Category: Reviews

1. Creating the perfect but healthy lunchboxes with Capri Sun

   Posted on 7:47pm Wednesday 25th Jun 2014

   This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone.

   I have always been a fan of school dinners, not necessarily the meals themselves per se, more the variety they give the children and the lack of panic they give me every morning. So when my eldest daughter decided she didnt actually want hot dinners at school any longer, a slight fear began to rise inside, the pressue of the daily packed lunch was upon me! 

   I have seen lots of of amazing Bento boxes on Pinterest and whilst they leave me in awe of the time, care and attention that has gone into those daily lunch boxes, my first question is "where on earth do they find the time" and secondly, "do the children actually eat them?". Does everyone not wake up in the morning and question what on earth they are going to fill the lunchbox with each day? Or is that just me?

   So I thought we would have a trial run before school starts back next week and when I popped into our local Tescos, I picked up a box of each Capri Sun flavour on the shelf as part of my #collectiveBias #CapriSunSchool shop, as I knew this would be a good healthy start, as they have no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives.

    

   Tesco must have known how much I love a good deal too, as the Capri Sun was on offer, saving 95p per pack! 

    

   I then started looking round for health lunchbox inspiration. Thankfully both girls love salad like cucumber and sweet peppers, so that is never a worry but neither have ever been huge fans of a sandwich or bread in general (unless they are feeding the ducks) so ensuring that they get the right balance of carbohydrates is essential too.

   I had a look on the Capri Sun website and loved some of their suggestions for calming lunchboxes, here is one of their ideas for   

   healthy lunchboxes

    

   • Snack
     Yoghurt

   • The main event
     Lean ham and tomato sandwiches, made with wholegrain bread Sticks of vegetables such as carrot, cucumber, celery and red pepper

   • Fruit
     Banana

   • Drink
     Capri-Sun

   • Extras
     Sunflower and pumpkin seeds and raisins

   I am not so sure mine would eat the pumpkin seeds as they are both getting older, they both have their own specific preferences and I think that while I may have to throw in some alternative options from time to time, the best thing to do is give them things they like (and they will eat), although if my tween is reading this, this doesn't mean chocolate and sweets!!

   

   The littlest member of the family was more impressed than the tween, even saying that her cucumber piece looked like a sun. (A Capri Sun maybe??).

    

    

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   And on a final note, if like me, you are not blessed with the creativity to make amazing, ingenius and down right cute lunchboxes every day, I will leave you with these Pinterest boards to inspire you .....

    

2. Spoilt Rotten Future Firefighter Babygrow Review

   Posted on 9:56am Wednesday 25th Jun 2014

   We recently ran a competition with Spoilt Rotten and they kindly gave us the opportunity to review one of their gorgeous babygrows, so as part of our Baby Blog, we bring you our baby bloggers thoughts ......

   The first thing I loved about receiving the Spoilt Rotten Future Firefighter Babygrow, was the adorable packaging; a cute milk carton that clips together at the top which made it feel like you were indeed going to be spoilt with something special!

   
   
   The babygrow was neatly folded inside and you couldn't help but love the super soft material, and how it felt better quality than your standard high street vests. 
   
   The design was exactly as I expected from what I'd seen online and it was exciting to have something that felt 'personalised' for our baby boy (his dad is a fireman after all). This is what I love about Spoilt Rotten, there are so many unique designs to choose from that you are bound to find something that is relevant to the child you are buying for, and this makes it a perfect choice if you are buying a gift.
   
   The sizing felt about right (6-12 months), however it would probably be a little on the large side for an average 6 month year old, but they can always grow into it. The important techy bits of the babygrow are:

   • 100% thick Organic Cotton at 200gsm
   • Certified high standards of Global Organic Textiles Standard, Soil Association and Fair Wear Foundation.
   • No chemicals used to ensure no cotton fibres are damaged to ensure a super soft feel (it really does)
   • Envelope Style neck for easy change (who doesn't want an easy life)

    

   The great thing about the Spoilt Rotten products is that they are not your regular baby outfits but I think that's what makes it so special and worth splashing out for, nothing wrong with being spoilt rotten once in a while!

    

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3. Am I a Morrisons Mum?

