Urbanz Vibe Headphones

Well, people (mainly men !!!) always say that size doesn't matter but that doesn't seem to be true for headphones. Size-wise, they seem to have gone full circle. I can just about remember the really chunky, heavy headphones from the end of the seventies ... then in the 80's the (what seemed at the time) tiny lightweight spongy headphones that used to attach to the original cassette-playing Sony Walkmans (how old is this making me feel ?!) ... then we had the tiny earbuds that go with mp3 players in the 90's and noughties. Well, judging by the teens and twenty-somethings I see every day on the bus - you know, the ones who are so cool they wear their baseball caps sideways or just perched on the very tops of their heads ! - big headphones are back at the top of the fashion stakes these days.


I have to say I'm secretly quite pleased about this "new" fashion. I could never really get on with the tiny earbuds because for some reason they always fall out of my ears with no warning - not a cool look when you're in amongst the "so trendy it hurts" teens and twenty-somethings ! You can see them almost want to snigger and say "You're too old to have an MP3 player if you can't even keep the earphones in your ears" !


And for kids, especially my own, it always worried me putting loud music right inside their ears - I'm sure it must do more damage than the headphones that stay well on the outside of their ears. And at least parents have a very small chance of being heard when yelling at their offspring to come down for dinner if ther earphones aren't totally blocking their earholes !!



The Urbanz (so cool it's spelt with a z !!) Vibe Headphones are designed with kids in mind, but they can also be worn by adults - I'm sure I won't look any less cool than with a pair of earbuds falling out of my ears as I walk down the street so I tried them out ! They come in pink or blue so are really visually appealing to teens and pre-teens. They even have a cute cartoon-type drawing on the speaker parts. Fed up of hearing the annoyingly repetitive Nintendo DS game music and sound effects, I asked Sophie to see if they would fit on her console and I was overjoyed to see that they do !



Sophie, aged 8, says : "They're really good when we have to be quiet because we can listen to whatever we want and it doesn't do loads of noise. It also means that when your little sister is trying to annoy you, it blocks out the sound of her whining and being annoying ! Also I can listen to the music and the sound effects when I'm playing on my Nintendo DS which is good because usually I have to turn the sound off so it doesn't annoy mum and dad !"

Juliette, aged 4, says : "They're pretty and gorgeous and they make the music go in my head !"

They're really soft and squishy and the padding makes them extremely comfortable to wear. The sliding size-adjusters allow for a number of sizes so anyone, even someone with a huge head, could wear them quite easily ! They block out the sound very effectively for anyone in the vicinity - Sophie can play her Nintendo DS while sitting next to Juliette on the settee watching Cbeebies and neither of them can hear the other one, although she has been warned to keep it at a reasonable level that won't blow her brains out or make her deaf !

The website lists the features as : Volume control - super bass - light weight comfort fit and colour coded cable with 3.5mm gold jack. 1 year warranty with your purchase PLUS Register at www.urbanz.co.uk for FREE lifetime warranty.

They're pretty cheap too at £14.99, especially if they come with a lifetime guarantee (although I'm sure there's lots of small print so check out the conditions !). Definitely worth it for a bit of peace and quiet !

star rating : 4.5/5

RRP : £14.99

LIV Fashion Dolls - 'Real Girls, Real Life'

My mum loved playing with her Tressie and Barbie dolls, I loved my ballerina Sindy, my much younger sister loved Bratz and MyScene ... it's seems that every generation has a new range of dolls to play with. Well, I wouldn't be surprised if the new generation's favourite doll is the LIV fashion doll.

As a mum, I breathe a huge sigh of relief because they look so wholesome and normal. I was always vaguely worried about Bratz dolls - they looked like the kind of girls I used to steer clear of at school because they were into heavy makeup, snogging boys and sneaky fags behind the bikesheds and I always thought they'd be the school bullies ! As a mum, it seemed slightly wrong to have such sexy little-Lolita rolemodels for our daughters to play with in their formative years ! Well, the LIV girls look like lovely, well-behaved girls you'd be happy for your daughters to be friends with and bring home for tea ! They have a cheeky, daring side - represented by the fashionable wigs and funky colourful streaks in their hair - but they look like they have good values and morals.



