Christmas Trend Guide 2018

‘Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness that you are able to give.’

Eleanor Roosevelt

So with Black Friday almost over, Christmas is well on its way. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing depends very much on your opinion of Christmas. Here at Mrs Bee’s Emporium we love it, but we know not everyone shares our love of the festive season.

Whatever your thoughts on Christmas, the chances are that you’ll be thinking about gifts for your loved ones. Just like everything else, Christmas has its trends and fashions. It’s the same when it comes to gifts. You’re probably aware that there’s always a ‘must-have’ toy, where normally rational people get completely carried away in the fervour of finding one for their offspring. But you might not be aware that it’s the same for adults too. So what can you expect to be big this year?

Comedy clothes

Yes, comedy clothes. Whether it’s dodgy Christmas jumpers, rude messages or funny undies, if they’ve got a sense of humour, they’ll love a bit of comedy clothing. At Mrs Bee’s Emporium, we carry a wide range of personalisable clothes that are sure to make your loved ones laugh.

The other big clothing trend? Family pyjamas. Why wouldn’t you want to match your partner, kids, and even parents when it comes to bedtime? Matching pyjamas make a great Christmas Eve box addition, to get all snuggly and warm as you wait for the Big Man to arrive.

Puns galore

Christmas is getting cerebral with this year’s love of puns (punes if you’re a Terry Pratchett fan), or play on words. Why not combine your comedy clothing with a good joke, and even some personalisation? Which is another big trend this year.

Personalised gifts

Did personalisation ever go out of fashion? Well, it’s definitely in fashion this year. Whether it’s a named stocking to hang over fireplace, a family portrait cushion, or a bauble commemorating baby’s first Christmas, personalisation is a big trend.

The biggest trend in personalisation in 2018 is having someone’s handwriting inscribed on an item. Perhaps you want to remember your three year old’s attempts at writing their name, or have a much loved departed family member who you want to memorialize. A handwritten gift is perfect in both scenarios.

Is your little one growing up too fast? Then why not have some of their favourite clothes made into a soft toy? It’s a lovely way to remind yourself of how little and cute they were, especially when they hit their teenage years!

Embroidered items

Following on from the personalisation theme, does anything say homely charm like an embroidered item? Cushions and pillows, clothes, and even pictures are all perfect for being embroidered with a personal message. Combine this trend with personalisation, by having one of your children’s drawings memorialised on a cushion for you to enjoy for years to come.  

Hygge

Ok, you may not have heard of it but hygge (pronounced ‘hue-guh’) is a Danish word that sums up what Christmas should be about perfectly. It means a feeling or moment of special charm and cosiness. Hygge gifts are things that help engender that feeling, such as softly glowing candles, snuggly knitwear, and self care kits. Anything really that feels like a treat for the soul. This year whites and neutrals are particularly cool in the hygge market.

Warm metallics

While neutrals might be the trend in hygge, rose gold and copper are the trend when it comes to metallics. They’ve been fashionable for a while, and it doesn’t look like they’re going away anytime soon. With their warm colouring and soft glow, rose gold and copper shades are perfect for bringing a touch of luxury to someone’s life.

Go retro

In direct contrast to the understated elegance of hygge and warm metallics are retro brights. Think the neon leg warmers of the eighties, or the bright tropical prints of 1950s fashion. It’s all about bright, flamboyant colours.

And it’s not just the clothing of the 1950s that’s making a comeback. So are the design and homeware trends of the day. So think pineapple and flamingos, cocktail glasses and hostess trolleys. It’s perfect for someone who harks back to the simpler days of yesteryear or loves a touch of vintage glamour.

Gin

Considered old fashioned a few years ago, gin has made a huge comeback. There’s now a wide range of gins on the market, with all sorts of flavourings, from fruit and botanical to toffee and caramel. And with gin goes tonic. Again, there’s a proliferation of tonics available, with different tastes to suit every palette. A word of warning: gin can be a very personalised taste, so it’s worth checking what someone likes if you’re planning on buying it as a gift.

Back to nature

All kind of natural items are big trends for Christmas 2018. Think all things natural. It includes woodland motifs, such as pinecones and toadstools, woodland creatures such as birds, foxes and bears, and watery lifeforms, including otters, jellyfish and narwhals. For those who prefer their nature magical, there are also fairies and mermaids.

If you prefer your nature real, then plants are another fashionable gift these year. For less green-fingered recipients, why not consider a cactus (perhaps with an appropriately personalised message)?

Another big trend in the natural world fashion is llamas. Yes, llamas. These grumpy South American dromedaries (they’re related to camels), have somehow become cute and cuddly and worthy of a place under your Christmas tree this year. No, we don’t get it either, but who are we to judge?

As Christmas 2018 approaches, there are plenty of trendy gifts to choose from, meaning that there’s something for everyone. Which trends will you be following this year?

Personalised aluminium Polaroid style Christmas tree signs
was £9.99, now £7.99

Funny Undies

Were £14.99, now £11.99

Embroidered Gifts From £9.59

SATs Stars 2018 - How To Get Your Hands on One

So, as we explained in this blog post we have just moved house and our home and studio is a building site:

This has had a significant impact on how we can operate our SATs Star Project this year. On the one hand, we want to support as many children as possible. On the other, we don't want to promise what we can't deliver and leave people disappointed, that would be awful.

After much head scratching some mentoring and lots of talking it over, we have bad news and good about how we plan to move forwards with the SATs Star Project in 2018:

The Bad News:

I will get this out of the way first. Unfortunately we are not in a position to sell any SATs plush stars in the way that we did in prior years. We do intend to do it again in 2019, and I know this will be disappointing to some whose children will miss out this year. However, we do not have the facility at this very moment to get these reliably made, and it would be unfair for us to promise it. It's very important to us that we keep our word. Rather than let people down at a stressful time, we decided it was better so say we would not make any plush stars this year.

