When it comes to Christmas gifts for adults, I don't think you can go wrong with an alcoholic drink, I mean we all like a good tipple over the festive period don't we! And this is where The Summerton Club can help.
SIT BACK, RELAX AND ENJOY A WHOLE NEW MASTERPIECE EACH MONTH
They invest their time sourcing unique and interesting aged brandies, rums, whiskies and so much more from all around the world. This means their members can sit back, relax and simply enjoy the drink when it arrives.
I don't know about you but when it comes to buying for your significant other, I always struggle. We've been together almost fourteen years and honestly it was tough in the beginning to choose him a present, now it seems nearly impossible. This is because he is a man that will always buy what he wants when he wants it so when you ask him what he'd like, even he'll struggle to tell you because he's just bought the latest thing on his wish list.
Own a Moment are a company which are setting out to change that buy allowing you the buyer to give the gift of time. Now doesn't that sound like the perfect gift to receive this Valentine's day. They are allowing you to capture those treasured moments that you hold so dear and share them with your nearest and dearest in a way that is both special and affordable all at the same time and lets be honest who wouldn't want more time!
The way it works is this. On the site you pick a significant moment in your life, choosing the year, month, day and the time including whether it was am and pm, if you can't remember the exact time you can of course give a rough suggestion. If your moment is available you will then have the option to upload an image, one that perhaps gives special meaning to this moment as well as personalising with the name of your chosen recipient and a message too.
It is almost time to begin the countdown to Christmas, the question is, have you got your advent calendar yet? With more and more on the market each year and the prices for many of them becoming quite expensive, it can be hard to seek out decent ones on a budget. Well look no more, especially if you've been eyeing up those Lego ones because the Wilko Blox advent calendar ticks all the boxes.
You may have heard of JoJo Siwa, she's a TV star and a YouTube sensation (4.7 million subscribers!). Beginning her career on the popular TV programme, Dance Moms, JoJo has since gone on to release hit singles including Boomerang, a range of her famous bows and many more items to accompany them.
The latest products to emerge from this craze are the JoJo Siwa Microphone and her new Bodacious Bow. I'm sure these will be on many Christmas lists this year and I'm here to give you a close up of what you can expect from them.
Is your sister or a close friend pregnant or did they recently have a baby? Mums-to-be and new mums really appreciate baby hampers because they're filled to the brim with baby essentials and fun things for the new baby and even for the mum sometimes. For me as a mum I definitely appreciated these types of things.
I'll admit I've always been one to buy my girls things like dolls and babies and it wasn't that I was trying to make them play with "girl toys" that's just what they seemed to gravitate towards.
In reality I'm a firm believer that any type of toy can be suitable for both boys and girls and even adults if that's what they want. From super heroes and Lego to Barbies and all things cute and fluffy. In this day and age there shouldn't be that divide of pink and blue.
As my children have got older their choice in the toys that they choose to pick up and play with has definitely changed. Gone are the pushchairs and princess dressing up and in their place all sorts of weird and wonderful toys.
For example they've spent hours totally engrossed with watching a slinky going down the stairs but then everyone loves a slinky right!!
I love a good surprise so when I was contacted recently by Serenata Flowers to see if I'd like to review one of the many hampers that they stock how could I refuse. Trouble was I couldn't decide which one I really wanted so I left it up to them to pick out one for me.
Can I say firstly, speedy delivery, I spoke to them in the afternoon and by the next day I had my hamper in hand, brilliant service.
The hamper I received was the Cheese Trug. Lots of scrummy cheese, crackers and chutney all gorgeously presented in a lovely basket.
There always seems to be some sort of occasion on the horizon, we've just bid farewll to Valentine's day and Pancake day is round the corner but another special day to start thinking about is Mother's day because lets face it, us mums do a lot and deserve treat every once in a while. Penwizard are launching their latest book to their personalised collection, the Peppa Pig 'My Mummy' book.
