Spotted! Brilliant oilcloth tunic cover ups for toddlers.
What a fab product from the equally fab Messy-Me. They specialise in really very lovely products, all made from oilcloth (genius, no?) that’ll keep your small person (and your house!) just that little bit easier to clean up.
And I love this tunic because we all know that they grow out of the bibs LONG before they grow out of dribbling food down their fronts. And even when they’re not eating this can be used for messy play too.
PLUS – when was the last time you saw a children’s bib look this darn PRETTY?
Fably.
(they do bibs, mats and ingenious high chair covers too!)
Read MoreThe Squirrel Point Hoodie from Lucas Frank
You know how buying stuff for older boys is just… tricky?
The style is never what you AND they agree on.
The fabric is never soft/smooth enough (or is that just mine that insist on the Soft test before they will wear anything?).
The quality is never good enough to withstand the Boy Thing.
Well. Here’s your answer.
Lucas Frank haven’t been around for long, but they’re making quite a splash as they have spotted what needs doing – and are getting it right. By focussing on making good quality basics (there’s just polo shirts, tees and hoodies in their range currently) you just can’t help but love the styling. It’s classic, simple – and yet contemporary enough to be wearable by certain young men. They also go up to age 10.
We’ve had the above Squirrel Point hoodie on review, and it’s a total favourite – one of those items that you have to sneak in and steal to get it in the wash as it is worn consistently.
I love the off-centre wooden buttons, and I know that the subtle quilting makes it the top he reaches for at all times, sliding it in with a sigh of contentment when he’s tired or chilly.
The quality is such that it’ll have years of hand-me-down wear in it, and for under £30, you really can’t go wrong.
Read MoreSpotted! Perfect Car rug.
One of the things I’ve learned as a parent is that a blanket of one’s own is invaluable.
You drag them downstairs with you on a chilly morning, you use them in bed for a little extra snuggability, you curl under them in the corner of your room when you read (or are in trouble…), you lay on top of them when you’re sorting out your soldiers, you take them in the car for sleep-comfort on long journeys, you take them when you visit anywhere overnight for a little feel of home…
Invaluable.
And this rather lovely one from John Lewis is great – soft, big enough, and not too babyish to still be in use when they’re 9.
We love it.
The Here, There and Everywhere Cars Throw is £20 from John Lewis.
Read MoreThe MOST perfect child’s lamp – The Bunny Rabbit
Oh how I love this lamp!
And oh how my daughter loves this lamp too!
What a darling little rabbit he is – though at nearly a foot tall he’s not really in the ‘little’ rabbit class.
(and yes, he is a ‘he’. Wully, actually, is how he’s known around here. Just in case you were wondering)
Just a gorgeous gorgeous lamp.
Bright enough to read by, and yet dim enough to not make you yelp with eye-burny-pain if you turn him on during a 2a.m. emergency. And perfectly safe to leave him on all night as a night light for those small people who are afeared of the dark.
Really – what more do you want in a child’s bedroom lamp?
The fabulous Heico Rabbit Lamp can be found at Petit Home for just £35. I can’t imagine your home is complete without one, to be honest.
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Spotted! The Most Beautiful Giant Floor Cushion
Just. Want. This.
Isn’t it beautiful?
And yes I know it’s £150, but this is a cushion that will last your child a lifetime – sit on it as a child, and also use it for their own child to learn to sit on.
Perfect for the book corner of a child’s bedroom, but equally at home in your own sitting room.
Like I said. I just *want* one.
We Spotted it on Etsy in the fabulous Big Bird’s Boutique. (please note each one is made to order, so there’s some weeks delay before you can get your hands on your own one!)
Read MoreFabulous Art Box Tin – mais oui!
I LOVE this little tin!
Actually – it’s not so little; at over 20cm long it’s perfect for holding brushes as well as paints or piles of collage scraps or a gazillion colouring pencils or a family of Sylvanian Rabbits or the entire collection of hair bands/clips/ribbons…
That’s the trouble with useful Pots to put things in. You never know what to put i them when you’re 5.
I had this tin neatly placed in the cupboard with all the brushes and pots of poster paint in it, stacked perfectly away. Foolishly, I let the girl help me stack them. Therfore she knew where the tin was, and just what a great and sturdy thing it is.
Consequently, it’s never where I expect it to be, and when I do come across it (on the stairs, under a bed, behind an armchair…) I’m never quite sure what i’ll find inside.
Ah well – life’s an adventure, yes?