My 8-year-old daughter Sophie obviously loves the fact that one of the dolls is called Sophie ! I'm sure she'll soon want me to buy Daniela, Alexis and Katie to complete the set. Little sister Juliette is always drawn to these dolls in the shops too, even though - aged 4 - she's still more into the big baby dolls than the more grown-up fashion dolls. This seems to fit in with the design brief of the dolls : "In the competition to be the doll on every girl's Christmas wish list, LIV is a bold new line that stands out with its ‘Real Girls, Real Life’ positioning, celebrating what’s cool about being a teen in today’s world. Designed for girls aged 6-10 years, LIV is in the here and now, about girls being girls and aspiring to be like their teen sisters".



They are billed as "The Hottest New Fashion Dolls to Dazzle the UK" after causing a storm in the US. Stuart Grant, Buying Director for The Entertainer says : "LIV really stands out not only because the dolls look amazing, are incredibly realistic and fantastically designed, but each doll has a detailed relatable story that girls will love." So what are these stories, that little girls are going to be relating to ? "Sophie's a real teen . She's wildly creative - an aspiring hairstylist who recruits all her friends to try new looks. But maybe if she'd wear her glasses, some of those new looks wouldn't turn into such bad hair days ! Alexis is a super-charged fashion diva. She can carry off any colour, any pattern, anywhere. Life would be nearly perfect for Alexis if her little brother Miles wasn't always around ! Daniela takes her singing career and dance lesson extremely seriously. She performs at the local cofee shop, school dances and even at her nearby retirement home. Katie is a fun, active girl. She loves skateboarding, snowboarding and cycling, but whenever she's not on her board or bike she's so clumsy !" So, they love sport, have hobbies, are not scared to create their own look and be individuals, are kind to others - all great values - and they need glasses, are clumsy, have annoying little brothers - so little girls get to see that nobody's perfect or has a perfect life either.

So mums are won over by their personalities and values, and little girls are won over by the look and the playability. Each doll comes with a whole range of accessories - for example, Sophie has 2 wigs, 1 short and one long, a hairstyle stand, bag, glasses and hairbrush. Each doll also has a secret code that allows you to unlock a virtual character in the Liv world online, "the first website of its kind to deliver engaging daily narrative on each girl’s life. The code opens up the online world and invites girls to become best friends with their LIV doll as they interact with daily diaries, games, virtual wardrobes and much more, upon parents’ approval and guidance." Now, how cool is that for a pre-teen who has outgrown most of her CBeebies computer games but isn't yet old enough to be let loose on internet ?! Other features, according to the packaging, are stunning 'real' looking eyes, detailed fashion outfits with fab accessories, lovely soft wigs for hours of hairplay fun and an amazing 14 points of articulation so she can do lots of moves and poses.

“Extensive research told us that young girls today are searching for a new fashion doll brand to connect with and one that better reflects their world of friendship, fun and individuality,” said Kevin Jones, Managing Director at Spin Master Toys UK. “Liv fashion dolls have instant appeal with engaging stories and personalities, plus contemporary fashions, all of which look sure to resonate with today’s girls.” They've only been available in the UK since the 1st of November so if you get in quick, your daughter will be able to show off for having one of the newest, hottest toys in her Christmas stocking !

star rating : 5/5

RRP : £19.99 per doll

available from Argos, Toys R Us, The Entertainer and all good toy stores .

Glo-Doodle

I absolutely love all the old retro toys that are making a comeback these days but I have to admit that, when I stumbled across an old Etch-a-Sketch in a doctor's waiting room recently and attempted to give a demonstration to the girls, it really did seem quite pathetic and impossible to use ! Since the days of the original toy, we have seen Magnadoodles, that gave you much more scope for creativity, then Aquadoodles, that let you use a magic water-filled pen that disappeared like invisible ink when it dried out. Well, now we have the latest version, Glo-Doodle, which is starting to look and sound very high tech !

The manufacturers describe it as the "first ever mess-free drawing toy with a transparent surface that uses bright coloured light to draw and trace. (Red, Green and Yellow). Simplistic design without pen trays as the same pen is used for 3 colours which change at the flick of a switch. Does not use marker pens ! Transparent surface makes it possible to trace anything you desire. Trace marks can change colour simply with light switch. Flip lid erases drawing surface instantly. No mess or smudge marks. "

Well, it looks brilliant on TV and Juliette always hones in on it in the supermarket toy aisle for a quick play when we go shopping so it obviously has kid appeal. It is really simple to use and allows you to be as creative as you want, either drawing freehand or tracing pictures through the screen, which is great for little ones who are not very artistically-gifted and who suddenly manage to create astoundingly good likenesses of their favourite TV characters (or whatever else they decide they want to trace) ! In my day, we used to use tracing paper but now that I come to think of it, I haven't seen that in years so I don't know if you can even buy it any more !

