School Bag Review: Futliit LED Backpack

We were sent a Futliit LED Backpack for review. All images and opinions are our own.

When my son started high school in September, there were many things I worried about, not least him getting himself to school and back safely. Now that the nights have drawn in, that slight anxiety I have has been compounded and I knew I needed to do something other than wrap him in reflective strips. I did buy him a small wind up torch to carry, but then I heard about Futliit LED backpacks, looked at the website and I was completely won over.

The Futliit LED Backpack is genius. It’s a normal looking backpack, a great size for school and an unassuming design, but at the push of a hidden button, LED strips light up, making you visible as you walk home in the dark. Futliit’s light up backpack has two bright white LED light strips, which give you several lighting options (two flashing modes, one constant light and off). The bags also have reflective panels which add an extra layer of visibility.

The bag itself is available in a charcoal grey colour and is an excellent size for carrying all the books and stuff you need for high school. It’s big enough for a laptop too. There’s a smaller front pocket which also has a key holder, which is an absolute must for my boy who has dyspraxia. He loves his key holder, which means his keys never go missing in the dark depths of his bag. There are also two side pockets for bottles of water, should he need them. It’s a very well designed bag.

School Bag Review: Futliit LED Backpack

I’ve been a big fan of backpacks since I was at school. I don’t drive, so I’m reliant on public transport or just walking to places, so it’s just easier for me to use a backpack. Because I use one every day, I am fussy about what I want in a bag. The Futliit LED Backpack is an excellent design, roomy, padded for comfort, and has lots of useful pockets, and that’s before you get to the LED lights!

When I first got my hands on the backpack, I didn’t know where the on/off buttons were. The design is so clever, you’d never know it was a fancy light up bag until it was actually lit up. If you put the backpack on, then put your hands on the adjustable straps and run them down until you get to the fabric triangles where the straps meet the bag. Inside the triangles are the on/off buttons for the two LED light strips. Press once and you get a rapid flashing light. Press twice it is a slower flash and three times, you get a static light. If you press it a forth time, the light switches off. It’s so clever.

I confess, when I first received the bag and had a good look at it, I was sort of hoping my son would hate it and I could use it myself. It’s ideal for me to take to work. It’s comfortable to carry and has everything I’m looking for in a practical backpack. Alas, my son also had very similar thoughts, and as it was technically for him, I’ve graciously let him keep it; though I will be asking Father Christmas for one this year!

If I could change anything, it would be to add a few more colours of backpack to the range. I suspect the charcoal grey is a colour that won’t get you told off at school.

School Bag Review: Futliit LED Backpack

I love this bag, the Futliit LED Backpack is such a clever design. Clearly made my people who understand what a good backpack needs to be great. The LED lights are clear, bright and will probably save lives as people travel home from work and school in the dark.

Good quality backpacks which are able to cope with the rigours of daily use and school life are not cheap. I’ve bought cheap before and regretted it as the bag often falls apart within a month or so. The Futliit LED Backpack currently costs £79.99 from the website, though deals are occasionally available. I do think you get what you pay for. Knowing how quickly my son burns through cheaper shoes and bags, I think this is an investment in something he will use daily and which will hopefully last him a year or two.

The batteries are also pretty easy to change and there are instructions on how to do this on the Futliit website.

I’m so impressed with the Futliit LED Backpack. I know my son will use it every day and while it’s dark coming home from school. It’s a weight off my mind knowing he is that bit safer out there with this bag on his back.

For more information about Futliit LED Backpacks, visit their website.

Putting our new Katto santoku knife to the test

We were sent a Katto santoku knife for review. All images and opinions are our own.

I’ve just got back from a week in a holiday cottage in Wales. Getting away gives us the chance to shake off the 9 to 5 and spend more time doing the things we enjoy, like cooking. As a busy mum, our evening meals are hastily thrown together, and are designed to provide as much nutrition as possible, as quickly as possible. I am horribly bored of our mid-week meals, so a holiday is a chance to change gear and spend a bit more time in the kitchen cooking nice meals. The problem with holiday cottages is their kitchens can be basic, and their knives are invariably woeful. Whenever we go away, foodies that we are, we always pack a decent pan or two and a couple of good knives. Last week I packed our new Katto santoku knife, and we were determined to put it through its paces.

