Our Christmas Eve Traditions

I'm so excited for Christmas this year even though Blake still doesn't fully understand yet. Children just make Christmas all the more magical and exciting and I'm totally embracing it!

We have quite a few traditions that we love to do in the build up to Christmas and so I wanted to share with you what we in general like to get up to on Christmas Eve. 

Christmas Eve for us is rather we relaxed we prefer to not go out unless we have forgotten something as we don't want to be stuck in a packed supermarket.  Our main tradition we do with Blake is the Christmas Eve basket which I love putting together. 

Inside there is usually a DVD or an activity that we do with Blake and we just spend most of the day watching a film or something like that. Christmas Eve is usually when my Mum, Nan and sister drop round with the gifts from them. We usually do a buffet in the evening for dinner although this year we plan to have it at lunch time with my Mum and Nan. 

During the day we let Blake enjoy sweet treats and such like that we include in his basket.  Before bed we like to go out the back with the reindeer dust to sprinkle on the little lawn. This is then followed by a bath with a bath bomb we like to include in the Christmas Eve basket. Once  done we wrap him up in his Christmas PJs, get the tray out for Santa's drink and mince pie and of course a carrot for the reindeer. It's then into bed where we read the book we read every year "The night before Christmas". 

I'd love to know your Christmas Eve Traditions. 

Win: £25 spend at Teeny Beanies

Teeny Beanies sell a wide range of products and these cute character bean bags  come in the following characters: Ulanda Unicorn, Woolly Sheep, Bernie Bunny, Melvin Monkey, Horace Horse, Bumble Bee, Henry Hippo, Digby Dog, Peggy Pig, Florence Fairy, Dotty Ladybird, Dizzy Dinosaur, Claude Cat and Edmund Elephant. Bean bags can be personalised for an extra cost and come in 3 sizes small, medium and large.

I have a chance for one person to win £25 spend at Teeny Beanies! What will you spend it on? Maybe towards one of these beanbags or something else?

HOW TO ENTER:

- Enter via the rafflecopter below

- Leave a comment below anwsering the question in the rafflecopter 

- The more entries you complete the better the chance of winning

T&C

- This competition will close on 5th of December 2017 at 12.00am GMT 

- The winner will be chosen at random and notified via email, twitter or facebook

- Open to UK residents ONLY

- You must be a UK resident and over 16

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Living Arrows: 48/52

This weeks photo is from after Pre-School on Friday. We headed up to our local shopping centre (Milton Keynes) with the in laws. Blake had his first ride on a carousel which this is the photo we managed to get. We also had pizza hut for dinner and Blake got to ride on a train that was going around part of the centre which he loved too. There was also a little area for children to play in faux snow which Blake loved too! 

I'm so excited for the coming weeks now as we have loads of things planned now up until Christmas. As well as loads of festive bits we also have Blake's 3rd birthday and party to plan. 

Win: Kids Book Bundle

Once there was a bear cub who lived with a little boy. But over time the bear cub grew . . . and grew . . . and GREW! And did things that bears do . . . and do . . . and DO! One day the boy looked at the bear and realised he was just too big and bearish to be living in a house. “I think it’s time we found you a new place to live where you can be bearish and big,” said the boy. “But where, bear?”

Meet the Snowdog in this adorable board book, featuring beautiful artwork and rhyming text. The Snowdog is a fun and cute book that children will treasure.

One day, adventurous Mouse sets off to find the moon with his Marvellous Moon Map, leaving his worried friend Bear behind. But as the Woods get darker, and the weather gets worse, Mouse soon realizes that he needs more than just the Moon Map to find his way . . .

Fancy getting your hands on a copy of all 3 books? Well one lucky person can. 

HOW TO ENTER:

- Enter via the rafflecopter below

- Leave a comment below anwsering the question in the rafflecopter 

- The more entries you complete the better the chance of winning

T&C

- This competition will close on 4th of December 2017 at 12.00am GMT 

- The winner will be chosen at random and notified via email, twitter or facebook

- Open to UK residents ONLY

- You must be a UK resident and over 16

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Win:Feather and down sleepy set and reed diffuser

Treat yourself or someone special to this luxury sleep set and reed diffuser.

The Feather & Down Sleeping Bag includes a luxury Eye Mask, Sleep Balm, Pillow Spray and Shower Cream. All you need to wind down, relax and encourage that well deserved restful night’s sleep. The scent of lavender and chamomile make this a perfect scent for  relaxing you and sending you to the world of nod.

HOW TO ENTER:

- Enter via the rafflecopter below

- Leave a comment below anwsering the question in the rafflecopter 

- The more entries you complete the better the chance of winning

T&C

- This competition will close on 2nd of December 2017 at 12.00am GMT 

- The winner will be chosen at random and notified via email, twitter or facebook

- Open to UK residents ONLY

- You must be a UK resident and over 16

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Win: Mums Luxury 2018 Diary

 The Mum's luxury diary from Dairy Diary for 2018  features a beautiful teal and gold block cover with rounded corners, two ribbons, elastic closure, lie-flat binding for easy writing and stickers to highlight important events. You can find recipes for throughout the year, essential contacts, checklists and more. The diary is compact enough to fit in medium sized bags so you can keep it with you at all times. 

 I have one diary to giveaway to one lucky person.

