Christmas Gifts with Sports Direct #sdfiverchallenge

This post is an entry for Britmums #sdfiver challenge Christmas Challenge sponsored by sportsdirect.com. We were challenged to find Christmas gifts for different people with at least two gifts costing five pound or less.

Whenever I've thought of Sports Direct, trainers or sports clothes immediately come to mind, I'll be honest and say it's not somewhere where I'd think to buy Christmas presents (unless they were 'sport' related), so I was pleasantly surprised by the range of products that were available. From toys to gift sets to Christmas jumpers, there really is a lot to choose from with many items priced at five pounds or less. I must say I was impressed with what was available and the prices.

To begin with a spent a good hour or so browsing the website taking mental note of things I thought would be good presents for certain people before choosing some and adding them to my basket, this is what I selected.

 

For the teacher

As a teacher myself I don't look forward to the overload of thoughtful chocolate gifts at the end of term. I don't mean to sound ungrateful but I'd honestly rather just have a card or verbal words from parents/carers if they wish to give something because...

A) 15+ chocolate gifts is too much chocolate!

AND

B) 15+ chocolate gifts are not going to be helpful to my postpartum tum that I want to reduce in size!

 

So when I stumbled across Yankee Candles on the Sports Direct Website I was pleasantly surprised, especially as a small jar was priced at £3.99! So that's what I ordered, a small 'Sparkling Snow' candle as an alternate gift for Eliot's teacher. However as you can see on the box above there are three candles priced at £7.99, so I'm not sure if I didn't read the description properly and it was always a pack of three or they had sold out of single candles. Whichever way it was, they went through at £3.99 on my order which is blimmin' good value for a great quality product! Unfortunately these particular candles no longer seem to be available on the website which doesn't surprise me because they were such good value! There are other Yankee products available and who knows, they could get more in stock.

 

For The Teaching Assistant

Eliot has four adults working in his Reception class, so that's four gifts that I needed to get! As I said above I'm not overly keen on chocolate gifts so thought this Moisty mug cake was another great alternative gift, with one particular TA in mind. Yes it's food related but who doesn't love a cake and one that can be ready a minute?! For £3.49 I thought this was super value and would be a great small gift or stocking filler for all cake lovers, ones that don't have a nut allergy though as this is Hazelnut flavour!

For The Child With TOO Many Toys

Sometimes I find buying presents for kids really difficult because you wonder if it's something they already have or if it could be adding to a toy collection that's already too large and driving the parents too distraction! So I try to avoid toys and opt for things like games. They (hopefully) won't add to the toy mess and they're something that all the family can get involved in. I chose this 3D Snakes and Ladders game for Eliot as he has a rather tired  2D version of it and I'm sure we'll have some festive family fun playing it together. It's priced at £5 but unfortunately I couldn't find it on the website so I'm guessing it's gone out of stock.

 

For The Sweet Lovers



I chose this Mini jelly bean machine for Eliot because he does like a sweet treat but mainly because he's been pointing out all the bubble gum machine gifts and bubble gum is something I won't give to him just yet. So when I came across this  Jelly Bean version I knew I had to get it for him as he'll love dispensing his own sweets! It's priced at £7.99.

 

I picked this Chewits selection box as a little present for my other half, he isn't fussed about chocolate but does love chewy sweets. He often buys Chewits but there only seem to be a limited selection of flavours available so I thought this would be ideal as there are a few different ones in this box. Priced at £2.99 I  thought it was good value for a selection box.

For The Presents

I don't know about you but I find wrapping Christmas presents after the first few a little laborious so I cheat with some and put them into Gift bags. This pack of five variety sized bags cost £2.99 which again I thought was a good price. There is also a more traditional Santa and Snowman pack of bags at the same price.

All of the items I picked came to under £25 which was I think was excellent value for what I selected and the quality. Delivery costs £4.99.
I certainly recommend browsing the website for presents whether their stocking fillers or main gifts there is plenty to choose from!