Putting our new Katto santoku knife to the test

When I left home, my Dad bought me a set of chef’s knives, and they’ve stood me in good stead for the last 20+ years. Occasionally I’ve bought a new knife but they never last, and if I’m honest, I think you need to spend good money to get good knives. I’ve been thinking about getting a Japanese style knife for a few years now, but I’ve struggled to find something which fit my budget and my knife-based needs.

Katto knives are handmade in the UK. Their knives combine super sharp Japanese steel blades with hand-carved wooden handles. They are beautiful, beautiful knives and just owning one makes me want to spend more time in the kitchen.

Putting our new Katto santoku knife to the test

The Katto website is full of great looking knives and other kitchen accessories. There’s also a knife quiz which can help you choose the right knife for you, something which I found really useful.

I opted for the Katto santoku knife which is a straight edged and ‘sheep’s foot’ blade. Santoku knives were originally designed to perform three tasks in Japanese kitchens – mincing, dicing and slicing. The Katto santokus come in three distinct handle styles – Henry (black walnut), Nala (beech) and Olivia (rosewood). I opted for the Henry, as I just liked the look of it. The price you pay for your knife depends on the finish you’re going for. I’d recommend also buying a scabbard for it, as it’s really sharp and it’s not a knife I’d like lurking in my kitchen drawer unsheathed.

Putting our new Katto santoku knife to the test

On holiday we ate incredibly well. I’m a veggie who probably doesn’t eat enough veg, so we spent many happy evenings in the kitchen chopping, slicing and dicing vegetables and creating wonderful dishes with them. From shakshuka, to Cantonese scrambled eggs, Thai green curry and simple but veg heavy pasta dishes. We ate and we ate well. Our Katto santoku knife was a revelation. It was so well balanced and comfortable to use. It was sharp and sliced through everything we put it to with ease. The Katto santoku knife was a joy to use, so much so that there was the occasional tussle over who got to chop and who got to stir.

You can see the knife in action over on Instagram here.

Putting our new Katto santoku knife to the test

Keeping a knife like this is good condition can be daunting, but they offer free sharpening in London, and you can always buy a whetstone from them. There are videos on their website which walk you through how to care for your knife and sharpen it when the time comes. It’s not the kind of knife you just throw in the dishwasher, just wash it gently with soap and water, dry it and pop it back in its scabbard for safe keeping.

I can’t say that this knife is going to revolutionise my mid-week meals, but it probably will speed up the process a little. I am hoping the knife will make our more leisurely weekend meals more enjoyable to prepare. It has changed how I view all the other knives in my drawer, and I suspect over time they will be replaced with other knives from Katto. If you spend any significant time cooking, then it’s a huge game changer to be using really good quality knives. I don’t think I can go back now.

For more information about Katto knives and their other kitchen accessories, visit their website.

Colour My Wall – wipe-clean vinyl posters to colour in

AD/Gifted. A few years ago we transformed the nursery into a proper bedroom for the boy. We painted a wall blue and covered it in glow in the dark stars and planets. Ever since we have been adding space themed accessories. It’s a lovely room and when it’s tidy, it’s a really inviting, fun place to hang out. Over the weekend we’ve added a new, out of this world decoration; we put up a wipe clean, vinyl colour in poster from Colour My Wall.

Colour My Wall are an independent family owned business based in Ottershaw Surrey. They have created a range of vinyl prints which you can colour in and wipe clean. It is designed to inspire children’s creativity and save your walls from being drawn on too much.

Colour My Wall - wipe-clean vinyl posters to colour in

There are a whole range of themes to choose from; from jungle, to fairy-tales; cats to under the sea; space and much, much more. Each design is hand drawn and lovely, there’s lots of detail and lots of fun things to colour in. Prices start at £49.

