The BritMums Blog

BMB Half-Term Adventure Carnival

For most of us, life has returned to normal. Stressful mornings, rushing to get out the door for the school run, carrying on with our usual daily routine, reversing the morning school run and cracking on with homework, dinner, bath and bedtime. I think we may all be a bit wistful for the Half-Term break that has just ended.

Some of our BMB members handled the terror of half-term with remarkable aplomb. We'd like to highlight some of our best and brightest in the first BMB Half-Term Adventure Carnival. Hopefully we can all learn from their genius and prepare ourselves for the month of April and May when very little time will be spent in school thanks to the Easter holidays, Royal Wedding and May Bank Holidays. I sense the fear already!

Share your half-term adventures!

It's is a time of gleeful abandon for the children and white-knuckle fear for parents. What could I be talking about? Why HALF-TERM of course! Whether you enjoyed yours last week or are knee-deep in it this week, we're all in the same boat. What WILL we do to fill all of the time? What if it rains? What if it doesn't rain? What if it's sunny? So many possibilities, such low tolerance! But as so many bloggers demonstrate, necessity is the mother of inventive half-term activities.

21 ideas for a savvy half-term

At our #savvyhalfterm Twitter party on Tuesday 12 October more than 190 bloggers swapped tips and advice on how to enjoy half-term. In an hour we tweeted nearly 1,000 messages. (Did we mention the event trended in the UK?)

Here, we’ve pulled out just a few of the ideas from the avalanche of novel and thoughtful suggestions. Got more? Add them here. You can also see mum blogger reviews of days out on  supersavvyme.com, who sponsored the party.

Thanks to everyone who contributed!

1. Do a treasure hunt – Hide things around the house or garden and give them a pirate map to find the “treasure”. Organise a treasure hunt with each clue leading to the next. Or send them on safari with a list of mini-beasts to find. Kids can’t read yet? Draw pictures.

2. Put the kids to work – No need to be Dickensian about it, but kids do love to do grown-up tasks. Have them wash windows, clean the car, rake up the leaves, or even be a real beautician and give you a manicure.

Are you going out of town for half term? Take our poll!

Join our #savvyhalfterm Twitter party on Tuesday!

We're having BMB's first Twitter and you're invited!

UPDATE: the spa prize has been updated to a £350 value. The Rainy Days prize now includes 4 nylon umbrellas.

How it works: The party is an online gathering on Twitter on Tuesday 12 Oct from 13:00 - 14:00 about how to have a savvy half term. Taking part is easy: all you have to do is tweet a tip, a link, a nugget of advice on how to maintain your sanity and have fun over the half term - making sure to use the hashtag #savvyhalfterm.

Then follow the #savvyhalfterm conversation to get tips and advice from other bloggers.

There are prizes!

By taking part you'll be entered to win one of the fabulous prizes listed below from our sponsor SuperSavvyMe.com. Supersavvyme.com is a website for UK women who want to be savvier and smarter with their time and money, helping them get the most out of life the savvy way. It has the fantastic Savvy Guide to Keeping the Kids Entertained, with more than 60 creative suggestions, many contributed by BMB members.

Busy on Tuesday? Join in early by tweeting your tip with the hashtag #savvyhalfterm now to be entered to win one of the fantastic prizes.