Giving back this Christmas – Our Reverse Advent Box

This December we have been taking part in Reverse Advent and it’s been a very worthwhile family task. If you’ve not heard of Reverse Advent before; it’s where you take a box and each day you add something to it with the intention of giving the box away to someone in need.

I chose to donate our box to our local foodbank – Chorlton and Didsbury Foodbank. The foodbank opened in 2014 and last year gave over 1000 people and families three-day emergency food supplies.

Although we’ve never been at the point where we’ve needed to get a referral to a foodbank, there have been times when the cupboards have been bare and I’ve not had the money to buy food. There have been times where I’ve skipped meals to make sure the boys get food in their belly; and I’ve wondered how I’ll feed them their next meal. As frugal as I am, sometimes the money just doesn’t always stretch as far as I’d like.

In late November the Co-op sent me a big blue box and some ideas for my Reverse Advent. Every time I popped to the shops I’d put a few extra tins, jars, or packets of dried food in my basket and when I got home I put them in my box.

Giving back this Christmas - Our Reverse Advent box

I knew my local foodbank would appreciate getting the box of food supplies before Christmas. So I did cheat a little and over the weekend I filled my box, packed it up and it’s ready to be delivered to the foodbank in time for their Christmas party.

As a blogger we get sent a lot of things over the year, some of which we use, some of which we give away to friends and family. I’d saved a big bag of children’s books and lots of craft kits (the kind where everything you need is included, so you don’t need extra glue or paint, or things people may not have). So I’ve donated those to the foodbank too. They’ll be given to the children attending their Christmas party and I can’t think of a better home for them.

Putting the Reverse Advent box has been really easy. Buying a couple of items each time I popped to the shops was a doddle and didn’t make a huge dent in our budget. When you first get your box it can be hard to think of what you could fill it with. So I’ve put together a suggested shopping list (below) if you need some ideas to get you started…

Giving back this Christmas - Our Reverse Advent box

The Reverse Advent box is definitely something our family will be embracing as a family tradition. We know how fortunate we are to have food in the cupboards and a warm house to live in. It’s only right that we give a bit of what we can, when we can.

For more information about the Reverse Advent campaign with The Co-op read their blog. To find your nearest foodbank and to find out more about their work, or how to access their services, visit the Trussell Trust website.

Merry Christmas xx

Review: Pick n Melt Christmas Gift Set

Scented candles are something I use a lot at this time of the year. To me there’s nothing better than filling my house with festive fragrances in the run up to Christmas. I’m a little bit fussy about what I choose though, too often cheaper candles can be quite sooty and not scent my home effectively. I’ve been trying out the Pick n Melt Christmas Gift Set and I’m impressed with these little wax cubes.

Review: Pick n Melt Christmas Gift Set

The Pick n Melt Christmas Gift Set comes with a stylish ceramic wax warmer and 16 little packets of scented wax. The wax warmer is really contemporary looking and I’ve decided to put it in my whiter than white bathroom, because it blends in really well.

The wax warmer comes in two parts, the bottom is open on two sides and has a place to put your tealight. The top part of the warmer fits on top and you just put the wax cubes in the small basin on the top and the melt pretty quickly, releasing their lovely scent.

The Pick n Melt Christmas Gift Set includes two little packets of each of the following festive fragrances –

Christmas Time
Christmas Spice
Robin Red Breast
Cocoa & Log Fire
Frankincense and Myrrh
Mistletoe & Wine
Festive Tree
Snow

Pick n Melt Christmas Gift Set

I melted one little packet and it was enough to fragrance the upstairs of my house. The “throw” on these little wax cubes is quite impressive. The throw of a candle or a wax melt means how it smells when it is lit and how far the scent travels within the house.

I think they would make a lovely present for candle lovers (I ordered one last night as a gift for someone). I think the little wax cubes are very sweet and there are probably hundreds of different scents to choose from on the website. So whatever fragrance style you enjoy, there’s bound to be something to suit you.

Review: Pick n Melt Christmas Gift Set

I’m very taken with my Pick n Melt Christmas Gift Set and I will enjoy using it over the next few weeks, before thinking about changing my wax to something fresher and more spring like.

The Pick n Melt Christmas Gift Set is currently available for £12 on the Pick n Melt website.

I was sent this gift set for review purposes. All images and opinions are my own.

Theatre Review: Horrible Christmas at The Lowry

For many families it is something of a Christmas tradition to go and see a panto or a Christmas play. We are no different, but this year we thought we’d go and see something horrible, something very horrible indeed – Horrible Christmas from the Horrible Histories team.

