Review: Guess How Much I Love You Big Nutbrown Hare

#AD/Gifted. On 14th February 2011 I bought my three month old son a book; that book was Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney. Since then I have read the story of the big nutbrown hare and the little nutbrown hair to him regularly; and now he’s reading it to me. I confess, it’s virtually impossible for me to read it out loud without a lump appearing in my throat; I’m a big, big softie.

Guess How Much I Love You has grown and become part of the fabric of parenthood. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t told their children that they love them to the moon and back. It’s part of our bedtimes and our goodbyes and I’ll be sad when he stops sleepily whispering it to me.

For the last THREE YEARS I’ve asked for a Guess How Much I Love You Big Nutbrown Hare for Mother’s Day. I thought it would be a lovely gift; one which really meant something to both me and my son and a reminder of our ‘love you to the moon and back’ thing. But no, my endless hinting, sharing of links and asking outright has come to nothing. So I’ve gone rogue and got my own. I will wrap it beautifully, give it to my son the night before Mother’s Day and ask him to gift it to me first thing on Mothering Sunday.

The Big Nutbrown Hare is beautiful. It’s as beautiful and as soft and snuggly as I’d hoped. Big Nutbrown Hare is made from super soft plush with an adorable embroidered “I Love You” on his foot. His bottom is full of beans so he can sit perfectly on any surface. He’s suitable from birth, and also suitable for 42 year old women who have been asking for a Big Nutbrown Hare for THREE YEARS.

Review: Guess How Much I Love You Big Nutbrown Hare

Big Nutbrown Hare is keenly priced at £14.99 and part of a wider range of nursery products. Apparently the Guess How Much I Love You range is great for a baby’s nursery, or for giving to the people you love for Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day for example.

Big Nutbrown Hare is made by Rainbow Designs and is available from a wide range of retailers.

Disclosure: We were sent a Guess How Much I Love You Big Nutbrown Hare from Rainbow Designs for review purposes. All images and opinions are our own.

Card Game Review: Super Happy Families

Generations of children have grown up playing the card game Happy Families. It’s a real family classic, it’s easy to learn and play; very easily transported and fun too. This week we were sent a new version to play – Super Happy Families, but what did we think about it?

Super Happy Families is based on the traditional Happy Families card game, aimed squarely at families (who don’t need to be super to play). There are 44 cards in the pack, eight families to collect and four cards in each family group. Whoever gets the most groups first wins.

Card Game Review: Super Happy Families

To play, deal five cards to each player and put the rest of the cards face down in a pile the middle. As ever, the youngest player starts by asking another player if they have a member of a family they are holding in their deck. If they have a card or cards from that family, they hand them over and the player asks again until you ask and you draw a blank. When this happens it’s the next player takes their turn requesting cards. When a player has a full family they must put the 4 cards face down on the table in front of themselves. The player who collects the most sets is the winner!

Super Happy Families is illustrated by Kirsti Davidson, an illustrator and surface pattern designer based in Brighton. The illustrations bring this classic game right up to date. My son, a big superhero fan loved them. He thought they were “awesome” and he really loved that they were so out of this world.

Super Happy Families is a simple game, but simple is often the best. It’s packaged in a sturdy box which is just the right size to slip into a pocket or a bag. It’s a great game. If you love Happy Families, but want to mix things up a bit, Super Happy Families is well worth a try.

Super Happy Families is available from good toy shops and online and costs £9.99. For more information, visit the Laurence King website.

Disclosure: We were sent Super Happy Families for review purposes. All images and opinions are our own.

More than 10 reasons to go to Just So Festival 2019

AD/ This year the Just So Festival celebrates 10 years of festivaling in the UK. The Just So Festival has been a summer highlight for us for many years. Each year the festival gets bigger, better and bolder. They’ve just released their 2019 festival programme, so I’ve picked out slightly more than ten excellent reasons to go to the Just So Festival 2019.

