17/12/201217/02/2019 by jo

Painshill Park Santa 2012

Tickets went on sale in mid-October and sold out in a couple of days – Santa in The Grotto at Painshill Park is quite the hit – and there’s been a lot of parents who’ve been with their children and found it magical.

We had our turn yesterday; a drive to Cobham and some lunch at Strada and some heavy rain (so make sure to have wellies with you and take umbrellas and waterproofs), and we got to Painshill Park for just after 5pm. It takes twenty minutes to walk from the entrance to The Grotto where there’s a large white tent serving refreshments, where your number is called. We gave ourselves a lot of time, mainly to allow for H being a bit slower than us, but also as we wanted to look in the shop.

This year we went a bit later than before – and felt as if there were less lights – not that it spoilt anything – just remember to take a torch!

On arriving at the holding tent we got ourselves some Mulled wine (priced at around £2.80ish, it’s cash-only there too) and waited our turn – which came around quickly. We had an activity book, mulled wine, scarves, hats, gloves and cameras to try to pack up – as well as getting H to Santa. (so take a small backpack – something you can put everything in that’ll keep it dry!).

The Grotto at night at Painshill Park

You can’t beat the Painshill Santa – he looks like a proper one too, and H was at ease immediately, telling him what she’d like for Christmas and how she’d been mostly good. This year, despite H being 3 I went for the 4-6 age range for presents, as we felt last year’s was a bit too young for her – which was a smart move as she got a fabulous pair of fairy wings which she’s so pleased with.

It started to rain again, much lighter so we made our way back – be aware, there’s no shelter (apart from the tent) so you’re going to get wet if rain is due. Luckily it didn’t take too long and once back at the entrance we could wait for a very short while.

With all the rain the car park was really muddy – so another one to look out for – but otherwise this was an amazing Santa trip yet again, wonderfully done, and a really fun afternoon too!

Painshill Park is in Cobham, their website is here, and throughout January you can go there on a Wednesday for free.

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15/12/201226/03/2018 by Karen

Toy Story Mania – Game Time

Review
buzz, children, Disney, Games, Toy Story, woody, Xbox Game
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Toy Story Mania is a game designed for the whole family (from 3+ years) and is based on the Disneyland and Walt Disney World attractions.

Toy Story Mania for XBOX 360

The games have a fairground feel to them and involve short challenges such as hitting targets, catching eggs in a basket and sheep with a staff. Each of these games centres around one or more of the characters from the movies.

At first I decided to play Toy Story Mania on my own. The game was amusing enough at first and I liked the fact that as you played you unlocked different games and levels but I have to admit I found the games a little repetitive and lost my interest after a while. However, all this changed when I had some friends over one evening and we decided to play together, this is where the game came into its own, we had a blast! The shortness of the games meant that those who weren’t playing (there were four of us and we were playing two at a time) weren’t sitting around for long and we all felt involved. Also, the challenges themselves lead to a lot of shouts of encouragement from those not playing, this really added to the excitement!

I think it’s great that Toy Story Mania has been created with the whole family in mind, even the little ones. My only concern is that because such a wide age range is involved older ones might become a little bored after a while. That aside I would totally recommend that anyone looking for a family game consider this one, I love the fact that all the familiar faces from the Toy Story movies are included, even for a big child like me this was quite exciting.

The game is available in the XBOX 360 (plus Kinect) and Wii and I think that this would make the perfect gift for Christmas. I’m spending Christmas day with my parents and am planning to take this game with me as no doubt it will lead to lots of fun!

We were sent a copy of Toy Story Mania to review, all opinions are our own!

13/12/201226/03/2018 by jo

‘Dare Make A Wish’ with The Land of Sometimes

The Land of Sometimes have joined forces with the charity Dyslexia Action to release a charity single on December 9th, which will be a version of one of the album tracks from The Land Of Sometimes, ‘Dare Make A Wish’.

Ladbrokes have also announced that ‘Dare to Make A Wish’ is now in the chart battle for the coveted Christmas Number One Spot with odds of 10/1!