* I received the products above in exchange for my honest thoughts and opinions

Giveaway- "Milkshake! Brand New Besties" DVD **ENDED**

I don't know about you but I'm definitely not looking forward to another 'toy influx' this Christmas, so I'm looking at alternate gifts for the 'fournager'! A tablet, games, books and DVD's are on my current list.

I personally think DVD's are great stocking fillers or presents even if parents aren't dreading the toy overload! They're always handy for those dreary wet days or cold winter evenings and I love the look of the new Milkshake DVD featuring those toddler and pre-school favourites...

 



 

PAW Patrol

Digby Dragon

Bob The Builder

Peppa Pig

Shimmer and Shine.

 Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom

Fireman Sam
Simon

Poppy Cat

Floogals
Olly the Little White Van

Puffin Rock

Noddy, Toyland Detective

Thomas & FriendsTM

 

Fancy winning a copy of Milkshake's Brand New Besties DVD?! I have two to giveaway, enter via rafflecopter!

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My Sunday Photo 13/12/15 Visiting Santa

It's not a great photo but it certainly a memorable one. This year is the first year Eliot is really beginning to understand what Santa is all about. I was super excited to take him to a local garden centre to visit him this year. I actually have a new found love for garden centres after visiting this particular one, it was so Christmassy!

Before we went in to meet Santa the children made reindeer food for put out on Christmas idea, they then sang Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer with some of Santa's elves. Santa was great and told everyone a story before meeting with the children. Eliot was very excited and almost couldn't keep still to have his photo taken!



Our Plans For Christmas 2015

Photo credit-FreeImages.com

 

On 19th December 2014 we moved from London to Bedfordshire, to say things didn't go to plan would be a huge understatement. You can read about our move here if you fancy it. Things have been up and down the entire year for many different reasons so we both feel it's really important that this Christmas is a good one.

 

Initially we thought it would be nice to spend it as just the three of us. Quiet, not stressing about cooking for more people etc but then we had a change of heart, after all Christmas is about spending time with your nearest and dearest. Eliot loves being around people, especially his grandparents so it makes sense that we spend it with them too! So we've invited my parents and the other halves mum to spend Christmas at ours. I must admit I'm not completely looking forward to all the cooking, the last time I cooked Christmas dinner was in 2010 and I found it quite stressful. Fingers crossed I don't ruin the turkey and I can get all the food out on time! That I aside I am looking forward to it, I'm feeling a lot more 'Christmassy' since our tree went up today (a lot later than I planned!)

 

We also have a few other bits planned over the festive period. I want to take Eliot to see Father Christmas at a local garden centre, all the weekend slots are booked so I just need to decide when's the best day/time to go.

 

Next weekend we're going ice skating, a first for Eliot so I'm not quite sure how it will pan out but I'm hoping I'll get him on the ice at least! I predict it will be an issue to get the skates on him as he has chunky feet and I'm pretty certain he'll put up a fight.

 

Another first for Eliot will be a theatre trip, we're going to see The Gruffalo on stage. Even though I've seen it twice before (teacher perks ;p) I'm excited but also a little apprehensive  as Eliot isn't exactly a toddler who sits still! I'm hoping we'll make it through the performance but if not we'll have to make a quiet escape!

 

Those are some definite things that we'll be doing, I do want to go to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park, we've visited the past couple of years so it will be nice to take Eliot back now he's that bit older.

I'm hoping we can fit some other family activities in too!

 

What are your plans for this Christmas? 

Toddler Stocking Fillers

 

Last year I bought a few things to fill Eliot's first ever stocking but then I became stuck for ideas. After a few tweets using the good old pbloggers hashtag I got some inspiration. Here's the post from last year if you fancy seeing what Eliot received in his first Christmas stocking.This year I've found it easier now Eliot is a toddler, and I actually ran out of space in this years stocking. I could have bought a few more bits! I filmed a little video (complete with festive tunes!) of what is going in Mr E's stocking this year which you can watch clicking here. Thank you for checking it out (if you do) and don't forget to like/subscribe, it is the festive season after all! ;)



My Sunday Photo

This week I've noticed a large increase in festive bits & bobs, Christmas songs on in the shops, the John Lewis advert and decorations adorning shop displays. So here is our first festive photo, next to the Christmas countdown tree in Asda :)

Halloween & Christmas Bits

I thought I'd do a quick share of some bits I picked up for Halloween and Christmas, mostly from Poundland. I do love Poundland for a book bargain, last week they had most of the well known 'Large Family' books by Jill Murphy which were an absolute steal at a quid! They also had a few different hardback Halloween and Christmas books which my mum and I both bought for Eliot.

