Gift Ideas for Pre-Teen Boys

It is widely accepted that men are considerably harder to buy for than ladies. There are many shiny, sparkly, or fragrant options for girly gifts that do not really have an equal in the man department. If your man has a hobby, fair enough, you have options, but even then it can get a little repetitive after a few years! It has recently come to my attention that man-gift-trouble starts a lot earlier than I previously realised. When L was turning 11, a few weeks ago, I suddenly realised I had been thrust into the 'what to buy a (small) man' dilemma much earlier than anticipated and I had few ideas for this tricky age. Fortunately, though, some great brands came to my rescue with some ideas I hadn't even thought of! Items were sent free for us to play with, opinions are always our own.

A Round Up of Recent Adventures: March

I know I've been trying to do a weekend post as often as I can, but we have had such a crazy couple of weeks, it's gone a bit by the wayside. So, instead, here's a round up of a few of the fun things that have gone on in our lives since I last had a chance to write about fun stuff. I may carry on with this format, so that I'm not limited to weekends and I don't have to bore you to death if nothing interesting happens! Highlights over the last couple of weeks included L's birthday, the party, War Horse, oh yes, and of course cake. A big cheaty cake, that I sort-of made, but still cake!

How to Make Quality Party Bags for a Fraction of the Cost

For an 11 year old's birthday party, the preparations can be tricky. A long way past the many cartoon characters and children's favourites that adorn the majority of party supplies, they still want to have fun and enjoy themselves. When I went shopping for party bags and supplies, I was disappointed at the high cost, limited range available to buy. In the end, I went my own way, with a design for home made party bags, which I think have a lot more appeal and work out around £1 each, although you could probably reduce this further, by shopping in advance and grabbing some bargains, instead of leaving it until the day before, like me! 

Gangsta Granny at The Bristol Hippodrome! Win a Family Ticket and Signed Programme!

Old Man Attacks, but was I in the Wrong?!

Recently, I went to an event at our local theatre, to celebrate the return of War Horse in October (more on that soon!). After the event, a lot of us went to the bar for tea and cakes. Although I arrived at the function on my own, I am glad to say, I collected a couple of new friends along the way, who happily shared my love of cake. I love meeting new people, and it's a perk of the job, when you are a blogger. So there we were, squeezed into a very small bar area, enjoying some rather delicious scones, when one of our party decided to go off and find us all some tea. But what happened next, left me asking myself, was I in the wrong? 

Easy Crafts for Mother's Day

Mother's Day is the perfect time to grab the glue sticks and get out the glitter, because most mums love their children's handmade offerings. If the very idea fills you with dread, however, I've rounded up the most ingenious and super-simple Mother's Day crafts from some of my favourite bloggers, as well as some from our own archives, to give you some low-mess, fairly quick options to entertain the little ones and delight mothers and grandmothers too. They are worth far more than anything you can buy, and hopefully you will have fun making them too. These easy crafts for Mother's Day, are so simple, even I could do it!

Celebrating World Poetry Day with Viking

The lovely people at Viking asked some bloggers if they would like to have a crack at writing something for World Poetry Day. I love an excuse to write and this was no exception, so I hastily agreed. I had absolutely no idea what I was going to write about until Viking kindly sent us some lovely gifts, to inspire us. The box included a beautiful quill pen, some writing paper and little canvas on an easel. The canvas was so cute and it gave me an idea, which inspired me to write the following poem. I hope you like it and a big thank you to Viking for the inspiration. 

Lee Stafford CoCo LoCo Long Tong Hair Curler Review

After reviewing the Lee Stafford Academy Ionic Hair Straighteners, which I loved, I was offered the chance to try the Coco Loco Long Tong Hair Curler for free too, from the same company, to see what I thought. The curling tong boasts a 40% longer barrel than a standard tong and I felt this would be really useful for my very long, thick tresses. It's currently on sale for the reduced price of £22.99, which seems pretty reasonable, from a company who make really great quality products, if the straighteners are any indication. My first attempt wasn't a roaring success to begin with, and it took some getting used to, but I put that down partly to my inexperience with curling tongs and my unhelpfully unruly hair.