   Posted on 6:52pm Saturday 10th May 2014

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   It is no secret that I love to shop on the internet, I buy presents, clothes and food online. When Britmums announced that they were looking for Morrisons Mums to take £80 worth of vouchers and shop over the bank holiday weekend, I knew there was little I could do to resist. Going into an "actual" shop and pushing a trolley full of food around a shop was a novelty (although I have found out that I am no good at navigating one once it is full of food), so armed with our vouchers we set about our mission. We received a friendly welcome ......

   

   Morrisons announced last week that they were cutting prices, not to price match or any other such temporary measures but significant price drops that appeal to our money saving hearts. They can tell you about it a bit better than me:

   From today, we’ve cut the prices on over a thousand of your favourite products. Not temporary reductions or supermarket smoke and mirrors, these are new every day low prices on the things you buy every week. So you’ll notice the difference with every shop.
   
   And although we’re cutting prices, we’re not cutting corners. You can check our pricing at www.Morrisons.com/pricecuts.
   
   You’ll still get award-winning meat and fish, still get trained butchers and bakers, still get the best of fresh on Market Street and still get friendly Morrisons service.
   
   Look out for the yellow markers when you shop in store and online at morrisons.com. If it says I’m cheaper you know it’s staying cheaper.

   And there were PLENTY of offers to be had (Plenty .... see what I did there???)

   

   
   My friend and I have resolved to have a "dry" May, so I was delighted to find my non alcoholic alternative on offer at half price .... so I bought twice the amount!!

   

   We decided not to price everything up as we went round the shop, prefering to play games with the girls, such as "find something with a flower on it", I won that particular game! Can you guess what product this flower is on?

   

   Our usual weekly shop is in excess of £100, so I was pleasantly surprised that the shopping came to just over £82 so there were definite savings across the store. 

   

    

   As for our bank holiday meal, well I am never going to make it onto Master Chef but with a light meal costing only £1.97 per person, I will happily invite everyone over next bank holiday weekend!

    

   

   So the question remains, am I a Morrisons Mum? I think I may just have been converted!

4. Hatton Country World : Review

   Posted on 4:36pm Friday 25th Apr 2014

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   We have been enjoying a lot of time outside this Easter, blowing away the cobwebs and getting outside. I have even been known to wear wellies and flat shoes on more than one occasion. I kid you not! So when we were invited to Hatton Country World for the day to enjoy their Easter Eggstravaganza, I knew we were up for the Challenge ..... and a challenge is what we got!

   We were greeted by this gorgeous Peacock, who took no convincing to show us his feathers! It was a unique way to be welcomed to a park!!

   

   For my big girl, there was The Adventurers’ Challenge, which has been created for families to compete in a number of daring tasks across the park, including braving the Big Red Drop Slide in Superslide Mania and holding an exotic reptile in the new Scales and Tails attraction. For the little one, was an Easter Bunny Hunt and we did try very hard to track down the "big bunny" who was wandering around Hatton all day. The Easter challenges were in addition to all the usual exciting activities like the farmyard favourites, fairground rides, family theatre and guinea pig village.

   The little one LOVED feeding the animals and was much braver than only 7 months ago when we came for her birthday.

   

   

   Newborn piglets made me broody (for a baby not a piglet) .... stinky but adorable!

   

   The 8yo loved taking part in the Adventure Challenges and was determined to find gold and get her medal ....... she did aswell!

   

   The Easter Egg Hunt was on at set times throughout the day .... and is still on until 27th April, if you are quick!! This is not counting all the rides, trampolines, councy castles, slides and outdoor play activities that the girls ping ponged around all day.

   

   When little legs were tired after all the fun, big sister was there to help carry her along. (a rare moment of sibling kindness). There is so much to do at Hatton Country World that it would be difficult to find just one single thing that was my favourite, so I asked all the family:

   The Man on the Pad : Feeding the animals on the farm.

   The 8 year old : Mining for Gold or the Red Drop Slide

   The 2 year old : The bouncy slide

   

   Me : Well for me the best part was having a great day out with the family, somewhere that caters for all ages. (which is a bonus for our family)

   
   

   We were sad to leave (albeit, the shops on the way out did ease this for me somewhat) but I did happen to notice that they had schedules up for Whitsun week ...... so I think we will be returning very soon.

    

   Disclosure : We were given a family ticket to Hatton for the day but all views and opinons are our own.