For Halloween...
Trick or Treat and Haunted House Books both have appealed to Eliot, although I haven't read them with him yet!
I bought the cake mix in Lidl for around £1.50, I thought it would be nice to make some Halloween sweet treats! Eliot also has a skeleton outfit from Asda which he will be wearing to really get into the spirit of things.

For Christmas...
I bought a Peppa Pig calendar for Eliot as he is a bit of a fan at the moment, I'm sure he will love getting a chocolate from it everyday.
The Santa's Workshop book looked adorable, I had to get it to add to Eliot's festive book collection.
They also have personalised 'Santa Stop Here' door hangers with lots of names available. Not Eliot's hence the 'Special Boy' one I picked up! Even if they did have his name, I'm pretty certain it would be spelt differently.

I thought all the bits from the Poundland were great for a pound, you can get some great buys there!

 

Have you bought any Halloween/Christmas bits?

My fave festive gifts

I know Christmas seems like oh so long ago but I thought I'd join in with the  'Share It Sundays'  linky over on  Oh So Amelia blog . This weeks prompt was 'Favourite Christmas Presents' and I thought I'd share my three favourite gifts. I received many lovely gifts so it was hard to choose...

I was lucky enough to get a new camera from the OH. My previous one had broken so this Nikon Coolpix was at the top of my list! Purple is one of my favourite colours too!

One of the gifts I received from my parents was the Soap & Glory Yule Monty. I love Soap & Glory shower gels and body lotions so I'm looking forward to trying some make up and face wash when I get round to opening this!

As I'm new to parent blogging this was another gift the OH bought me. So far I've only had a chance to read the intro but I'm looking forward to reading more to help improve my blogging!

What were your favourite gifts?

 

                                                                  

Festive Round Up!

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas (seems like ages ago?) and New Year! I thought I would do a bit of a festive round up after reading lots of other Christmas & new year posts. I've been caught up in the festivities and in turn neglected my blog, so need to get back on track! Here's what we got up to...

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve I made a ham for the following day at the OH's mums. I followed the The London Mum's recipe which was simple to make and very tasty!

I was also inspired by Rhiannon over at The Life and Times of Mummy Morkus to make some salt dough decorations with Eliot and his hand prints. Lets just say mine did not turn out as well as Rhiannon's! You will have to click on the link to see how they turned out! In the photo above I had made the dough and was adding red and green glitter for some festive decoration. It was hard trying to get Eliot's hand print. He kept picking up the dough and squeezing it so there were a few attempts! I used a cocktail stick that was also a 'H' candle from 'Happy Birthday' set to scribe 'Eliot 2013' on one of the decorations. Unfortunately I also left it on the baking tray when baking the decorations...oops! The wax melted onto a couple of the handprints which stopped them from drying out completely. So I haven't got round to the final process as I'm not sure they will last. This is such a lovely idea and the salt dough decorations make a lovely gift or keepsake.

Christmas Day

1. Family cuddles in bed on Christmas morning.

2. Eliot opening his '1st Christmas card from us.

3. Having a go at opening some of his presents.

4. Waving some wrapping paper around as that was clearly much more fun!

5. Getting in the festive spirit by being dressed in Christmas outfits.

6. First Christmas plate & cup set from my parents.

7.  First Christmas socks to wear.

8. The turkey & trimmings at the OH's mums.

Christmas was special this year as it was Eliot's first Christmas. We spent the morning at home 

opening presents and getting ourselves sorted. We had our Christmas dinner over at the OH's mums, opened more presents and chilled before heading home.

Of course Eliot had no idea what was going on but I wanted it to be special for him and us as a family.