The wonderful story shows the many reasons why your child and Peppa love their mummy. From jumping in muddy puddles to making paper aeroplanes, it is a fun and adorable way to show their mummy why she is loveliest mummy of all.
One of my favourite parts of Christmas day is sitting on my bed first thing in the morning with all my girls, rummaging through our stockings, finding lots of lovely goodies from Santa.
This year I needed to get a new stocking for Layla because last years one said first Christmas on it, seen as it is now her second, I didn't think it worked for this year :)
You may remember a while back, I reviewed some gorgeous bandana bibs from the lovely people at Funky Giraffe. Luckily for me, I have been given the opportunity to review one of their new Christmas stockings.
When it arrived I couldn't believe just how soft it was, it was lovely and thick, very quilted. In stunning bright red and green colours, just perfect for Christmas.
Ours came with a Christmas Tree motif designed on it and the added pom poms and tassels around the top of the stocking and the added patch details at the toes and heel were a really nice touch.
There are two other designs which you can choose from, a snowflake or a 1st Christmas one. Each one just as stunning as the one above.
What I really love the most about this stocking is that it is made to last. Other stockings that I have had in the past have been made of very thin material and if you put anything too heavy in them, then they end up ripping.
I can see the Funky Giraffe Christmas stocking being used year after year. You can fill it from the tips of it toes, right up to the top, plenty of room for whatever stocking fillers you choose.
With a loop of ribbon already attached, it is ready to be hung wherever you choose, really wish I had a fireplace to hang ours above!!
This stocking costs just £8 with free postage, a bargain in my eyes for something that will be used for many Christmases to come. And for just £2 extra you can even have it personalised.
I honestly can't find anything negative to say about this stocking, I am now going to have to get one for each of my other girls now because I think it will be nice to have them all matching :)
Whilst on the topic of stockings, what do you fill your childrens stockings with??
xxxx
Disclaimer : This stocking was sent to me free of charge for reviewing purposes however all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Winter is known to give people dry and cracked lips, not just us adults but the kids too. My girls are always "borrowing" my lip balm so in the past I have bought them their own to use.
Lip Smacker are famous for their ranges of lip balms, one of them being Disney Princess, with flavours like spun sugar shine, tea party treats and vanilla sparkle, what's not to like. My daughter's favourite is the Princess Belle one.
A lot of the Lip Smacker range can be purchased at Debenhams, you can find Minnie Mouse, all the disney princesses and some of your favourite fizzy drink flavours.
Lip Locks are another small range from Lip Smacker, cute little lip balms packaged up neatly in a gorgeous heart shaped case.
They come in a variety of scents such as Berry Hugs, Love Strawberry and Chocolate cherry, they would make the perfect stocking filler for little girls and great as an introduction for slightly older girls into the world of make up.
These lip balms have limited distribution so you lovely readers are in for a treat, I have been lucky enough to get my hands on 10 sets of Lip Smacker Lip Locks to giveaway and each set will contain 3 lip balms.
To have a chance of winning all you need to do is fill out the rafflecopter form below. This competiton is open to UK residents only and will close at 11.59pm on the 22nd October 2013.
Earlier in the year I was lucky enough to review a personalised book from Penwizard. Recently they have introduced a lovely Me To You range of books to the selection you can choose from.
There are four different books to choose from : Baby, Why I love My Mum, Why I love you and A Christmas Gift. I was asked to choose which one I would like personalised, now since Christmas is creeping up on us, I decided to choose the Christmas Gift one and have it personalised to my mum from the kids.
Each book costs £9.99 which in my opinion is more than reasonable for a lovely unique gift. The process to create the book is extremely simple, you just need to enter in the names that you would like used and they will appear throughout the book. There is also an option of uploading a picture to be used on the first page as well as writing a personal message to go alongside it. I signed the book from my daughter's.
The book itself measures roughly 6 x 6.5 inches and is in paperpack form with a gloss cover. It is 24 pages long, so you get a lot for your money.
