Halloween Crafts

This is a very quick post, But one I thought my readers may appreciate... Halloween Crafts!

The kiddies had great fun making their own decorations this weekend, from cardboard tombstones, and painted tins/jar, These will have tea lights placed inside and hopefully if done right will light up.
The tombstones I stuck sticks to the back so they can dig in the ground and stand up.

We also done some paintings!

We or shall I say the kiddies done hand print spiders, we hung these from  string and they will go in the window Friday.

They painted pictures of pumpkins...

They really enjoyed getting creative and after sharing the pictures on my Facebook i am pleased to see my lovely friend done these with her children and they too loved it, So I am sharing with you all and hope your little ones will love it too.

I like to think that not only were they making decorations but we all were making family memories and those are to be treasured!

Lastly I thought I'd share a picture of all my monsters trying on their costumes ready for Friday,

Don't they look Spooooooky!

Do you have any plan's for Halloween? share with us We'd love to know.

Remember Remember The 5th Of November.....

..... well no the 22nd October to be exact but hey ho!

Wednesday 22nd was the bonfire event at the kiddies school.

We paid £2 for the whole family which was nice and cheap for an event that run from 6pm -7pm which included a bonfire, potato and leek soup,garlic bread, and hot chocolate, with a £1.50 charge for a pack of 6 sparklers if you so wish.

What a fun hour the kiddies had listening to the song's being sung by one of the teachers with her guitar and kiddies singing along, they had their weight in hot chocolate and soup and baby enjoyed the garlic bread and was happy to watch everyone having fun, it really was a good event. 

Does your child's school do things like this? and if so do you go along or would you if your childs school did?

Have you any plans for 5th November?

Whatever you are doing be sure to have fun but most important of all stay safe!

Banish Monsters With GoGlow!

The cold dark nights are drawing in, And for many parent's this brings with it children not wanting to go to bed for fear of the dark!

A recent survey run by World's Apart on why 1,000 children are afraid of falling asleep, And in children aged under 5 years it's mostly because of the dark and the unknown within.

So how do you banish those fears? WORLD'S APART had this to say.

Seven in ten parents make a special effort to walk around their child’s bedroom to prove there are no monsters hiding.  With three quarters of children getting out of bed to seek reassurance from their parents, the survey went on to find night-lights were the most reassuring solution that helped stop scary shadows.

If you are looking for a way to ease your little ones fears of the dark, children’s sleep expert and founder of Millpond Children’s Sleep Clinic, Mandy Gurney has a fun tip to help: 

“If your child is afraid of the dark, offer them the reassurance of a night light to have nearby when they need it. You could even play hide and seek, in the late afternoon, using a GoGlow® torch, so they realise there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

This October, GoGlow® is on hand to help banish monsters. A lighting range with extra sparkle, GoGlow® encourages nighttime know-how and its Night Bright range offers a safe and soothing 2-in-1 nightlight and torch that can be popped down for a night-long glow or lifted up as a torch.

When children are surrounded by their favourite character friends, scary monsters are a thing of the past, so if you would like to banish monsters try either Thomas the Tank Engine or Peppa Pig GoGlow Night Bright.

Explore the full GoGlow®  range at: www.worldsapart.com

We've been banishing monsters this week with the Thomas GoGlow Night Bright which retails at £22.99
It really is a great night light as it can be placed on the pod for a night long glow, It can also be taken off for a super cool torch, great for carrying when the child needs to use the bathroom during the night or simply snuggling up to as little Mr K does!

I like that the GoGlow Night Bright comes with a charger meaning no need to keep replacing batteries just charge it during the day and it's ready to glow all night!

Its super simple for children to use simply press down on it to turn it on/off it really is that simple.

I also like that they come in a range of designs so there's bound to be one to suit any child's preference!

Overall we feel this is a great night light perfect for banishing monsters..... or any other fears your little one may have at night!

So with that in mind how would YOU like to win a GoGlow Night Bright in your choice of design either Peppa Pig, or Thomas The Tank?

Follow the simple steps below for your chance to win.

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Handmade Halloween... Partially!

Ever had your child request something that you don't have in? So you pop to the supermarket only to find they don't have any in their size, so you improvise?!

Yes this is us this Halloween!

Lil miss L want's to be a witch for trick or treat so sent hubby for her costume as well as the big boys, babies I got from boot sale for 50p .. can't be bad!
So anyway Daddy comes up trumps with hat, broom, candy bucket's, cape, fangs, and added extra's for them all only the witches costume was a skirt with no 'puff' shall we say, it just kind of draped down.
So I got to work, plus she'd need a top to go with the skirt, That's ok a few bits of fabric from outgrown clothing, needle and thread, paint, glue and a little imagination.