The Art Box tin is from the rather fabulous Wise House, and is £21.50. There’s a whole range of the French tins – I’m rather tempted to go complete my set…
Read MoreThe Whirlee – another review classic from @becaboop
Right. I’m going to be honest with you. This Whirlee ride-on toy and I have a serious love/hate relationship…
LOVE the fact that despite its plastic it is actually a fairly stylish piece of kit. We had the red design to review which I loved, why can’t more toys be red instead of the obligatory blue or pink that is thrust upon us? (They do offer the gendered red or pink but this third colour way saved their butts in my opinion.)
HATE the noise it makes on my floorboards. I don’t know if it is it’s plastic material but between the 6 children that have whizzed around on this (not all mine, I am a child minder) the teeth clattering NOISE it makes on my floorboards has meant that at least once a week I have exclaimed RIGHT! ENOUGH! And banished it to the utility room. Sorry whirlee.
LOVE the price point, at just under the £20 mark it is a mahoosive bargain.
HATE the price point, yes, I know. No pleasing me is there. But I can’t help feel if the price point was a little higher, then the problem of the oh so flaming noisy wheels could be rectified. Thicker rubber? I don’t know the answer but I do know they are noisy.
LOVE the design, great shape, quirky, modern.
HATE the lack of padded seat. This has been used by the one year old I look after, my two year old, right up to four year olds and ME! Yes I’ve tried it! And it hurt my bum. Pad that seat! That being said kudos to the whirlee at spanning those age ranges.
LOVE how hardwearing this is. I’ve had it six months and it still looks great. Bear in mind I look after lots of children this has definitely been put through its paces.
If you have carpets, then this makes a great little first birthday present. If you have floorboards, do be prepared to get naffed off with it and huffily sling it in a cupboard for a moment’s peace!
The Whirlee is currently available from Amazon for a rattle under £20
*reviewed for us by Goddess Bec, who can usually be found over at Beetroot and Gherkins
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Spotted! Gorgeous child’s mug from Big Tomato Co – PLUS a secret 20% discount code!
Love love LOVE the Big Tomato Company – and love love LOVE this range of children’s mugs. The duck is my favourite, but the lamb is seriously lovely too.
PLUS… we happen to know that for the next 48hrs there is a Secret Sale.
Oh yes.
20% discount on everything if you use the code SSHHH1312.
That makes this utterly brilliant £30 Retro Robot child's breakfast set reduced to just £24...
And this £70 Use Your Loaf bread crock is reduced to just £56...
Go, look, shop – there’s Pretty to be had…
Browse The Big Tomato Company ‘s site – there a factory clearance section too, which is always worth a look.
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Spotted – Hootie McTootie baby blanket!
Love this Hootie McTootie baby blanket from Scamp. It’s pink, but not too girlie, not too babyish so it has longevity in your baby’s room, and backed with super-soft bobbly lushness.
And, of course, it has OWLS!
Hootie McTootie Snuggle Up Baby Blanket is £35 from Scamp Handmade Baby gifts.
Read MoreWee Gooseberry Sale – 70% off!
oh yes, we love a good sale, don’t we?
How about this Geox Tech Jacket Anthracite, reduced from £125 to £50?
Or this gorgeous Geox Rope Cardigan, reduced from £65 to £35?
Maybe this Darcy Brown Peony Pink & Mocha Tartan Dress is more your thing? Esecially when it is reduced from £55 down to £20!
Go, have a wander with one of our oldest and best-loved friends, The Wee Gooseberry. Show them some love, and snap up a bargain!
Read MoreELC Castle of Courage Instructions
We featured the castle as a review a while back now – and it was fabulous. BUT. We have since had a steady stream of people seeking the instructions.
So here they are -
The Early Learning Centre (ELC) Castle of Courage Instructions for you to download and keep! Just click on the image below, and save them where you wish.
Just The BEST Wellies for children. Rainbow Striped Wellington Boots? Yes please.
Usually we’d do a good long fulsome review of a product.
But these Molo Striped Wellies sent us by Little Stomper?
We just need to show you them, we think.
How gorgeous are they?
Very, that’s how.
The daughter even yelped and hugged them when she opened the box (she’s a girl and she’s 5. Striped wellies are about as Good As It Gets).
She may actually never step foot out of doors with any other footwear on again. She even had to wear them to school. For a week (though was persuaded to change into school shoes once she got there). Though photographing a small personage inside them is remarkable tricky – they’re usually doing this…
She likes them a lot.
Us? We love them too.
And if you’re clever, a quick game of hide-and-seek is all the opportunity you need…
Available from the seriously brilliant Little Stomper website (do have a browse while you’re there, the entire shop is full to the brim with quirky, funky, gorgeous footwear for children) for a splash under £24.
