Free Express Post for Christmas Orders

The sleigh bells are getting closer
There's only a few more weeks until the "BIG DAY". How are you going with all the planning? It can be easy to get caught up in the rush, rush, rush!

Stop ... Breathe ... And deliberately plan to enjoy a few blissful moments of peace on earth (well at least peace in the house). Run a bath when the kids are asleep and have a soak with some essential oils of cinnamon, nutmeg, sweet orange, cloves or pine. At least you will smell like Christmas!

Ask Santa for some divine bath bombs, or a great trashy book to lose yourself in during the lazy summer days. Just like the airline safety messages say – you need to fit your own face mask before fitting those of kids with you. Unless you look after yourself and allow time to unwind, you can't have as much fun with your kids. Go on ... you deserve a break!


FREE Express Post or $10 Off
At this time of year you’ve probably left some things to the last minute! That’s why we’re giving you FREE Express Post (or SAVE $10) for orders over $60. Scroll to the bottom to get this deal.


Super Stocking Stuffers (no sugar in sight)

Kids love Christmas stockings bulging with interesting lumps and bumps. We’ve some great stocking ideas that are perfect for all ages:

Wall Letters will go down a treat as a main gift or as a stocking filler. Every child will love to see their name on their wall or door.

Bag Tags are ideal stocking stuffers. Use them to label each kid's stocking for Christmas and then use them again on the school bags next year.

Get some personalised Stick-On Labels and include them in each stocking. Kids will love seeing their name printed and they’ll be able to label their new toys & goodies – saving lots of fights on Christmas day. You might also like to pick up some colourful pencils and include our Tiny (pencil) Labels for them to stick on top.

Top Tip: If you’ve got a few kids to buy for, you might like our Split Label kits that make each label kit only $12.50 (plus you’ll get a label bag for each kid), making them a perfect stocking filler.

Check out the perfect Stocking Fillers >


Want some last minute gifts for the grown-ups?
How about our Crazy Cord Labels that are brilliant to organise all that new electrical equipment Santa is bringing (or at least to sort out the tangled mess at the back of your entertainment unit).

For those really hard-to-buy for people who seem to have everything, the Wheelie Bin Labels might be the perfect solution. Personalise them with their address, favourite icon and colour. It'll be a useful gift and they'll love that you've made it just for them.

If you know someone who loves to cook then they’ll love the Kitchen & Pantry Labels that will let them easily organise their jars and containers, making sure they’ll have no more salt instead of sugar cooking disasters. They might also like the Made With Love Labels that will be perfect for labelling all their home-made goodies.

Get last minute gifts for the grown-ups >


It's never too early to be super organised!
If your school prepares book-packs, chances are you already have your books and stationary sitting in a big box (or plastic bag) in your cupboard.

Avoid last minute labelling rushes in January by ordering your back-to-school labels now. You don't want to send them off to school without their things labelled and find lots of things going missing in the first week!

Order your labels now, save $10 and get them before Christmas so you’ll have one less thing to worry about through the holiday season.

Get organised with Labels >


Get FREE Express Post or $10 Off
Get FREE Express Post or $10 off for all orders over $60.

Enter the code: FreeExpress when you're checking out and Australia Post will whizz your parcel to you in plenty of time for Christmas!

How to use the code:
You need to spend at least $60 and choose Express Post as your preferred shipping option. This code will give you $10 off, which will cover your Express Post costs.

If you'd prefer to save $10 and use the free mail (or international mail), that's ok too (whatever shipping option you choose is the option we'll send your order through).

Be quick...this offer is only valid until Friday 18th Dec 09.

Check out our recommended cut-off delivery dates for Christmas Orders.

Make your Christmas magical

We love Christmas..especially when the kids are young. But as kids grow up so fast, one of the best things you can do is to create some magical memories of Christmas to last forever. These ideas don't have to be big or fancy or cost a lot of money.

Here's a few of our favourite ideas to add some extra Christmas magic:

• Get the kids to draw up a "Santa reindeer parking" sign and put it up with great ceremony outside on your driveway or front lawn on Christmas Eve.
  
  
• Fill a few containers with carrots and water to give the reindeer's while they're parked at your place. Get the kids to place the containers where the sleigh is going to park. Of course, you need to remove some of the water and carrots during the night. You get extra bonus points for scattering bits of carrot around the dishes and complaining in the morning about how messy the reindeer's are at eating.
  
  
• Buy some glitter confetti and mix it with rolled oats (or muesli). Scatter it across the reindeer parking area when the kids are asleep and next morning explain it's left over "magic reindeer food" that helps the reindeer's fly (but it doesn't work on humans – so don't eat it). Extra bonus points for glittering your neighbour's driveways (yes, most kids go and check to see if their neighbour's also had reindeer food left behind).
  
  
• Pick up some "jingle bells" and have someone duck outside and ring them loudly at about the time when the kids are dozing off to sleep. They will go to sleep dreaming of Santa.
  
  
• Those magic Santa keys are a great way to help kids without chimneys (and let's face it, that's most of us) understand how Santa gets into your house (and not have to leave your house unlocked at night).
  
