Milkshake Recipe: St Patrick’s Day Shamrock Shake

If you, like my son love mint flavoured things, this minty green shamrock shake for St Patrick’s Day might be the ideal treat. It’s rich, it’s delicious, it’s minty and it’s got a lovely mint green colour which really catches the eye.

These milkshakes are really simple to make if you have a blender. I tend to whip milkshakes up in my Nutribullet, but any blender will work well for this.

The shamrock shake is made with vanilla ice cream, mint flavouring and some green food colouring. It’s important you choose a vanilla ice cream which is as white as you can get. If you choose a yellow vanilla ice cream, it will be harder to colour and it might look a bit swampy.

St Patrick’s Day Shamrock Shake

Ingredients
200mls milk
3 scoops of vanilla ice cream
3 or four drops of peppermint essence
Green food colouring
Squirty cream
Green sprinkles

Milkshake Recipe: St Patrick’s Day Shamrock Shake

How to make your shamrock shake:

When you add your peppermint essence and food colouring, go easy, a few drops at a time. Taste as you go, you can always add more, but you can’t take any away if you add too much!

Put your milk, ice cream, peppermint essence and a few drops of food colouring in the blender. Whizz it all up together. Taste and check if it’s minty enough, if not add a drop or two more peppermint essence. If it’s not green enough for you, add more food colouring until you’re happy with the shade. Add more milk if the milkshake is too thick.

Pour into a tall glass and top with a generous swirl of squirty cream and green sprinkles, you can even add a cherry if you’re feeling fancy.

Milkshake Recipe: St Patrick’s Day Shamrock Shake

If you enjoyed this, you might like to try my green velvet cake, or this Guinness cheesecake.

Milkshake Recipe: St Patrick’s Day Shamrock Shake

Review: Milkshake! Brand New Besties DVD

When it comes to children’s DVDs, for me compilations are always a winner. There’s a little bit of everything they like and enough variety to keep them interested. My son loves these kind of DVDs too and was super-happy to get his hands on the new Milkshake! Brand New Besties DVD.

Giveaway & Review: Milkshake! Brand New Besties DVD

The Milkshake! Brand New Besties DVD features the biggest and brightest stars in pre-school television from Channel 5’s Milkshake! The Milkshake! Brand New Besties DVD guarantees over two hours of fabulous fun, magical mischief and awesome adventure.

This new DVD collection by Abbey Home Media is released on Monday 23^rdOctober. The Milkshake! Brand New Besties DVD features some real pre-school heroes, including PAW Patrol, Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom, Peppa Pig, Fireman Sam, Poppy Cat, Noddy, Toyland Detective and Bob the Builder.

Episodes featured in the new Milkshake! Brand New Besties DVD include…

PAW Patrol – In ‘Pups Save the Paw Patroller’, Mayor Humdinger has swiped the PAW Patroller! The pups need to get it back and save that meddling mayor too.

Bob The Builder – In ‘Where’s Pilchard?’, when Muck has to shoo Pilchard out of his way, she suddenly vanishes. Leo and the machines run around trying to find her before Bob realises she’s disappeared.

Peppa Pig – In ‘Playing Pretend’, when Peppa’s bike gets a flat tyre and needs fixing, Peppa and her friends have fun riding their imaginary bikes and jumping in pretend muddy puddles.

Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom – In ‘Lucy’s Elf & Fairy Party’, Lucy celebrates her birthday with an Elf and Fairy party. Lucy’s Dad does a magic show but things get a bit out of hand when Princess Holly and her friends join in…

Fireman Sam – In ‘Best Sleepover Ever’, Norman, Mandy, Sarah and James are having a sleepover at Mandy’s house. Norman is determined that it will be the ‘Best Sleepover Ever’.

Puffin Rock – In ‘Mossy Impossible’, Oona is in danger. She’s tangled up in fishing twine near Seagull Cliff and the seagulls will be back soon! Mossy and Bernie try to free her, but they need help from Mama and Papa Puffin.

