Review: Dust and Things Personalised Gifts

My two boys are an adventurous pair, always going off together for some father and son bonding. I have often thought it would be a good idea for them to keep some kind of record of the things they’ve done and places they’ve visited. So when I spied the Personalised Adventure Box from Dust and Things I thought it would be the perfect way for them to store the memories they’d made together.

Working from their family workshop in Wales, Dust and Things make design-led, personalised gifts for all kinds of occasions. With a unique selection of beautiful personalised gifts including chopping boards and cheese boards, jewellery, slate, coasters, photo fames and much more. They have lots of designs to choose from in each category, but the adventure box really caught my eye.

It’s easy to order, you just choose the size of box you want (I went for box 1 which was the smallest box and measures 28.5cm x 18cm x 13.5cm). The wooden box includes a lift up lid secured with vintage style latch and fixings. There are spaces on the online order page where you can add your personalised wording, in my case “Daddy & Benjamin”. On the bottom of the box I had the words “Love from Mummy xx” engraved too.

dust and things

The box arrived very quickly and was well packaged; wrapped in bubble wrap and in a sturdy box. They offer free worldwide delivery too, which is excellent. I was delighted with the adventure box and I knew the boys would love it too. It would make a lovely gift for Daddy’s birthday and extra special with the promise of an adventure to get their keepsake box of magical memories started.

dust and things

The box has a simple, almost rustic look and seems sturdy and well made. It’s plenty big enough to store all the postcards, photographs, train tickets and little trinkets they might find on their adventures. The simplicity of the design and it being a lovely neutral light wood is something I really liked, and it looks great on our shelf, ready to be filled with treasures, or looked through wistfully at a later date.

The personalised adventure box costs £29.95 with free delivery. I think that’s excellent value for a hand made gift of this quality, especially as it’s something which will be loved, used and appreciated for many years to come.

dust and things

And I was right. The boys did really love it. I guess the adventure starts here….

For more information or to browse the extensive selection of personalised gifts from Dust and Things, visit their website.

Father’s Day Gift Ideas with #TruprintDads

I am very lucky and incredibly grateful that I have three wonderful, wonderful men in my life. I’m not saying they’re perfect, but they are all fantastic in their own way. Father’s Day is just two short weeks away and I thought I’d plan ahead this year and sort out some gifts for my Dad (aka Grandad) and hubs (aka Daddy). The other man in my life is the small boy, who doesn’t as yet qualify for Father’s Day gifts as he’s only 4. But what do you buy the two men in your life who have absolutely everything they want or need?

There’s nothing that Grandad and Daddy like more in the world than sitting with a brew and putting the world to rights, so I figured photo-mugs, matching coasters and a nice card each would be a good start. I’d also fill each mug with their favourite tea bags (Tetley for Grandad, lemon and ginger for Daddy). A nice simple gift which I know they will both appreciate. I chose to order from Truprint because I knew they had a really good selection of photo gifts.

The Father’s Day cards were really easy to design, cost just £2.49 each and are printed on good quality card too. Very cute, I know Gramps and Daddy will love them, especially once the small boy has “written” them.

For the main present I went for the 11oz photo collage mug which costs just £7.99 each, again it was really easy to design and I just used a selection of my favourite most recent photographs. Matching them with a set of six coasters, which I will split so they get two each and I get two (cheeky perks). The coasters are cork backed and nice quality, they cost £14.99 and you can mix and match or have all the same photo, I think they’re a great thing to order to split for smaller presents like I have done.

I also got a little jigsaw puzzle of Daddy and the small boy, it’s really a little thing for the boy because he loves puzzles and I suspect his mind will be blown by a puzzle with him on it! And just because I can, I bought myself an adorable new notebook for work. Pretty cute huh?

I think you can’t go wrong with a photo gift, there’s so much to choose from these days you can find a gift to suit anyone, plus it beats a multi-pack of socks hands down!