The Colour My Wall vinyl posters come with easy instructions on how to put it on the wall. They don’t come with pens, and you will need to use dry wipe markers which can be rubbed off. We picked up a set of pens from Tesco for a couple of pounds. The pens wipe off really well and leave no residue.

Colour My Wall - wipe-clean vinyl posters to colour in

The poster was really easy to put up, it did take two pairs of hands and if you don’t get it right, or you need to move it to another wall, it just peels off and is easily reapplied elsewhere.

It took us minutes to put the poster up. When my son saw it, it was instant love. He busily got to work colouring it in and then rubbing it out again, refining his work. It’s such a brilliant idea and as long as you use the dry wipe markers, you can colour it in forever. What’s also great, is that when the kids grow, you can peel the poster off the wall and stick it back on, just a bit higher up.

The Colour My Wall vinyl posters are also really good for –

Helps develop children’s fine motor skills
Helps develop hand eye co-ordination
Can help increase attention span and concentration levels
Aids children passion for colouring and art
Helps children identify objects and animals
Helps inspire children’s imagination
Offers hours of fun and enjoyment.

I just think these posters are such a great idea. I’ve had years of scrubbing at walls which have been scrawled on. I think had he had one of these he might have channelled his inner artist away from the hallway and onto the poster in his room. I also think the space themed poster is fabulous. There’s so much detail to colour in and enjoy and it looks so good in his room.

Colour My Wall - wipe-clean vinyl posters to colour in

If you want to try a Colour My Wall poster for yourself, I have a discount code which is valid until 31st July 2019. Grab 25% off all purchases from Colour My Wall by entering Hodgepodge25 at the checkout.

Disclosure: We were sent a poster from Colour My Wall for review purposes. All images and opinions are our own.

Subscription Box Review: Little Cooks Co – healthy kids cooking kits

AD/Gifted. The boy and I are keen cooks. We love baking cakes and treats together and he’s started helping out with the occasional evening meal. It can sometimes be hard to come up with something new, exciting and within his skill-set to make or bake. So this week we’ve been trying the Little Cooks Co – healthy kids cooking kits.

Subscription Box Review: Little Cooks Co - healthy kids cooking kits

The Little Cooks Co healthy kids cooking kits are monthly subscription boxes delivered to your door. Each one contains an easy to follow baking recipe created by a registered nutritionist; plus all the dry organic ingredients you need to make the recipe, perfectly measured out. Each box also contains an additional recipe for a family meal that kids would love to cook and eat.

The box we received contained the recipe and the ingredients to make Lemon and Poppy Seed Balls. The recipe is described as “zingy energy balls to put a spring in your step”. The box contained all of the dry ingredients, we just had to add lemons, vanilla essence, butter and honey.

The recipe was really easy to follow, though with all recipes, it’s a good idea to read it through at least once before you begin and to get everything you need together. My son is pretty impatient, so I like to be organised before I start any baking or craft with him. The recipe card helpfully lists all the equipment you will need too, so getting organised is a piece of cake.

Subscription Box Review: Little Cooks Co - healthy kids cooking kits

The recipe was very easy to follow, I read out the instructions and he did everything he was asked to do. The one thing he wasn’t keen on was shaping the balls by hand, so that’s something I did, but he enjoyed everything else, especially using the food processor.

For me, the Lemon and Poppy Seed Balls were a bit dense for my tastes, but he really enjoyed them and ate three in one go. They’re packed full of good, healthy stuff including walnuts, cashew nuts, dates and poppy seeds – I would never have got him to eat any of those things otherwise!

Previous recipes include strawberry bombs, cinnamon swirls and homemade snickers bars made with natural ingredients. I feel the boxes are good value at £8.99 each. They contain just the right amount of ingredients you need for the recipe, this is great because having to buy a bag of dates, a bag of walnuts and a bag of cashews, as well as all the rest of the ingredients would cost much more than the cost of the box.