As you can see from the images above, the illustrations are beautiful, classic tatty teddy, all in full colour. Each picture has the name you had the book personalised with somewhere on the page, all in different style fonts and colours.
And with sentences like "I followed my heart and it led me to you", "Christmas is magical with you" and "You're always top of my Christmas list", I think it would be hard not to smile if you received this gift.
This personalised book from Penwizard is a great addition to their selection, although I would say these are more suited to adults than they are children, they are still perfect for the recipient to sit down and look through with their children/grandchildren. And it makes for a lovely keepsake.
xxxx
Disclaimer : I was sent this book free of charge for reviewing purposes however all thoughts and opinions are my own.
A couple of weeks ago I celebrated my 5th wedding anniversary. I know what you are all thinking, how did I manage to put up with him for so long ;)
Now Daddy Hazelden is a tough person to buy gifts for, he tends to buy everything he wants for himself which leaves nothing for the rest of us to get. So as usual I was drawing a blank.
By chance I happened to notice that Treat Republic were looking for bloggers to review items from their site, I call this fate!! If you haven't heard of them, Treat Republic is a website that has bought TreatHer.com, TreatHim.com and TreatBaby.com all under one roof. It sells handpicked and personalised gifts, catering for men, women, babys and those special occasions like anniversaries, christenings etc. Working closely with designers across the UK, they bring you a wide range of unique gifts that won't be found in the high street shops.
I had a good look throughout the whole of their site, now I am not the most technological so I was happy to find the site is very easy to navigate, the pictures are clear and their whole range is very affordable.
I came across their range of cufflinks. There are 80 different pairs of cufflinks to choose from, whether you are looking for something quirky, fun or simple, there is definitely a pair to suit any man.
I chose a simple silver plated pair of cufflinks. This pair are a square shape and measure roughly 16mm x 16mm. I am no expert when it comes to these sorts of things but they seemed like an ideal size and something that would go with any suit.
You can get the cufflinks engraved, you are allowed to have a maximum of 6 characters on each cufflink. This means you have to think a little about what to have written, needs to be short and sweet. I would like to see a few more characters allowed, would be nice to be able to write a bit more of a message or allow for someone whose name is longer than the characters allowed on there.
I decided to have the pair personalised with mine and Daddy Hazelden's initials and our wedding date., thought it might help him to remember in the future when our anniversary is :) The engraving is nicely done and easy to read.
The cufflinks come presented in a beautiful gift box. A lovely added touch, keeps you guessing just that little while longer when you are opening up your gift but it is handy for somewhere to keep them safe when not in use.
Daddy Hazelden had no idea that these were coming and I am pleased to say that he approved, they are actually his first ever pair of cufflinks!! He is just waiting for an occasion to wear them out now.
Price at £19.99, these are a lovely present for any man, whether it be for an anniversary, birthday or Christmas. Simple yet with the personalised touch, something unique to the recipient and what I love is that having them personalised doesn't cost anything extra.
Not only would I recommend the cufflinks, I would highly recommend Treat Republic as a whole. I have already started eyeing up a few things for various family members ready for Christmas!!
How many of you have started thinking about Christmas already??
xxxx
Disclaimer : These cufflinks were sent to me free of charge for reviewing purposes however all thoughts and opinions are my own.
As the end of another school year approaches, we as parents start thinking about what gifts to buy our children's teachers to thank them for what they have done over the school year. Excuse my rant and I know I probably sound harsh, however quite frankly it is another expense I could do without.
It seems to be a struggle every year to come up with something to buy that doesn't cost the earth because I don't know about the rest of you but I don't want to give the obligitory bookmark or magnet, poor teachers must have millions of these floating around their houses by now.
It has become yet another tradition that we have fallen into and I don't know about what other parents think, but I feel guilty seeing other people giving presents that look loads better than what I'm giving, almost feel like I am back at school myself, competing for first prize!!
