BACK TO SCHOOL ESSENTIALS

Well, somehow we have almost made it to the end of the Summer Holidays - I know I say this every year, but where did the time go?! The long heatwave of June and July seems like a distant memory and now I'm seeing posts about Halloween and Autumn pop up on my social media. (It's still summer!!!)

Elliot is due to start in just over a week and will be going into year 1. Unlike last year when I was a bit clueless and just bought EVERYTHING I thought he'd need, this time round we feel like we know the score. My back to school shopping has been quite painless and even the trip to Clarks for new school shoes wasn't so bad!

If you're panicking a bit about the imminent school year, take a look at my essentials list and hopefully we will have you covered!

Yazoo Milkshakes - No Added Sugar
My kids love milkshakes and I was really happy to see that Yazoo have launched a No Added Sugar version of their popular flavours. These would be ideal for lunchboxes or even an after school treat. Also good for Mums - my favourite is strawberry ;)

Bacofoil - Zipper Bags
As a parent, I can't get enough of zipper bags and they come in useful for so many things especially packed lunches! They are tear proof and water resistant and come in a variety of sizes. I like to pop Elliot's sandwiches in a zipper bag and then he has something to put all his lunch rubbish in once he's finished - it makes cleaning his lunchbox so much easier.

Personalised Name Labels - Petit Fernand
I've tried a few different types of name labels including iron on ones, sticky ones and even sew in ones (who has time for that!). Petit Fernand labels are the best I've found by far, you can design the label right down to the colour of the font and I love that there are so many different images you can add to your labels. I personally buy the stick on ones as they are super quick to use and pretty much stay put even with rigorous washing.

Ace - Stain Removal Products (Can be purchased from your local Tesco, Morrisons, Waitrose or Sainsburys)
I would never have put this as an essential prior to my son starting school but I didn't realise just how dirty he would get!! His lovely white tshirts were coming home grubbier and grubbier but this stuff literally is Ace, and so good at removing stains. I find that roast dinner days are the worst - I will pop a pic up at the bottom so you can see for yourself! (And it came up like new with a bit of Ace!)

School Uniforms from Pep&Co
When you think of Poundland, you wouldn't automatically think of school uniforms but did you know they have their own fashion label, Pep&Co? They have some fab school bits and you can pick up an entire uniform from £6 which is one of the cheapest on the market!

Able Labels - Personalised Pencils
When I was at school (erm...a few years back!), I was always envious of the children who had personalised stationary. Able Labels do lovely pencil packs which would be ideal for pencil cases and they are all hand personlised which gives a beautiful finish. I'm totally envious of Elliot's new personalised pencils!

Sistema Bottles (Various prices and can be found in all of the big supermarkets)
We've been through quite a lot of water bottles this past year but Sistema is the brand we keep coming back to. I love the fact they are sturdy and don't leak, but they are easy for little hands to open too. My kitchen is starting to look like a Sistema shrine because we have a bit of a collection of them, all in different sizes! 

Fluffy Llama notebook - Ryman (£5.99)
I love stationary and I remember being so excited about going back to school because it meant new pencil cases and notebooks! Llama's seem to be in fashion right now so this fluffy notebook would make you instantly cool and popular with your school friends. I'm wondering if (at 37) I'm too old for a fluffy llama notebook.....

I hope you're feeling organised about the new school year started. Do you have any essentials I may have forgotten?! 

Roast dinner lunch day - when stain removal is very much needed!! 

BACK TO SCHOOL ESSENTIALS - ARE YOU READY?!

So here we are nearing the end of the Summer Holidays - where have those 6 weeks gone?! Elliot is due to start reception very soon so I've had to be quite organised this year - I did most of my uniform shopping at the beginning of the holidays and finger crossed I haven't forgotten anything.

If you are feeling a bit last minute and panicking that you may have forgotten something, here's some essentials which may have slipped your mind!

Personalised Water Bottle - ItsYourStory (£15.00)
These fantastic water bottles are sure to stand out from the crowd, personalised with a photo of your choice. There are 17 different designs to choose from, featuring cheeky monkeys to little monsters.

Back to School card - Hallmark
I hadn't even thought about getting Elliot a card for starting school but Hallmark have some lovely designs that will really make your child feel special on their first day back.