Juliette loves the fact that she can draw in the car when it starts getting dark. As usual, I love the mess-free aspect that makes it a brilliant toy for playing on the go or out-and-about at friends' houses. It's also fabulous that, as well as using the stylus, you can use your finger to draw so it's possible to share and play together, especially handy for playing noughts and crosses in the car on long journeys. I love the eco-friendly aspect that avoids using reams and reams of paper for scribbling on too.

Just one quick word of warning if you're buying this for Christmas - it requires 3 x AA batteries that are not included so make sure you buy some in advance to avoid an emergency trip to Tesco for battery supplies on Christmas Day !

star rating : 4.5/5

RRP : £19.99

Bendaroos

If we start with the manufacturer's description, "Bendaroos are magical, flexible building sticks that allow for endless creativity. They stick to paper, windows and walls and always hold their shape for moulding--with no mess. Choose from an array of 12 rainbow colours, create and recreate. Includes stencils for colouring, drawing and decorating. Build, draw, transform, decorate and more. Encourages creativity and new ways to play."

I have to say, I love them, as do the girls, both Sophie (aged 8) and Juliette (aged 4). I love them because they are so clean and mess-free - no glue, so no sticky fingers all over the walls and doors, no spillages on clothes, no gluey tangles in their hair. Absolutely no clean-up operation afterwards, which is amazingly rare when it comes to creative arts-and-crafts activities. They just ball them back up and stuff them in a box or plastic bag until next time. That also means that they are ideal as toys on the go - in the car or when out visiting friends or grandparents. The kids can play and put them away to finish off when it's time to go home because they hold their shape (as long as you don't squash them !) - no annoying "but I haven't finished yet" whining that you invariably get when they're doing puzzles or beads or anything else that will have to be broken up and started all over again if it's not finished.


The girls had two kits to test - Zoo Animals and Creepy Crawlies. As I predicted, they were more taken with the cuddly zoo animals, but the best part about Bendaroos is that you can do whatever you want with them. So they both ended up making cuddly animals rather than creepy crawlies - even if they both decided the spider looked more like a sun and was quite nice actually ! Older children will love making 3D models, but you will need quite a lot of Bendaroos to make those so you'll probably need to buy extra packs. Younger children love sticking them on paper to follow templates - there are templates included but Juliette loved using them to make the letter and number shapes I drew on paper for her. It ended up being quite educational as she had to really think hard about each letter or number then proudly tell me which one she'd done. That was really good as it's what they are doing at school at the moment. The girls also both loved making pretty multi-coloured plaits that they then made into rings or necklaces and crowns for their My Little Ponies.

My only slight criticism is that they are almost identical to a product called Wikisticks - a product that I must admit I had never heard of until the girls won a pack in a competition last year. Bendaroos have definitely benefitted from a much bigger advertising campaign so they will be the ones on every little girl's wishlist this Christmas ! The advantage of Bendaroos over Wikisticks is that they offer you much more guidance in the way of models and templates, which is handy when you're just starting out and aren't sure what to do with them.

They remind me of the furry pipecleaners that I used to play with when I was a kid so I love getting involved too and we can all happily play together for hours, either separately or all working together on one big project. It's great for little ones to learn their colours with too, as big sisters can ask little sisters to find the colour they need in the pile - a brilliant way of getting little ones involved when they're slightly too young to be able to make the models themselves.

The only time you will have to stop playing is when you've run out of inspiration, so it's a good way of getting kids to use their imagination and be creative. Oh, and also if you've dropped them on the floor so much, they're covered in dog or cat hair - you have been warned !!

star rating : 5/5

RRP : available in various sizes and prices, but to give you an idea -

Bendaroos Theme Pack £4.99

Bendaroos Activity Pack £10.00

Bendaroos Mega Pack £19.99

Bakugan Battle Pack

"Bakugan is unique, refreshed and taking the world by storm! Combines battling action, collecting, trading and gaming strategy - everything that boys love! "

Well, that's my problem really. Pierre's only just coming up to five months so, although he's already taught me that you have to point willies downwards in their nappies to avoid leaks and that it's a really really good idea to put a wetwipe over a little boy's willy at changing time if you don't want to be sprinkled, he hasn't really completed my education in being mum to a little boy yet !