I got a plain purple t.shirt that she never wears, I mixed a little PVA glue with some paint and drew on a spider design , of course I would have no small paint brushes in, but fear not a chopstick came to the rescue..... yes really!

To make the skirt a bit fuller I made a dodgy tutu to go underneath but I had no tulle so I used old fabric cut into strips and an old scarf and a bit of knotting.

next I attached some ribbon to an old cloak the boys had that broke off an old star wars costume they had.. now lil miss L has a witches cape too!

put them all together and you have something like this....

A witch ready for Halloween just a little face paint on the night and we're good to go.

So have you ever had to improvise to make your little ones happy? share with us your stories, who knows we may just help out fellow parent's needing inspiration!

Youlbury Activity Centre Residential Trip!

So lil miss L recently went on her first residential trip to a place called Youlbury Activity Centre.

She went from the Wednesday till the Friday and had such fun!

I was nervous about letting her go what with her Epilepsy, Hypermobility and weak muscle tone I wasn't sure how much she'd be able to take part in, But she wanted to go and so we let her.
The trip cost £100 for the 3 days that included the accommodation, food and activities.

She got stuck right in though taking part in orienteering, rock climbing, zip wire, making camp fires and toasting marshmallows.
She tried the leap of faith, climbing up the pole but was afraid to jump but she tried, she was too afraid to try the 3G swing despite that being the thing she was excited about the most, but I guess the reality was too much.

Her teachers said they'd never known a child so petite to eat so much with her having 2/3 helpings most sittings, Nothing new there all my children have great appetites! And each morning she woke up her first words to her teacher was 'Miss I didn't have a fit' bless her.
She enjoyed singing songs and came back with a real sense of pride at the things she achieved.

I cried as the coach pulled off and I cried when she got off the coach... in fact we both cried as we told each other how much we missed each other.

Overall £100 well spent I'd say.

Have your children been on a residential trip with their school? How did they like it?

Chocolate Picture Maker Review & Giveaway

I was recently approached by a lady named Christine asking if I'd be willing to review a couple of products for her one being Chocolate Picture Maker which I agreed to do so.

I received my parcel including a pack of two bar Chocolate picture maker to review another item to review **coming soon**

As I have 4 children I decided to do this review this week with 2 of my sons whilst my daughter was on her residential school trip, No arguments then!

The boys were very excited when they saw what Mummy had for them to review and was eager to get stuck right in.

included in the box were:

• 2 x 10g bag of white chocolate
• 2 x 10g bag of dark chocolate
• 2 x 50g bag of milk chocolate
• 2 x trays
• 2 x stencil sheet's with 16 different designs to chose from ranging from easy, medium, hard.
• and an easy to follow instructions leaflet.

as per the instructions we put the 3 bags of chocolate into a bowl of warm tap water for 3-5 minutes, Be aware if the water is hot touch then it's too hot for the chocolate.

Once the chocolate is melted - you will know this by feeling the bags, If there are any lumps then it isn't yet melted, it's time for the fun part..... Creating your work of art.

Once your happy with your design leave to set in the fridge for 20 - 30 minutes to set, It really is as simple as that!

The chocolate picture maker set of 2 bars retails at approximately £6.99 which is a little much for essentially 2 bars of chocolate, that said it is fun for the kiddies to make their own and the sense of pride they have that they made.... and wolfed down their very own chocolate bar you are paying for the experience too.

Overall the boys loved the chocolate picture maker and have said they'll be asking Santa for one too so a hit here.

Now then if YOU would like the chance to win a chocolate picture maker single bar set then follow the simple steps below.... it really is as simple as that!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

How To Throw A Cheap Fun Halloween Party For Children!

So it's October now and the spookiest time of year is fast approaching.... Halloween!
You're thinking of throwing a party for your little monsters? and why not ?!
Have a look at what we got up to Halloween 2012!

I wanted to throw the kiddies and a couple of their friends a little party but of course Halloween fell on a skint week so I improvised!

Decorations you can grab cheap enough in most pound stores but if that isn't feasible then make them.
My table cover I made using some black sacks and the kiddies red paint.
For the food I made sandwiches and cut them into coffin shapes and used a little food colouring to paint words/crosses onto them, the boiled eggs again I used food colouring to make them into evil eyes.
I made red jelly with sweets inside, I decorated chocolate wrappers with the word boo. I done vampires fangs with blood dip aka chicken dippers with ketchup, as well as a few other nibbles I had in so I didn't actually buy anything apart from the jelly which cost a couple of pound for a few packs.