All You Need to Know Before Starting School (Usborne) - Born Gifted (9.99)
This lovely book follows five sweet cuddly characters who have just started school. Featuring educational concepts vital to early years such as shapes and colours, it provides a fun introduction to the average school day and what your new starter can expect.

Lego Pencil Case - Aplaceforeverything.co.uk (£7.65)
Who doesn't love a new pencil case for the new school year...and who doesn't love Lego?!

'Lunch Bot' The Robot Lunch Box - Find Me a Gift (£14.99)
Love this retro lunchbox - how cute is he!? Strong and sturdy, your lunch won't get squished and you'll be the envy of all your classmates!

Skipper Children's Boat Shoe - Chatham (£45)
These lovely boat shoes are available in 3 colours and are made from beautiful soft pull up leather. People tend to just think of the obvious high street choices when shopping for school shoes but Chatham are definitely worth considering, they offer a brilliant range of boat shoes that would be suitable for school.

Itty Bittys - Hallmark (£6)
These little plush toys make great rucksack and pencil case buddies and would make a cute gift for your little superhero's first day at school

Wellies - Regatta (£11.95)
You can guarantee that the school run will bring rain...and rain means puddles. So what better way of splashing in puddles with a brand new pair of Regatta wellies! Elliot's school actually require him to keep a pair of wellies on his peg for outside play so he is looking forward to taking these in. As well as the vibrant patterns, I really like the handles on the welly - very helpful for little ones who are learning to dress themselves.

Are you ready for school?! 

*Disclaimer - some of these items were provided to me for the purpose of this post

Newborn Essentials - Things We Actually Used!

When you're pregnant you're bombarded with recommendations of things you MUST buy. I fell for this on my first pregnancy and ended up with a ton of stuff I never really used but felt like I had to have just because I'd been told to.

This time round I was abit more savvy and didn't make any unnecessary purchases, instead sticking with the things I'd tried and tested for myself the first time round.

So here's my list of essentials - stuff we actually used!

Asda Little Angels Newborn Nappies - At half the price of Pampers, I really don't think you can beat the Little Angels range of nappies. They are soft on bums and sizes 0-2 even come with a freedom section at the navel to protect the umbilical area which can be extra sensitive in the first few months.
Hayley Westenra - Hushabye CD - This is a bit of a random one but Erin really reacts to music and I found that this CD, which is a collection of gorgeous lullabies, really soothes her if she's tired. Our favourite is Hayley's rendition of Brahms Lullaby!
Kinder Valley Nursing Pillow - This was on offer for £9.99 in Asda so I picked one up thinking I'd use it for feeding Erin. I haven't actually used it for that purpose but we do use it to prop her up in if she's on the bed or playmat. She likes to be able to see everything and it's a bit better for her than being flat on her back! It's also good for practising tummy time.
Silver Cross Isofix - We bought ours when Elliot was a baby and couldn't be without it now. Initially we thought we could just make do without one and save ourselves some money. But after getting drenched one too many times as we faffed about strapping the carseat in we decided to invest...and I'm glad we did! It's so quick and easy, it literally takes a second to pop the seat into the mount and it makes things so much easier when trying to get the carseat in in the dark!
Sudocrem - Love this product! I'd never used it before having kids, now I've always got a pot stashed away for emergencies. It's great that it's multipurpose, for instance it works really well on nappy rash but also, I used it after my c-section which really helped. Also good for sunburn!
Professional Photos - These days most of us have decent cameras on our phones but I think it's lovely to have some professional pics done of baby, especially in the early days when they are so small and squishy. A very talented lady called Samantha Prewett did ours and I'm so pleased, I would never have been able to achieve this using my camera and (lack of) skills! She even wrote about the shoot on her blog.
Babymoov Changing Bag - I initially bought a cheap changing bag on Amazon to use with Erin but you really do get what you pay for as it broke within a few weeks. My husband took pity on me and treated me to a lovely Babymoov bag for Mother's Day and I love it! It's got loads of pockets which I love and I can fit so much in there..which is very important when you have kids. (one pocket is just for snacks alone!)
Neutral 0% Baby Products - We were sent some of these to review for the blog but I really like them and will definitely continue to use on Erin. I like that they are specifically for sensitive skin so I know that her soft delicate newborn skin is having anything too harsh on it.
Tommee Tippee Perfect Prep Machine -  The prep machines have had a lot of bad press recently after some customers found mould in their machine's pipes. We checked ours for mould and it was fine...phew! I love the prep machine, it's so handy for making bottles and a god send in the middle of the night when you have a screaming hungry baby! I only wish we'd had one when Elliot was a baby! I'm a big fan of the Tommee Tippee products and other essentials we use are the bottles and electric steriliser.

