And it’s lovely - I think anyway.

https://www.johnlewis.com/content/christmas-advert

Here we go round the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush, the mulberry bush……..

Sewing cubs badges onto a jumper. My mum will be turning in her grave watching me try to do this. Does every child’s jumper secretly look like the badges were sewed on by a pigeon??

Asking if I would take this boy. His name is Kevin and he’s 3. On my way to get him!

My 13-year-old daughter has recently started her periods. She was fully prepared, knew what to expect, and told me when it happened. We went shopping for pads and I took her for ice cream as a little celebration and we had a really nice day. However, it’s brought up a load of resentful feelings and a surprising amount of anger and hurt about starting my own periods at the same age. I must’ve buried these feelings pretty deep as they kind of took me by surprise.

I was also 13 when I started my periods. My mum had never spoken to me about them or about anything to do with puberty or sex, which always puzzled me because she was fairly open and progressive in many other ways. I think it was more laziness than anything else. This was in the late 90s, so not exactly the dark ages when nobody uttered the word period out loud. Shortly before this, she started an affair with a work colleague and abandoned my brother & I for a few months while she moved into his house in another town half an hour away. So I started my first period at my dad’s with only my dad and little brother there, my dad was absolutely not the kind of dad I could have told. I remember crying my eyes out in the bathroom for hours because I thought it meant that I’d bleed every day until menopause. I didn’t even know they only came every month. I missed my mum so much in that moment and desperately needed her there but I was too scared to phone her in case her new boyfriend answered (it was pre mobile phones). I had no pads, nothing. I stuffed toilet paper in my knickers until I could sneak out to the shop. I never did tell my mum and she never asked. She did once give me some pads “in case I needed them” when I was 16…i tried not to laugh.

Apart from the running off with another man, was this fairly standard in the 90s? Or was my mum especially shit? AIBU by suddenly feeling so upset about something that happened decades ago? We have an ok relationship now but she irritates the hell out of me. Is this actually because I resent her for abandoning me I wonder?..

Its a long story which I will keep brief. I'm a 54 year old female.
I divorced my now ex-husband in 2009, We had 3 children together. At the time their ages were 15 (Boy) 12 (Girl) and 9 (Girl).
I have since been happily remarried since 2012.
For the last 9 years I have been estranged from my eldest daughter who is now 29. She refuses any contact with me. When I last saw her she was 20 and our meeting was very strained. She afterwards denied me any contact- this was based on the fact that a) she doesnt like my new husband and b) the fact that her younger sister, now 26, has (through her own choice) had no contact with her father since she was 9.

My eldest daughter now lives and works abroad and has done so for 9 years, and has no intention of returning to the UK / living back here, other than returning for short visits to visit her Father.
She also has had a very strained relationship with her younger sister and they barely have spoken over the last 5 years or so. But she has just messaged my youngest daughter (who lives with me) telling her she is pregnant.
She is apparently very happy which is good to hear but I am concerned about her and just want to be there for her during her pregnancy. But I made her a promise 9 years ago to not make contact and to respect her boundaries as she said that was important. Not only have I done this but I also have no way of contacting her as she has changed her number, blocked me from all social media and I dont have her address or email. So I have not made any contact with her for 9 years now. On discussing with my younger daughter she said that the older one would not have let her know about the pregnancy without her accepting that I am going to find out from her. So I am in two minds whether to contact her and send her a message using the phone number for her which my youngest daughter now has. I want to let her know I am thinking of her and wish her all the best for her pregnancy with no strings attached and no expectations - but if I contact her I feel I am breaking the boundary which I promised and have stuck to all this time. so I really dont know what to do.
I have a very fractured and extremely poor relationship with her Dad (whom she is still very close to) and short of asking him what to do or what she would want - which to be honest I dont want to do as would rather keep him out of it - then I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. I'd really appreciate peoples thoughts ideas etc.