If you ask me anything about arts and crafts kits, dolls in any shape or form, Littlest Pet Shops, My Little Ponies or absolutely anything pink, fluffy or sparkly, I could answer you in a trice but I'm still a bit non-plussed when it comes to boys' toys !

As far as I can tell, this looks like a winner. It reminds me of all the Pokemon, Magic : The Gathering, Gormiti and goodness knows what other collectibles and trading cards there are and they are as popular now as they were about a decade ago so this is bound to be an instant hit in the playground.

The manufacturer says : "Easy to learn... A lifetime to master! Master your precision shooting skills by rolling your Bakugan onto the special Bakugan gate card and transform it into a powerful Bakugan warrior! Action Figures pop open from the magnetic marbles when they land on the Special Bakugan Card!" Wow, it sounds great - but I bet it's one of those things like Transformers that I could never master how ever many times my five-year-old (male !) cousins showed me ! I don't adhere to the whole 'pink stinks' campaign that has just kicked off, but there are some things that appeal to, and seem amazingly simple to, little boys that somehow, little girls - or their mums ! - just never get the hang of. What little boy could resist the slogan "Answer the call to brawl and decide the fate of the galaxy with the Bakagun Battle Pack! " It's definitely one for little lads to play with with their dads on Christmas morning !

star rating : 3/5 - but I'm sure little boys would give it 5/5 !

RRP : various kits available, but to give you an idea -

Bakugan Battle Pack £19.99

Paperoni - "Paper and fun rolled into one !"

Sophie (age 8) saw the TV commercials for Paperoni and told me it was on her Christmas wishlist. I, having not seen the TV commercials, had to then find something that corresponded to the description "you have long and short rolls of paper and you can cut them to the size you want and make a dog and a pig and loads of other stuff and it's got a dog on the box". Hmmm. After some online searching that came up with nothing, I eventually took her to the toyshop to show me what she meant and sure enough, she found the Paperoni kits. But she was the one who said, in actual fact, they didn't look as good in real life as on TV because she thought you could make loads and loads of different things out of one box but if you could only make one or two things, that wasn't so good. OK, scrap that idea then ? What's next on the xmas wishlist ? But when the offer came through to test a Paperoni kit, obviously I jumped at the chance. We were sent the pig kit.

I have to admit, in a number of ways, Paperoni reminds me of Hama beads - which the girls often play with - with many of the same advantages and disadvantages. As with Hama beads, you need a lot of patience to complete each design and if you accidentally knock over the box, you'll be picking little tubes of paper off the carpet for days ! Also, to really get the most out of the product, you'll have to keep buying add ons and extra kits to allow more scope for creativity and avoid boredom creeping in. The big advantage of Paperoni over Hama beads is that you don't need an iron to make it stick so there is no danger involved and kids can see the project right through to the end without mum or dad's intervention. (In my experience, Hama bead projects, especially the big ones, always get finished just as you're watching the chip pan or feeding the baby or something else that can't be left and you're always paranoid, often rightly so, that they'll get knocked over and ruined before you can get anywhere near the ironing board !) Also, as you stick the little rolls of paper on to the adhesive template as you go, if you're a bit clumsy and jog it, it's more likely to stay in one piece, unlike the Hama beads which will ping all over the floor at the slightest jolt and waste hours of work.

It's quite enjoyable but it is very fiddly, so if you want to do it properly (Sophie's a bit of a perfectionist), it can be frustrating at times. She was also slightly disappointed that, however hard she tried, she couldn't get it to look exactly the way it did on the box. The cute paper eyes and other accessories do help you get a "professional" looking result in the end though, and I love the fact that you can download extra templates and eyes to cut out on the Paperoni website.

star rating : 4/5

RRP : various priced kits available but for a rough idea,
Paperoni Studio. £19.99
Paperoni Variety Starter Pack £9.99

Matthew Walker - Christmas Pudding manufacturer since 1899 !

