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

Halloween Essentials!

We have been going a bit Halloween crazy here lately and Elliot and I are itching to start decorating our house for the Halloween parties we are having in the half term break. There are so many spooky things to buy in the shops and I've really had to stop buying everything I see! 

If you're throwing a party this Halloween, here's some of our fave essentials we have spotted on our travels: 

1. Spider Cookies made with Skippy* peanut butter - these would make a fab addition to any Halloween spread and certainly look a lot tastier than a real spider! For the recipe, please see here
2. LED Candlesticks (£17.96) - These spooky skull candlesticks would look great on a mantlepiece but the great thing is the candles are LED so much much safer than regular candles.
3. Rust-oleum Glow in the Dark Spray Paint* - If you're feeling creative, you could make some really spooky things with this spray paint. I quite like the idea of spray painting some fake bones for Halloween so they glow up at our party! Looking out for a spooky craft based post coming very very soon featuring several different spray paints from Rust-oleum.
4. Halloween at Asda - The supermarket Halloween ranges seem to just get better and better and this year Asda have pulled out all the stops with their fancy dress costumes
5. Aldi Prisoner in Cage* (£8.99) - This is one of my favourite Halloween things we have this year and I can't wait to scare our friends at our parties! The skeleton prisoner looks perfectly normal sat in his cage but then when you press the button, he opens the bars and his head pops out! He says several different phrases and his eyes flash red - spooky!
6. Halloween inspired dyes from Dylon* - Dylon have created a colour wheel featuring lots of vivid spooky colours such as Velvet Black and Emerald Green - perfect if you prefer to make your own costumes. We are testing out some of these colours (right now in my washing machine!) so I'll be posting about these in the lead up to Halloween.
7. Ghost & Bat Cheesy Snacks from Poundland - I love Poundland for picking up snacks and treats for parties and I will definitely be getting some of these for our parties
8. Aldi Twisting Skeleton* (£7.99) - Aldi have such a brilliant range of Halloween items this year and this one is another cracker! Press the skeleton's foot and he dances to "Let's Twist Again!". This song has been stuck in my head since we got this because Elliot likes to set him off at least 5 times a day....let's twist again...like we did last Summer....!
9. Horror Pops from Original Candy Co Ltd* - Halloween and sweets go hand in hand and these detailed lollies would go down a treat with Trick or Treaters. Choose from three designs including skull head, skeleton and spider.

Do you celebrate Halloween? 

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

Party Bags and Supplies - Review

Recently I had the chance to review a party pack from Party Bags and Supplies and although Elliot had a birthday coming up, I decided to look for a party pack suitable for a little Halloween party we were planning for Elliot and a few of his friends.

Firstly, I was so impressed with the website - there is so much choice! Literally every single theme you could think of is there whether thats Gruffalo, superheroes, princesses, Disney, pirates and lots lots more. There were even two options for spooky party packs so I chose the 'Premium Boneyard Boogie Halloween Party Pack'. This pack contained the following:

- 8 cups
- 8 plates
- 16 napkins
- 1 tablecloth
- 8 pre-filled party bags containing a spooky sticker, skeleton noisemaker, evil eye jet ball, a spin top, a halloween tattoo and a chocolate ghost.

Photo Credit - Party Bags and Supplies

When the pack arrived it was well packaged and I immediately noticed that the quality of the items was really good. I've bought party bits from the pound shop before and whilst it's cheap, you really do get what you pay for! The tablecloth was huge and really thick and I loved the spooky spiderweb pattern.

The party bags were great and I think it's such a good idea to be able to buy them ready made. I always find it a bit of a faff sorting out party bags and it can work out really expensive having to go and buy all the toys/sweets separately. So to have them ready made is a big bonus! The party bags were a big hit with our guests :)

The party packs cost £28 which I think is a fair price for what you get. You'd definitely spend more if you were to go out and buy all the bits separately and it's so convenient being able to buy it all in one go! I love the fact that there is so much choice and I will definitely consider buying from Party Bags and Supplies in the future.

Disclaimer: We received the party pack for the purpose of this 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!!