Noddy, Toyland Detective – In ‘Broken Crystal Memory Game’, Noddy needs to find out who broke the Crystal Memory Game before the start of the Daredale Challenge Obstacle Race!

Thomas & Friends – In ‘Toby’s New Friend’, Philip spots Toby and assumes that he is a diesel boxcab just like him. Convinced that they will become best friends, Philip rushes up to introduce himself, but Toby finds him rather overwhelming.

With a run time of 133 minutes and with a U Rating, this is a brilliant DVD for Milkshake! fans. You can dip in and out as you wish, or watch it all in one go. There are 14 different shows on the DVD, so there’s plenty to keep young ones occupied and interested, especially as it’s currently available for just £5.99 on Amazon! At that price it’s the kind of DVD that would make a great little gift or stocking filler for a pre-schooler!

Giveaway & Review: Milkshake! Brand New Besties DVD

Review: Lily’s Driftwood Bay: Message in a Bottle DVD

We were sent a copy of the DVD, Lily’s Driftwood Bay: Message in a Bottle to watch together. We’d never heard of Lily’s Driftwood Bay before, which is a real shame because it’s absolutely lovely. Lily’s Driftwood Bay is currently shown on Nick Jr and Channel 5’s Milkshake, and at first glance perhaps wouldn’t be the kind of thing to capture the imagination of a lively five year old boy, but by episode 2 he was hooked!

Lily’s Driftwood Bay features six-year-old Lily and her menagerie of friends as they set sail for a whole raft of adventures on the beautiful island of Driftwood Bay. The new DVD of the series, Lily’s Driftwood Bay: Message in a Bottle is available now.

Lily’s Driftwood Bay: Message in a Bottle DVD

The series follows Lily, a little girl who lives in a beach hut with her Dad (Richard Dormer). She creates an imaginary world from the treasures she finds washed up on the sea shore. Every day, the sea washes up a new treasure, which sparks Lily’s imagination about what might be happening ‘across the way on Driftwood Bay’. And so, with her best friend Gull the clever seagull in tow, an adventure begins as they head off to Driftwood Bay and its cast of colourful inhabitants.

There’s Salty Dog (Peter Mullan), a jolly sailor with a story for every occasion; Nonna Dog (Annette Crosbie), a wise granny who runs Cockle Café and is always ready with advice and a Puffin Muffin; Hatsie Hen (Tameka Empson), a train-driving hen with a need for speed and a love of excitement; Bull (Ardal O’Hanlon), a boisterous bull who always charges head first into things (often literally); Wee Rabbit (Jane Horrocks), a gentle young bunny with a love of art; and Lord Stag (Stephen Fry) an aristocratic deer with a taste for the finer things in life. It’s the kind of thing you watch and think – hang on – I know that voice, and it’s Stephen Fry!

Lily’s Driftwood Bay is a lovely, sweetly animated series about making fun and adventure from unwanted treasure which has been washed up on the shore, this charming DVD from Abbey Home Media features ten adventures with Lily and her friends. Episodes include Message in a Bottle, Honking Haddock, Old Bertha, Stop that Pudding, Puffin Muffins, Starfish in the Sky, Silly Seals, Harbour Cookies, Seaweed Pie and Runaway Stag!

Lily’s Driftwood Bay is U rated, runs for 70 minutes and is widely available from a range of retailers including Amazon. It really is charming and my boisterous boy enjoyed sitting quietly and watching it with me, it was a nice way to wind down before bed.

Review: Exclusive new Pip Ahoy pyjamas

When I was a little girl nightwear was really boring and generic. It was plain or patterned nighties or pyjamas and that was about it. I think my little brother had a slightly better deal. By the time he arrived “character pyjamas” were just about available in the shops. No self respecting little boy would be seen at bedtime without his Spider-Man pjs.