More than 10 reasons to go to Just So Festival 2019

1/The Tribal Tournament

Underpinning the whole of the Just So Festival, the Tribal Tournament is an excellent excuse to dress up and buzz like a bumblebee, strut like a stag or flounce like a fox, or a fish. Each tribe picks up points over the weekend and only one team will be crowned kings of Just So 2019. Pick from owls, foxes, frogs, stags, lions, bees or fish. Dress up, or not, it’s all good fun. We’ve been bees the last two years, will we still be buzzing this year?

2/Campfire Stories with Ian Douglas

For me, the campfire is the beating heart of Just So. It’s a wonderful place to gather around the fire, listening to Ian’s seemingly endless repertoire of stories and chilling out for an hour or so. There’s always something going on around the campfire, see what tickles your fancy and plan a couple of visits there each day, you won’t regret it!

More than 10 reasons to go to Just So Festival 2019

3/Silent Disco

The Silent Disco was one of my absolute highlights from last year. Dancing around with our friends and family, all in headphones, all fairly tunelessly singing our hearts out and dancing our socks off. Brilliant fun and genuinely hilarious. Dig out your dancing shoes and get down to the disco!

4/Fire Garden

New for 2019 is the Fire Garden. I’ve seen this at the Timber Festival and it’s an incredible sight. As the sun sets, the new orchard near the Social will be illuminated with an installation of metal and fire. Small cauldrons suspended in wondrous patterns will guide a path through the orchard. It’s a truly wondrous sight, not to be missed!

5/Boutique Camping

We always camp in our trusty tent, but we keep promising ourselves that one year we will push the boat out a little and stay in one of the yurts, bell tents, vintage tents, camping pods or new for this year – a Gypsy bowtop caravan! Although, if boutique camping isn’t for you, camping at Just So is nowhere near slumming it, with hot showers and nice toilets, there’s even a place you can bath your baby!

6/Weleda Treats and Treatments

As a busy mum, I always take time to slip away to the Weleda tent for a pampering hand massage and half an hour of festival tranquility. Visit the Weleda ‘Nice Cream Van’ on the Village Green to discover more about the amazing properties and powers of our native plants.

7/Lantern Parade

Over the weekend, take some time to make your own lantern from willow and paper; then join the lantern parade and light up the woods as you wind through the trees of Rode by night. It’s a beautiful sight and even more exciting if you’re in the thick of it.

8/The Big 10th Birthday Bake Off

Bring your very best homemade cake to the New Curiosity Shop on Friday before 6pm to enter. The best cake will win its baker a family weekend ticket for Just So Festival 2020! All of the entries will then make their way to the volunteer tent, as a special treat for the people who make the festival fabulous.

9/Wonderland

New for 2019 is the Wonderland stage, which first made its appearance at Timber Festival last year. Head into the woods to enjoy author talks, music workshops and night-time DJ sets in the intimate Wonderland area.

More than 10 reasons to go to Just So Festival 2019

10/Hammer & Chisel

Wild play rules at Hammer & Chisel, a unique woodland playground. Under the supervision of our forest play experts, create your own world or add to what’s there using pallets, ladders and ropes; help put together a maze of walkways, dens and secret spaces. Pick up your tool of choice and get ready to build in the brilliant Spellbound Forest.

11/Best of the rest…

At the Just So Festival there’s so much to see and do, there are surprises around every corner and try as you might, it’s impossible to see and do everything you’d like to. Given the chance, you should also seek out Hope and Social, Bushcraft in the Spellbound Forest, The Moth Hotel, Circus Skills, Family Yoga, the Rowing Boats, Bollywood Dancing, David Gibb, Ghost Caribou, Bubble Hour, Midnight Feast, Ministry of Games and the biggest ever game of Pass the Parcel!

More than 10 reasons to go to Just So Festival 2019

Tickets for the Just So Festival special 10th birthday are selling fast. To celebrate its 10^thbirthday, Just So Festival are offering free weekend tickets to ten year olds. For more information or to book visit www.justsofestival.org.uk.

Just So Festival takes place on 16/17/18 of August 2019 at the Rode Hall Estate, Scholar Green, Cheshire.

Disclosure: We been offered tickets to the Just So Festival 2019 in exchange for a preview and an honest review.