Boxing Day

Eliot was 6 months on Boxing Day, a whole half a year old! I can't believe how fast the time goes by! We just chilled at home and headed to a local supermarket for some bits before having a toast back at home to Eliot's Half a year birthday!

We also had a second Christmas with the amount of presents my parents & sister bought on the 28th.

                                                                    New Years Eve

My parents looked after Eliot for us while we had a night out with some friends. It was great to have a night out as a 'couple' and see in the new year.

                                                              Best wishes for 2014!

                                                                         Xxx

What was in Eliot's 1st Christmas Stocking

Happy Boxing Day!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas & Santa bought you all you wanted ;)

A few weeks ago wrote I wrote a post about some bits I bought for Eliot's Christmas stocking. I thought I'd share the couple of extra things I bought, what was in his stocking on Christmas morning!

1.             'My First Christmas' teddy.
2.              'Favourite Songs and Rhymes' & 'Animal Songs' CD's.
3.              'Baby's First animals' word & picture book.
4.              Pack of socks.
5.              'World Of Happy Pocket Library'
6.               Soothers.
7.               Personalised clip on soother holder.
8.               Bubbles.

What was in your little ones's stocking?

Festive Baby OOTD

I couldn't resist sharing Eliot's OOTD, there's no doubt he's my best present :)

All in one £2.70 in the sale F+F at Tesco

Santa hat £5.50 part of set at Next

Winter Wonderland attempt 2!

Not looking impressed in his festive gear & waiting patiently

So we had a Winter Wonderland fail the other week, which you can read about here. On Saturday attempt two was made and was successful, yay! Even though the huge queue still dominated the entrance we waited patiently. Luckily the wait wasn't too long and we began our journey through the abundance of stalls. The festive atmosphere is just wonderful, even if it was tricky trying to navigate a pushchair through an endless stream of people! 
Lines of stalls on either side offer everything from food, to booze to goods. Beyond here we took a right turn past the ice rink towards the array of games stalls and rides.


Rides & stalls galore!

The games on the stalls were near impossible to win but all good fun! The selection of rides caters for everyone from tots to white knuckle thrill seekers. There were a fair few rides I was keen to have a go on but didn't want to go on by myself, hopefully the OH and I will take a trip back by ourselves!
There was a substantial range of food on offer, I fancied something sweet so opted for a crepe with Nutella.


Food & festive fun



There is so much to get round and see you don't even need to buy an extra for the other attractions ( ice rink, ice kingdom, Santas Grotto, Circus, observation wheel) unless of course they are one of the things you are going to Winter Wonderland for! I quite fancy the ice kingdom and circus so if we go back as a couple we might do them.



Meeting Santa & having a rest!



Cheeky chappy
 

 All in all we had a lovely day out, even though I was FREEZING cold! Make sure you wrap up warm with lots of layers and hat, scarf, gloves etc! I've lived in London since 2009 and can't believethis is the first time I made it to Winter Wonderland. I definitely recommend!

Have you been to Winter Wonderland? What festive things are you up to?











Winter Wonderland fail and Hamleys

So yesterday we thought it would be a nice family day out to take a trip to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park. After deliberating the best mode of transport (pram or carrier) for Eliot I thought him being strapped to daddy was the most sensible. Thus avoiding trying to get the pram on to the tightly packed London Underground. Off we went and I was glad we chose the carrier as there was no way we would have got on the platform, never mind the tube! When we changed at Green Park it was such a nightmare we caught the tube back a station just so we could get on!
When arrived at Hyde Park there was a huge back log of people waiting to get inside Winter Wonderland. Poor Eliot had fallen asleep but looked uncomfortable upright in the carrier. As his bottle was due I suggested to the OH we head to a bench I spied in the distance to feed him. Who knew how long we might be stuck in the queue.