"Oh, we all want some figgy pudding;

Oh, we all want some figgy pudding;

Oh, we all want some figgy pudding and a cup of good cheer

We won't go until we've got some;

We won't go until we've got some;

We won't go until we've got some, so bring some out here !"

I'm never actually sure whether figgy pudding is the same as Christmas pudding, but Christmas pudding in some shape or form is an integral part of Christmas celebrations. Even when you're totally stuffed out on turkey and all the trimmings, you just have to have a bowlful of Christmas pud to finish off the meal, even if all you can manage is a token serving ! Different families have different traditions - my dad has his with lashings of custard, I prefer the "lighter" option of vanilla ice cream (it makes it seem less stodgy when you're almready fit to burst !) and Mike has a bit of both on his !

Other traditions go much further back. I can remember my nan starting to make her Christmas puddings just after the end of the summer, then keep topping up the pudding bowl with alcohol about once a month ! And hearing the tales of stirring in sixpences then repeatedly telling everyone to be careful they didn't break their teeth on them ! And putting the pudding on to steam was one of the first things she did on Christmas morning. I wonder what she'd make of shop-bought puddings that you can serve after just 3 minutes in the microwave !

Other traditions go back even further : "Matthew Walker – the oldest Christmas pudding manufacturer – have recently teamed up with Caroline Yeldham, a renowned food historian, to investigate the wonderful history of the famous Christmas pudding. She’s gone right back to Medieval times to uncover the first ever pud as we may know it (Plum Pottage made with beef and intestines plus lots more strange ingredients!) and worked through the ages, to reveal long lost recipes from Tudor times and forgotten traditions. We’ve even uncovered bygone family games and rituals such as Snapdragon, a pre-cursor to the flaming of the Christmas pud where members of the family have to retrieve currants from a flaming bowl." Blimey, I think I will stick with a shop-bought one that I can microwave !

I have actually been meaning to test out a Matthew Walker Christmas pudding for the last couple of weeks, but somehow I just can't bring myself to do it. It seems wrong somehow to eat it before the big day - like eating Easter eggs at any time before Easter Sunday !

Just looking at the box has had me salivating though - it's labelled as "Recipe N° 13, The Perfect Christmas Pudding Recipe" (wow, they're not superstitious are they ?! I wonder how many people will avoid it because of the number 13 !!). "This beautifully moist and fruity pudding combines the finest fruit and our unique blend of spices with cognac and an award winning local stout." And - I've checked the ingredients - it's suitable for vegetarians because it contains vegetable suet. There's not a whiff of beef or intestines in these puddings, rest assured ! A 250g portion does contain 326 calories, 46.5g of sugar and 6.2g of fat but hey, it's Christmas, so who's counting ?!

RRP : £1.79 for an individual 100g pudding, £6.99 for a family 454g pudding

for more information and to buy online : http://www.matthewwalkerchristmaspuddings.co.uk/

There's even a video featuring Santa on there !

Nestlé Christmas selection boxes: greener, smaller and lighter for 2009

Like most of us, I eat chocolate all year round but some chocolate just goes with Christmas. For me, it's Terry's Chocolate Oranges (the round ones that you can break into segments, I'm quite happy to eat the bars all year long !), big bars of Toblerone, mint and orange-flavoured Matchmakers and ... selection boxes. Even if you can (and do) buy the separate sweets in all seasons, there's just something extra special about getting them all in one go and in one festive box. Our Christmas stockings just wouldn't be complete without them - well, OK, they don't actually fit in the stockings but they do get stacked just underneath them !

Well, this year, it's nice to see that Nestlé have taken steps to reduce the amount of excess packaging that their selection boxes have. I always feel guilty about the quantity of binbags of used wrapping paper and empty cardboard boxes that get put out for recycling each Christmas so every little gesture helps.

As they say on their website : "For Christmas 2009, Nestlé’s selection boxes will be the greenest on the market. Favourite brands such as SMARTIES, KIT KAT and AERO remain unchanged, but packaging has been reduced by 40% from 2007 levels and will be 100% recyclable card. To ensure our selection boxes are a real treat, Nestlé is committed to improving recyclability for the consumer. Nestlé is the first confectionery manufacturer to remove plastic inserts from our boxes, a move that makes recycling your selection box easier than ever before. The drive to improve recyclability has already yielded great results. Across the whole of the Nestlé UK business, 900 tonnes of waste has been diverted away from landfill in the last two years, the equivalent of 150,000 Christmas Turkeys!"

