Fab freebies of the week 31/8

Summer has finally drawn to and end - I went back to work yesterday and for the kids, it's on Monday. Boo ! Let's make this last weekend really count in the fun stakes ! Let's start by kicking things off with this week's round-up of the latest UK freebies.

*************************************

Sign up to find out how to grow wildflowers with our free Autumn sowing advice for flowers next year. We'll email you advice and post free wildflower seeds to as many people as possible in early October.

Acne Treatment Serum Sample

Thank you for your interest in our products. Please complete the form below and we will send you a free sample of the product you would like to try.

Now available on Send Me a Sample - Street Style: Thai Red Curry

Just say to your Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant “Ask Send Me a Sample for Street Style”. Get yours now!

WIN ONE OF 150 FOAMBURST ULTIMATE MOISTURE GOLDEN AMBER & COCONUT OIL 75ml

From Papa John's Pizzas : To celebrate the launch of our new ‘Bee Sting Pizza’, we’re buzzing to give away hundreds of packs of bee friendly, wildflower seeds to YOU! 🌸

Caboodle Firsts: Get one of 100 copies of the new book by The Loney author Andrew Michael Hurley

Claim your FREE pack of Wagg dog treats

You will also be entered into a draw to win a year's supply of Wagg dog food

Over on Shopmium, you can grab a free Le Joli Sparkling Infused Water at WH Smith, free Candy Kittens sweets, free Olly's Olives, free PiccoloOrganic Baby Food Pouch and Piccolo Organic Baby Snacks and True Nopal Cactus Water

For even more free shopping, over at Checkout Smart you can grab Maltsmith's Pint, Maltsmiths 660ml, May Tea Infusion, Strings & Things Yollies Chocolate Yogurt, Love Hemp Spring Water

Get a £1 off voucher for Dr Oetker - that's enough for a Pud in a Mug (you'll need a printer)

You can see previous weeks' freebie roundups by clicking here but be warned, many of the offers are only valid for a short time. Let me know if any have expired and I'll remove them from the roundup.

You may also like to enter my current giveaways :

Giveaway #726 : Win an Othello Classic game (RRP £22.99) - closing date 5/9

Giveaway #727 : Win a My Stem Day book - closing date 10/9

Alaska diaries : Down By The Lake

Before we went to Alaska, if you'd asked me to name something that the state had in abundance, I'd have answered snow. Having now visited in the summer though, I'd be able to list several other things : trees, greenery, rosebay willowherb (or fireweed as it's called here) and lakes. There were several lakes close to where we were staying, including one just a five minute walk from our house, which was great when we wanted somewhere to head to for a quick adventure. Wandering down the road, Pierre always loved this "dead end" sign, and couldn't resist pretending to be a zombie !

We soon arrived at the lake.This lake is called Prator Lake and it's a really calm, peaceful place to chill out for a while.

There's nothing much to see or do here, but I loved it. There is a bench to sit on and a rack of life jackets to put on the kids, as well as a little car park, but that's it !

There was a family of ducks that often put in an appearance, as well as many huge dragonflies. One day, we were amazed to see an eagle swooping down into the lake and flying off with a fish - I didn't manage to get a photo of that though ! Pierre loved trying to skim stones across the water, but as they weren't flat, it was more about creating the biggest splosh possible !

I was happy taking in the scenery and enjoying the peace and quiet, as well as trying to get artistic shots of the reflection of the clouds on the lake surface.

Meanwhile, the kids were busy looking out for bears on the opposite shore. They didn't see any, but we DID spot this enormous, fat caterpillar. I'd never seen one with a big pink rear end before - ewww !

Another day, we got an unexpected visit from a very friendly dog. He came running through the trees from one of the neighbour's houses and came over for a stroke.

The kids were over the moon and the dog absolutely loved all the attention.

He was soon charging around, playing chasing games with Pierre.

It didn't seem to bother him in the slightest if he was on dry land or in the water.

Then he'd go and stand next to Pierre and shake dirty lake water all over him !

Time to head for home, dropping off the cheeky doggy on the way back.