What was your number one essential item for a newborn?!

Halloween Party Essentials and Giveaway!

The leaves are falling, there's a chill in the air, the evenings are drawing in....it can mean only one thing, Halloween is just around the corner! If you're planning to throw a Halloween party for your little ones, take a look at my party essentials for some ideas....

1. Chewits Chewmix and Vampire Fangs* - You can't have a Halloween party without sweets and these spooky Chewits are perfect for little ghouls with a sweet tooth!
2. Wizard Finger Wraps with Grunge Dip* - These gruesome 'wizard fingers' can be made using Mission Deli Wraps and are a great way to get the kids involved in the party preparations. See here for the full recipe
3. Halloween Costumes by Tu @ Sainsburys - When I was a kid, our costumes were made using black binliners and a cheap witches hat but these days, children are spoilt for choice with ready made costumes! Sainsburys have the best outfits for a range of ages and we always buy Elliot's costume here. They are great value, especially when the 25% offer is on!
4. Fiendish Fancies by Mr Kipling - These spooky orange fancies are a great take on one of my favourite cakes and would look frightfully good at any Halloween party
5. Giant Spider - Poundland £1 - I've got a bit of an obsession with Poundland, I love it! I went in to check out their Halloween section last week and I was absolutely blown away by their range. They have literally everything you could need to throw a Halloween party, and all for a pound obviously! I stocked up for Elliot's forthcoming spooky birthday party but I'm going to pop back this week and pick up a couple of these giant spiders, you can't go wrong for the price!
6. Zippo Candy Apple Red Candle Lighter* £13.75 - I don't like using matches around Elliot and keep them on a high shelf but this candle lighter is a great alternative for lighting your pumpkins. Love the colour of this and also love that is has a child-resistant safety button!
7. Kids Halloween Party Music £5.99 - To really set the scene at your party you need one of these spooky CDs! Featuring songs such as Ghostbusters, Monster Mash and I Put a Spell on You this is bound to get your little monsters dancing.
8. Tobar Clockwork Zombies* - For a fun alternative to sweets, Tobar has a great selection of Halloween toys featuring items like the clockwork zombies, jumping spiders, bouncing eyeballs and my personal favourite...Spew Balls! Tobar have given me a bundle of these to give away so see below for details on how to win!
9. Huggies Style on The Go Wipes* - You're going to need something to clean the sticky fingers and faces of your Halloweenies after all the treats so this is a must for any party!

I love Halloween and whilst Elliot is too young for trick or treating, we always get together with our friends for a little party for the kids. And in fact, this year Elliot has requested a spooky birthday party so I get to re-use all my Halloween decorations a month later to celebrate his 3rd birthday!

To win a selection of Halloween toys from Tobar (as seen here) , please follow the Rafflecopter details below - UK Residents only

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*Disclaimer - Some of the items were provided to me for the purpose of this blog post

Flying Long Haul with a Toddler

We will be flying to Florida in a few weeks time and aside from the excitement, I'm a little nervous about the 10 hour flight with a toddler! We've flown with Elliot before (last year) but he was under 2 then and sat on our laps. It was also only a 4 hour flight and he slept most of the way. I think this flight may be a little different!

We are flying to Florida with Virgin so we know there will be plenty of things to watch on the seat-back TV but I have a bag of tricks that will hopefully keep Elliot entertained for most of the journey...

Books

The most important items for a long journey - sticker books! I've packed three but I might add to this, they are just such a great thing for entertaining kids. Elliot likes the ones such as the Usborne ones where you have to stick the right items within the right scenery. 