Review: Beech’s Fine Chocolates Mini Eggs

AD/GIFTED The new range of Mini Eggs from Beech’s Fine Chocolates aren’t mini eggs as we know them, but small chocolate eggs which are excellent to scoff, or to decorate cakes with. With Easter rapidly approaching, I was sent some of their Mini Eggs to put to the test.

Review: Beech's Fine Chocolates Mini Eggs

The Beech’s Fine Chocolates Mini Eggs are available in three different flavours; dark chocolate fondant mini eggs; dark chocolate mint crisp mini eggs and milk chocolate caramel crunch mini eggs. Each pack contains six egg halves and costs £2.99 each.

Regular readers will know that I’m a keen baker, and these Beech’s Fine Chocolates Mini Eggs absolutely cry out to be used to decorate cakes and sweet treats with at Easter. They are a half egg, so have a flat side which makes them ideal for topping cakes and bakes with. I made a chocolate peppermint crunch and used the dark chocolate mint crisp mini eggs as decorations and my finished bake looked great. Plus the mint flavour really worked with my bake.

I tasted them all (for the sake of thoroughness) and my absolute favourite were the milk chocolate caramel crunch mini eggs. I’m not sure if it was the milk chocolate or the crunchy caramel pieces inside which did it for me. Either way the combination really hits the spot. My husband is a massive mint chocolate fan, so he liked the mint crisp eggs the best.

Review: Beech's Fine Chocolates Mini Eggs

Beech’s Fine Chocolates are made near Preston and many of their chocolates are vegan, vegetarian, gluten free and are palm oil free too. The fondant and mint crisp eggs are vegan, and the caramel crunch are vegetarian.

They’re a lovely grown up alternative to the traditional chocolate Easter eggs; they would make a nice treat to have after dinner with coffee. They’re not sickly sweet like some Easter eggs can be and they’re nicely priced; so would make a nice gift for a discerning chocolate lover this Easter.

For more information about Beech’s Fine Chocolates Mini Eggs, or to buy online, visit their website.

Disclosure: We were sent a selection of Beech’s Fine Chocolates for review purposes. All images and opinions are our own.

Brilliant Bakes: Green Velvet Cake

Red Velvet Cake has cornered the market in coloured cakes. It’s delicious, but why should Red Velvet have all the fun? This week I’ve been playing around with a recipe for Green Velvet Cake – just like Red Velvet, but green and just the thing for St Patrick’s Day.

Green cake might not be the first thing you think of if you’re baking for a celebration, but it’s certainly eye-catching and it’s absolutely a talking point. It tastes just like red velvet cake, but it’s green. It looks like it should be mint flavoured, if you want to add a few drops of peppermint flavouring then you could do.

Brilliant Bakes: Green Velvet Cake

I made some chocolate shamrocks and decorated my green velvet cake with them. It’s a very simple but effective way to decorate a cake and I’d recommend even novice bakers give it a try.

Green Velvet Cake

Ingredients:

2 eggs
235mls vegetable oil
235mls buttermilk
1 tablespoon of white vinegar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
Green food colouring
320g self-raising flour
260g caster sugar
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder

For the frosting:
250g cream cheese
250g icing sugar, sifted
110g unsalted butter

How to make Green Velvet Cake:

Pre-heat your oven to 180° and grease and line 3 8 inch cake tins.

Pour the eggs, oil, buttermilk, vinegar and vanilla into a large bowl and whisk to combine. Add a few drops of food colouring ad then sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder and baking powder into the bowl, mix well. Check you’re happy with the colour, if not, add a few more drops of colouring. Remember the shade will darken as it cooks, so don’t make the green too dark.

Pour the green cake batter into the three prepared cake tins. I usually weigh them to make sure they are more or less the same size.

Put the cakes in the oven for 18-20 minutes, until they’re cooked through. Once they’re baked, remove from the oven and leave to cool on a baking rack.

While they’re cooling you can make the frosting. Beat the cream cheese and butter together until light and fluffy, carefully sift in the icing sugar and combine well. Put the frosting in the fridge to firm up a little before using.

