You can’t beat a hamper? Who doesn’t like a hamper or would turn a hamper down? No one. Some of my family and I are went away for a break and I love surprising people. I hate being surprised but love planning for everyone else. Now you may be thinking well a hamper may not be so much of a surprise, but I know it would mean a lot to each of these people, and I just think it would be a really nice touch for when everyone walks into their rooms and finds them there. If you’re also going away with family or friends, then I thought this was a nice idea to share with you incase you wanted to do the same. There are a mixture of men and women who are going on this trip, so I have put together a group of things that everyone will hopefully enjoy or, I may have switched some things up depending on what I know the person does and doesn’t like. Of course, I have also done one for myself, as I knew I’d probably get serious fomo if I saw everyone else tucking into theirs too!
Firstly you can’t really have a hamper without food, and it’s up to you how far you go with this but I didn’t want to go too crazy, but I wanted to pack some more fancy treats. Normally I would go with something that is equally as good but on the cheaper side however, I’m not sure when we’ll all be able to do this again. First up we have some Candy Kitten sweets and if you haven’t tried them, you must! I love how fruity they taste and I’m not vegan however, if I think too much about things I can get put off by certain foods, especially things like gelatin anyways, I am getting massively distracted, these sweets taste nice, try them. Something I’ve not tried yet is Tony’s Chocolonely but I’ve heard everyone rave about this so I got us all a bar of that to try. Last but not least Joe and Sephs popcorn was a last minute purchase as it’s amazing popcorn by the way, but I just felt like I’m not sure if we will, but if we watched a film one evening, then that would be a good addition for that.
Skincare masks are also a must! I was going for like a pamper hamper theme. I got some face masks, and I knew if I didn’t include the boys, then they would soon complain they were left out, so I got some masks especially for men and a similar version to that for us girls. I also thought it would be funny to include some jokey ones in there too, as I thought it would be great fun and make great pictures if we all decided to put them on one evening. I also got some lip masks to try as I’ve never tried them and thought they would be cool to add too. Again, I did put a pack of these in each of the guys ones too as I just never know with them, but I also added a lip balm each for the girls and again, found a lip balm for men that I put in each of the boys baskets too. Lip balms are always handy to have in your bag or pocket wherever you go. If you wanted to, there lots of other masks you could use like ones for under your eyes and also feet, or you could just skip the skincare completely!
I then got us all personalised water bottles. Now, because we are going on an active break where there lots of different sports and activities you can do, I thought having our own water bottles would be a great thing to put in a hamper, as when we are out and about there’s plenty of water filling stations to keep us hydrated throughout the day. I thought it would be cute to have them in different colours for each person, and also to have our names on so they don’t get mixed up as well. I got these off Etsy and I love them. Plus this is something that can be reused back at home, so you definitely get your moneys worth. If you didn’t want to get water bottles, you could put in a wine, gin or pint glass, would work well for a stag or hen do break away. You could put in a different Starbucks cup or something similar in that style, or there’s those glass jar things that people put iced coffee in, they do have a name but I can’t think what they’re called. There’s lots of different things you could do!
I thought matching pyjamas would also be cute as we are away for 4 nights and even if people don’t wear them every night, I just thought it would be nice in the evenings to put on our pyjamas and play games or watch a film etc. I have never owned a pair of Chelsea Peers before, but I know how everyone rates them so highly. I wasn’t initially going to go for anything mega branded but apart from Christmas pyjamas, there’s wasn’t a lot out there for all year round. I chose the meerkats because they instantly made me smile and with it being summer, I thought everyone would appreciate the shorts set rather than anything long sleeved or trouser length. There are so many cute sets on their site though and had the dinosaur print not been sold out, then that was a definite first choice, but I’m pretty happy with the meerkats! If you have children in your family, they also do a lot of designs to match for them too. I really couldn’t wait to wear these and also see everyone’s reactions to them!
I also got some random bits too. Where we are going which I feel like you’ll probably be able to guess by now, although we have a lodge and our own showers, I know we were probably going to be going swimming a fair bit and be using the showers there. I’m not sure what they are called but I found these things on Etsy, which you can stick on the part of the public showers that turn them on, and rather having to keep pushing it, these should just be able to keep the button pushed in until you’re finished. I thought they were kind of cool and handy to take away with you to other places, especially if you love camping. I also got some hair scrunchies for the girls, as like I said it’s an active holiday where a lot of sport activities will be happening, and I thought these would be handy as well as cute. As an alternative for the boys, I got them each a Lynx Africa body spray as I’ve been told that men secretly like Lynx, despite getting at least one set for Christmas every year, so I thought this was a good equivalent to the scrunchies!
