Poundland Wonderland - Christmas 2014

I have some lovely Poundland Christmas items to share with you that I've been using to create our Poundland Wonderland - proof that you can create a lot of magic on a small budget!

Check out the Snowman and Father Christmas shaped balloons - pack of 10, and the christmas Penguin LED light - My little boy loves the penguin! - also the blank card people shapes are going to be used next week for my little people to create their own festive characters. 

Anywhere offering kids books for £1 is a winner - we chose The Nutcracker, there was a lovely selection available including The Night Before Christmas. 

Star and Snowman tree decorations come in packs of 3. 

LED tealights - 4 in a pack - I grabbed a few packs as these look great in our fireplace and I have a few festive tealight holders - I'd rather have the LED ones while the children are small. The felt Snowflake garland is lovely - and you thread it yourself so you can still feel "creative"!

Make your own kits to keep the little people busy next week! - both come with everything you need - including details like pre-punched holes and a plastic needle!

Red star lights and the felt Merry Christmas banner.

Ready for entertaining! Pack of 2 cloth scandinavian inspired place mats, paper napkins, pack of 2 plastic table cloths and a mega pack of party straws!

Shhhh - battery supply ready for all the new "batteries not included" toys and some stocking fillers - massive tubes of smarties and a sweet little pony for Meg. 

Love this wooden star decoration with felt, tartan and a finishing button - available in a pack of 3.

Gotta have some candy canes! - pack of 12.

This lovely snowman decoration comes in a pack of 3

Absolutely love this wooden, felt covered sign - and the felt snowflake and Merry Christmas banners. 

#poundlandwonderland 

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Emma in Bromley xx

*disclaimer- Poundland sent me a voucher to spend in the Bromley store so that I was able to review their Christmas Range and take part in the Poundland Wonderland blogger challenge.

The Treesie

Christmas is all about the Christmas Tree selfie (aka the #Treesie!) so I received  a little gift from the B&Q Press Office to create the perfect treesie - a box full of gold decorations, tinsel (tinsel was confiscated as Meg kept being naughty with it - I'm talking self strangulation, snapping it and eating it), fairy lights and some sprite to add to the tree's water to act as "food" and hairspray - to help stop the needles falling - although I didn't try this tip - I have done the lemonade one! 

I'm really excited because this is our first christmas in our new home, our forever home, and its also our first real tree in 6 christmases! Hope you like our tree - it might not be the most stylish but ours is very colourful it is full of decorations made by the children or things we've collected on our adventures - such as the penguin from New York City which I bought when I was pregnant with Blake - little did I know that his favourite animal would be the Penguin!

This is my Treesie

And these are some of the B&Q Christmas decorations :) 

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Share your #treesie

http://instagram.com/p/wmEFwKuzvw/

Emma in Bromley xx

The blog post full of Elephants! En Gry and Sif

I'm a fan of En Gry & Sif, a brand from Denmark which is just full of gorgeous scandinavian handmade wooly and felt goodness - and I'm excited to spot them on offer until friday - the collection and offers feature far more than just elephants by the way ...  I simply wanted to highlight the elephants because I actually woke up with elephants on the mind this morning (whole other story!)... and who doesn't love a Nellie!

Elephant bag with four baby elephants usually £42 on offer at £21.99

Circus Elephant usually £31 on offer at £16.99

Set of Circus Puppets usually £9 on offer at £7.99

Knitted elephant in a crown jumper usually £21 on offer at £12.99

Knitted elephant in a pink dress and crown usually £21 on offer £12.99 

Blue felt elephant basket usually £37 on offer at £17.99

Pink elephant felt basket usually £37 on offer at £17.99

Green felt basket usually £37 on offer at £17.99

Carry along circus with figures usually £42 on offer at £21.99

Blue elephant bag usually £17 on offer at £10.99

Green elephant usually £18 on offer at £10.99

Happy Elephant Shopping!

Emma in Bromley xx

Christmas and Winter Craft - Marshmallow Snowmen

I can't claim this idea - it's one I Pinched from one of the school fair crafts!

I thought it would be the perfect craft for a Christmas dinner table setting to keep little ones occupied while all the food is being set out, served up or between courses.

Or an idea to bank for the colder wet days when something is needed to stop the kids from suffering cabin fever, or like in our house these past few weeks - you have poorly kids!

You'll need:

Icing sugar

A biscuit - we had a gingersnap

A big marshmallow 

A small marshmallow 

Sweeties for decorating (smarties for buttons, chocolate drops for eyes, edible ribbon strips or strawberry laces for scarf , small red nerds to make a mouth etc)

A hat - ours is a chocolate button with a liquorice alsort stuck on top.

Matchmaker (you can buy a bag of mini matchmakers!) for arms

You can be as creative as you like with your snowman!

Whilst Blake was making his - 1 smartie, the scarf (ribbon sweetie) and all the red mouth nerd dots somehow disappeared! 

Emma in Bromley xx

Christmas Gift Guide 2014 - Part 2

I can't believe how fast Christmas is coming - I've been working on my Christmas gift guides since July - I've already published part 1 and a separate one I created for Joules and Ta Da! Here is part 2 - grab a cuppa and get inspired because if you are anything like me, I know you are probably only half way through your shopping!