Brilliant Bakes: Green Velvet Cake

To put the green velvet cake together, level out the top of each cake by trimming off the top with a serrated knife, this is so they stack neater. Put a smear of icing on the bottom of your cake stand and put your first cake layer on, dollop on some frosting onto the top, spread it evenly over the layer and put the next cake on top of that. Frost the top of that layer, then turn the final cake upside down, so the top of the cake is absolutely flat. Cover the whole cake and sides with the remainder of the frosting and smooth it all over.

Decorate it however you like. I was making my green velvet cake for St Patrick’s Day, so I made chocolate shamrocks using a Cake Decor Milk Chocolate Writer tube which I’d found in Morrisons. It was really simple to use, I just made the shapes on baking paper, left them to set, peeled them off and put them on the cake. So simple and it looks pretty good too.

If you enjoyed this recipe, you might also like my Turkish Delight Cake.

Brilliant Bakes: Green Velvet Cake

FREE Printable: St Patrick’s Day Colouring Sheet

St Patrick’s Day is on the 17th March each year. In Ireland they have the Monday off as a Bank Holiday celebration. St Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland and his saints day is one of the most celebrated in the world.

The story goes that St Patrick came to Ireland to convert the pagan Irish to Christianity. Patrick’s efforts against the druids were eventually turned into an allegory in which he drove “snakes” out of Ireland. Ireland never really had any snakes but he’s well known for “driving the snakes out of Ireland” and is often pictured doing so.

St Patrick’s Day usually falls within the Lent period, which is known for fasting and abstinence. Traditionally, St Patrick’s Day was a day off from the Lenten fasting and is known for its boozy celebrations and general excess. St Patrick’s Day is celebrated all over the world and is perhaps the most celebrated Saints Day of all.

St Patrick’s Day is a day of celebration of all things Irish; with parades and festivals all across Ireland and beyond. For me, it’s a great excuse to bake some nice Irish style treats and to do some crafts with my boy. I’ve made this St Patrick’s Day colouring sheet for children to do. It’s free to download, so what are you waiting for?

Download your FREE St Patrick’s Day Colouring Sheet Here!

According to legend, St Patrick used the three-leaved shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to Irish pagans; which is why the shamrock is one of the most well known symbols of Ireland. The St Patrick’s Day custom of “drowning the shamrock” or “wetting the shamrock” was popular many years ago. At the end of the days celebrations, a shamrock is put into the bottom of a cup, which is then filled with whiskey, beer, or cider. A toast is then drunk to St Patrick, Ireland, or those present.

Sásta Lá Fhéile Pádraig!

If you enjoyed this, you might also like to make this paper shamrock craft.

FREE Printable: St Patrick's Day Colouring Sheet

FREE Printable: Pokemon Reading Log

Help to motivate your little Pokemon fans to read with this handy reading log. Just colour in a Pokeball for every book they read, or for every 20 minutes they read for and reward them with a little treat for completing the sheet!

If you’re the parent of a primary school aged child you will probably be tasked with listening to them read each night. We love listening to our son read and we love reading to him too. We regard it as a special quiet time where we sit together and get transported to another world.

It’s not all sitting on a magic carpet happily listening to a child read; sometimes it’s a bit harder to get him to read, especially if he’s not interested in the books he’s been sent home with. In those situations we usually promise the reading of a favourite book once the less exciting school reading has been finished. That way we get the best of both worlds.

Download your FREE Pokemon Reading Log here!

Our son is very motivated by rewards, it doesn’t have to be big; a sticker or 20p for his jar is very well received. He loves Pokemon so I devised this Pokemon reading log for him. If he reads for 20 minutes he gets to colour a Pokeball in. Or if he finishes a book within those 20 minutes he colours one in too.

Once he’s completed a sheet he gets a treat. Again it’s nothing huge; he might get to choose a Netflix film for us to watch with some popcorn, or he might get a trip out to his favourite local museum.

We’ve found that this Pokemon reading log really does help to motivate and encourage him to read. He’s obsessed with anything with Pokemon on, so this reading log is a real winner!

If you enjoyed this, you might also like this simple children’s book review template.