Massive queue beyond the leaves

Being fed by daddy

Once E was fed and winded we headed back to the entrance where the ridiculous amount of people waiting to get in had grown. So we decided to come back another day and walked up to Regent Street to visit Hamleys.
I don't know why I thought otherwise but Regent Street was horrendous too. My stress levels were rising! I despise busy London anyway but with Eliot in tow it made  me hate it even more!
Of course hoards of people were flocking to Hamleys and it was chocka! It was not the enjoyable experience I wanted it to be. Eliot was getting cranky, people were barging and I couldn't believe the prices! Yes I know it's Hamleys but how can they charge £40 for a Fisher Price toy I paid £15 for?! Out-bloody-rageous!
 We did buy a couple of books for E and he enjoyed looking at the display of bath toys but I certainly won't be rushing back there anytime soon!

Loving the bath toy display.

NaBloPoMo 9 1st Christmas Stocking Fillers

Today I thought I'd do a post not following a prompt as I'm in need of a bit of help. As you can tell from the title, this post is about 1st Christmas stocking fillers. So far I've only picked up a few little bits and would like some ideas on what else I could pop in to Eliot's 1st Christmas stocking.

This is what I have so far...

Good old traditional gift of socks, thought they were cute and Eliot will be needing  more of the next size up. A hardback book all about shape. A word and picture book on animals that can be attached to the pushchair. And finally, some glow in dark soothers, not the best stocking filler but our boy loves his dummy at bedtime!

I would love to hear what you put in your little ones 1st Christmas stocking or if you have seen  something perfect. Any ideas of little toys will be great, thank you :) You can see Eliot's first Christmas stocking here to get an idea of how big a gift can be.

Recent baby buys #Toys

Last week I went shopping at Lakeside in Essex. Well we didn't actually make it to the shopping centre but visited a few shops in the retail parks including Kiddicare. The last time I was there Eliot was a five month bump!
My intention was to buy a highchair in preparation for weaning but that plan was swiftly abandoned  and  I came away with some of his first Christmas presents.
Here is what I bought...



L

Polka Party Walker £19.99

Buzzing Brains Rocking Rings £5.59

Vtech Nursery Rhymes Book £7.48

Buzzing Brains Pound-a-ball £7.48

Eliot will be exactly six months on boxing day so I'm sure he will be ready for the walker. I thought this was a bargain at the reduced price of £19.99. I like the fact the toy is removable so that he can also play with other toys on the tray and perhaps have snacks on it. It has two height positions so will adapt as Eliot grows.

I really love the Buzzing Brains stacking ring, they are bright and colourful. I particularly like that two of the rings have beads/balls inside for more stimulation.

I remember buying a Vtec musical book for my niece years ago. I just adore the words, pictures, music all combined into a robust book that can be wiped clean without any pages that can be torn.

Last but not least I picked up the pound-a-ball toy which is recommended from 12 months but I'm sure Eliot will use it before then. It will be perfect to help develop hand-eye co-ordination.

All of the toys were reduced but I was very disappointed when I discovered that both Buzzing Brains toys had 50% off a couple of days later. I emailed Kiddicare to see if I could refund the difference without trekking to our nearest store but they said they couldn't, I went would have to go to a store. The difference is only just over a fiver but with Christmas approaching quickly we could all do those little savings!

What toys have you bought for your little ones this Christmas?

'First Christmas' Buys

I was out shopping with my mum and Eliot the other day and popped into the Card Factory to pick up a birthday card. However I got distracted by all the 'First Christmas' items. It's Eliot's first Christmas and our first Christmas as parents so a very special time. I thought I'd share the things I picked up.



Stocking £1.99

Tree decoration99p

Teddy/stocking keepsake £2.49




Socks £1.99

What I personally LOVE about the Card Factory is that they don't rip you off with their products. I have seen many beautiful 'First Christmas' products but as Eliot will only have one 'first Christmas I didn't want to be spending more than double on similar items from other places. Of course the 'Special Little Boy' tree decoration can be used for many years to come, until Eliot grows out of it. All can be kept as keepsakes, his current memory box is rather large and I fear one day I will have to do a cull of the things in there :(

Anyhoo back to the 'buys' I think these would make great little extra pressies to add a finishing touch for babies celebrating their first Christmas!

Have you bought any 'First Christmas' items yet?