Subscription Box Review: Little Cooks Co - healthy kids cooking kits

We have definitely been inspired to make something similar in future. I think The Little Cooks Co subscription boxes are a great way to expand our culinary horizons! The boxes cost £8.99 per month including postage (though you can get your first box for just £6.99 using code BOX1 at checkout). For more information, take a look at their website.

Disclosure: We were given a Little Cooks Co subscription box for review purposes. All images and opinions are our own.

Subscription Box Review: Willow and Wild Box

AD/Gifted. The boy and I love our after school craft sessions. We try to craft and create together at least once a week. Sometimes I do struggle to come up with something new to do with him, but this week we received a Willow and Wild Box full of crafts, recipes, gardening and outdoor activities to enjoy together.

The Willow and Wild Box is a monthly subscription box designed for 3 – 8 year olds. It’s packed full of gardening, craft, cooking and outdoor activities and it’s delivered straight to your door. Every box is inspired by nature, with the aim of getting children exploring the outdoors and learning about how things grow, the changing seasons, healthy eating, and life-cycles.

Subscription Box Review: Willow and Wild Box

Willow and Wild offer two types of subscriptions, the ‘Letterbox’ subscription and a ‘Bumper Box’. The boxes include at least two craft projects, vegetable and flower seeds with step by step planting and growing instructions; an outdoor activity, a recipe card and much more! If you don’t have a garden, that’s no problem either, all the seeds they send can be grown in containers, or on a windowsill. The bumper boxes include a selection of extra craft and growing activities.

They offer four different subscription terms, 3 months (£27 for 3 months, £9 per box), 6 months (£51 for 3 months, £8.50 per box) and 12 months (£87 for 3 months, £7.25 per box), as well as the month by month box which costs £9.75. Obviously the longer your subscription, the better value the boxes are.

Subscription Box Review: Willow and Wild Box

We received the April box which was packed with things to do. In the box was a range of nature based activities…

Make an owl mask
Fascinating Owl facts
Make a leaf and flower mask
Make a nature peg doll
Go on a woodland walk spotter for your nature journal
Ideas for games to play in the woods
Spot the difference
Woodland word search puzzle
Bird and egg identification
Tomato and Nasturtium seeds
Tomato sauce and tomato pizza recipe cards

Although my son was at the upper end of the age range these boxes are aimed at, he really loved getting his own personalised post. The box was small enough to slip through your average letterbox, so I was not expecting it to contain as much as it did do.

We went through the box and decided to get cracking with the crafts, exploring the garden, we found a selection of leaves to decorate the peg doll and masks. We had a happy hour sat at the kitchen table quietly making some nature crafts from the Willow and Wild box.

Subscription Box Review: Willow and Wild Box

There is lots in the box to entertain. If you can sit down and properly go through the box when it arrives and plan to do different activities on different days, you’ll get lots out of it. The Willow and Wild box is a great starting point if you’re wanting to incorporate more nature activities into your week. The boxes contain everything you need, so they would be ideal for taking with you on weekends away.

We really liked our Willow and Wild Box; it’s just the thing if you’re in need of a bit of inspiration. The box is small, but really packed with a good variety of things to do. This would make a lovely gift for a creative child. It’s age appropriate; my 8 year old got an awful lot out of it and would very much like a subscription, we will have to see what the birthday fairy brings!

For more information about Willow and Wild subscription boxes, visit their website.

Disclosure: We were sent this for review purposes. All images an opinions are our own.

Baking in style with Babahoot Personalised Aprons

We were sent this Babahoot Personalised Apron for review purposes. All images and opinions are our own.

Over the last few months we’ve managed to shed some of my son’s after school activities and we now get to spend three after school afternoons together each week. For me these are precious hours together. Sometimes we do some homework or reading and sometimes we grab a bag of popcorn and watch a film together. On at least one of these three afternoons a week, we put on our aprons and bake together.

I love baking anyway, but baking with him is a lot of fun too. It’s lovely to be able to work with him, teaching him some baking basics and pulling delicious cakes and treats out of the oven. He’s really starting to get the hang of it lately and we’ve made some brilliant cakes.