"Let's Play Diggers" book - these magnet books are great for travelling and it's a bit more exciting than a standard book which will get read once or twice and then forgotten about! 

"The Rabbit who wants to fall asleep" - I've heard lots of things about this book so I had to buy to see if it actually worked. I tried it once and it failed spectacularly - Elliot was more interested in leaping off the sofa! We may need to take drastic measures to get Elliot to nap on the plane so I'm willing to give it another go...

iPad and Headphones

I'll be loading the iPad up with various CBeebies programmes which I'll remember to download a few days before we leave (not on the morning we're due to leave!) and I've also got a couple of albums on standby on my iPod which Elliot likes to listen to in the car. The headphones are a real novelty for him so I'm hoping we can whack on some bedtime stories and he'll doze off ;)

Games

It's a bit tricky with games because Elliot isn't quite 3 yet so alot of games are far too complicated or he just loses interest quickly. I picked up dinosaur top trumps and thought although he's too young to play properly, he might enjoy looking at the pictures of the dinosaurs!

"100 Things for little children to do on a journey" - Picked this up from Amazon and thought out of 100 things, there will hopefully be a few that Elliot enjoys!

Activity Flash Cards - Elliot loves to learn and these flash cards are wipe clean which means we can use them again and again. 

Snacks 

10 hours is a long time and I'll be packing enough snacks to tide us over until the next mealtime. Nothing that can melt or will get messy but healthier things such as Bear Paws, biscuits and oaty bars. Humzingers are a perfect snack for taking with us - individually wrapped with no added sugar and they also count as 1 of your 5 a day. 

Cartons of juice - I'm going to try and time one of these with take-off so it will stop Elliot's ears from popping. 

Arty Fun

Play Doh might seem like a crazy thing to take on a plane but we can get at least half an hour of entetainment from these little pots! I've packed a couple of cutters too but I'm sure we'll end up making multi-coloured sausages.

Crayons - an obvious choice but looking at all this stuff I realise I haven't packed a colouring book, doh!

Bribery

If all else fails, I have three of these bad boys to break out!! A plastic egg containing a little packet of jelly beans, some stickers and some kind of plastic tat - Elliot loves them! 

What are you essentials for keeping little ones amused on long journeys? 

Back to School - Preschool Essentials

It doesn't seem possible but Elliot is starting pre-school in September. He will be going two mornings a week and he is very very excited. Although for me, the thought of him growing up and getting close to actual school age makes me want to blub!!

Here's my list of our essentials for pre-school -

(You may notice a theme amongst these items but Elliot is dinosaur crazy at the moment and I don't see the obsession ending anytime soon!)

Stomp Dinosaur shoes - Clarks £34 /  Navy Dinosaur Applique Jeans - Debenhams £14 / Dinosaur Backpack - Kidorable £18.98

Navy Dinosaur Fleecy Raincoat - Debenhams £18 / Dino Wellies - The Elements £9.95

Dinosaur Height Chart Tshirt - JoJo Maman Bebe £15 / StickEasy Clothing Labels - Easy2Name £4.95 (from) / Navy Dinosaur Print Tshirt - George £3

1. I guess shoes are a must for a new school year! It won't be long before Autumn arrives so he won't be able to wear his plimsolls for much longer so these are perfect. Clarks may be a little pricy but the quality is great and I love the dinosaur print on the soles of the shoe

2. Goodbye to summer and hello to long trousers - love these jeans and the dinosaur applique

3. Elliot will need to take a little rucksack with him to store the very important change of clothes! This one reminds me of the one Andy uses on his Dinosaur Adventures which is sure to prove popular with Elliot :)

4. A raincoat is always an essential but this one is fleecy lined so will be perfect for when the weather starts to turn colder and Elliot is playing outside

5. Elliot's pre-school do lots of playing outside and go on various walks/trips so wellies are definitely an essential for the ever changing weather! 

6. Good to have some new clothes for the start of a new season and this long sleeved t-shirt goes great with the dinosaur jeans

7. Everything needs to be labeled of course and I don't fancy sewing much so these easy stick ones look perfect!

8. Another dinosaur t-shirt to add to the collection, this one a short sleeved incase we get a late Summer heatwave! 

What are your back to school essentials?

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