Four hundred children also from the Oxford area came together to record the song, alongside the two main youngsters (taking the lead vocals for Elise and Alfie), which will see all proceeds being donated to the Dyslexia Action charity.

Francesca Longrigg, writer and creator of The Land of Sometimes CD from which the single is taken from has said:

“This single is by children for children. In the music industry particularly with the likes of X Factor and Novelty singles competing for the top spot we wanted to remember what the heart of Christmas is all about – the children – and give them a chance to shine and have their special moment.”

The proceeds will go to the charity Dyslexia Action, the biggest dyslexia charity in the UK. We believe in the tremendous power of music in helping to transform learning difficulties, and indeed the Land Of Sometimes very own Isadora, (who plays Elise on the album) felt that her involvement in recording The Land Of Sometimes boosted her confidence and helped her overcome learning difficulties from her dyslexia enormously.

The Land of Sometimes is a musical CD for children; A magical story of two twins who go on a journey to a far away land and along the way meet the most eccentric characters who all have their own song. Fans include Ewan McGregor and Laura Bailey and reviews have appeared in many national papers such as The Daily Telegraph and The Times. All have been enchanted by this wonderfully unique cd.

Dare Make a Wish group shot

“Dyslexia Action are so grateful for being the partner charity of the single made by all at the ‘Land of Sometimes’. We are very keen to have enthusiastic fundraisers such as LOS on this team, supporting the charity. It is both such a lovely and unique idea and we are glad to be a part of it. The money raised from this single will be used to help change many lives and help to break down the barriers in education that those living with dyslexia face. On behalf of Dyslexia Action, I’d like to thank all those involved in making this wonderful piece of music and to all those who purchase it and therefore support this very worthy cause”

Buy the single now from iTunes – help get the single a good Christmas Chart placing by buying from this Sunday! Let’s try and get it into the charts!

12/12/201206/01/2015 by jo

Souptastically Souper Soup with some Gourmet Garden for added Zing

We love soup, and I love my Soup Maker, and tonight I wanted to try something special for the Gourmet Garden challenge via Mumsnet.

The best thing about a soup maker is the random things you can throw in to make a very tasty soup – tonight was no different – so I ~~hastily cobbled together~~ lovingly prepared the following….

One sweet potato, peeled and chopped
Half a butternut squash
one red onion
One stray potato chopped and peeled
some old broccoli
some old green beans
three heaped teaspoons of bouillon

to that concoction I then got my Gourmet Garden tubes, a bit of chilli for some tongue tingliness, a bit of garlic as I figured that would work well with the bouillon and onion, some ginger as it’s a cold day and you can’t beat ginger – plus it works well with chilli and a splash of basil as why the heck not. Twenty two minutes later and the soup was ready – and oooh, it was good. I added some fromage frais to it, and a couple more tiny dollops of basil, stirred it around and it was divine!

In fact, I’d go as far as to say it was a proper winter warmer – everything tasted just right, not too overbearing and you could still taste each bit (especially the chilli!).

Yum!

Mum Friendly Gourmet Garden Challenge Soup

Look at this soup – it’s smiling at YOU as it knows it tastes THAT good.

We were provided with tubes from the Gourmet Garden range for the purpose of this challenge. All opinions are our own and all our food is tasty!

12/12/201217/02/2019 by jo

Review – Cleaning Gift Vouchers

Okay, so as previously stated almost everywhere, H has chickenpox. This has effectively put our lives on hold while we look after her – she’s in good spirits though has got cranky, so we’ve been able to do little bits here and there, but generally we’re in the front room giving plenty of cuddles and watching endless episodes of Peppa Pig. Cleaning the house has taken a back seat, I’m afraid.

So when I received an approach in my inbox to try out Cleaning Gift Vouchers it really couldn’t have come at a better time. Basically, you can buy cleaning gift vouchers (or indeed anyone else can for you) – and with that voucher select the service you require.

We chose a one-off three-hour clean of our house; this is just a general clean – dusting and hoovering, which for three hours comes in at £39 – so £13 an hour.

