Embracing Hygge As A Family

Have you heard of Hygge? It's the new trend on everyone's lips, encouraging us to celebrate time together, make the most of the small moments and take pleasure in the everyday. Whilst I'm in no way a trend-setter of any kind, anything that encourages relaxing under a blanket with a cup of something warm is a winner in my book. Recently we have taken to having 'family nights' once a week, where we take the hour before bedtime to choose a film, grab a drink and snack and snuggle down to enjoy some phone and ipad-free time together, and embracing Hygge (pronounced Hu-gah, by the way!) really fits in with this routine.

Review: Belles Musical Tea Party Cart

When I recently attended my local blogging conference, Blog On, I came across the Belle's Musical Tea Party Cart and thought it was a lovely toy. I love Beauty And The Beast, it's one of my favourite Disney films and Holly chose to dress up as Belle at her last birthday party. We have been trying out the toy for a couple of weeks now so I thought I'd share my thoughts.

1. It's a lovely looking toy - a large cart featuring a tray with a spinning top where Mrs Potts, Chip and another cup sit, two spoons, a shelf underneath, wheels and a handle to push the tray around. The cart has a button on the front that when pushed plays "Be Our Guest."

2. It's quite thin plastic so I would say if your child is a little heavy handed you may need to take care, although it did need a bit of pushing down on to get it to fit together and it took that well.

3. There are lots of opportunities for play - my two set it up with Holly's dolls and had a tea party, hosted by Anna and Captain America, which included filling Mrs Pots with juice and, of course, proceeding to spill it everywhere (although I should point out it does say not to be used with liquids, but we didn't have any problems)!

4. It pushed really easily, in fact Jack was running around the house with it, over carpet, our long-pile rug and lino, serving Holly when she rang, and it was absolutely fine.

5. Currently for sale for £49.99 (although I believe it has been on at £60), I do feel it has quite a high price tag. It is a large toy but apart from the music and tease there isn't a huge amount to it that warrants the higher price tag.

It's a lovely toy for any Disney Princess fan and will bring lots of fun to playtime, it quite expensive in my opinion, though.




*We were sent this FOC however all opinions are my own.

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Black Friday Family Wishlist

Over the last couple of years Black Friday has winged it way from America and hit our stores with gusto, to the point that chaos has ensued in some places whilst people fought to get a bargain. I have never really joined in the fray, mainly because the thought of so many crowds fills me with dread, and for some reason I seem to miss all the good deals online. This year, though, I've set myself a few reminders and signed up for notifications with the intention of maybe buying a few bits for Christmas, if I see anything that catches my eye.

With that in mind I thought I'd put together a few wishlist ideas of what I'll be looking out for in the sales this year.

Wanna Hibernate?

If you follow me on social media at all you will be aware that the last couple of months have been tough going. As some of you may know I suffer from M.E./Chronic Fatigue and have done for the last three years, and in that time things have been a battle. For the majority of this year I was on the up, feeling a lot better, more awake and happier than I had been in some time. I was able to do things with the children, I was feeling motivated and actually working. Then September hit and it all went to shit.

Review: Blaze Monster Dome Playset

Jack is a huge fan of Blaze and has been since it originally came onto our screens. In fact for his third birthday I had to order a Blaze car from America as the toys weren't available in the UK. However, it has been eighteen months since then and there are a whole host of toys on sale from the show, including the Blaze Monster Dome Playset we have recently been trying out. Here are my thoughts on the toy.