Truprint have a cracking selection of Father’s Day Photo Gifts to choose from and you can order up to midnight on 15th June to ensure you get your gifts in time for the big day.

Grab up to £30 off your Truprint order!

Code LOVEMYDAD gives £10 discount on order £20-£49.99 and £30 discount on orders £50 or more
Minimum spend does not include P&P charges
Offer is valid until midnight 15th June 2015.
Offer is valid for single use during the promotional period and to customers residing in the UK on Truprint.co.uk only.
P&P charges will apply
Offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or on pre-paid prints.
Please allow an additional 1-2 delivery days during this promotional period.

Book Review: Lost My Name

If you have access to the internet (and if you’re reading this, I think the chances of that are high) you will probably have already heard of the children’s picture book ‘Lost My Name’. Lost My Name is a personalised book where the little boy or girl in the story has lost their name and goes on a magical adventure to rediscover it.

Along the way they meet a series of creatures – magical or otherwise, who one by one help the child to find their name again. The small boy (spoiler alert) is called BENJAMIN so it took some searching to find all the letters of his name, but by meeting B for Bear, E for Elephant and N for Narwhal (and so on) we discovered his name.

It is a beautifully illustrated book, with lots going on. Printed on nice thick paper with a matt finish (something I enjoy, yes I know I’m weird). The ‘Benjamin’ book was 42 pages long.

It was an enjoyable adventure story which kept my four and a half year old interested throughout; he encountered creatures he already knew (bear, elephant etc) and new magical and mysterious creatures such as the narwhal, the nabarlek and an imp, as well as a jester and a mermaid. There was lots for us to talk about after we’d finished reading which is always the mark of a good children’s book I find.

He particularly enjoyed finding the letters in his name and got very excited each time we turned a page and there was another letter he recognised, which was lovely to see!

Over the last few years we’ve had quite a few personalised books, all of which have been extra special and he’s gone back to them over and over again because they are personalised and personal to him. Because having a personalised book is slightly more expensive than an off the shelf book, it is the kind of thing I’d buy him or another child as a present rather than an everyday book.

It is incredibly simple to create and order your own personalised book, simply type in the name you want and select the gender of the child and then head to checkout. You can even preview a copy online before you buy to make sure it’s exactly what you want.

Lost My Name costs £18.99 and can be ordered from their website. It is a beautiful book and I think well worth the money, especially as I know that he will choose it again and again and probably want to take it into school to show his teacher and his friends.

Lost My Name is a real magical story book, really well thought out, each one is unique and special and that’s the really great thing about personalised books. Lost My Name is a real gem. There’s nothing I don’t love about it.

Note: We were sent a copy of Lost My Name for review purposes. All images and opinions are our own.

Review: A Personalised Christmas Plate for Santa

We were sent this personalised Christmas Plate for the purposes of this post. All images and opinions are our own.

Christmas is full of traditions. Christingle services, Carols, decorating the Christmas tree, visits to see Father Christmas to tell him what you’d like (train sets and more train sets please); and leaving mince pies, a small glass of sherry and a carrot for Rudolph by the fireplace on Christmas Eve. These are enduring and lovely traditions and things we wholeheartedly embrace.

Last Christmas the small boy was very excited to discover the empty plate and the half eaten carrot on Christmas morning, so when we were given a lovely personalised Christmas plate by Bluebelle Create for that very purpose, he couldn’t wait to fill it with homemade mince pies.

The cute Rudolph Christmas plate arrived quickly and was really well packaged. The box is labelled with his name on it and the plate was safely wrapped in layers of bubble wrap and tissue paper. We carefully saved this so we can wrap it back up every year after Christmas.

Christmas plate

The Christmas plate is hand painted by Bluebelle Create and can be personalised however you’d like. We chose to have just his name on it, but you can have whatever you want as long as it isn’t too long. The plate says “A gift for Father Christmas & Rudolph… Love from Benjamin xxx” and is 24cm in diameter. There are a few options for what text you’d like on your plate. They’ll even put a personalised message on the back, which is a lovely idea if you’re giving it as a gift.