A card game of some sort was also put into each one, and I tried to put a card game that matched that persons personality. There are some great card games out there for adults now and ones that include all generations. These are games that can be got out for all kinds of occasions and can keep on being played. Plus, they are all travel friendly to put in your bag or suitcase etc. I thought it would be nice as well to have that option in the evenings if we wanted to, to be able to play games if there’s nothing on the tv etc. It was a hard choice to pick which ones to get, but in the end I narrowed it down to, “Sinario”, “Quickstop”, “New Phone Who Dis?”, “Grab The Mic” and “Six Second Scribbles.” They all sound really fun, and are a mixture of artistic, music based, and maybe some dark humour involved. I just know they are all going to be hilarious to play. I tried to pick things that will appeal to everyone, so I’m glad we got to play a few of these, as you just can’t beat a games night.
I also put in a selection of drinks. I put in a few cans of cider, and some cocktails for the evenings incase people fancied a drink whilst playing games or watching tv. I have only put a few in as not everyone going are big drinkers, plus I was also very conscious of space in the baskets. I also put in some J2O’s to give the option of having a non alcoholic drink but something I guess more on the posh side, as they taste so nice but aren’t the cheapest! Then I picked up a few different flavours each of the Robinson’s squeezeables. (I actually don’t know what they are called!) I picked up these because I thought they would come in very handy seeing as I got bottles for everyone, and like I’ve previously said, there are refillable stations dotted all around the park. I also knew that some people don’t like drinking water on it’s own so this just gave that option to add flavour if they wanted to, and I know they’ll come in very handy, especially when we are out and about doing lots of activities.
I next put in some shower/bath bits. I saw these fun cereal shower gels, which I thought would be a good edition and great if anyone did forget toiletries. They smelt amazing too as I know sometimes these things can just be a gimmick. I would say the Frosties is the closest to smelling like a cereal, but they are amazing scents that properly soak into your skin as well. I had a lot of fun matching these up to the characteristics of who they were for! The other thing I put in was a bath bomb. If I am completely honest, I’m not sure if this was something worth adding. There was only one bath in the lodge anyways, but we didn’t have baths, because we were so busy, we all just stuck to showers. You can’t however go wrong with a bit of Disney, so I was happy to have found these. It wasn’t a total waste either as it meant that they could be taken home and used, but everyday was full on from start to finish. I think we were all worn out by the time it came to the evenings!
Another few personalised items I had put in there was eye masks. I didn’t expect them to go down as well as they did, but everyone used them. I realised that I actually sleep better with one on! I was surprised what a difference they make, they completely shut out all the darkness. I got these on Etsy as well, and they weren’t a lot at all! I think they were about £3 each, so I really don’t think that was bad at all, but you don’t have to get personalised ones. The last thing I bought personalised was makeup and washbags. The boys I don’t think used there’s, so probably not the best purchase, however the makeup bags went down well. I’m so glad I got myself one as it’s become something I use everyday, my sister also told me she still uses hers. Again I got these to put the facemasks and things in and I thought the washbags were a good alternative for the boys. I did try to keep to the colour scheme of each person so that everything matched, it did get tricky at times but I don’t think I did a bad job.
Lastly I added a £20 Center Parcs gift voucher for each person. I know this is quite an expensive extra but if you can, I think it does make a lovely touch. You could always just do it for any little ones in your party instead, if you have any. I did this because I thought it would be nice for people to perhaps use it towards an activity they wanted to do. However because I had booked the majority of the activities and we also won a free one from the geocaching nobody used there’s for that reason and I actually think what they did do with it, was a lot better. Apart from the pool bar, and a takeaway on the first night, we did bring our own food and didn’t go to any of the restaurants apart from one. The one that I think is everyone’s list, which is the pancake house. This actually finished the holiday off nicely as we booked it for our last day. It is worth booking well in advance, as we got one of the last remaining bookings. It is definitely worth paying a trip to, and the vouchers pretty much covered the bill.
So that is everything I had put into the hampers! It probably looks and sounds a bit excessive, but like I said, I can’t see this happening again, so I wanted to make it extra special. There are so many things you could add or take away. You could do this on a cheaper budget and you don’t necessarily have to get branded or personalised things. They did get used throughout though, and the water bottles and the juice drops were probably the best idea out of the whole hamper. This has definitely been one of my favourite holidays that I have had. I got to spend my birthday here too and I couldn’t think of a better way to have spent it. I know a lot of people will say how expensive Center Parcs is and some of the activities are expensive, whereas others are quite reasonable, but it is one of my favourite places. It suits me because I am not one to sit around and do nothing on holiday. Even though you are still in the UK, you feel completely separated and it’s just so lovely to be able to take in the nature.
Have you ever been to Center Parcs before?
Amy x