Many of the houses have deer antlers or moose horns on the signs. Welcome to Alaska !

If there's one thing they like in Alaska, it's their own sense of personal space.

*** Don't miss the rest of our blogposts about our Alaskan adventure ! ***

Giveaway #727 : Win a My Stem Day book - closing date 10/9

Despite the crazy heatwave we're going through right now, the summer holidays are drawing to a close and it's time to start thinking about school and learning again. Yeah, I know, I can hear the groans of the kids already ! Carlton Kids may have the answer though, in this great series of My Stem Day books, which are both fun and educational.

Each book inspires learning by relating everyday experiences to the STEM (that's science, technology, engineering and maths) behind them and encouraging kids to get involved in fun challenges and do-at-home experiments. In the Engineering book, you can build your own road (then eat it !), program a traffic signal, make your own zip wire, learn about bike gears, even make your own plastic !

They also explain things that kids will be familiar with in an easy-to-understand way that even had me, as an adult, saying "ooh, I'd never even thought about how that works !"

How about convincing your kids that mathematics is about more than just adding things up or learning annoying multiplication tables ?!

This book will have you thinking about designing a house, testing probability, programming a friend and even tessellating toast. See ! Maths can be fun !

The Science book will provide answers (and the science behind them) for all sorts of questions that relate to daily life. Why do ice lollies melt? How do your lungs work? How do you digest your lunch? 

Once again, there are all sorts of challenges and experiments for kids to get involved in at home, including creating a working model of your digestive system, making your own "lungs" with a plastic bottle and balloons, making your own planet or a mini water cycle.

The final book in the series is Technology and this deals with everything from simple machines to GPS and mobile computing. 

Once again, this covers a whole range of items and experiences that kids will be familiar with in their daily lives, making them think about how they actually work. How does a radio work? What's inside a light bulb? How can machines read barcodes? These are all things that even I take for granted, without having considered how they actually function, so this is a great book to read together and share in the learning experience.

Each of the books targets kids aged 7+, contains 64 pages and has an RRP of £7.99.

Fancy getting your hands on one of these books? Fill in your entries in the Rafflecopter widget below and tell me which one of the books you'd like to receive. Good luck !

a Rafflecopter giveaway

UK only. Closing date : 10/9/19

T & C's : Entries close at midnight on the closing date. Winners will be selected with a random number generator and announced on facebook and in the giveaway post subject line. Please note, you will be contacted by email and/or twitter and if I haven't heard from you after 28 days, I'll have to pick another winner. Prizes will be sent out by the companies or their PR directly to winners. Madhouse Family Reviews cannot be held responsible for any prizes that go astray. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. The winners' personal contact information will be passed on to the PR / Brand responsible and used only for delivery of their prize.

You may also like to enter my other giveaways :

Giveaway #726 : Win an Othello Classic game (RRP £22.99) - closing date 5/9

Alaska diaries : The Alaska Zoo, Anchorage

On our recent trip in Alaska, I was absolutely determined that, if nothing else, I wanted to see at least one bear and one moose. I didn't care where, but I just wanted to be able to tick them off my bucket list. After chatting with Jim, who we were staying with, I admit that I did have a few doubts about getting up TOO close, but I was still up for it ! In the end, we didn't actually see any in the wild (boohoo !), but Jim drove us down to Anchorage so that we could be sure to see all the local animals in the zoo.

The Alaska zoo, which is the only zoo in Alaska, is home to about 100 animals and birds, with over fifty species, including, for the most part, those native to Alaska. What I absolutely love about the zoo is that many of the animals were found orphaned or injured before being taken to the zoo to be cared for. We spent about 2 or 3 hours wandering around looking at the animals (and munching on reindeer hot dogs - I kid you not !) which was plenty of time to see everything.

The beginning of the zoo is a fun story. It was started back in 1966, when Anchorage grocer Jack Snyder won a contest offering a prize of either $3,000 or a baby elephant ! Unsurprisingly (or not, I suppose !), he took the baby elephant and, a couple of years later, Alaska Children's Zoo was opened, with the elephant as the biggest attraction. Sadly, Annabelle the elephant died back in 1997.