Wow, that's a lot of turkeys ! Well, they can go gobble-gobble-gobble while I go off and gobble the yummy delights in my selection boxes ... with a clear conscience !

You have a choice of three different selection boxes this year : "The boxes are available in three different festive designs and range from large and medium-sized gift boxes to a smaller Santa-themed selection box for younger children where all the products contain no artificial colours or flavours." So if they go absolutely hyper, you'll know it's down to all the excitement of awaiting Santa and nothing to do with the E-numbers in their sweeties !

star rating : 5/5

RRP and contents :
Large Selection Box, 8 x full-size bars (1 x KIT KAT SENSES, 1 x ROWNTREE’S FRUIT PASTILLES, 1 x MILKY BAR, 1 x SMARTIES, 1 x KIT KAT Four-finger, 1 x ROLO, 1 x AERO and 1 x AERO Mint) RRP £3.62
Medium Selection Box, 6 full-size bars (1 x AERO, 1 x MILKYBAR, 1 x KIT KAT Four-finger, 1 x SMARTIES, 1 x TOFFEE CRISP and 1 x ROWNTREE’S FRUIT PASTILLES) RRP £2.44
Kid's Medium Selection Box, 6 treats (2 x SMARTIES, 1 x MILKYBAR, 1 x MILKYBAR BUTTONS, 1 x ROWNTREE’S TOOTY FROOTIES™ and 1 x ROWNTREE’S JELLY TOTS) RRP £2.44

available ... pretty much everywhere but get in quick before I eat the lot !!

Love2Read Personalised Photo Book

When I was asked to review this personalised photo book for toddlers, I knew the girls would love it but I wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary. I made a photo book for them a few months ago with all the photos of our dog Vicky and her puppies and they love it to bits, looking at it over and over again, even taking it in to school to show their teachers and friends.

But as soon as I went to the love2read website, I could see that this was a totally different concept. As well as presenting a selection of your favourite family photos, these books teach your children to recognise key words. I reviewed a Ladybird book earlier in the week and got all nostalgic about my childhood days reading "Here is Janet. Here is John. Here are Janet and John." Well, now you can be Janet or John ! You choose the text and complete the simple phrases - such as I like ..., I see ..., My friend ... - so that they correspond to the photos. The same simple phrase is repeated on each page and the final page asks your child to try to recognise and read the words that they have seen in the book. Pure genius ! (You can put totally different text on each page in certain templates, if you are buying for an older child.)

Making the book couldn't be simpler. The website offers a whole range of templates so you can choose the colour or phrases that most appeal to you. Then you just have to upload ten photos, complete the text under the photos and you're done ! You can alter border colours if you like and rotate photos but if you just do the basics, within about five minutes you can be ready to order(not counting the time you take to select the photos - you'll get sidetracked and spend ages looking through old photos and feeling all nostalgic !).

As we live a long way from most of our family, I decided to make an "Our family" book showing the photos and names of all our family members, including those that we don't see very often. You only have ten photos but if you choose a few pictures with more than one person in, that's plenty. One thing to bear in mind when adding your photos to the book is that the first four pictures will feature on the front cover, so make sure you put the ones you want on the front of the book in first. The back cover will also show a funky mosaic with nine of the photos (check the position of the small pictures to make sure they're centred properly, some of mine weren't - but you just click and slide them across to the right position).

I did have a slight problem when ordering my book - the website had a bit of a wobble and didn't save my changes so I had to start again - but the website owner is amazingly helpful and really listens to your feedback so that she can make things even better. I said that the problem seemed to come from me using French accents in some of the names, because it worked absolutely fine when I removed them. She replied : "This is a problem we have only just discovered as we are selling a lot of books to people in Ireland at the moment. In the New Year we are going to make some changes to the site so that it copes with accents." I also mentioned that I was surprised and a bit disappointed that there wasn't a template for "Our Family" - there's "My family", "Our Grandad", loads of other variations, but no "Our family", which seemed an obvious choice to me. Again, the lovely Caroline was very helpful and said : "It obviously isn’t clear on the site that we are always keen to hear from customers if there is a book title they want us to create. When I launched the company we only offered 4 books, we now have nearly 70 mainly due to customer requests ! The list is I think now a bit confusing and we are hoping to do some work on the site soon to “group” the books and also to offer a blank book so customers can choose their own title. We’ll add a Our family… book to the range today." Wow, how's that for customer service ! And it allows you to create a really unique and personal family keepsake that is perfectly suited to your requirements.

