• crafts - Mollie Makes crafts

    Mollie Makes Advent Village

    Regular readers will know that every month I challenge myself to make the Mollie Makes magazine cover gift. I’ve subscribed since it first came out and have had a drawer full of unopened kits – but no more! I’ve been making more time for grown up crafting and I love to make the kits and hopefully try something new. Issue 83 included a free 2018 calendar and stickers so I didn’t blog about that issue. Issue 84 included a free Advent Calendar kit which I was quite excited about. The kit included a wooden house template, 24 papers by Amy van Lujik…

  • parenting - toy review

    New Slither.io toy unboxing and review

    Are you one of the many parents who have the Slither.io app on their phone? My 7 year old loves Slither.io and has been teaching me how to play it. A huge gaming phenomenon and YouTuber hit, 60% of British 0-14 year olds have downloaded Slither.io and 124 million games are played a month in the UK. Now a range of Slither.io toys have been launched here in the UK. New Slither.io toy unboxing and review I knew my children were going to enjoy the new Slither.io toys so we made a short unboxing video to show you what we received: The toy…

  • parenting

    Our top picks from the PlayStation Family Showcase

    This afternoon we spent a lovely few hours at the PlayStation Family Showcase at the Perseverance Works in London. Big Brother and Dad went last year and they had such a good time that we all decided to go this year. We had been ice skating in the morning at a Baby born event, more of that another day. PlayStation Family Showcase The PlayStation Family Showcase is a brilliant way to see all the upcoming family-friendly PlayStation games. My son and husband are huge gamers on our PS4 so couldn’t wait to see what they could try out. It took place in…

  • Friends of Sylvanian Families - parenting - toy review

    Sylvanian Families Baby Sleigh Ride Set review

    My daughter (and I) love Sylvanian Families so couldn’t wait to get our hands on the limited edition Sylvanian Families Baby Sleigh Ride Set. This is new for Christmas 2017 and connects with the Halloween Baby Trick or Treat Set  I bought last month. I bought my set from the Sylvanian Families Shop in London (along with some goodies for my daughter’s birthday this month) and it arrived next day which is amazing service. Sylvanian Families Baby Sleigh Ride Set The Sylvanian Families Baby Sleigh Ride Set is very cute. Last year we reviewed the 2016 Sylvanian Families Christmas Set which included…

  • days out - parenting - Wiltshire

    Old Sarum {exploring Wiltshire}

    We’ve been National Trust members on and off for years now. Writing that makes me feel really old! I love history and so it made sense to join an organisation looking after historic buildings and landscapes which also offered great days out for the family. Whilst staying in Wiltshire last week we realised that quite a lot of the local historic properties were managed by English Heritage so joined up. To make use of our membership we decided to stop off on our way to the Isle of Wight and visit Old Sarum. We knew they were hosting some special…

  • Christmas - crafts - Handmade gifts

    Kid made gifts in a jar {Minecraft in a jar}

    My children take a jar filled with toys or sweets into school every Christmas for their Christmas Fair contribution. The whole school does this and in return the kids get to wear their own clothes to school. The filled jars are then sold at the Fair and raise money for school. It’s a great way to raise funds for school and my children have always enjoyed filling and decorating their jars. Our “Jolly Jars” are traditionally filled with sweets (usually leftover from Halloween!) but a filled jar also makes a great handmade gift at Christmas. It’s something that’s really easy…

  • Christmas - homestyle

    Finding great Christmas gifts for £5

    I’m sure I can’t be the only person who starts their Christmas planning early. This time of year is busy with family birthdays and school events and the only way I can through it is with lots of lists and being organised. BritMums recently got in touch to see if I would like to take the Sportsdirect.com £5 Christmas Challenge #sdfiverchallenge. Sportsdirect.com is not just football boots and inexpensive trainers. It features fashion brands, leisurewear and more! Because of its buying power, Sportsdirect.com is able to get products you’d expect to pay a lot more for elsewhere. Their range of…

  • Christmas - parenting - toy review

    Playmobil Royal Ice Skating Trip Advent Calendar

    I love Christmas and have been excitedly working on filling up our Advent Crate which is delivered by our little Elf on the 1st December. Every one in our house gets an Advent Calendar and I love looking round for the latest must-have calendars. We’ve been Playmobil Playologists for a while now and were lucky to receive one of the new Playmobil Advent Calendars to review. Playmobil is a top manufacturer within preschool toys and make the best Advent calendars! In 2013 we reviewed the Playmobil Pirates Treasure Cove advent calendar, in 2014 we reviewed the Playmobil Santa’s Workshop Advent Calendar in 2015 we reviewed…

  • parenting

    Creating a keepsake of Christmas memories with Snapfish

    Now that Halloween is over for another year it’s time to turn our attention to Christmas. If you’re a regular reader of my blog you’ll know that I’m pretty big on celebrating the seasons and family traditions. Snapfish recently got in touch and asked me if I would like to create a photo book with them, celebrating all our little Christmas memories and traditions (read to the end for a very generous discount from Snapfish). I’ve made a few photo books before. There was one for my mum’s recent special birthday, and I also made one for my daughter’s first…