My nest friend gave me some wonderful earrings about 20 years ago they are gold with various semi precious stones dangling down, one of the small stones fell off and I don't have it. Where could I get them repaired, I need someone reputable. I live in London and the previous guy I used for fine jewellery repair in Highgate has retired

Basically as the title reads. Im so tired of this now.
Started with Kevin the carrot toys really, I remember battling queues just to get one toy.
What has made me angry today is seeing Asda christmas shelves empty of all the Home Alone items and disney ornaments. Just wanted 1 item and people buying ten of each. Checked vinted and yes I was right. A 4 quid decoration double the price.
Its really unfair for those of us who just want one thing and to find people bulk buying them.
Grrrrr. Im just miffed.

Hi all. I'm just caretaking until Reastie returns, but here's our new thread. Please do use up the old one first though.

This is intended as a friendly, kind, safe, warm and fuzzy place for people to share discounts, bargains and Christmas gift ideas both online and IRL. Please note the tone and intention of the thread and join with spirit as generous as DC helping themselves to the Christmas chocolate celebrations

Here’s some useful information about how to save the thread or a specific post so you don’t need to have a message to check in for every thread so you have the thread saved:

To watch the thread - click on the little bell that has ‘watch’ under my first message. This adds the whole thread to your ‘watched threads’

You can also bookmark a specific post by clicking on the ‘bookmark’ under the specific post. This saves your exact place in a thread but doesn’t alert you to new replies.

If you have any referral links or codes, please share them on the referral thread here:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/christmas/5444936-bargain-referrals-thread-8

A reminder that we don't use affiliated links on here please

🎄 Emoji to copy if required for posting bargains as some agree this makes deals easier to spot. (or post in bold)

Seriously.. my DS has had over a third of his lectures cancelled in first term. He’s no idea what he’s meant to be doing and nobody seems to care to help. Socially it’s brilliant, but academically I do not recommend!!!

I’ve got a friend’s big birthday coming up and the plan is for us to all wear sequin dresses. I never wear sequins because I’m really fussy about fabric textures. I’m also quite self conscious about my size. Used to be be pear shaped but weight had shifted with age so I have a slimmer top half and legs but thicker round the middle (size 14-16).

Can anyone recommend a style than maybe has a waist as shift style dresses do nothing for me. Maybe a wrap dress? Also a brand that lines sequin fabric well so I’m not rubbing on the sequins, I guess long sleeves will be required. Nothing too formal looking, more of a knee length festival vibe. Hopefully wise S&B folk will be able to help me out.

I may be wrong but I have a sneaky feeling books by David Walliams may not be as popular as they were once were for various reasons.

If Walliams books are quietly dropped from stores do you think publishing companies will look for a new Walliams or will there be more diverse literature than Roahl Dahl knock offs?

I'm posting in AIBU because there's so much traffic here and I'd love to get some advice on something.

I have 3 DC and the youngest is DD (9 almost 10). In some respects she is 9 going on 7, and in others she's 9 going on 15! My other two are boys so this is the first time the issue has come up.

I had my first period when I was 11 and I believe my DM started pretty young too. My own DD is showing absolutely no signs of puberty and still hasn't reached that stage were there's any significant difference between the boys and girls in her class. They all still play together and the boy/girl divide that sometimes starts to happen at around that age doesn't seem to have started yet.

Every time I broach anything even remotely linked to her and puberty, she changes the topic. I think because she has older siblings, she knows it's a "thing" but she has zero interest in it and is not in the least bit shy about her own body. Happily parades around the house looking for her pjs and towels when she's getting ready for the shower or getting dressed. Respects other people's privacy but doesn't feel the need for it herself just now.

Part of me wants to not force the issue and instinct tells me she's not quite ready for any "preparation" but another part of me worries that I'm thinking that because it's ME who's holding on to her innocence. I'd hate for her to get her period out of the blue and feel shocked and unprepared.

