Madhouse Family Reviews

Monday, 3 November 2014

Get your Christmas shopping off to a great start with ASDA's flash toy sale !

Halloween's done and dusted which can only man one thing ... Christmas is on the way. Bring it on !

If you're working to a tight budget (or even if you're not !), ASDA have some amazing up-to-half price toy deals in their flash sale so I thought I'd give you a heads up. These will be available instore and online from 6th November.

Air Hogs Mega Bomb was £40 now £20

Ever After High Thronecoming Doll was £26.97 now £20

Monster High Inner Monster Deluxe Set was £30 now £20

Barbie & Fashion Gift Set was £30 now £20

Playmobil Fire Engine was £40 now £20

Star Wars Xwing Starfighter was £50 now £30

Baby Annabel Bathtime was £60 now £30

Barbie Ultimate Beach Party House was £60 now £30

Disclosure : I received one of the toys from ASDA.

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Chatsters Gabby - Your interactive BFF review

#VHC45 - Very Hungry Caterpillar or Very Happy Children ? (review)

Drumond Park's Shout! review

Vertbaudet Happy Price Parka review

As I look out of my window, it's grey and drizzly and the wind is making the soggy leaves blow all over the place. Temperatures have nosedived and it's definitely time to pull out the winter woolies and warm coats. In fact, I'd rather stay snuggled under the quilt in a perpetual PJ day, to be honest ! In other words, it was perfect timing for Vertbaudet to send us this funky coat for Pierre to roadtest !

The mint green colour is lovely - Pierre snarled "yay I'm a Ninja Turtle" before running all around the park like a maniac with his hood up ! It's the perfect length for a child because it doesn't get in the way of their legs for all the important stuff like straddling seesaws and climbing up the climbing wall. It's a lovely thick padded coat that is beautifully snuggly and warm for the cooler weather.

It also has deep pockets, ideal for stashing tissues, conkers and a dozen other little boy treasures. (I always put my fingers in very tentatively when I need to empty the pockets to put his coat through the wash because I never know what I'll find in there !) The zip is also child-friendly - Pierre managed to do it up all by himself, unlike some which tend to snag or are very stiff.

If you like the coat but don't like the colour, it's also available in charcoal with a red lining on the hood. The £25 price tag is very reasonable as it's lovely quality.

star rating : 5/5

RRP : £25

for more information : www.vertbaudet.co.uk

Disclosure : We received the product in order to write an honest review.

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Chatsters Gabby - Your interactive BFF review

Aveeno launch free kids' e-book #byebyedryskin

Some last minute Halloween baking !

Giveaway #434 : Win a pair of BlogFest tickets - closed - winner Lucy Goodwin

Coca-Cola is delighted to be returning to BlogFest this year and this time they’re bringing the latest addition to the family - Coca Cola Life for you to try! It's their first lower-calorie cola sweetened from natural sources. Coca‑Cola Life is made with a blend of sugar and stevia leaf extract, and contains a third less sugar and a third fewer calories than Coca‑Cola. You can see my review and find out what we thought here.

If you're heading to BlogFest, go and say hi at their stand where Fiona Angus, Science Manager, will be on hand to discuss Coca-Cola’s latest news, including their commitment to provide choice, investment in innovation and encouraging active lifestyles - plus you can be in with a chance to win some special prizes!

The utterly lovely people at Coca Cola offered to send me to BlogFest but, as I couldn't make it, they've kindly said I can give the tickets away instead. I know it's short notice but if you're sadly watching everyone discussing who they're sharing a room with and what they're looking forward to and wishing you could go along too, now's your chance to win a pair of tickets !

a Rafflecopter giveaway

UK only. Closing date : 5/11/14

T & C's : Entries close at midnight on the closing date. Winners will be selected with a random number generator and announced on facebook, twitter 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 a week, 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 !

Other giveaways you may be interested in :

Giveaway #433 : Win 2 x Super Mario Bros Original Motion Picture DVD - closing date 13/11

Giveaway #432 : Win a Mooshka Sing Around the Rosie doll - closing date 11/11

Giveaway #431 : Win 1 of 2 Adventurer : The Curse of The Midas Box DVDs - closing date 6/11

Globe-cooking recipe : Pad Thai (Thailand)

My Thai cooking adventures continue ! After trying out the Beetroot Salad with King Prawns, the Jasmine-Infused Coconut & Cherry Custard and the Thai Prawn & Coconut Soup from my Kitchen Trotter box, it was time to test out the Pad Thai recipe.

There was a Pad Thai kit in the box, containing noodles and sauce, but you could buy these separately. (I used ready made Pad Thai sauce but if you fancy making your own, blend 1/3 cup chicken stock, 3tbsp white wine vinegar, 1tbsp lime juice, 3tbsp brown sugar, 2tbsp fish sauce, 1tbsp soy sauce, cayenne pepper, white pepper.)

Pad Thai

ingredients :

Pad Thai rice noodles

2tbsp olive oil

2 eggs

1 carrot

a handful of bean sprouts

1/2 red onion

cooked chicken and/or prawns

Pad Thai sauce (ready made or see recipe above)

Put the noodles in boiling water to soak for 10 minutes.

Peel and finely chop (or grate - I used my Jamie Oliver Cooking Tower again !) the carrot and onion.

Heat the oil in a large pan and crack in the eggs. Cook, stirring as you go, to create scrambled eggs.

Add the carrot, onion, bean sprouts, chicken/prawns and drained noodles to the eggs and mix.

Pour over the Pad Thai sauce and stir to combine. Heat for a couple of minutes until it's piping hot. Serve with a few fresh coriander leaves on top.