I cashed in our voucher yesterday and waited… but nothing arrived straight away… so I waited, then wondered if I’d missed the small print, and maybe we’d get the voucher the following day. As luck would have it, that’s exactly what happened – and within ten minutes of the voucher arriving in my inbox (which is the quickest method), I had a phone call to arrange my booking. So with it booked for today all we had to do was make sure things were accessible (surfaces, carpets) for our cleaner to work her magic.

She arrived around 2.30 and set to work straight away. I’ve never had a cleaner before, so told her what we would like doing – and she was straight on the case. It was all done in just under the three-hour mark and we’re really happy with the results – under the bread maker and microwave were clean, even the front of the oven and washing machine were cleaned – basically, it’s exactly the kind of service you’d expect from someone cleaning your house.

I think it’s a brilliant idea being able to gift someone a clean (they also do deep cleans of ovens, end of rental cleaning and many other options – we don’t have any family locally, and when I hurt my back badly last year we had almost two months without a proper clean here. Had I known about this service (if it had existed then!) we’d have definitely used it. Also, supposing you’re a new mum, again no family near – but they wanted to help. You can be sent a gift voucher to then use to have a one-off clean – and I think that’s great!

At the moment the service covers Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire – they work with several local firms in this area, so are able to arrange for a clean at short notice too (we booked for the following day). I’m impressed, and would definitely use them again in the future.

We received a credit to purchase a service of our choice – all opinions are our own.

10/12/201208/10/2019 by Karen

ICE – Customer Rewards Programme

Review
ICE, loyalty programme, MoneySaving, Online, Rewards, shopping
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ICE works in much the same way as other loyalty programmes… with one major difference. The brands they work with are specifically chosen because the products and services are sustainable.

There are a wide variety of categories on ICE that should interest people from any walk of life, these include: travel, mother & baby, UK holidays, fashion & clothing and many others. Associated brands include big names such as Marks & Spencer and John Lewis.

ICE believe that sustainable choices should be rewarded and encouraged. To do this customers are given points for products purchased through the website, these vary depending on where you buy from.

I had never heard of ICE before, but was pleasantly surprised by the brand names that I recognised. I like their ethos and the fact that the website is easy to navigate and explore.

AkaMuti-Bottom-Butter-300x225 I shopped with EthicalBabe, the products here are organic and natural, ethical and environmentally friendly. I spent quite a bit of time on here, simply because it was a pleasure to have a look around. Everything was easy to find with the help of clearly laid out sections and there was a handy search bar, if in doubt! Points awarded vary depending on where you shop. At the time of purchase 15 points are given for every £2 spent at EthicalBabe, which is pretty generous, especially compared to other loyalty programmes.

I ordered a wooden toy musical set (£14.50 for xylophone, two jingle bells and two castanets) and the Akamuti baby bottom butter (£8.99 for 60ml). I was very impressed at the speed of delivery as I received these items the next day. My son Jacob had a lot of fun with the instruments (even though he wasn’t quite sure how to use them!), and I love the bottom butter. Yes the bottom butter does seem pricey but it smells divine, a little goes a long way and it is refreshing to look at a list of ingredients and actually know what they all mean! Standard delivery for EthicalBabe is £3.95, though as your order gets heavier the price goes up, however you also have the option of picking up from their London store for free if you live local enough.

J-with-Xylophone-225x300

When ordering from this site I got a little confused on how to use my ICE points. On going back to the ICE site there was a foolproof step-by-step guide on how to spend them, which I was really impressed by, and made life a lot easier.

ICE is a cleverly thought out site, with some excellent brands attached. I would recommend anyone to take a peek!

I was provided with credit to place an order at Ice – all opinions are her own and unbiased.

09/12/201202/02/2014 by jo

BritMums Weightwatchers Back2Best – it’s the final countdown….

So, here’s my last BritMums Back2Best Weightwatchers update. Incredibly, and I say incredibly as I’ve been terrible at tracking for the last two weeks since the App was updated (I had a few hiccups, but they seem to be fixed by logging out then going back in), I have lost a stone!

