Spoiling Our Son As He Turns Seven

J turns seven on Friday, he is already so excited that he is fit to burst.  This year for his birthday he has asked for a Laptop, this may seem like a huge ask as it is an expensive gift however, following my recent switch to a new Macbook Pro, Paul has been using my previous laptop which is much larger and far more suited to his needs for shorttoons.com, in turn this has freed up Paul’s old laptop which he has refurbished for a certain young man. It may not be new but I am fairly sure that it will suit J down to the ground and at the end the of the day, it didn’t cost us a penny (unless you count the money spent on a Mac and that’s an investment though right?).

Whilst my parents were in the process of moving house they had a huge clear out, This TV & DVD Player (see below) is just one of the many things that they no longer required nor wanted, I therefore grabbed it while I could, wrapped it up and hid it away for J’s birthday. Whilst I always swore blind that I would never allow my kids to have a television in their room, I hadn’t accounted for a kid on the spectrum and in all honesty, I am far more relaxed and easy-going these days, just as J will be when he has the opportunity to wind down by kicking back and watching his favourite shows from the comfort of his bed.

As the TV has a DVD player it seems only fitting that I should add to the Disney DVD collection which we aren’t far away from completing with another two Disney classics. I managed to grab ‘Wreck it Ralph‘ and ‘Up‘ from a local Facebook sale site for £3 each and already know that J loves these movies from watching them on the television over Christmas. He now has his very own copy to play whenever he wishes, other than in the middle of the night that is!

I felt fairly bad about the fact that most of the parcels I had collected for J were either free of price or a bargain, I was well aware that J needed a new bike as since learning to ride without stabilisers it has become quite apparent that his current ride is a little on the small side and so decided to buy J a brand spanking new bike as his main parcel for his birthday.

As I needed to check whether the bike was suited to J’s size and ensure that I would choose one which he would actually be happy with, J had to come to Halfords with me to help ‘size-up’ and select the perfect set of pedals. J didn’t seem entirely happy about this as he presumed this meant that there would be no laptop and I wasn’t going to tell him otherwise as it’d spoil the surprise. J eventually chose the ‘Apollo Wham’ bike which unbeknown to him was in the sale at half price! Yet another birthday bargain…  Woot!

I have a thing about giving books as gifts to children, reading is a life skill should be encouraged and enjoyed. I therefore buy three books for my children every birthday and every christmas. There are a lot of books in our house but there can never really be enough. Whilst J is a fantastic little reader, he tends to enjoy having fictional stories read to him by us and only ever reads himself when he is researching upon his special interests. His current obsession seems to be with ‘Minecraft‘ and therefore I opted to buy him three instructional books which he can enjoy reading and using the guide his gaming techniques.

As always, we have bought gifts for E to give to her brother on his birthday. This year as J is really into Adventure Time and it is something that they often watch together, we bought the ‘Fin and Jake’ soft toys from E to J. Whats the chances that she won’t let go of the ‘fluffy things’ once they have been opened?

Along with the plush toys we also found this rather cute Adventure Time t-shirt online and added it to E’s gifts for J. I love it when the kids wear colourful clothing and this is pretty colourful!

After recently losing his Angry Birds drinks bottle at a soft play party, I thought we had best buy J a new ‘out and about drinks bottle’. This Adventure Time bottle seemed to fit the bill perfectly and even gave us the option of personalisation which means that it hopefully will avoid getting lost in future. Obviously we didn’t go for ‘Millie’ as in the example photograph shown below! This has also been added to E’s gifts to J, I love how all her gifts will follow a particular theme and one which they both enjoy together.

Lastly I have got a little gift for E. Whilst it’s understandably hard for a two-year old to watch their older sibling open parcels and not to be of the action, I actually buy a gift for both the children when it’s their siblings birthday as I think it’s nice for them to have something from the day to remember, a bit like a party bag if you will. I ordered the Pet Set from Le Toy Van to add onto E’s Le Toy Van dolls house collection which she so loves.

It may seem like a lot of gifts to give for just one birthday but all of the above put together has actually cost us very little thanks to the numerous bargains and freebies that I have managed to acquire and hideaway over the past few months. I cannot wait to see J’s face when he receives the laptop, he really doesn’t think he is going to get one as he is in the know about the bike. I love surprising the kids and I am damn certain that J is going to love it even more.