FREE Printable: Pokemon Reading Log

Review: Oi Frog Memory Card Game

AD/Gifted. When my son was starting to learn to read, one of the books which really (really, really) got him excited about reading was Oi Frog (swiftly followed by Oi Dog). Oi Frog is the award-winning storybook written by Kes Gray and it has been brought to life in this new and easy to play memory card game; the Oi Frog Memory Card Game.

Although the game is designed for pre-schoolers, improving my son’s memory is something the school have asked us to focus on at home. Memory games are ideal for giving all of our brains a bit of a workout.

Review: Oi Frog Memory Card Game

The Oi Frog Memory Card Game comes in a lovely illustrated tin. There are a number of sheets of cards which you pop out, as well as a card with the rules of the game on. There are 56 picture cards in the set. Each card has an Oi Frog illustration on and there are two of each one; so two frogs, two logs, two puffins and two muffins etc. Each card features the familiar illustrations from Oi Frog from illustrator Jim Field.

The game is incredibly simple to play; turn all the cards picture side down, then take it in turns to find a matching, or rhyming pair. By rhyming pair I mean a frog and a log, or a puffin and a muffin. The person with the most pairs at the end of the game wins. The trick is remembering which cards are where, so you can find a matching or rhyming pair when it’s your turn.

Review: Oi Frog Memory Card Game

The Oi Frog Memory Card Game is ideal for boosting memory skills (for people of all ages); and can help little ones learn about co-operation and taking turns. My son is 8 now and although this game is suitable for ages 3+, we all had a lot of fun playing it. It really flexed my aging memory muscles and we all really enjoyed it. It’s absolutely the kind of game we will play again and again.

The Oi Frog Memory Card Game costs around £10.95 and is available online and in good toy shops.

Disclosure: We were sent an Oi Frog Memory Card Game for review purposes. All images and opinions are our own.

Days Out: Visiting the JORVIK Viking Centre, York

Since it opened in 1984, the JORVIK Viking Centre in York has been a popular place to visit to learn about Viking life. I remember going there on a school trip a few years after it opened. I was really taken with the recreation of a Viking settlement, complete with sounds and smells!

Over half term I took the boy for the day. We were visiting York for the JORVIK Viking Festival and we figured the JORVIK Viking Centre would be a good place to start. We arrived bright and early, which was just as well as on busy days the queue to get in can snake around the square.

Days Out: Visiting the JORVIK Viking Centre, York

When you enter, beyond the ticket office you walk down a flight of stairs (a lift is available) and enter a large room with a glass floor. Underneath the glass floor you can see the remains of the archaeological dig which the site it built upon. Around the walls there are information panels telling the story of the JORVIK Centre and some pieces which they uncovered during the dig.

A guide dressed in Viking clothes welcomed us and talked us through what we were standing on and what you can see through the glass. He also told us about the 2015 flood which filled the centre with water and closed it for almost two years. The JORVIK Viking Centre reopened in 2017. The closure meant that they could refresh and update the centre; so it’s almost how I remembered it, but more modern and a bit better.

After you’ve explored the room with the glass floor, you join a short queue for the Time Warp. This is probably one of the most famous things about JORVIK. You climb into a car and it takes you back to 975 AD to a Viking settlement. There’s commentary to listen to and it takes you through all the sights, sounds and smells of Viking life. There are mannequins which I’m told are now modeled on the faces of actual Vikings; which makes things feel even more authentic.

Days Out: Visiting the JORVIK Viking Centre, York

All life is there in the Time Warp, from women cooking and shopping, and children playing; to butchers and fishermen at work. It really brings the living conditions to life and was a real talking point for my son. The old Time Warp which I remember really stayed with me, and this is no different. It’s a really accessible way of teaching Viking history.

From the Time Warp you move to the artifacts room which has over 800 finds from the site; with interactive displays and the chance to learn about life in the 10th century. There are several Viking guides to greet you and talk to you about life as a Viking. When you enter the room you’re met by displays of two excavated skeletons, the information about them is incredible. There’s even a piece of fossilised poo on display, gross things always excite the children and this was no different.

