When my daughter asked "Mummy, what will my grown up name be?" I was a little perplexed, so I asked her what she meant. She replied that her name was a childs name, so did she get to pick her grown up name when she was an adult.

 

Its funny what ideas our children get, whether they are a boy or a girl, they have a very innocent way of looking at life, so when does this change? When do they become less like a child and more like a "grown up"

 

Christmas is looming and the magic of Father Christmas delivering presents and gifts are still alive in our family but how long will it be before Santa is for kids?

 

All I know is that my little angel will be keeping her name, her innocence and her childhood for as long as she possibly can! And as for me, I am stuck with my boring "grown up" name!!

 

 

When I was a child, my family were not great fans of Halloween. We were not allowed to go trick or treating, so whilst the other boys and girls were out with their goody bags full of sweets and treats, my brother and I looked through the window longingly!

 

Now I come to the present day and with a daughter of my own, I love nothing more than an excuse for a party or games.

 

It is true that Halloween has become more commercial than 30 (ahem)years ago, with more unique ideas, games and gifts for Halloween. But how far do you go?

 

We spend ages handcrafting the pumpkin and being creative with the house but I do remember one child, at the end of the party last year, asking where the party bag was ..... despite the oodles of sweets he had and the present from pass the parcel.

 

So do our children have higher expectations or are we simply a generation that loves to give??

 

I think I prefer the latter - how about you?

So what do you do with half term? Despite the children seemingly only just returning to school, its half term again and if you are anything like me, feel the need to become Entertainments Manager for the week?

 

We have allsorts of activities planned from arts, crafts, games, designing (and I am hoping we might be able to throw a little bit of shopping in there too).

 

All children are different, boys seem to want to play games and do experiments, while girls are happy with colouring cards and accessories. Or is this a classic generalisation? Is this an old fashioned viewpoint and am I being unfair?

 

I remember from my childhood that my brother played with his "Masters of the Universe", while I played with "Barbie" and "Sindy" (Sindy has the same colour hair as me so she was my favourite"). Did my mom encourage that or did we merely choose the toys we wanted to play with?

 

What do you do with your children? Is it merchadising and advertising that defines what we want and like? Or is it just part of being a boy or a girl?

 

Whatever it is, there is a definate penchant for glue and glitter in our house, so this half term we will be handcrafting cards, customising gifts for the family but will probably be kicking a ball around in the leaves too!

 

Who cares if football is for boys ..... maybe I am not so old fashioned after all?

Are you a little like me? Always looking for that unusual, gorgeous and beautiful gift? Whether it is for a new baby, christening, wedding, birthday boy or girl, I am always on the search for the latest gift that is special or unique.

 

We all know that on the internet we can pretty much find anything from handmade and old fashioned to completely bizarre and weird, so the quest for the perfect gift is always a difficult one.

 

The Little Lilypad Co was derived from my own passion for finding that special present and having lots of little boys and girls to buy endless birthday presents for. So having an unlimited supply of ideas became second nature but an evolution of my tastes has occurred too!

 

As my own daughter grows up and finds different likes and dislikes, my own knowledge of what children "really" want developes too. We have been in London this weekend and the Christmas gifts are already in the shops. Sometimes expensive and complex games are great but other times children just want to put on some wings and pretend they are angels (and lets be honest, we all want to pretend that too sometimes).

 

So I think that as the Lilypad evolves, you will see an evolution of the items we offer. We would love your feedback and ideas too! We will have some classic items and I am sure we will have some interesting and rare ones too.

 

But maybe, just maybe we will keep the wings ...... for those cute angelic moments!