So every children's party needs games right?!, again I improvised as it were I had a few toy plastic spiders so I used them as mini prizes along with sweeties, We played games such as guess what's in the box... this was fun and got lots of frights! I made some simple salt dough and rolled it out and bunched it up on a plate like intestines, I added some washable red paint and placed it in a box and covered the box leaving just a slit for the children to put their hand through and feel.

The kiddies and I made a piñata the week before using just a balloon tissue paper and paste made from plain flour and water, we decorated it using paint. I had all the children come outside and we had a competition who could find the best stick to hit the piñata with, Next the children beat it and all the sweets fell out!

Another fun game was to fill a bowl with jelly but have sweets inside like jelly worms, eyeballs, jelly brains ect, place a lolly stick upwards in it and get the children to try remove the lolly using just their mouths, And of course apple bobbing!

And of course no party is complete without some music to throw some shapes to.

HERE is the particular playlist we used!

I found this article recently and so will be trying some of these this year HALLOWEEN PARTY FOOD

So what will you and your little monsters be doing this Halloween and what are they dressing up as?

Whatever you do have a Spooktacular time!

A lovely Autumn walk!

You know the drill it's cold drab and raining outside but you have to go run an errand!
You really don't want to go out in it with 4 children in tow but know you have to so what do you do?

That's it pull on your wellies and go splashing!

That's exactly what we done on Saturday, And I must say we had such fun seeing who could find the biggest puddles to splash in, We collected some conkers, we were even a little naughty kid's were jumping in one particular puddle wasn't till after I realised they'd 'decorated' a car parked nearby with pretty brown splashes!..... Whoops sorry!

Just hearing the kiddies giggling away without a care in the world was music to my ears, who cares if they got wet, we had towels and hot chocolate waiting for us at home, who cares if it took us double the amount of time to do the trip, we were making memories!

On the way home we took a different route cutting through the nature reserve we stopped to say hello to the ducks, but little man woke up and he was letting me know 'Mum it's bottle time' so we headed back.

When we got home we had a good giggle about the fun we had whilst drying off.

so next time it's raining out don't just sit indoors thinking what shall we do? Pull on your wellies and get splashing, see what fun you too can have.

Little Mr D Starts Stay And Play.

So now my lil Mr D is cruising furniture and into everything I decided to start taking him stay & play!

Having not really been around many babies before he was a little dubious at first when I put him down and he just sat near the door, watching, sussing everyone out.

I let him have this time then before I knew it he was off exploring the toys.

He had a great sensory afternoon first eating the dough of the bread roll's they were making, next he thought he'd taste the paint whilst doing Daddy a picture. Thank god for toxic free and it couldn't have tasted that good... Right?!

Next he tried the shaving foam play table, He wasn't impressed with this at all. As for snack and singing/story time he refused to take part instead eating his snack of toast and grapes in his pushchair, then playing in the home corner at song time.

He was rather nervous kept coming to me for reassurance but I held back much as I could to let him get used to it, And by the next week he was.

We went the following week and made a beeline for the gluing table he made a lovely Autumn picture of a leaf which now has pride of place on our fridge.

He even sat at the table for snack time of Ritz biscuits with cheese and raisins!

He wasn't so willing at song time, That is until they began singing his favourite song of twinkle twinkle, then boy did he dart over big grin on his face. He even joined in with 5 little monkeys by holding the sheet and shaking it as a group. He really enjoyed it.

Unfortunately this week we've had to miss as he's been unwell with viral infection and ear infection but we will definitely be going back.

So what age did YOU begin taking your little one to stay and play or such like? Did they enjoy it off the hook or were they a little dubious to begin with?

Residential School Trip To Hill End

My little pickle all grown up!

Last week our lil Mr K went on his first residential trip with the school!

He went from the Wednesday till the Friday to a place called Hill End.

It wasn't a decision we made lightly to allow him to go as we felt he was so young at 7, But that said after much discussion between my hubby and I and the school we felt we would let him go, As it'll build his independence and how much fun he'd have.

And it definitely wasn't an easy 3 days 2 nights, I cried as the coach pulled off, And I cried as I saw him step of the coach and I scooped him up for a hug.

But he really did have so much fun climbing hill's, climbing tree's, making camp fires and roasting marshmallows around it whilst singing song's, He was rather impressed that he got have toast, cereals and fry up all on the same morning as this is something we only tend to be able to do when on holidays as with 4 little's we just don't have the time!

He loved jumping in muddy puddles and really enjoyed himself.

He needed a good bath when he got home and he fell asleep at 4:30 but he really had fun so I'm glad we bit the bullet and let him go... next time is LIl Miss L goes on a residential soon.

So what age did or would you allow your little one to go on a residential trip with the school?