Baking in style with Babahoot Personalised Aprons

Being 8, he is instinctively quite messy in his baking habits. He’s always missing the bowl when he’s tipping the flour in; or pulling the electric hand mixer out while it’s still going – and splattering cake batter all over himself and the kitchen. He lives to lick the spoon and scrape the bowl, but then, so do I.

Last week we were sent an absolutely gorgeous handmade personalised apron from Babahoot. Babahoot make personalised aprons and chef hats, pencil cases, toy storage trugs and knitting bags in their workshop in rural Herefordshire. Every item is made to a unique Babahoot design and finished with bright individual appliqués. They can be personalised with names and they are constructed with strong overlocked seams and good quality, brightly coloured fabrics.

Baking in style with Babahoot Personalised Aprons

Ben was sent this beautiful design, covered in cars, with a handy pocket and a comfortable elasticated neck strap. He put it on and immediately said it was awesome, which is praise indeed. This design, which was specially made for his 8 year old body, using a fabric he would love and personalised with his name cost £18, which is good value for such a high quality, bespoke item.

Children’s aprons are always a godsend; whether you’re baking or crafting, or doing any number of messy things, an apron is a huge step towards keeping him clean and tidy. This apron is so colourful and appealing, he wants to wear it, which is half the battle towards cleanliness!

Baking in style with Babahoot Personalised Aprons

If you’re looking for a lovely homemade, personalised gift for a child, you can find the Babahoot aprons and more on ETSY.

Review: Valley Mill Christmas Candles

We were sent a selection of candles from Valley Mill for review purposes. All images and opinions are our own.

As soon as the clocks go back at the end of October, I start lighting scented candles in the evening. There’s something about having a few flickering candles which make the place feel cosier and warmer. As November moves into December, the candles I burn move from autumnal apples and cinnamon to Christmassy scents. This week I’ve been burning three new scents from Valley Mill in Wales, and very lovely they are too.

Year round, Valley Mill sell their popular range of Tapestry Tin candles in a variety of different scents. Each candle has a 30 hour burn time and they have been handmade in Wales using the finest quality soy wax. This gives them a longer burn time and better scent throw.

Review: Christmas Candles from Valley Mill

Each tin costs £10.95 and they come is a range of different scents. I’ve been burning three of the Christmas scents and although it’s only November, they’ve been really putting me in the mood for Christmas!

Holly Berry – This is a really festive candle. Take the lid off the tin and you can smell Christmas trees and holly wreaths and all things good about Christmas. This would be great to burn in the same room as your tree, especially if you’ve got an artificial one. The holly berry tapestry tin candle is probably my favourite!

Chestnuts – Chestnuts roasting on an open fire is one of the iconic scents of Christmas. This handmade soy wax candle is really evocative of roasted chestnuts. The smell of this lovely candle makes my mouth water. I really must buy some chestnuts this Christmas!

Cranberry Gin – This attractive candle is wrapped in a festive red tapestry print and when lit quickly fills the room with a fruity Cranberry Gin scent. It’s not overpowering and it’s actually quite a refreshing fragrance. It’s got festive hints, but you could happily burn this throughout autumn and into winter.

Review: Christmas Candles from Valley Mill

There are many more delicious sounding Tapestry Tin Candles in the Valley Mill range, including; Amaretto, Welsh Cake, Spiced Apple and Black Orchid.

The Valley Mill candles are well priced and would make a lovely gift for a candle lover. I really like these kinds of candles in tins, they’ve got just the right amount of burn time and I think tins look smart too.

For more information, visit the Valley Mill website.

Review: Sunday Lunch at The Courthouse, Knutsford

I love a good Sunday lunch. It’s not just the roast dinner with all the trimmings, but the sitting down with the family, eating and enjoying each other’s company which makes it special. Every few weeks we like to go out for Sunday lunch, for me it’s nice to eat something I’ve not cooked and for the boys, it’s nice for them to dodge washing up duty. With that in mind, we headed off to Barristers Restaurant & Bar at The Courthouse in Knutsford, Cheshire for Sunday lunch and a drive out in the country.