Bunch O Balloons Party Range - Review

Elliot has recently celebrated his 7th birthday and this year he decided he wanted a party for his friends. I love organising parties but I do have to make sure I'm super organised not to forget any of the smaller details!

We recently got the chance to review a party bundle from Zuru Bunch O Balloons and this was a fantastic help with my party preparation.

Inside the party box we received the following:

• Zuru Bunch O Balloons Self Sealing Party Balloons and pump
• Refill Balloon Pack (blue/yellow/red)
• ROBO Alive Dino
• 12 x Smashers Dino

Bunch O Balloons Self Sealing Party Balloons and Pump

I don't think you can have a children's party without balloons so I was excited to see how I could inflate 40 balloons in 40 seconds. I hate blowing up balloons but I hate tying knots in them even more so the fact the Bunch O Balloons were self sealing was a revelation!

The pump couldn't be more simple to use - there are three different slots and you rotate to top to match the amount of balloons you are inflating. Simply attach the balloons, switch it on and that's it - 40 seconds later you will have perfectly sized balloons on ribbon. The self-sealing part is fantastic and such a time saver! 

The pump can also be used with helium which would be really useful if you wanted floating balloons for a special occasion. The balloons are lovely and bright and a decent size. They also didn't seem to pop as easily as some of the cheaper balloons I've purchased in the past. 

I cannot stress how useful this gadget is for parties! The fact the balloons are inflated, knotted and on ribbon in 40 seconds is just incredible. All the parts are also recyclable which is brilliant.

Bunch O Balloons can be found at Smyths Toys and the starter pack normally retails at £14.99 but is currently on offer at £7.49 which is an absolute steal. The refill packs are on offer at £1.99! 

Smashers Dino 

It can be abit of a hassle sorting out party bags and I have to admit, the last few years I've just given a book and sweets. But my kids love a party bag and these Smashers Dino's would be the perfect thing to pop inside!

The dino egg can be smashed on the ground and inside you will find a dino character. Elliot is a massive fan of collectable toys like these and he was excited to see there were 100 different characters to collect!

The smashed egg can even be rebuilt to smash again so it's a fab little toy to keep the children entertained. I think any child would be happy to receive one of these in a party bag.

ROBO Alive Dino

The Bunch O Balloons party box has even thought about a present for the birthday child and our box contained a ROBO Alive Dino. For a dinosaur obsessed soon to be 7 year old, this was a BIG DEAL!

The dino stomps along like a real T-Rex and even bites! We have a couple of the Robo Alive toys already and they are really popular with Elliot and Erin. The T-Rex is well made and seems durable enough to survive the clutches of an enthusiastic child!

For more info on Bunch O Balloons, check out their website or you can find the BOB party range at your local Smyths toy store.

Thank you Zuru for sending us the party box and helping with our party prep - we genuinely loved the Bunch O Balloons pump and will definitely be resuing it for Erin's birthday party!

*Disclaimer - We were sent this item in exchange for an honest review. All views are my own

Elliot's 3rd Birthday Celebrations

It seems only 5 minutes ago that I was writing about Elliot's 2nd birthday and his amazing Gruffalo Party but in the blink of an eye 12 months have passed and he is now 3 years old. 3 years old?! How did that happen!!

We decided to hire our local village hall for Elliot's birthday celebrations and he told me he wanted a "spooky" party. Fortunately his birthday is a few weeks after Halloween so I was able to get lots and lots of decorations and party bits when the Halloween stock hit the shops in September. I even managed to pick up some party bits whilst we were on holiday in Florida - the shops were full of amazing Halloween displays so I was spoilt for choice really! 

My family were on hand to help "spookify" the hall and they did a great job helping me set things up. We had a bouncy castle to entertain the kids and we laid out tables and chairs for the parents. All the tables had a spooky centrepiece such as skeleton bones or pumpkins and combined with fairy lights and curtains drawn, it gave a really spooky effect. Totally rubbish lighting for decent photos though!

My mum helped me with the party food and as usual we went abit overboard - I always worry we won't have enough so I tend to go in the opposite direction and we end up with way too much! All the food was renamed for spooky purposes, e.g dead man's fingers (cocktail sausages!) and witches wands (chocolate fingers). We also had an amazing birthday cake made by a great local company (Creative Cakes by Nicki) and this of course was fitting for the spooky theme!

It was a very manic day with around 30 kids plus parents coming along the party but Elliot had such a great time and he was absolutely knackered at the end of it. He had a 2.5 hour nap afterwards which is unheard of these days! 

For Elliot's actual birthday we didn't have too much planned because he had pre-school in the morning but he was up bright and early to unwrap his presents. Two of his presents came all the way from Walt Disney World and I'd managed to sneakily buy them on our last day at the parks when he wasn't with me. He couldn't wait to get the figures out of the box and was very excited to see them!

After school we went to my parents house for lunch and Elliot was absolutely spoilt with more presents. Mum and Dad bought him an easel which he loved! Another birthday cake (the third of the week!) and another chance to blow out the candles :)

In the afternoon my husband finished work early and we went to our local Smyths Toy Store - a new one has recently opened near to us so we were interested to see how they differed from Toys R Us. I was really impressed, lots of good value items and I even started my Christmas Shopping! We bought Elliot a Scooby Doo Haunted House as part of his birthday present - he's had his eye on one for ages so he was really happy :)

We ended the birthday celebrations with a meal at Frankie & Benny's which is one of our favourite restaurants to take Elliot to as it's very family friendly.

I think it's safe to say that Elliot enjoyed his birthday celebrations and he got so many lovely presents. I still can't believe he's 3!! 

Happy Birthday to Me

Yesterday was my 34th birthday and normally being the start of June, we have glorious sunshine. Not so yesterday.....I woke up to gale force winds and torrential rain, it was like Winter had returned! Still, I didn't let it dampen my birthday cheer...here's what we got up to...

Turns out toddlers aren't very good at keeping secrets because as I was in the shower I heard Elliot shout "Mummy, we are having a surprise party breakfast for you!!" and my husband trying to shh him! So I had to pretend to be surprised when I was faced with a Minions birthday cake...and randomly some cheese & pineapple! Elliot was mega excited about the birthday cake and I got treated to a rendition of Happy Birthday to you, Squashed Tomatoes with poo....you look like a monkey and you smell like one too. Thanks Elliot!

I'm not sure what kind of face he's pulling in the bottom one, looks like he's in pain!

As the weather was so bad in the morning, we just stayed home and watched Elliot's current favourite film - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I don't know what it is about this film but he wants to watch it ALL the time...so it's getting a little tedious!

We decided to go out for lunch for a treat as it was my birthday so we persuaded my hubby to take a lunchbreak and we just went to a local pub. It's nothing fancy but Elliot eats free which is always a bonus! We dropped hubby back at work afterwards and Elliot was starting to get a bit tired. So I whacked on some Hayley Westenra in the car and did a few laps of the dual carriage way and he was asleep in no time! By this point the rain had stopped and the sun had made an appearance so I parked up at my favourite view point and read a magazine for the first time in ages. I would say it was peaceful but the snoring from the back of the car was pretty loud ;)

When he woke up from his slumber we visited my Grandparents and then ended up back at my Mum and Dad's house. I got spoilt with some lovely presents, we had a yummy curry for tea and then we had homemade birthday cake for pudding! Elliot had actually helped make and decorate the cake, I wonder how many smarties ended up in his belly and not on the cake though!

Birthdays are never the same as you get older and especially when you have children but I had a nice day...and I've got enough cake to keep us fed until next week at least ;)