  
• If you get your kids to write letters to Santa, then you really should send a letter back. Get a friend or relative to write a letter to each child from Santa and leave it out on the table (next to the finished Santa beer and biscuits). Make sure to thank the child for the lovely goodies they left out and for being such a good child last year.
  
  
• Turn all the lights off except the tree lights at Christmas Eve and join in singing Christmas Carols around the tree. After all, you deserve some fun too!

We hope you'll have lots of fun trying these ideas. You can see more Christmas ideas at www.brightstarkids.com.au.

If you've got any ideas of your own we'd love to hear them. Head over to our Facebook and leave us a comment.

It's beginning to look like Christmas..aaarrghhh!

The shops are full of tinsel and Christmas cards which means the annual "where do I hide the presents" challenge begins. The most important thing is never to use the same place two years running. Here's a few tips we've used over the years for some great hiding places:

The empty Christmas tree box: Once the tree is up you have a great place to store a lot of presents.

Your socks: Perfect for small bits and pieces. No kid (little or big) goes through their parents socks looking for presents!

Neighbours: For those "big" things, use lay-by to hold them until the last possible moment and then see if your neighbour can hang onto it in their garage until the big day.

Empty suitcases: A great place to hide things – just remember not to go on holidays before Christmas.

Work: The bottom of your filing cabinet or the stationary cupboard is a great place to hide stuff (just remember to bring them home).


Where do you hide your Christmas presents? If you've got some tips on how to hide Christmas presents from your kids, we'd love to know.

Photo Gallery of Customers Real Rooms

Congratulations to our latest winners - Rachel White, Liz Beresford & Shauna Hockley (winner twice in a row!). You can see these fabulous entries alongside our past winners. Click on each link to see more photos and find out more decorating kids room ideas.

You can also see more fan photos and add your own on our Bright Star Kids Flickr! Page

Find out how easy it is for you to enter our Photo Competition & Win!

by Rachel White I found the Fairy wall stickers to be extremely easy and fun to use. My daughters helpe... Read the whole story here >> by Shauna Hockley I wanted something colourful for my new sons room, and I wanted to do something differe... Read the whole story here >> by Liz Beresford When we built our new house we had so many rooms to decorate and wanted the kids to fee... Read the whole story here >>

Winner announced of Halloween Hunt!

Bright Star Kids would like to congratulate our Halloween Hunt winner Melanie Simpson!

She's just won herself a spooky Halloween Wall Graphics kit and a pack of fun Halloween Stick On Labels! Well done to everyone who managed to find our special code...we hope you had fun hunting!

Start the Spooky Season by Hunting down the Ghouly Ghost to Get 10% off & a Free Bag Tag!

Find our Ghouly Ghost & you'll get a Free Bag Tag PLUS 10% off your entire order (including already discounted products - up to 35% off) PLUS everyone who uses the code with be entered into a draw to win a Halloween Wall Graphics kit...be quick...ends midnight Wednesday 30th Sept 09!

Win a Halloween Wall Graphics Kit & a Personalised Halloween Labels set Yes that's right, we're being extra generous this Halloween! Everyone who finds the Ghost and uses the discount code will be put into a draw to win a Halloween Wall Graphics kit and a personalised Halloween Label set* (value over $50)! The winner will be picked on Thursday 1st October so there'll be plenty of time to decorate for your scariest ever Halloween party! *Prize includes a Stick-On Multi-Purpose or Dots Label kit. If you win we will email you and you can choose the text, colour and icon that you'd like on the Labels. You will also receive one Halloween Wall Graphics kit. Only customers who have paid for their order will be entered.

Learn How To Create a Sea Room

We absolutely love how Stephanie Turley created such a wonderful Ocean theme in her son's room. We thought you'd like to find out how you can create a similar look for your child's bedroom or play room.


Here's how Stephanie and her family created their room:

We started off choosing our under the sea stickers on the bright star kids website (1 pack) and then our wall letters with the boys names, which we called Jordan and Bayleys Ocean Room. These arrived in the post super fast.

We headed to the paint shop and picked a green/blue paint for the ocean, a light blue for the sky and a creamy yellow for the sand, which has the texture of actual sand in it which the boys think is fantastic.

When it was time to paint the whole family got involved. We painted the sky first then the ocean then sand my husband did the waves (we used chalk to draw the wave before painting it on so they where perfect) and I did the sand. The boys helped paint the sand as well and the clouds where so easy to do with a sponge and white paint by dabbing a cloud shape.

Our last painting bit was the sun which we also used chalk for the shape before we painted i used a 4cm paint brush to do the lines.

Then all the sticker where put into place. (Bright Star Kids Tip: Always make sure to wait for at least 2 - 3 weeks before doing this step to make sure that they adhere correctly).

Brush Tip: There is a small thing called a shur line edging brush we bought that help us get our shape and lines perfect.

Overall Experience:
This was a first attempt making a themed room and we are very pleased with the result. Your under the sea stickers where the perfect choice for my two little boys new room what a great bonding experience it gave our family to make their ocean room. My oldest Jordan 4yrs is even teaching his younger brother Bayley nearly 2yrs how to say all the names of the sea animals.

Can’t wait to do it again for the new baby to come.