The Good News:

We are offering two different solutions for those of you who wish to send love and luck to the children taking their SATs in 2018.

1) We are selling a boblet wristband, with a typed, personalised letter of good luck for each child. There are 6 designs to choose from:

You Are A Super Star

An Angel Feather For Good Luck Boblet

You're a Legend Mermaid Boblet

Playing To Win - Pac Man

You Are A Super Hero

You Are A Magical Unicorn

These cost £4 each, with free shipping, and can be bought from our Etsy Shop:
www.mrsbeesemporium.etsy.com 

OR our Amazon shop, for those of you who prefer Amazon:
www.bit.ly/MRSBEE

2) The other option is that you make your own SATs Star plush. We have written a tutorial, a pattern and guidance for writing a good letter of encouragement. This can be instantly downloaded from our Etsy shop. We are happy to provide online support, if you need it.

Download The SATs Star Pattern and Tutorial Here

(unfortunately we can sell the instant pattern via Amazon at this time)

The SATs Star Project is a not-for-profit project and we will donate 20% of all income from it to Young Minds, the children's mental health charity.

I hope you understand our decision this year, and we hope to be able to support as many young people as we can through this years SATs. We love writing the letters!

With love,

PS: Sign up to the email newsletter for 10% off! http://bit.ly/MBEnews  

SATs Stars 2018 - Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, do you know how loved you are?

Of all the things Dom and I have achieved since we were made redundant from teaching (same month, totally out of the blue) the SATs Stars project is one of which I am most proud. If you have time you can see the whole story here: http://mrsbeesemporium.blogspot.co.uk/2016/

(link:) What ARE SATs Stars?

Essentially, as ex Teachers, Senior Leaders in secondary schools and Governors in a primary school, Dom and I were well placed to see how unfair and unpopular the SATs tests are with teachers, parents and, most importantly, children. Shit runs downhill, as they say - right from the government to your individual child. There are an awful lot of young children who are feeling under incredible pressure right now, and that sucks - teacher's too, whose success is judged on these results and which affect an entire school career, no exceptions made. It is the antithesis of what we, personally, believe a good education should be. We wanted to support our core customer base as they navigated this difficult time. We are not anti assessment, but there are far better, and less damaging ways to collect information about a child's progress.

The SATs Stars were never intended to be a money making venture for us (we started Mrs Bee's Emporium to be able to survive financially and thrive emotionally in our sudden post-teaching world - we have 3 kids of our own, too. It's been a bit up and down at times, I won't lie, it's not as secure as teaching, but we are happy to have left the profession as it currently is.)

We invested as much money as we could afford as a family in the SATs Star Project and gave away free hand sized star plushes, with a handwritten letter of encouragement, to as many children as we could. We simply asked parents to cover the cost of postage - we paid for the materials and labour. We also asked nicely if they would sign up to our email newsletter (and, hopefully, think of us when they were buying teacher gifts at the end of term, you know how these things work, but there is/was no obligation whatsoever...)

We were INUNDATED. Like, we both got RSI. We loved it - we cried tears of sadness and joy as we read the stories of stress and concern, and we loved all the photos we received - we sent letters of encouragement to teachers, and we even had PTAs buy whole class sets for year 6 leavers. It's been an absolute joy.


We did the same thing again last year, but tweaked it a bit. We upgraded the letters and sold the plush stars, and gave away wrist bands, again with a letter of encouragement. We needed to find a way to cover our costs financially (again, we're not aiming to make a profit with SATs stars) so we gave away 200 and sold the rest. Again, we were inundated. It was brilliant and we loved it. So much joy.

I hope these faces show you why. A little good luck trinket to take with you, in your pocket or on your wrist, to remind you of the letter that explains, very clearly, why you individually are awesome, and why your value cannot be measured by tests alone. The letters are a-political, supportive of schools and teachers and focused very much on the achievements of the child, that the parent tells us about behind the scenes. Exam cheerleading, if you will.

I have had several requests via social media about SATs Stars this year. However, we're in a tricky position.

1) We have just moved house, therefore:
2) We only had the internet installed yesterday (FOUR WEEKS! I ask you! But that's another story...) so the shops have been offline for a month
3) The house and studio is a renovation project. It's damp. We've had a new damp course fitted so we've had floors up, walls down, plaster stripped from all the walls downstairs - nightmare.
4) Our machines are all in storage
5) Our stuff is split between here and a container, 15 miles away.
6) I am on day 3 of norovirus. Bleurgh.

This is a long blog post, and I hope the photos will help you to see our position.

We don't want to let this year's children down!

WE ARE ON IT! None of the above is insurmountable, it will just take us a bit of time to sort. Bad timing (we agreed the house sale and purchase on Halloween, so it's just how the housing market goes...)

***There WILL be SATs Stars this year, but they will be seriously limited in number***

We are trying to find ways to support this year's SATs stars, cover our costs (which you know, I'm a bit embarrassed about to keep harping on about, but we're one family of 5 and there is a cost to this sort of thing, and we do have to think about where the money comes from.)

We do, however, wish to support as many of this year's year 2 and 6 children as we possibly can.

Bear with us. I hope to have some tangible things to show you in the next day or two. It might be a tad different to the past 2 years, and I hope that is OK with you. I'm sorry it's cutting it tight with dates. I hope you can understand.

Thanks for reading, and much love and hugs to all of you going through this difficult time,

PS We want to reach as many SATs children - and their teachers - as possible, so please tweet, FB, Pin, Insta, share share share and use the hashtag #satsstars and #mrsbeesemporium. Thank you <3