If it's relevant my own periods were HORRENDOUS with endometriosis that went undiagnosed well into adulthood. My DM was the same and I worry that this is what lies ahead for DD.

If you were in my position when would you start talking about periods? I can't mention my own because I have a coil and haven't had a period for years. Otherwise that would be a brilliant way in.

So....

YABU - worse would be that she's unprepared. Start talking about it now.
YANBU - give it a while and try again in 6 months time.

I tend to buy cocoa powder and then just add a little sugar at the end, but I have just run out of cocoa powder and wondering whether to switch to hot choc. It all seems to contain so many additives and unnecessary ingredients tho. Any recommendations please?

Who's else setting their alarms ridiculously early tomorrow morning to join the Tesco queue and bag their Christmas delivery slot? 🤣🎄

My husband gets up for work at 4:45am anyway, so he's already been instructed to wake me up at the same time so I can get myself ready to jump in the queue at 5am!

Thought I'd start a little thread so we can all keep each other company tomorrow morning while we're half asleep, clutching our coffees and desperately waiting for our turn to book our Christmas slots!

Who's joining me for the annual Tesco Christmas slot madness?

DH and I are looking to downsize.
We have seen the perfect cottage, not far from our DDs family (handy for childcare as it's currently taking us 40 mins each way).
We rang up to view it and the estate agent refused to let us as she said "An offer has been made and I'm sure it will be accepted".
DH and I wouldn't be making an offer, we would happily pay full asking price. Also we are lucky to have enough in savings to purchase, without selling our own home first although we obviously would at some point.
I feel for the vendors as much as ourselves, would it be unreasonable to push a note through their letterbox informing them what's going on?
It's been two weeks since the estate agent last rebuffed us and the house is still on the market.

Twas the night before the US Midterms...

Continuation of the AIBU to think my friend is overdoing emergency stockpiling thread for discussion about the government advice to stockpile for an imminent emergency and what the heck that emergency might actually be.

Spoiler: it's more of a perfect storm of lots of factors coming together to potentially form one great clusterfuck from economic woes, global energy shortages (mainly diesel), potential food shortages, war and madmen to crazy weather patterns rather than a clear identifiable singular thread.
This is a practical thread and a bit of a handhold thread to make sense of events and how they may affect you. This is not an end of the world thread.

Remember an emergency can range from a temporary unexpected event to a much longer crisis but the underlying principles generally stay the same.

This is the official government information and advice, if you want further details on what the actual recommendation are, here is the newest campaign blurb
https://beready.campaign.gov.uk/

Not going to do a status report this time, mainly because it's all about What Trump Does Next right now.

Previous threads
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5576816-aibu-to-think-my-friend-is-overdoing-emergency-stockpiling?page=1

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5585259-crisis-what-crisis-is-my-friend-over-doing-the-stockpiling-and-am-i-too-continuation-thread-2?page=1

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5591677-crisis-what-crisis-the-one-you-start-to-wish-youd-stockpiled-like-your-crazy-friend-continuation-thread-3?page=1

I need advice on a sofa bed please.

I’m looking for a sofa bed. My budget is £250 maximum. I want it to be comfortable as a sofa during the day for two people to sit on and I want to use it every night to sleep on so it needs to be comfortable to sleep on. I might be using it to sleep on for potentially 18 months or so, so it needs to be suitable for sleeping on every night and me not ending up with neckache, backache or any other joint problems. Obviously, this is a medium term solution and there are reasons why I am doing this without having to go into everything here.

Ideally, I’m looking for cream/beige or grey.

I have seen this online. Does anyone have any experience of sleeping on something like this? Will it be comfortable or too firm?

www.amazon.co.uk/Folding-Convertible-Sleeper-Chair-Pillow/dp/B0HFN95C1Z/ref=asc_df_B0GT5CYWLQ?mcid=53042c8c53283c4db60961d7280c5077&hvocijid=13686182767993384971-B0GT5CYWLQ-&hvexpln=74&tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=696285193871&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13686182767993384971&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046632&hvtargid=pla-2281435175938&gad_source=1&th=1

Anyone with experience of sleeping on a sofa bed, do you have any recommendations for something that would be suitable?