HOW TO ENTER:

- Enter via the rafflecopter below

- Leave a comment below anwsering the question in the rafflecopter 

- The more entries you complete the better the chance of winning

T&C

- This competition will close on 1st of December 2017 at 12.00am GMT 

- The winner will be chosen at random and notified via email, twitter or facebook

- Open to UK residents ONLY

- You must be a UK resident and over 16

a Rafflecopter giveaway

WIN: Kids Songs CD

Kids Songs is a triple box set jam packed with your child/ren's favourite TV theme tunes and songs. The album features everyone's favourites such as: The Clangers, Justin Fletcher, Mister Maker, Waybuloo and more. 

Blake and I love having a good sing song and dancing around so this CD was a hit with the both of us. We were happy to see some of Blake's favourite songs such as Old Macdonalds farm, wheels on the bus and wind the bobbin up to name a few. The CD is a great way of burning off some of Blake's energy ready for bedtime.

Kids Songs would make a fab Christmas gift or Stocking filer and is available to buy from Amazon and Itunes for £5/£6.

Would you like to get your hands on a copy? If so see below on how to enter to win a copy. 

HOW TO ENTER:

- Enter via the rafflecopter below

- Leave a comment below anwsering the question in the rafflecopter 

- The more entries you complete the better the chance of winning

T&C

- This competition will close on 30th of November 2017 at 12.00am GMT 

- The winner will be chosen at random and notified via email, twitter or facebook

- Open to UK residents ONLY

- You must be a UK resident and over 16

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Black Friday Shopping: Your Guide to the Best Deals

With Black Friday coming up, it can be a real panic thinking about what you need to buy for who, where you’ll find the best deals, and wondering if all this sales shopping is going to leave you with empty pockets. That’s why I’ve created a little guide to Black Friday, just in case you need some help on finding the best deals!

For Electronics

If you’re looking for the best deals on Electronic presents this year, be sure to check out Argos. With a predicted up to 70% off most things this Friday, it should definitely be high up on your list of websites to check out if you’re after a new television, gaming products and more!

If you’d like some information on Argos, or would like to contact Argos for another reason, you can find a range of helplines here.

You should also check out the likes of Currys, who will be continuing their deals throughout Cyber Week and beyond.

For Clothing

If you’re after some amazing outfits for the Christmas Party this December, Black Friday is the best time to get them! My advice is to bookmark any outfit you like the look of, and wait until Black Friday starts before purchasing them. Once a sale is announced, check your bookmarks and see if the price has dropped. Or, check if the site is offering a Black Friday Sale Code for you to use.

It’s predicted that sites such as ASOS, Topshop and Marks & Spencer will be putting on huge sales this year for Black Friday, with up to 70% off on selected lines.

For Christmas Gifts

If you’re specifically looking for Christmas Gifts, why not check out the likes of Firebox, whose sales have already started with up 50% off selected lines. Also great for gifts and gift ideas is Amazon. The website has already started with their Black Friday offers, and this Friday it’s expected that thousands of products will be up to 70% off in their giant Black Friday Extravaganza!

*Guest post by Gina Kay Daniel

The Dream Family Home

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one that finds themselves daydreaming from time to time of their dream family home. I'm definitely guilty of looking through right move at the homes on offer in our local area. Unfortunately for us the chances of buying our own home is pretty slim at the moment and the rental market prices are sky high too. This means we are most likely going to be stuck renting in our 2 bed flat for awhile yet. 

One of the things I find myself doing from time to time is the lotto and keeping my fingers crossed as I check the online lottery results that one of us would win enough to buy our own home. 

So what is my dream home? Well my dream home would be a good size for the three of us with a few spare rooms. One would be in case we have another child and one that would be turned into a games room especially for Stuart. The kitchen would be a good size so that we have room to keep all our kitchen gadgets in. 

The living room would be big enough to have a gorgeous corner sofa in as currently we only have a 2 seater. I love having an electric fire place in our flat so I'd love to have one of them too. I would have enough storage space in our hallway to store coats, the buggy and other bits and bobs tidily. 

We would also have a dining room for sitting down together as family to eat our meals with no distractions of the TV. There would also be a play room for Blake with plenty of storage so that everything could be kept organised and tidy. 

We would have 2 bathrooms one which would be attached to mine and Stuart's room and a family bathroom. But of course one the best things would be that we would have a much wanted garden. The garden would have enough space for Blake to have a swing and slide set as well as a sand pit and his own little play house. There would also be an area for us to grow our own fruit and veg as well as an area for plants. 


Another must have for our home would be an office area of my own so that I can blog. It would definitly have to have views over the garden and have windows which I can have light flooding in for my blog photos. 

Of course for now it's all just a dream, maybe one day I'll be lucky enough to own that dream house. 

*In collaboration with Multilotto

Win: A copy of My Golden Ticket from Wonderbly

My Golden Ticket is a personalised adventure that finally opens Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory to any child on Earth. But this isn’t just a version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with a child’s name slapped inside. Instead, every name gets a different story, including their own unique candy, Oompa Loompa song and Wonkafied family tree. No two adventures are the same. The book is suitable for children ages 5-12 years and avaible in both softback or hardback with between 36 and 40 pages. 

My Golden Ticket is by  Wonderbly formally known as Lostmy.name  who started out with the popular book The boy/girl who lost his/her name. They changed their name to Wonderbly and now sell a whole range of personalised books, poster and a card game. 

HOW TO ENTER:

- Enter via the rafflecopter below

- Leave a comment below anwsering the question in the rafflecopter 

- The more entries you complete the better the chance of winning

T&C

- This competition will close on 29th of November 2017 at 12.00am GMT 

- The winner will be chosen at random and notified via email, twitter or facebook

- Open to UK residents ONLY

- You must be a UK resident and over 16

a Rafflecopter giveaway