My boy is no exception. He loves his character pjs and likes to just wear them to hang out around the house in, as well as for snuggling up in bed. The latest addition to his PJ collection is a lovely pair of Pip Ahoy pyjamas. These pjs are available in 59 out of the 88 Toys R Us stores across the UK. They are priced at £9.99. The Pip Ahoy pyjamas come in sizes sizes 2-3, 3-4, 4-5 and 5-6.The boy is a big fan of Pip Ahoy and couldn’t wait to get into his pyjamas. The short sleeved pj top is a familiar picture of Pip and all of his friends from Salty Cove. The bottoms are a lovely blue with a Pip Ahoy badge on the hip. I really like the PJ bottoms as they are a skinny leg PJ which is a style I much prefer on my boy.

A photo posted by HodgePodgeDays (@hodgepodgedays) on Jun 14, 2016 at 12:13pm PDT

They were really comfortable and he snuggled down to sleep in them with no problem. They were easy for him to pull up and down when he went to the loo in the night and he looks so cool in them.

He’s had them a few weeks now and they’ve been in and out of the wash a few times and they still look as good as the first day he wore them, they’re great quality, well made and the colours are still vibrant. These Pip Ahoy pyjamas are a must for any Pip Ahoy fan who dreams of having adventures down at Salty Cove.

Note: We were sent these Pip Ahoy pyjamas for review purposes. All opinions are our own.

Review: Pip Ahoy! DVD – Welcome to Salty Cove

Since Pip Ahoy burst onto our screens in 2014 the small boy has been fascinated by the goings on at Salty Cove. For those who haven’t yet seen Pip Ahoy It is all about the adventures of Pip the puppy, and his friends including kitten Alba and Alan the penguin (Alan is our favourite) in the seaside town of Salty Cove. Pip Ahoy features the familiar voices of David Jason, Stacy Soloman, Teresa Gallagher and Jimmy Hibbert.

Pip Ahoy is aimed at pre-schoolers and is shown on Milkshake (Channel 5) and on Cartoonito. The boy makes a special effort every morning to get up and watch it while he has his breakfast, so we treated him to a copy of the latest Pip Ahoy DVD – Welcome to Salty Cove. He was delighted!

Welcome to Salty Cove contains all 13 episodes of Pip Ahoy season 1 and is 2 hours and 23 minutes long. It’s a long DVD for a pre-schooler to sit and watch in one go, but you can pick and choose the episodes you watch so you can mix it up each day. We watched it over a few days after school and it was nice to sit and snuggle up together.

Pip Ahoy is a brightly coloured cartoon with easy to follow story-lines which are all about friendship and kindness. It’s lovely heartwarming stuff and Pip, Alba and Alan are very popular (I work in a toy shop, I should know) and the songs in the series are brilliant and make fantastic earworms – we’re still singing the penguin song from the Christmas episode!

Welcome to Salty Cove contains the following episodes –

The Mice Pirates
Fancy That!
Snooze Cruise
The Mermaid
Pizza Pirates
Pasty Flies a Kite
Stunt Gull Hopper
Auntie Twitcher’s Bird Watch
The Rocktopus
My Turn
Anybody Seen Alan?
The Wrong Way Train
Shelvis’ New Home

As always there’s lots going on in Salty Cove, the episodes are so bright and cheery too. With any series there are always favourite episodes which are watched over and over again, I like “Anybody Seen Alan?” where he bounces off the see-saw and off into adventure; the boy loves “The Rocktoppus” where a drumming octopus loses his drumsticks and it ends with a brilliant underwater gig.

welcome to salty cove

The DVD also comes with a free A3 activity sheet to colour in, do a dot-to-dot or spot the difference. The Pip Ahoy DVD Welcome To Salty Cove is available from Amazon and a range of other retailers for around £7.99.

welcome to salty cove

I will be taking part in the Pip Ahoy! Twitter party on Thursday 25th February from 1-2.30pm. Pip Ahoy! will be giving away 20 copies of the Welcome To Salty Cove DVD to some partying Pipsqueaks. Use the hashtag #PipAhoy to join in.