There is a flip side to all of this though. This year I have been thinking about it even more though.
I love my eldest daughter's teacher, can't fault her, so helpful, always pushing for the kids to do more, the whole class has improved this year.
Then there is my five year old, although doing well in school, hasn't had the best teacher. Many of the parents have complained to her and about her because there seemed to be a distinct lack of teaching going on, there is a curriculum set for a reason and she hasn't stuck to it one bit, the children have only just finished learning their letters, something which should have been done by Christmas last year. Infact the poor teaching assistant seems to have been doing her job for her!!!
Only last week Freya got sent home with a reading book, which you could quite clearly see that she had read only a couple of weeks ago, simple mistake maybe, it just seemed to be in line with many others.
So I guess I'm thinking do we "have" to buy gifts for all of our kids teachers, especially if we feel that they haven't done what is required of them, as in that sense what would we really be thanking them for?
I'm in two minds what to do about this because I don't want to come across rude or ungrateful but in all honesty myself and my eldest daughter have done more learning with Freya at home than she has done at school this year.
Do any of you feel that your kids teachers haven't done the best for you child this year? Are you looking forward to them getting a new teacher?
Baker Days is a lovely company situated in the Sherwood Forest. They produce personalised cakes for all occasions and can deliver them to anywhere within the UK.
Now anyone that knows me, knows I can't say no to cake, so when I was kindly asked to review their letterbox cake, the only thing I could say was yes.
I immediately love the fact that you can make the cake personal, I chose a one direction cake and sent through a couple of pictures of my daughters to be placed on there too, seen as they are their biggest fans!!
The video below demonstrates just how well the cake really does fit through the letterbox :
As you can see, this cake really is the perfect size, it fits through the letterbox with ease, making it the perfect gift because you know that if the recipient isn't in for whatever reason, they will still get their cake on time, no waiting for redeliveries or going round the sorting office to collect it. I love the goodies that you receive with it, not just the cake but ballons, party blower, candles and of course the stunning cake tin which makes a lovely keepsake after the cake has been consumed.
On the underneath of the cake it tells you :
* your order number
* what type of cake it is
* all of the ingredients which have been used to make the delicious cake
* the date which you need to eat your cake by (although I'm pretty sure it will be eaten well before the epiry date!!)
The picture to the right shows you the cake which we recieved.
I was blown away at just how well made it was, as you can see, not only do we have a one direction picture, two of by daughters have also been placed on there too. The detail is truly amazing, I really couldn't have asked for anything better and of course the pink colouring of the background was the perfect choice for my girl girls.
In some ways I didn't want to cut into the cake because I didn't want to ruin it. Both Gracie and Freya decided that they each wanted the pieces of cake with their faces on.
I just wanted to show you the inside of the cake once I finally dared to cut into it.
The icing is nice and soft and the cake itself was very moist.
We chose carrot cake but you can also choose from fruit cake, madeira cake, double chocolate chip cake and even gluten free cake, there really is something for everyone.
I think the letterbox cake was actually the perfect size, we managed to get 8 pieces of cake from it, this meant there wasn't anything wasted but also that they weren't eating too much, as they always seem to suffer from the classic eyes bigger than belly syndrome!!
Of course I couldn't do a review of cake without showing you the cake being eaten so take a look below :
We have the all in one method.
The breaking little pieces off method.
And the get crumbs everywhere method.
The final verdict was a big thumbs up!! Costing just £14.99, you have yourself a real bargain. Whether you want it made for a birthday, christening, aniiversary, or maybe just a treat for yourself, this is an amazing treat. The fact that you can get a unique design really adds to the value. I can testify that it really does come through the letterbox and because of the lovely cake tin that it comes in, no squashed cake in sight.
What flavour cake and design would you opt for??
xxxx
Disclaimer : This cake was sent to me free of charge for reviewing purposes, however all thoughts and opnions are my own.