We started off visiting the seals' enclosure, watching them lazing around outside of the water then diving in to cool off.

Just next to the seals were the otters, which were having great fun swimming around, trying to get at a little green sweet placed up next to the glass, which was hilarious !

We headed around, checking out the other animals, including these musk ox, which are apparently called oomingmak in Inuit.

We loved all the educational boards dotted around the zoo, with samples of fur, teeth and bones, as well as scaled down skeletons, to discover.

There were also lots of displays of antlers, from various sizes and species of deer and moose.

Lots of them were fixed to the railings at the perfect height for antler-selfies!

I think they definitely look better still attached to the animals though !

The wolves looked very laid-back and chilled-out in their huge shady pen, lying serenely on the plastic slide or wandering around aimlessly ... until a visiting teenage girl came bounding down the path, howling like a wolf. According to Jim, she was obviously a hunter, practising out her wolf howl imitations. Literally seconds later, the whole pack of wolves came up to the fence, howling back at her - I have no idea what it all meant but it was very impressive !

Moving down past the temporary cages, we came across a very frail-looking baby moose - just 4 months old apparently and brought into the zoo when its mother was killed in a road accident. This was the first moose that I'd seen, but I didn't really count it, as it was so small and had no antlers !

We watched the eagles, checked out lots of other animals (llamas, camels, porcupines, dall sheep, foxes and deer, to name but a few), ate some snacks then finally - woohoo ! - we headed to the big brown bear enclosure. There were three bears in there, as far as we could see, all snoozing in the sun, and before long, one woke up and wandered down to the bottom of the enclosure, just next to where we were standing. Woohoo again ! 

We had another adventure awaiting us, so we headed back to the car, full of smiles, stopping off at the gift shop on the way out and buying various souvenirs.

If you want to find out more about our trip to Alaska, click here !

Fab freebies of the week 24/8

I can't believe this is the last weekend of our summer break. Next Friday, I'm heading back to work and the following Monday, it'll be the kids who go back to school too - boo ! Time to make some last minute memories before getting back to the classrooms (and the winter, and the rain, and the dark mornings/evenings ... OK, that's enough depressing talk !). Here's the final summer roundup - have a fabulous weekend !

*********************************************

It’s Back to Hogwarts at all Smyths Toys Superstores throughout the UK & NI, on Saturday 24th August, we are calling all Wizards & Witches to celebrate Back to Hogwarts by picking up a *FREE Mini LEGO giveaway from 9am – while stocks last.

Grab a free 3-day sample of Urban Decay foundation instore

From The Insiders :This campaign is a little bit different to our normal ones –here we’re giving you the gift of knowledge with the chance to try the Mother of All Checklists web app (as well as a lovely SMA® Baby Club bath towel, of course).

Request a free sample of olive tapenade

Win a Google Home Mini - Planet Radio are giving away "loads".

Claim two free tickets to the London Homebuilding & Renovating Show , 4-6 October, ExCeL London

To take part in the Oppo Brothers Ice Cream Try Me Free promotion, purchase a tub of Oppo Brothers Ice Cream (Salted Caramel Ice cream 475ml, Raspberry Ripple 475ml or Colombian Chocolate & Hazelnut 475ml) featuring a promotional sticker within the promotional period 12th June 2019 – 4th September 2019, and to claim your money back, visit the promotional website oppobrothers.com/free

Don't miss the Frizz Ease Weightless Wonder Range Sopost offer

Freshen up your festival. Get your free pack of Andrex Washlets and feel fresh everywhere

Claim your FREE pack of Wagg dog treats

WANT TO TRY DAMAGE REMEDY™ DAILY HAIR REPAIR? Collect your free sample in store! If you want to try our best-seller before committing to the full-size, pick up your complimentary sample at any Aveda store or counter.

Request a FREE Acrylic Paint Set from Benicci

OGGS® are looking for 200 Mumsnet users to test their new vegan friendly mini cupcakes.