TIA

Snap and crackle but no pop: Rice Krispies reformulated due to lack of rice https://www.theguardian.com/food/2026/nov/03/kelloggs-rice-krispies-coco-pops-reformulated-rice-shortage?CMP=share_btn_url
The final sign that the world is going to hell in a handcart!!! 😁

Often get this as a sign off in emails from my DS school. Something about it annoys me.

Currently watching a kid who can’t be more than age 3, tuck in to a packet of ‘squashie’ sweets on the bus. No sign of a tantrum, kid seems perfectly happy looking out the window, but out come the sweets. And to pre empt the ‘snobbery’ thing, the parent seems middle class to me and certainly eloquent.

I regularly see kids tucking into chocolate bars, packets of crisps, lollies, all on the school run. Many of them toddlers in their buggies dropping off older siblings. Parents meeting kids at the school gate with full packets of Oreos, bottles of pop, doughnuts.

I’ve been trying not to judge for years and have been repeatedly told it’s ’just one snapshot of their day’ but honestly, I feel like the time for judgement has entered. I have never fed my toddlers crap like that, let alone just after breakfast. My 3 year old has never had a fizzy drink.

Why, just why! AIBU to feel there needs to be some kind of very direct public health campaign at this point? Maybe even a ‘no sweets at the school gate’ rule?

I want the weirdest of icks, I’m bored and want a giggle..

I’ll go first…

skinny jeans

I have short hair. It takes an inordinate amount of daily and weekly care to look the way I want. I could take pre-emptive measures for a planned and non-critical hospital visit, maybe …

But, washed up on a desert island, assuming you’re safe, with shelter, food and water but having had no time to plan - how many hours / days / weeks would it be before you wouldn’t recognise yourself in a mirror?

I really need to start carrying tweezers everywhere with me …

NB - this is the Style & Beauty board!

Dh has been saying for ages that he wants to start a particular hobby/activity. He hasn’t made any move to actually start but talks about it a lot.

Recently he had mentioned it to a friend (female) and said to me he might ask her if she wants to do it with him? I said ‘why haven’t you asked me?!’ He said he didn’t think it was my sort of thing despite the fact I’d said it sounded fun.

Anyway I’ve booked it for us both. He isn’t happy! Said how he has to let down his friend I said ‘so ? She can still do it if she really wants to?’ He said I shouldn’t have muscled in ??!!!

Hi, I’m 10 years divorced, in my early 50s. My ex husband regularly cheated on me. Been happily single for 10 years. I started a relationship with my partner 9 months ago. He’s 11 years younger than me and I’ve really broken down emotional barriers and he’s a lovely man. However yesterday I got a notification that he had commented on a facebook post. He never comments on anything on fb, he’s hardly ever on there. The profile that he had commented on was a twenty something women, clearly posting for likes from men, quite provocative, skimpy clothing, beer drinking. Kind of, look at me, aren’t I the perfect girlfriend type stuff. Her ‘thing’ is that she loves drinking beer and sport. It was full of comments like, marry me, cracking figure etc etc. He posted a fairly innocuous comment, not sexual, but a ‘come to England’as she was complaining about the USA being anti drinking. It’s made me feel a bit weird that for someone who never posts, he’s actively engaged with this type of profile and feelings of mistrust have been brought to the surface. I feel silly but also a little demeaned and I’m surprised that he posted this publicly but I don’t doubt he didn’t realise I’d see it. I feel if I interacted on a similar type male profile in a flirtatious way he wouldn’t like that. AIBU. I’m usually pretty laid back but I’ve shocked myself at how this is making me feel. Am I being stupid?