The idea of losing a stone and doing it steadily and successfully was something that I never thought I could do. I’m more than a bit gobsmacked at how straightforward it was, and I don’t feel like I’ve ‘missed out’ on anything in the process.

But – I’m still overweight, so my journey is still ongoing – I’ve another half a stone to lose before the magical ‘normal’ comes back into my life for the first time since around 1989 (probably – I didn’t own scales for a lot of my twenties) – but the jeans I bought last Christmas when I lost a bit of weight are loose – I may well be a size 32 for the first time in many, many years. I might even fit into women’s jeans again (whoa!).

So, what did I learn about myself doing WeightWatchers? I learnt I ate too much, although I do eat lots of vegetables (lesser so with fruit) – the food I’ve eaten hasn’t really changed, but my portion sizes have. Also, if I know what I’m going to eat I can plan better – so if we go to Pizza Express we may well do it after an afternoon at a National Trust place when I’ve earned an easy 10 or more points walking around for a few hours. Also, running for the train counts in my opinion, a cumulative four nights (and mornings) of running for one minute could work out at one point. Actually, there’s another thing. I can run comfortably for the train most of the time (steps are still exhausting, so we’ll take this one step at a time).

I’m still as relaxed about food as I ever have been, and while we haven’t had a takeaway in a long time I have had chips when eating out – but I’m watching my portion size and being sensible. Pizza-wise I’ve still not found the vegetarian WeightWatchers ones though have been told there are supply issues – I’m still keeping a look out.

I’ve found that most WeightWatchers foods are easy to get hold of – I do a weekly Ocado shop and they often do good multibuy deals, as well as a well stocked section at Poundland. We’ve tried a few recipes and they’ve been yummy – and what’s even better is that they don’t taste any different to the food we used to eat. Having the WW scales has been handy – they’re used every night and while we’re not obsessive about using them, they definitely help when working out portion size.

Also, the oil squirter has been an eye opener – mainly as I’d just put a dollop on the frying pan – bad move! So controlling how much I use has helped a lot.

In summary, I’ve not had to overhaul my life to lose weight, I’ve just had to look at it. With logging everything I’ve had the proper guidelines to eat what I need to through the day and haven’t starved myself in the process. With the emphasis on portion size as a family we’re still eating well and most importantly of all, H doesn’t think mummy is ‘on a diet’ which is the key thing I wanted to avoid.

I’m not a runner though am a swimmer – and we’re getting membership at our local gym for the new year – so while I’m now limited to 28 points a day, I’ll earn quite a few back with a good swim. As far as Shaun goes, he’s been eating the same foods and has taken up Couch to 5K – and did his first 20 minute run the other night successfully. (I’m really proud of him!) I’d like to think that H is going to have a family who are healthy, well and active – and that would be the best Christmas present anyone could have, I reckon.

I have been given six months of WeightWatchers membership – my journey continues as I’ve still a few more pounds to shift before I’m no longer overweight. You can try WeightWatchers for £1 (remember to turn off the direct debit option if you choose not to keep it going) and see how straightforward it is too. Thank you so much for this opportunity.

09/12/201227/01/2014 by jo

We Love Books – Mouse Mansion – Sam & Julia

Every now and then we stumble across a book which is so brilliant that you wonder how you didn’t know it existed.

This book is one of them – though you could be forgiven knowing nothing about it as it’s only available in the Netherlands (where it originates from) and Australia & New Zealand (who have an English translation) from what I can gather – a UK release may be due next summer. We only found out about it as H’s nanna in Australia saw a good review, so bought it for us.

Did you love Bagpuss? If so, then you’ll probably love Mouse Mansion. The stories aren’t that similar, but there’s a common feel to them. The Mouse Mansion was created by Karina Schaapman for this book. The mansion is made from cardboard boxes and papier-mache and has over a hundred rooms, corridors and outdoor spaces. Inside the house Karina used fabrics from the 50s, 60s and 70s plus waste material. The mice that live within were also designed by Karina and the stories came about as each different room was being built, with Sam and Julia taking the lead.