You can see previous weeks' freebie roundups by clicking here but be warned, many of the offers are only valid for a short time. Let me know if any have expired and I'll remove them from the roundup.

You may also like to enter my current giveaways :

Giveaway #726 : Win an Othello Classic game (RRP £22.99) - closing date 5/9

Giveaway #725 : Win an UglyDolls film merchandise pack - closing date 25/8

Book review : Blood Stream - Luca Veste

The book begins with a chilling crime scene. Social media stars Chloe Morrison and Joe Hooper have been brutally murdered in their home town of Liverpool. The media scrum descends on the town, along with DI David Murphy and his partner DS Laura Rossi. While everyone is desperate for them to come up with a suspect, the pair have very little to go on. Until another pair of victims is discovered.

It soon becomes clear that a serial killer is on the loose, targetting couples with secrets to hide. They are forced to reveal their hidden secrets and lies to each other, before being brutally murdered. As the victim count rises, the case is no closer to being solved, until there is a final breakthrough, revealing that both of the police officers are closer than they think to the suspect.

The book has an interesting structure, revealing the crimes as they are carried out, before switching back to the police investigation. This gives the reader inside knowledge, revealing the killer's motives and desires before the police have worked them out. 

DI David Murphy is an all-round good guy - conscientious, kind and keen to help out anyone who needs him. DS Laura Rossi is a great mixture of Scouse and Italian and I love it when she goes native in her choice of swearwords !

I read and enjoyed the book as a stand-alone novel, but it is actually the third title involving the pair. I would assume that the earlier books deal with a past situation that is often alluded to, involving DI Murphy, but apart from explaining the undercurrent of pain and blame that he has to deal with, this doesn't actually add anything to the story in the current book.

star rating : 4/5

RRP : £8.99

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK; Paperback Original edition (22 Oct. 2015)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1471141373
• ISBN-13: 978-1471141379
• Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 2.9 x 19.8 cm

Giveaway #726 : Win an Othello Classic game (RRP £22.99) - closed - winner Susan Smith

The Madhouse kids have been having great fun this week playing Othello - a classic game that they had yet to discover.

As it says on the box, Othello takes a minute to learn and a lifetime to master! The object is to trap and capture your opponent by placing your disks on the board. The lead can change with the flip of a disk in this classic fast-paced strategy game.

It is really simple to learn to play and each game only takes a few minutes, so it's great when you're short on time. Just as you think you've sorted out the perfect plan, your opponent will add a disc and flip over loads of your disks - aaggghhh ! Things can change around very quickly and you can be absolutely sure you're winning, just for one move to completely change the board ! Age doesn't really even seem to make that much difference, so it's a great game for families to play together.

Do you have a young Othello fan in your family? Then listen up ! The UK Junior Othello Champs are for children under the age of 15 and will be held in Cambridge on 21st September 2019. The overall winner of the UK event will receive an all-expenses paid trip to the World Championships in Hong Kong in October! If you fancy entering the UK Champs then you can download the info and entry form here! What’s your next move?!

Othello is available to buy from all good toy stores. For stockist information, visit www.johnadams.co.uk.

I am giving away an Othello Classic game to celebrate the forthcoming UK Junior Othello Championship. Just fill in your entries via the Rafflecopter widget below. You don’t need to be an Othello buff to enter my competition but if you also fancy entering the UK Champs then you can download the info and entry form here!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

UK only. Closing date : 5/9/19

T & C's : Entries close at midnight on the closing date. Winners will be selected with a random number generator and announced on facebook and in the giveaway post subject line. Please note, you will be contacted by email and/or twitter and if I haven't heard from you after 28 days, I'll have to pick another winner. Prizes will be sent out by the companies or their PR directly to winners. Madhouse Family Reviews cannot be held responsible for any prizes that go astray. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. The winners' personal contact information will be passed on to the PR / Brand responsible and used only for delivery of their prize.

You may also like to enter my other giveaways :

Giveaway #725 : Win an UglyDolls film merchandise pack - closing date 25/8