The plate is hand painted and probably best not put in the dishwasher or microwave; but it’s not too delicate either and will happily be hand washed the old fashioned way. It’s cute, brightly coloured and very festive looking. It would make a lovely keepsake for your child or a pre-Christmas gift for someone.

There are lots of designs to choose from and personalisation options. I cannot fault this lovely festive plate, nor the service or delivery. The price is very reasonable too, starting from £14.99 for a smaller plate; though we chose the larger £18.99 option. I think it’s good value for a hand painted personalised plate, and one which will be used for many, many years to come.

It’s beautifully hand drawn and painted, it’s a real keepsake gift, one which we’ll use year after year and beyond. This is one tradition I firmly approve of, I’m sure Father Christmas and Rudolph will also agree.

Review: Pop Goes Your Name – Personalised CD

We have recently been sent a personalised Pop Goes Your Name CD to listen to and review. It’s a collection of fun and upbeat songs, personalised with the small boy’s name, which makes it extra special for him. The CD, which is written for children in their early years features a selection of musical styles, with catchy melodies and sing-along lyrics. There’s a little bit of rock, a little bit of pop and a little bit of hip-hop etc.

The small boy loves music. Since he figured out how to use his Dad’s iPod we’ve been regularly treated to his own personal musical style and constant demands for us all to have a dance. Dance Mummy, dance! We love this and it’s only to be encouraged, even if his music taste isn’t particularly small boy appropriate. Rage Against the Machine anyone?

We had a small family disco to see if we liked the Pop Goes Your Name CD, we did. From the moment it started he was dancing, he danced all the way through. We danced a bit too, there were some seriously good toe-tapping tunes on this CD for toddlers.

What I liked about it was that it wasn’t toe-curlingly twee. It wasn’t sickly sweet nursery tunes, but proper, actual songs that you could listen to and enjoy. We have listened to it several times now and it’s not worn thin or got annoying. And the small boy absolutely loves it, which is always the true test. You know with a child that if a toy, game, CD or whatever is good they keep asking for it, and he does.

The Pop Goes Your Name CD costs £12.95 and you can choose from the top 800 children’s names. I think at that price it’s a great present idea for a small child, ideal for birthdays and Christmas. It’s a lovely gift and one we’ll enjoy together on our little disco nights and on car journeys.

Note: We have been sent the Pop Goes Your Name CD for review purposes, all images and opinions are our own.

Chatterbox Walls – personalised prints

Being the daughter of a printer and then marrying another printer, I am a huge fan of typography. I used to be a bit of a font geek, but times change, but I still on occasion admire quality kerning. The small boy’s birthday is rapidly approaching and I was looking for something special for him, something which fits our style and I stumbled across Chatterbox Walls who do creative, personalised, typographical prints, at what I think are reasonable prices.

They have an extensive range of prints available for all occasions. We chose the superhero print from the kids range, it’s so easy to customise, just choose your colour, input your information and you see a preview of your print. It is incredibly simple.

You can choose from a range of different print sizes, you can have it printed on high quality glossy paper or on canvas. They also stock frames for your prints too. We chose the unframed A4 print on glossy paper; we ordered it and it arrived quickly and well packaged.

We were very impressed with the quality of the print, the printer husband examined it carefully and his professional opinion was that it was very high quality and an excellent gift.

There are lots of plus points to Chatterbox Walls, the prints will make excellent presents for all occasions, I love that you can personalise them completely, and that there are a range of finishes to choose from. Our print cost £14.99 and the canvas prints start at £39.99, which I think is reasonable, they have free standard delivery on all orders too.

I can’t wait to give him the framed print for his birthday, I think he’ll love it and hopefully treasure it for years to come.

Note: We were sent the Chatterbox Walls print free of charge for review purposes, all images and opinions are our own.