as you sing along.
Carols By Candlelight At Jells Park Traditional carols, bands, fireworks plus Free Kids Tinsel Town.
Best Carols By Candlelight Events
Carols At Ruffy Lake Park Traditional carols, live music and a festive family festival!
Hume Carols By Candlelight This exciting event has been generating all those great Christmas vibes for years.
Carols By The Lake Coburg Lake will shine and shimmer in the candlelight as thousands gather for this annual candlelit event.
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Christmas is a busy time to get away from it all for a while.
Best Christmas Family Getaways Torquay Head along the coast to this soulful little town with gorgeous beaches or make this your first stop on an epic road trip on the popular Great Ocean Road.
Sorrento Located just 90 minutes from Melbourne CBD, Sorrento is one of Victoria’s favourite summer hot spots for families packed with water activities.
Echuca Get ready to go paddleboating! Echuca is famous for its Murray River paddleboat rides, and no trip to this much-loved town would be complete without one.
Phllip Island If you want to see your kids positively spellbound, introduce them to the state’s most beautiful fauna!
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Head to the markets to find unique, handmade gifts this Christmas.
Best Christmas Markets Nunawading Christmas Twilight Market
Vintage Retro And Nostalgia Christmas Fair
We love this Market, the make it – bake it – grow it market with over 100 stalls selling crafts and gourmet goodies.
The best market to hunt for a gift that has been passed down the generations and will be treasured for years to come.
Christmas Shopping Night At Sovereign Hill
The Big Design Market Enjoy 3 days of shopping with 230 stallholders, designer showbags, delicious food, creative workshops and free kids fun.
Enjoy some festive shopping under the stars at Christmas Shopping Night at Sovereign Hill.
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Before you go wildly gifthunting, take note of these toys to avoid.
Children’s Elephant Soft Plush Pillow This cuddly pillow might be super comfy to nap on, but beware of the risks!
Gifts To Avoid This Christmas Season
Glitter Activity Sets There will be glitter! Everywhere, from hair to fingers and even on the dog’s tail.
Peppy Pets It’s cute but the leash on this toy doggie poses a serious suffocation risk.
Musical Toys Musical toys can be the key to inspiring an early love of music and learning. But play them on repeat and it can be the perfect recipe for a headache.
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All the best quirky gifts, knick-knacks and tiny trinkets.
Best Stocking Fillers For Kids
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Hatchimals Colleggtibles These mini Hatchimals are nestled in purple speckled egg, providing the ultimate Christmas morning surprise.
Fingerlings Fingerlings are adorable baby monkeys that are curious about the world and will love clinging onto your finger, blinking their eyes and talking in monkey babble.
Lil’ Dreamsies Mini Doll Delight your little one by bringing home one of these mini dolls, dressed in an adorable outfit.
Mini Christmas Erasers A cheerful way to erase mistakes, these mini Christmas erasers will make study time a whole lot of fun for your kids
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Make gift wrapping a family affair: get kids involved this Christmas!
Fun Ideas For Present Wrapping With Kids Tie Dye Gift Wrap
Jolly Reindeer Prints
Get groovy with your little gal or guy and get them to design and create their very own tie-dye wrapping paper.
Rudolph is here to make your day! The kids will love getting into the festive spirit with the holly jolly reindeer themed fingerprint wrapping paper.
Draw A Gift Bag
Interactive Gift Wrappings
Your little helpers will be able to personalise their gift bags by decorating their own paper trees – functional art!
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Let the kids create fun interactive gift wrappings. It’ll make the outside of a gift almost as entertaining as the inside.
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THANK YOU
Millions of parents visit ellaslist to discover new and exciting things to do with their kids both in their local community and in our wonderful city. We’re proud and humbled that so many new family experiences start with a simple visit to our website. We’d like to sincerely thank all our loyal readers for continuing to support ellaslist and a huge thanks to all our venue partners, sponsors, ellaslist explorers and the many local activities providers that do such a wonderful job in our communities helping us to entertain, educate and create fun experiences with our kids. We wish you a wonderful festive season and the best summer ever. We look forward to bringing you more inspiration in 2018. Love, the team at ellaslist xxx
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