Read MoreSpotted! The totally brilliant MusucBag *want*
Isn’t that just awesome?
Would your child ever actually get out of it?
It’s so well designed – form zips you can undo form the inside to ‘ventilation zips’ on the legs (to stop sweaty-knee-syndrome we think) and non-slippy feet.
Brrrrilliant.
(and yes, before you ask - there are grown-up-sized ones too!)
All for a squish under £40 from MusucBag.com.
Read MoreSpotted! Zebra Babygrow! *swoon*
Oh, I just LOVE this! ‘course, we pretty much love everything from the Burp! Boutique, but this zebra babygrow makes me grin a bit.
PLUS it’s 100% super soft cotton.
PLUS it’s made right here in Blighty.
Fabulous.
Available in sizes 0-12mths for berzackly Twenty of your pounds from the Burp! Boutique. Go Buy one.
Read MoreSpotted! Vintage Polka Dot Tin Tea Set!
Lovely, no?
I think it’s glorious.
And I’d like to play.
The 14 piece teaset with four little cups, saucers and plates, that totally swoonworthy teapot (*swoon*) even comes in that fabulous little suitcase. *meeep!*
Read MoreSpotted! Gorgeous Tractor Hot Water Bottle!
Brilliant.
Just.. brilliant.
We know just how much you love a good hottie – but good ones for the boys are surprisingly rare. This one is a bit genius though, and will keep anyone warm and snugged on a chilly day.
Farmyard hot water bottle £13 from Snugg nightwear (there’s a great boat one too)
Read MoreSpotted! BEST bedroom seat in the world (if you like dragons).
I *want* one of these in the corner of MY bedroom, never mind the children. Year of the Dragon, and all that.
He’s just. so. CHEERFUL!
Davy Dragon Pouffe is a flame under £120 from Kids Rooms.
Read MoreAnnoying Monsters. They p*$$ me off a bit.
Annoying Monsters. Man these things are well-named. Seriously.
They burp, they fart, they laugh til they judder, they repeat what you say in a weird, irritating, mimicky-fashion… and just when you think they’ve finally gone quiet they start to snore. Very loudly. They’re rude, stupid, pointless and seriously annoying.
Naturally, the 9 and 10yr olds LOVE them.
*sigh*
The boys thought they were funny when they just made weird and rude sounds. But once they figured out that the monsters record what you say and repeat it… oh, the fun is limitless.
Rude messages for brothers, stooopid sing-song noises which get replayed over and over and over and over…
These monster-things do my head in.
And yet…
Of all the things they got for Christmas, these irritating little beasts are the things I still see most often clutched and carried and played with.
When I see my two boys, roaring with laughter, not a computer screen in sight… I find I’m rather fond of these odd-looking little aliens, with their SERIOUSLY annoying little voices…
The full range is available direct from the Annoying Monsters (rather brilliant) website for £18 each. But we have just spotted there’s a few of them currently half price over at play.com.
Spotted: Dr Seuss tee? yes please!
What’s not to love about Dr Seuss? And on a t shirt? *squee!*
Loving the small “the cat in the hat” detail printed inside the collar too!
Dr Seuss t shirt available from Fabric Flavours in ages 1-6yrs, for sixteen of your pounds.
Read MoreFelt tips that really do wash out. Bic Kids – have you been converted yet?
As any parent knows (or very quickly learns) there are some things you just don’t cut corners on. And felt tips are one of the high things on my Only-Buy-This-Brand list. I’ve been buying them for 12 years now, and only one brand will cross my threshold, as it’s the ONE brand I can guarantee really will wash out of nice tops, pale skirts and dining room chair seats when it says it will (except for green. Why oh why is the green so evil about leaving a faint stain behind?).
So when Bic offered to send me some ‘ultra-washable Kid Couleur‘ felt pens, I may have laughed at them.
Washable?
Hmm. We’ll soon see.
But blow me down with a feather if they’re not.
They really DO wash out!
Not only that but they come in great colours, are a joy to use, and there’s all sorts of sets. We LOVE the ‘plasti-decor’ triangular-shaped crayons; perfect for left-handers, and also learning-to-writers as they’re so easy to grip correctly. They don’t shed minute coloured flakes, and they really don’t snap easily. most importantly of all, they colour beautifully
And click here to see how they make their woodless pencils – yes, woodless. And chew resistant, and the ‘lead’ doesn’t snap when it’s dropped, either. Truly.
Bestie best of all? They’re cheaper!
You may notice a distinct lack of the Other Brand in our house in future…
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