Running until Sunday 8th January, Horrible Christmas tells the story of Wendy Watson who with the help of detective Shirley Holmes sets out to save Christmas from a very bad Santa – Sydney Claus.

This time travelling romp through history sees Wendy and Shirley chase Sydney and Rudolf through the ages, from Victorian villains to Medieval monks, Puritan parties to Tudor times, meeting notable figures from history including Charles Dickens, Oliver Cromwell, King Charles II and King Henry VIII.

It’s very funny, it’s fast paced, it’s full of excellent songs, there’s audience participation and a lot of laughs. Plus we all learned a little something about the horrible history of Christmas.

Theatre Review: Horrible Christmas at The Lowry

The songs are catchy and funny, with the rap by King Charles II being something very special indeed. The audience are encouraged to participate in a sing off (with actions) involving stuffing a selection of festive birds into other incrementally larger festive birds. You had to be there, but the boys loved it!

Neal Foster plays the role of “Dad” and a whole host of other historical characters. He was exceptionally funny in each and every incarnation. Chris Gunter is Sidney Claus – the baddest bad Santa of them all. Sidney is a Santa with a large dose of Fagin and an evil twinkle in his eye. His sidekick Rudolph is played to dopey perfection by Ashley Bowden.

Horrible Histories Christmas is around 2 hours long with an interval. It is suitable for children aged 4+. I took two six year olds and I thought some of it was a little over their heads. They were full of historical facts the next day, so maybe I’m wrong. With tickets starting at £10, this is a furiously funny alternative to the traditional panto.

Horrible Histories – Horrible Christmas The Lowry is on from Wednesday 7 December 2016 to Sunday 8 January 2017

We were invited guests of The Lowry. All opinions are our own.

Christmas: The Polar Expedition at intu Trafford Centre

We were invited guests of the intu Trafford Centre.

Over the weekend we headed off to the intu Trafford Centre for a visit to the Christmas grotto. This year the grotto in Barton Square has a Polar Expedition theme.

We arrived early in Barton Square and grabbed hot chocolates from the little Christmas market they’ve got there. At the appointed hour we joined the queue and had our names checked off the list by a friendly elf.

Our group were shown into a room decorated like a log cabin. The children sat at the front (adults on benches at the back) and an elf chatted to the children about the reindeer and about Christmas magic. We all repeated a rhyme, the door swung open and we magically arrived in the North Pole.

Christmas: The Polar Expedition at intu Trafford Centre

We then waited in a room with animatronic polar bears and a lovely snowy enchanted arctic wonderland. The elves chatted to the children while we waited and the kids really enjoyed watching the polar bears.

After ten minutes or so of queuing, we moved onto my favourite part of our visit – the augmented reality experience. This was very well done and we spent a decent amount of time perched on an piece of arctic ice interacting penguins, seals, killer whales and polar bears. It was fab.

We then moved on to queue up to see Father Christmas, the queue was fairly fast moving and the room we were queuing in was as festive as it gets and very pretty. Very soon we were ushered through to meet Father Christmas who had a quick chat with the boy and gave him the gift of a little Playmobil set. We also had our photo taken which we picked up at the end.

Tickets to the Polar Expedition experience are £7.50 per child and £5 per adult. We were on the tour for around an hour and the boy really enjoyed his visit and chatting to the elves. I think it’s good value for money and the augmented reality part in particular was a real winner for us.

The Christmas grotto is open until Saturday 24 December and it’s probably best if you book ahead if you can. You can find out more about the Polar Expedition and buy tickets on their website.

Five ways kitchen towel can keep your house clean

Kitchen towel is a real household essential. It’s great for mopping up spills and for cleaning up after children and pets. It’s so essential, a roll of kitchen towel is one of the first things we pack when we go on a self-catering holiday. Here are my five ways we use kitchen towel to keep our house clean – it’s so versatile we wouldn’t be without it!

Five ways kitchen towel can keep your house clean!

Damp dusting – I’m allergic to dust, so when I do dust my house I have to damp dust. To me damp dusting makes more sense than just moving the dust around. To damp dust, just dampen your kitchen towel and wipe over the dusty areas, then you just dispose of the dusty kitchen roll. No dust has been flicked up around the house, I’m not sneezing and everything looks clean and tidy.

When I’m cleaning windows – Kitchen roll is great to use for cleaning your windows with. Just damp them and use with some window cleaning spray – there will be no streaks just shine.