Review: Pip Ahoy Christmas Ahoy DVD

There’s nothing like the Christmas episode of your favourite programme to get you in the Christmas spirit. We were lucky enough to get our paws on a preview copy of the Pip Ahoy! Christmas Ahoy! DVD before its release date on 14th December. I can hand on heart say that you’re in for a treat. The DVD features the 22 minute long Christmas Special which will be shown on Christmas Day, as well as 4 other Pip Ahoy! episodes. The first 200o copies of the DVD sold will also include a bonus 9 track CD with 4 additional Karaoke tracks.

Take a trip down to Salty Cove this Christmas and join the festive fun as Pip, Alba and Skipper decorate the lighthouse; meet Alan’s special Christmas visitors – one of whom doesn’t like bouncing (can you believe it?) and meet Father Christmas!

I don’t want to give too much away, but the Pip Ahoy! Christmas Ahoy! episode is wonderfully heart-warming and full of festive fun. It truly made my heart melt a little, definitely made me want to get my hands on a penguin snowball, and really got me in the mood for Christmas. As for the small boy – he watched it four times in a row, which I think is a pretty good indication of how good it is.

The pre-school series Pip Ahoy! features Sir David Jason as the voice of Pip’s kindly uncle, Skipper, along with singer and reality TV star Stacey Solomon who sings the theme song and is the voice of the pink flamingo, Fuchsia.

Pip Ahoy Christmas Ahoy

The Pip Ahoy Christmas Ahoy DVD is released on 14th December, is rated Cert U and has a running time of 66 minutes (approx). The Pip Ahoy! Christmas Ahoy! DVD is available for order from Amazon today.

FREE Christmas Printables from Pip Ahoy!

The lovely people who make the brilliant cartoon Pip Ahoy have given me a fantastic set of 12 Christmas Pip Ahoy! printables to share with you.

If you’ve not yet heard of Pip and his friends, Pip Ahoy! is a cartoon about Pip the puppy, and his friends including cute kitten Alba and adorable Alan the penguin in the seaside town of Salty Cove. You can catch up with Pip Ahoy! on Channel 5’s Milkshake and on Cartoonito.

This set of free Christmas Pip Ahoy! printables includes lots of festive pictures to colour in, as well as template letters to Santa and Christmas craft ideas. Lots to keep the little ones entertained throughout the Christmas period.

To download the free Pip Ahoy! printables click here.

Don’t forget to join us for the Pip Ahoy! Twitter Party on 1st December, follow @PipAhoyUK and join in with the hashtag #ISpyWithPip to be in with a chance to win some prizes. You can download your free Pip Ahoy party pack here.

Your invitation is below…

Don’t forget you can win your very own Pip Ahoy! Skippers Bucket Toy in my Christmas competition – it ends on 13th December 2015, click here to be in with a chance to win!

Review: Pip Ahoy! Skipper’s Bucket Toy

Since the small boy was poorly a few weeks ago and he binge watched the entire back catalogue of Pip Ahoy! on Channel 5’s Milkshake, we have been a house obsessed with Pip. For his birthday he was given a lovely Pip Ahoy plush toy (which now has the number one cuddling spot in his bed), and the latest Pip toy a Pip Ahoy! Skipper’s Bucket – a pull along tugboat which also doubles up as a bath toy.

Pip Ahoy! Skipper's Bucket

Skipper’s Bucket is suitable for ages 3+ and measures 20cm long and 17cm high. It has rotating wheels underneath and you can pull it along using the rope and lifebelt attached, or like the small boy, you can play with it in the bath, it floats and had a realistic rocking motion once it’s in the water.

It comes with a Skipper figure, but you might want to get a few of the other characters to add a bit of variety. The Skipper figure has little holes in his feet so you can attach him to various parts of the boat, he is also movable and poseable.