There’s an interactive screen where you can learn about Viking musical instruments and listen to them being played. You can also watch Viking money being minted; try on a helmet and find out more about Viking combs; (apparently the Vikings were a tidy bunch, bathing weekly and keeping their hair and beards neat and tidy). There are lots of artifacts to look at, it’s fascinating and I would have liked to have really taken my time to look around it.

Days Out: Visiting the JORVIK Viking Centre, York

Beyond the artifact room is the gift shop, which is excellent. If you manage to leave without buying a Viking shield for an 8 year old, you’re a stronger person than me.

The JORVIK Viking Centre is an excellent way to bring history to life for children. It’s really well done and I’m pleased that it has been brought up to date following the flood. The 12 minute long Time Warp is the real attraction here. It’s the kind of thing I’d like to do twice, just to see the things I missed the first time. I know that visiting the JORVIK Viking Centre will really help my 8 year old’s understanding of the period, and that’s never a bad thing.

For more information about JORVIK Viking Centre in York, visit their website.

Days Out: Visiting the JORVIK Viking Centre, York

You may also be interested in visiting Barley Hall. Medieval House in York, you can read our review here.

Frugal Recipe: Slow Cooker Root Vegetable Stew

My husband is a yellow sticker bargain ninja. He’s forever coming home with bargains he’s found at the supermarket, some things go straight in the freezer, but fresh fruit and vegetables need to be used within a day or two.

This week he came home with two packets of Mixed Roasting Vegetables from the Co-op which should have been £1.50 each, but were reduced to 83p each. The packs contained a small swede, 3 carrots, 2 parsnips and two medium sized onions. They were crying out to be used in a stew, so that’s what I did.

There was quite a lot of chopping involved in this stew, and I threw in some lentils and a leek I already had which was beginning to see better days. The result was so tasty and hearty that I’ll be making it again. It was a giant stew, which filled my slow cooker to the brim and took 8 hours to cook.

Frugal Recipe: Slow Cooker Root Vegetable Stew

It fed our family for three meals. I made stew and dumplings, I turned it into a pie and I just served it as stew with mashed potato. I even managed to freeze a portion for a rainy day.

This recipe uses two of the packs of vegetables, but you can half the quantities of everything if you want to make a smaller stew. With the yellow sticker bargain, I reckon I made this huge stew for around £3.

Slow Cooker Root Vegetable Stew

Ingredients:

2 medium sized onions, chopped
1 leek, sliced
1 tablespoon of oil, whatever you have
2 small swedes, diced
2 parsnips
3 carrots
2 large potatoes
75g red lentils, rinsed
2.5 pints of vegetable stock (made with a stock cube)
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon of tomato puree
1 tablespoon of mixed herbs
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon of sugar
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon of sweet chilli sauce
1 tablespoon of tomato ketchup

How to make your Slow Cooker Root Vegetable Stew

Chop your onions and cook them in half a tablespoon of oil until they are soft. Add them to the slow cooker when soft. Slice your leek and fry that until tender in the rest of the oil. Add the garlic towards the end of cooking and stir that through for a few minutes, when that’s cooked, tip the leeks and garlic into the slow cooker.

Peel and chop your swedes, carrots, parsnips and potatoes into similar sized pieces and add to the slow cooker.

Switch your slow cooker onto high and add the stock, chopped tomatoes, lentils and the rest of the ingredients. Put the lid on and cook until all the root vegetables are soft, for me this took 8 hours.

Once the vegetables are cooked, taste the stew and add more seasoning if you think it needs it. Stir through and serve however you want.

Frugal Recipe: Slow Cooker Root Vegetable Stew

My favourite way we had the stew was with dumplings. It was just the most perfect warming, hearty meal and I know I’ll be craving stew and dumplings now every time the temperature dips. My husband loved the pie, which was just a dish of the stew, which I stirred a tablespoon of vegetable gravy granules through and topped with a puff pastry lid. But it’s just as good served with a pile of buttery mash.

If you enjoyed this, you might like to try these slow cooker recipes:

Frugal Recipe: Slow Cooker Root Vegetable Stew