The book is lovely quality and small enough for little tots to flick through easily. The website informs us they are 17cm x 17cm, printed on 300gsm card, folded and stapled with a laminated front cover. The website tells you if any of your photos are of insufficient quality - a few of mine were but, as they were the only photos I had available of some family members, I still went ahead and ordered. Although they obviously would have been more defined with a higher resolution photo, the quality was perfectly adequate.

I mentioned the fabulous customer service above, and that continues after you have placed your order. The order is put through very rapidly and arrives within a couple of days.

One thing I have just noticed that is fantastic is that they do worldwide delivery (to Europe, Australia and the USA) for just £2. For families that live far apart or that may be temporarily separated, for example for daddies in the armed forces, this would make an absolutely perfect gift. The website help section says : "Contact us by email before ordering your books from other countries at outsideuk@love2read.co.uk giving us the delivery address and we will email instructions back to you. "

If you're now thinking that this looks like a great idea for Chrsitmas, get in quick ! Last orders for Christmas are the 15th December !

star rating : 5/5

RRP : £14.99

for more information or to order online : http://www.love2read.co.uk/

Miamoo - Nanight Balm

If you haven't already read it, I suggest you start off by reading my review of Miamoo's Huggy Lotion, where I tell you all about the green ethics and cute story behind the Miamoo name.

Now that you know all the background, I can get straight on with telling you about this gorgeous lavender-smelling bedtime balm. As with the other products in the Miamoo range, I love the name Nanight Balm and the connotations of snuggles and kisses before bed that it evokes. The pale blue packaging and the cute cow pictures match the other products in the range and are equally cute.

The balm itself is amazing. I thought I wasn't going to like it at first but I was blown away. It comes out as a really thick, dense cream which looks like it will stay on the skin as a barrier cream. But it doesn't. Despite being really thick, you just rub your finger gently over the cream two or three times and it is instantaneously and perfectly absorbed into the skin. It just disappears and leaves no greasiness at all - just the wonderfully relaxing lavender scent, perfect for getting little sleepyheads off to the land of Nod.

Read the instructions carefully though, or you'll get frustrated for nothing ! "Unscrew the lid completely and squeeze the tube hard to expel a small amount." If you don't, it is really really hard to get out because it is so thick !

The label says it is chock-a-block with lavender and cocoa butter, but although my skin feels smooth and soft, it doesn't feel as nourished as with the huggy lotion. I would therefore definitely use this cream after a bath before bedtime but not as a daily moisturiser. If you read the website, they have a whole host of uses for it, that I wouldn't have necessarily thought of but that all sound like really good ideas : " This is a calming balm which is ideal to use when baby is feeling blue or during teething. Great in the summer to keep skin cool and moisturised." The lavender scent really is calming and relaxing so I'll definitely give that a try when Pierre is grizzly when he's cutting teeth or after his monthly jabs. It does feel cold on the skin too, so I bet it would feel lovely in the summer or when baby's running a fever. "Great to put on baby’s chest when full of cold and also rub a small amount on baby’s nostrils before bedtime. It’s a great remedy during baby’s teething times." Is there anything it can't do ?!

As with the other Miamoo products, it's as lovely for mums as it is for babies. The website suggests : "For mummies who are always on their feet, nanight balm is the answer. Get your husband/ partner to massage into feet and ankles for an instant pick me up and feel the magic of nanight balm. Keeps feet cool and fresh and keeps the head clear and calm." Now that sounds like absolute bliss - although I get the feeling I'll be massaging it into my own feet, I don't think Mike would oblige !!

I predict that this will be an absolute Godsend in the coming weeks - for Pierre, who seems about to start teething, and for me, because my maternity leave ends today so I'll be back to charging about like a loony from Monday morning onwards and will need some relaxing pampering in the evenings !

star rating : 5/5

RRP : £10 for 50ml

available in Boots, Waitrose, Ocado and NCT

for more information : http://www.miamoo.co.uk/