Fat fighters – Tipping cooking fat and grease down the sink is a big no-no. If your sink or drains get blocked it can cause all kinds of problems. To combat this problem, I put a couple of sheets of Plenty Kitchen Towel in my pan (once it’s cooled obviously) and leave it for a few hours, the towel soaks up the fat. I then just put the soaked kitchen towels in the bin. No fuss, no mess, no blocked drains.

Condensation killer – If your windows suffer with condensation in the winter, one old fashioned but excellent tip is to dab of washing up liquid onto your kitchen towel, wipe it all over your dry window and that will help to prevent condensation build up.

Bye bye cobwebs – If you’ve got high ceilings or hard to reach places to dust; slightly dampen a piece of kitchen towel, put it on the end of a sweeping brush and carefully dust the cobwebs off your ceiling or hard to reach corners. The damp towel will stop the dust from floating down onto your face and your corners will be cobweb free. Result!

Five ways kitchen towel can keep your house clean!

= This is a collaborative post =

Review: Star Wars Rogue One Interactech Imperial Stormtrooper figure

With the much anticipated release of Rogue One – the next installment of Star Wars, everyone has gone Star Wars mad this Christmas. The small boy is no exception, though he’s far too young to watch the film just yet. This month we have put the new Star Wars Rogue One Interactech Imperial Stormtrooper figure to the test. Is it a rogue or a winner?

The Star Wars Rogue One Interactech Imperial Stormtrooper figure is a 12-inch tall Stormtrooper with more than 65 different sound effects and phrases. He uses a motion sensor to respond to specific movements and has several different play modes.

This is a sturdily built figure, and it’s a very fine example of an Imperial Stormtrooper.

“Stormtroopers are elite shock troops fanatically loyal to the Empire and impossible to sway from the Imperial cause. They wear imposing white armor, which offers a wide range of survival equipment and temperature controls to allow the soldiers to survive in almost any environment. Stormtroopers wield blaster rifles and pistols with great skill, and attack in hordes to overwhelm their enemies.”

The Star Wars Rogue One Interactech Imperial Stormtrooper figure comes with a set of detailed instructions and it’s suitable for ages 4+.

The Interactech Imperial Stormtrooper figure needs two AA Batteries, but he comes with batteries included and they’ve already lasted a couple of weeks.

When you first get him make sure you switch it from ‘Demo’ mode to ‘On’. The switch is on the back of his neck. Once he is switched on and fully activated, he starts using some of his 65 sounds, if he’s in Demo mode he just repeats himself.

The Interactech Imperial Stormtrooper figure has three modes – Blaster, Jetpack and Dual. To activate the blaster mode, put the black E-11 blaster in his hand, his chest plate will light up with the Imperial insignia and his phrases change to battle sounds.

To activate the jetpack mode, put his jetpack on his back to activate the yellow light on his chest. Fly him around and he will make jetpack style sound effects. When the chest plate changes colour to reveal the imperial logo, he is in dual mode.

The Star Wars Rogue One Interactech Imperial Stormtrooper figure can also be used with an app which is suitable for ages 6+. We haven’t played with the free to download Hasbro Star Wars Studio FX app yet, but more and more toys these days can be linked to apps to make the play experience more interactive.

So was Star Wars Rogue One Interactech Imperial Stormtrooper figure fun to play with? Yes. My son really enjoyed playing with him. Something he’s very keen on is playing with toys and making his own battle sounds, so this figure is one he can really enjoy playing with. I would say that to get the full benefit of playing with this Stormtrooper he could do with another figure to do battle with.

The Star Wars Rogue One Interactech Imperial Stormtrooper figure is available from a wide range of toy shops and online stores including Amazon. He retails for around £30 but discounts and deals are available if you shop around.

Disclosure: We received the Star Wars Rogue One Interactech Imperial Stormtrooper figure for the purposes of writing this review, all opinions and images are our own. Contains Amazon affiliate links.

Christmas: A truly magical visit to LaplandUK

One of my favourite things about Christmas is creating a bit of magic for the small boy. Having had a childhood filled with real magic, it’s only fair I pass some of that sparkle onto the next generation. Over the weekend the most magical Christmassy thing happened to us and the pure wonder on my son’s face is something I will hold in my heart forever. We visited LaplandUK and had the full Lapland experience!

A few weeks before our visit I filled out an online form to give Father Christmas some extra information about Ben, then a personalised letter arrived for him which I put away for us to read the day before our visit.

On Saturday morning, our elf on a shelf Elfie brought a letter from Father Christmas. Apparently too many children had made it on the good list this year and the elves needed an extra pair of hands. Ben needed to go to Lapland to help out. We live in Manchester and LaplandUK is in Whitmoor Forest in Ascot, so we drove down the day before and stayed nearby in Bracknell.