best stocking filler

Even though they're not made from recycled card, these little plastic flowers have been such a hit in our house that we had to share them.

Minna and Ida each got a pack in their stockings. They are called Blumen-stekteile and they come from Germany. Apparently they have been made in the same factory since the 1970s.

You link them together to make daisy chains. Ida's personal word for joining them together is 'schwipping' – and disconnecting them is, naturally, 'unschwipping'.
 

Even the cat is fascinated by them. 

You can make them into bracelets, belts, anklets, crowns, necklaces, put them around your favourite mug, loop them around the strap of your bag, make your cat wear them as a collar (this last effort was not quite so successful and we really wouldn't recommend you try it) ...

We were all sporting technicolour daisy chains throughout the Christmas holidays. 

We discovered them in Eeny Meeny, a shop in Tuffnell Park which has a fantastic selection of cool and quirky things for kids. The owners have a real eye for creative, well-designed and properly fun toys (the three things don't always go together). It's definitely worth a look if you're in the area – but they also sell online, conveniently. Check it out.

A nice postscript: we gave a pack of Blumen-steckteile to one of Ida's classmates as a birthday present recently, and when her mum (who is German) saw them she absolutely shrieked with joy. She remembered having them when she was a little girl and had no idea you could still get them...