Pip Ahoy! Skipper's Bucket

The Pip Ahoy! Skipper’s Bucket boat is made from durable plastic and seems to be able to endure the attentions of a 5 year old boy at bathtime. The rope can work loose, so it’s worth getting someone with their Boy Scout knot tying badge to double check it’s firmly attached before it sets sail in the bath, but it’s a great bath toy in its own right.

The Pip Ahoy! Skipper’s Bucket toy is available from a range of retailers and is made by John Adams Toys. It’s a lovely robust toy which he’s played with every day since his birthday, both on dry land and in the stormy sea (the bath). It’s a thumbs up for us!

Our low-key Bonfire Night celebrations

I’ve never been a big fan of Bonfire night, it’s always seemed a bit on the dangerous side for my liking, flying fire which explodes? No thank you very much. In previous years we’ve enjoyed a somewhat low-key, safety concious celebration, but this year we’ve decided to cast all my health and safety fears aside and go to a local display. But that will have to wait until the weekend, on the 5th November itself we’ll be spinning out our usual celebratory fayre.

Food
Hot dogs (or bangers) are the order of the day, always with fried onions and mustard. This is always followed by a thick slice of Parkin and custard.

We also make “sparklers” which are really easy to do, take a breadstick and dip one end in melted chocolate, then dip that in hundreds and thousands. It’s something even little toddlers can do and it’s quick, sticky, chocolatey and fun.

Fireworks
Because of the full horror of 1980s public information films I have a fear of fireworks (and pylons), but I feel I must tip my hat to tradition, so we usually get a packet of sparklers, don full safety gear, including having a bucket of water close by, and we stand in the garden waving our sparklers about. It provides about 4 minutes of fun. Total. But that’s enough dicing with danger for one night.

After we’ve done with our sparklers we tend to press our faces up against the window and watch everyone else’s displays from the safety of our kitchen, earnestly chewing our way through a bag of treacle toffee.

Now the small boy is nearly 5 (how did that happen?) he’s a bit more interested in things like Bonfire Night, we’ll be printing off some of these really handy Bonfire Night activity sheets from Pip Ahoy! to add to the evenings entertainment. There’s a poster to colour in, a spot the difference puzzle and a recipe to make some yummy toffee apples!

Do you have any Bonfire Night traditions?

bonfire night

FREE Halloween Pip Ahoy Printables & Activites

Earlier this week I had the chance to have a tour of the CHF Entertainment studio, they are the makers of the fantastic cartoon Pip Ahoy! Pip Ahoy is part of Milkshake! on Channel 5 and is also shown on Cartoonito. The studios are in a beautiful, historic and top secret location in Manchester, close to my home and accessible only through underground tunnels (might have made that last bit up). CHF Entertainment are the reincarnation of animation legends Cosgrove Hall who made iconic cartoon series such as Danger Mouse, Count Duckula and The Wind in the Willows (and literally hundreds more).

For those who haven’t yet seen Pip Ahoy! It is all about the adventures of Pip the puppy, and his friends including cute kitten Alba and adorable Alan the penguin in the seaside town of Salty Cove. Pip Ahoy! features the familiar voices of David Jason, Stacy Soloman, Teresa Gallagher and Jimmy Hibbert. Pip Ahoy! is aimed at pre-schoolers and my (nearly) 5 year old son loves watching it on catch up and gets really involved in the goings on at Salty Cove.

With the October half term approaching and Halloween creeping ever closer, I’m delighted to be able to offer my blog readers a set of FREE downloadable Pip Ahoy! Halloween Activity Sheets to help keep your little ones entertained, or to use to plan your perfect Pip Ahoy! Halloween Party!

Not only that, but I’ve also got nine brilliant pumpkin carving stencils to share with you, I think stencils are great, especially if you’re not confident about carving freehand. As well as the usual pumpkin faces, you can also carve your own Pip, Skipper, Hopper, Alba, Pasty and Alan characters – so much to choose from! Pip Ahoy These free printables, stencils and activity sheets are brilliant for your little Pipsqueaks. Happy Halloween!