Get stuffed!

Don't you just love to shop?

I think most of us do, but dragging the kids along to crowded shopping centres during school holidays can be, well, a drag.

Unless you go to one of those shopping centres that puts on free or cheap events on for the kids.

Brisbane's Mt Gravatt Plaza is one of those centres.

During the recent holidays, Mr 10 and Miss 8 were delighted at the chance to make their own teddy bears there.

There was a small cost - $5 each - but there was a nice selection of soft toys to choose from. Mr 10 got lucky and chose the last pink fluffy teddy bear (he likes pink and he collects teddies, so this was an instant win). Miss 8 went for a panda. (Usually her brother's favourite!)

There was a huge queue of hyped up kids and frazzled parents, so I was glad I'd fed and watered the kids before we joined the line-up. (That didn't stop Miss 8 from desperately needing a wee halfway through, but that's another story.)

Finally it was our turn.

Disappointingly, the kids didn't actually get to make and stuff their toys themselves, nor to sew them up. A professional did that.

But they were still happy with the result!

H. with her panda, pre-stuffing. Poor Panda is looking pretty slim...

Too many to choose from ...

Poor panda, being filled via the butt. The lady had to insert her fingers into panda's bottom to widen the hole before she could stuff it. Oh how we laughed!

C's teddy was lucky enough to get stuffed in a bit higher up

Signing 'official' birth certificates ...

And the finished result: Isn't she gorgeous? (The panda is pretty nice too...)

Readers, how do you survive school holiday shopping?