HEXBUG have been on the horizon for me for a little while now, Blake is 5 and HEXBUG are officially on his radar! Absolutely love this very clever HEXBUG Aquabot 2.0 - He's intelligent so you can leave him in the tank and he will switch off when you are no longer playing with him - he swims at different speeds at will so very entertaining and I love how the HEXBUG Aquabot 2.0 is described as part pet, part toy - look out for the packs that come with a fish bowl to keep him in.

http://www.hexbug.com/aquabot/

Bee Good Hand Repair and Lip Balm set  - This was the first time I have used this brand but they are fast becoming a favourite - I love the philosophy behind the brand and they are paraben (and other nasties) free - the hand repair is a godsend for me at the moment - a change in season always leaves me with dry hands! This is a lovely gift set and smells divine! http://beegood.co.uk/

Beautifully scented Frankinsence and Myrh marble candle from local Arcadian Candles is the perfect aroma to use over the festivities - there is a wonderful range available - the marble candles are really special. http://arcadian-candles.co.uk

In The Night Garden Hair Accessories and Jewellery are bright and colourful rubbersied wonders to entertain your littlest girly and her dressing up games - available from amazon. 

Roald Dahl is still a big hit with children of all ages and I can't wait to get stuck into The BFG! Roald Dahl Scrumdiddlyumptious bookset from The Works 

This Flo -Jo Knicker making kit is sure to bring a smile to the face - a humours gift that is also beautiful is hard to find indeed! Pretty vintage fabric and everything you need to make your own pair of fancy pants http://flo-joboutique.co.uk/

Love this silver mock crock glamourous Party Planning book from Mums Office - brilliantly considered layout for mums to use for planning and recording all your entertaining with friends and family.  Dinner parties, family gatherings and kids birthday parties this book is a lovely momento http://www.mumsoffice.co.uk/products/stationery/mumspartybook.html

Sugru is one of my favourite fix it items - it's like plasticine that sets as hard rubber - you can use it to customise, fix and make things! It is a parent staple for repairing toys and I'm loving these handy stocking filler little tins featuring new colours! The website is loaded with ideas and the fix it advent calendar on the site is full of things you'd never think of! http://sugru.com/

A Father Christmas dolly to snuggle up to has been the perfect addition to our living room and my three year old loves him to bits - my five year old doesn't get a chance to play with him! He's a good size and very cuddly - he's well made with great attention to detail such as his little belt buckle. http://www.happydayskids.co.uk/Christmas-toys-and-gifts.html

For the youngest family members, these wonderful In The Night Garden lullaby toys are brilliant! Glowing Bedtime Makka Pakka plays melodies as his tummy runs through a gentle sequence of colourful light while Lullaby Igglepiggle plays lullaby and ITNG music whilst gently moving his head to the music and playing a light sequence in his cheeks. http://www.goldenbeartoys.com/collections/in-the-night-garden?view=all

This amazing cola shaped clock was intended as a kitchen accessory but has become a feature in my husband's man cave (garage) - a brilliant gift if you are looking for something unusual - there's also an Ice-cream shaped clock - which I might buy for the kitchen seeing as I've lost this one to the garage! from Red Candy http://www.redcandy.co.uk/product-newgate-cola-bottle-wall-clock.php

I'm a fan of solar powered anythings and I love this sweet frog water feature, he gently babbles away when a beam of sunlight directly hits the solar panel - took moments to set up and is a wonderful feature i our garden where we've had a few wintery sunbeams breaking through the clouds and hitting the solar panel. http://www.primrose.co.uk/ceramic-frog-solar-water-feature-p-47524.html

We spotted this wonderful Le Toy Van doctors set at the toy fair earlier this year and loved it - its also won awards and its clear to see why - this lovely set is well made and all the medical instruments are wooden toys with sweet details like a clicky lid on the tablet bottle, the set all packs away into a bright red doctors bag.

Absolutely adore these laser cut printed acrylic charms from Craft Jam  - the horse has been customised to read Ridey - my 3 year old daughter's imaginary horses name, and the blue Swallow is simply lovely! http://craftjam.co.uk/

Jigsaws make great gifts - my children love them and we have a lot of jigsaws - they always enjoy them and some of them can be quite challenging - I actually found this one to be a challenge! 4 shaped Wentworth Wooden Jigsaws in one bag - these are really good quality and feature quirky little "whimsy" pieces that my children loved - ohhh and the wood smell that greats you when you first open the box is wonderful! http://www.jigsaws.co.uk/bestsellers/692507.htm

Hee Hee - how sweet are these Warmsters monster gloves! these ones might actually stay put during the winter! Available in a selection of colours and sizes, these would make a great secret santa or stocking filler! http://www.warmsters.com/

Anyone who reads my blog will have noticed I often feature the lovely little alien - Q Pootle 5 and we were delighted with the special Christmas DVD Q Pootle 5 Pootle All the Way - perfect for a christmas movie for those little people in our lives!

Last Christmas I got a Dolce Gusto coffee machine - it's been used pretty much every day since and has been brilliant for all our guests since we moved house in the summer - I'm loving the latest two models - the Jovia and the Oblo machines - 15 Bar Pressure so you get a great cuppa :-)

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Emma in Bromley xx

Disclaimer: Some of these items have been sent to me for the sole purpose of reviewing them, some specifically for this post, some I've featured in the past, some items are my very own personal christmas shopping which I just wanted to share, some are loan items which I've returned and some brands have sent me lovely thank you gifts for including them. I haven't received any money for this blog post.