It’s a beautiful book. I feel like you only see a fraction of what’s in the house – and looking at this picture it’s likely you do. There’s seventeen short stories on each page (I’m wishing H wasn’t getting this for Christmas as Julia gets chickenpox in one) and beautiful images to go with it all taken from the house.

Here’s a picture of the full house taken from the official Mouse Mansion blog:

The book was originally published in 2011, with the Australia/NZ edition in 2012. Truly, if you love your stories to be cute and sweet and normal classic stories, you’ll almost certainly love this. ~~I have no idea who is bringing the book out over here, but when I do I’ll update.~~ Penguin are bringing it out in the UK in Summer 2013

But now, sadly, I have to wrap it up. H is one lucky girl this Christmas getting a book as lovely as this.

08/12/201218/01/2015 by jo

Móa – The Green Balm – a Review

Móa is a balm which is packed full of natural ingredients, and most importantly of all, no parabens – something more and more of us are looking at these days.

It’s a small pot, though a little goes a long way – and it’s great for soothing a graze or bump (something H is having plenty of at the moment, she bruises easily too), calming an insect bite (handy for me!) and it even works as an eye cream and is good for dry skin.

I found that rubbing it onto H’s bruises it was light and smelt good – and she liked it too (as she can be quite particular about putting creams on her). She currently has chicken pox so I’m holding off from using it as I need a good Vitamin E cream, though will be back using it soon. I’ve used it around my eyes and found it really nice and light – and it does have really good moisturising properties. I have horrible dry skin and this did smooth on well and keep my skin hydrated which I was impressed with. I incredibly didn’t get any insect bites this year as I’m prone to being bitten and do react to them, so I’ll be keeping it handy for next year!

Within Móa you’ll find yarrow (Achillea millefolium – an unusual plant named after Achilles who was said to have used it to treat his soldiers), coconut oil, soya bean oil, sweet almond oil and beeswax – all of which have powerful and soothing properties – with the addition of tea tree oil for antiseptic benefits.

Móa comes in a handy handbag sized pot 15ml priced at £4.99 and a 50ml pot for £9.99 – there’s no nasty chemicals, no parabens or artificial preservatives – and it’s availalbe from all good health stores or via their website. The balm is not recommended if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding.

We were sent some Móa Healing Balm to review, all opinions are our own.

08/12/201220/10/2014 by jo

Tesco Prepared Fruit and Veg ranges – a Review

Tesco have made available some new prepared fruit and veg ranges in store right now – and we were lucky to be sent some to sample and review.

We’re always pushed for time after work (especially when there’s a landslip in Horsham so all the trains are messed up), with not much time to prepare food to get it on the table, anything that helps is a good thing. If I know I don’t have long then occasionally I’ll buy some prepared vegetables to save some time, and this is where this range sits with our family.

We always sit to eat together every evening – and we eat roughly the same foods – and as luck would have it, this food arrived on the first day we found out H had chicken pox, which was brilliant timing – as the last thing you want to do is spend ages preparing food.

For the last two night we’ve had stir fries and padded it out with some tofu or quorn for protein, which hasn’t taken much time to prepare at all. For desserts we had a fruit platter, one of which comes with mini meringues and sauce, the other with biscuit and fudge pieces and chocolate – and I did a quick WeightWatchers calculation and both came in around two points with my portion size, which was pleasing!

One thing I’ve found with the prepared foods like this is they’ll go off before their use by date or get a bit smelly – but I’ve found that these keep their crunchiness and taste going right up to the use by date which is worth bearing in mind.

I’ve been really impressed with the food we’ve been sent – we have a Tesco near work so this is definitely a range I’d buy when I know we’re pushed for time in the evening. If you’re a Tesco shopper then check them out – the stir fry selections are priced around £1-£1.50, whereas the Finest* fruit platter desserts (see above) are currently on offer with 50p off, taking them to around the £3.50 mark (but worth every penny – they’re delicious!) and in-store now.

We were sent a selection of fruit and vegetable dishes to try, all opinions are our own. Thanks to Shaun for cooking them 🙂