*** Don't miss my country-by-country globecooking recipe index ! ***

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Globe-cooking recipe : Jasmine-infused coconut & cherry custard (Thailand)

Globe-cooking recipe : Maftoul Couscous (Jordan)

Globe-cooking recipe : Jaegerschnitzel (Germany)

Sunday, 2 November 2014

Chatsters Gabby - Your interactive BFF review

Now that she's 9, Juliette has pretty much grown out of playing with dolls. She still likes Monster High but is more likely to have them sitting on her shelf looking pretty than actually getting down to some imaginative role play with them. Chatsters may have just turned that around though !

Gabby, who promises to be your interactive BFF, is a cute, geek-chic doll with bright pink hair and glasses, a funky polka dot dress and disproportionately huge feet and head. She comes with a whole range of accessories that you can use with her (and she'll tell you exactly what she wants) - an ice cream (actually Juliette tells me it's a milkshake because it gives her brain freeze !), a hair brush, a cupcake, a lipstick, yellow bows for her hair, make up and Sprinkles, her dog, who also wears glasses !

She needs 4xAA batteries (not included) to come to life and when she does, get ready for playtime to begin ! Her eyes light up and she starts dancing and chatting away to you. You can tap the yellow hearts on either side of her glasses to let her know what you're thinking and the little accessories unlock special mini games, silly jokes and make-overs.

It's the first time for a long time that I've seen Juliette actually playing with a doll, but the fact that she's holding a mobile phone and using make-up makes her appeal to older girls without them feeling babyish.

I left Juliette to get on with it and discover what would happen all by herself - I kept hearing giggles and "wows" and even Pierre wanted to get in on the action and play along. (Umm yeah OK, I might have had a quick play too !) There are over 25 activities and games and they seem to come around in a random order which keeps the element of surprise.

The official video gives you an idea of how it works and the kind of interaction you can expect. She actually has her own youtube channel with a whole series of tutorials, showing you how to play the mini games or give her a makeover or use the different accessories. I love the first video of the dad playing, complete with pink tutu and tiara - glad to see it's not just me who had a play !

There's also an aspect that we haven't tried yet - a free app that allows you to receive calls and texts from Gabby. As Juliette hasn't got a phone, we haven't explored this avenue yet but I might relent and let her use mine when she's got bored of playing with Gabby and her accessories (if that ever happens !).

If you're looking for a present with real wow-factor to put under the Christmas tree, look no further ! Gabby is suitable for children aged 5+ and I'd say girls up to the age of about 10 would enjoy playing with her (not counting the sneaky playing by big sisters and parents when the recipient is in bed !).

star rating : 5/5

RRP : £59.99

for more information : www.chatsters.com

Disclosure : We received the product in order to write an honest review.

Other reviews you may be interested in :

#VHC45 - Very Hungry Caterpillar or Very Happy Children ? (review)

Drumond Park's Shout! review

Mooshka Sing Around The Rosie doll review

A Cautionary Tale : Enjoy the treats but forget the Halloween tricks

This week was Halloween and we had lots of spooky fun at The Madhouse, baking and dressing up then going round the neighbourhood trick or treating. We always try to set out about 4pm then head home when it starts getting dark, partly because we don't want to be wandering about in the dark and secondly because most people don't like opening their doors to strangers after dark.

We started off with a visit to our old childminder who lives literally just around the corner, 100 yards from our house. She was delighted to see us, told Pierre he looked great, gave him a kiss and went to get her bowl of sweets. We stayed on her doorstep for about 15 minutes catching up and having a good old chinwag. As soon as she went to get her bowl of sweets, a group of about six boys - a couple of years older than Sophie so probably about 16, still what I'd class as kids - descended on the house. It was good natured, they shouted "ooohh sweets" and jostled to get to the front to get the loot. She laughed and said "oy, the little ones first" then rolled her eyes when they wanted to change the flavour of sweets she'd given them.

One of them was holding a box of eggs. I said "Hmmm don't like the look of the eggs, that's not really in the spirit of Halloween, is it?" and our childminder said "Keep them away from my windows, I don't fancy cleaning that off thank you". He grinned then chased off across the car park after his friends, some of whom were on bikes and had already set off.

We said our goodbyes and started going house to house trick or treating for a couple of hours, heading for home as night fell around 6.30pm. As we got back to the corner of our road, we could see flashing blue lights and some ambulaces with a sheet up, a couple of doors down from the childminder's. We actually thought someone had fallen in the big ditch in the road where they are replacing the water pipes.

We were shocked the next morning to discover that it was a stabbing and hearing the details made my blood run cold. A group of "over and under 18's" had just thrown or were about to throw an egg at a man. He didn't appreciate the joke and had a knife in his pocket or went home to get one (the online reports varied depending on the time they were posted so I guess new information was being uncovered) and stabbed two of the adults in the shoulder and a 14-year-old five times.

We can't be sure it was the group we saw but this happened just opposite the block of flats they came out of so I wouldn't be at all surprised. If it was them, the "adults" can't have been any more than 18 and the 14-year-old is only a year older than Sophie. That's scary.

I'm not condoning the throwing of eggs - it's stupid and unnecessary - but for it to end in a stabbing is mindblowing. The lad is still in hospital but apparently (thankfully) his life isn't in danger. It could so easily have ended in a senseless waste of life though. The scariest part is, if the man did go home to get the knife, he must be one of our neighbours as he wouldn't have had time to go far. (The back gates of the houses in that road open onto our road.) He's still on the run and I can't help wondering if it's someone we know.

The moral of this story has to be not to do stupid things (or allow your kids to do stupid things) that can so easily spiral out of control. Enjoy the Halloween trick or treating but don't get involved in the practical jokes. It only takes a second for things to go wrong but a lifetime to live with the regrets.

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Some last minute Halloween baking !

Our Halloween Baking with Yolli

Have a (Carved) Heart This Halloween !

Aveeno launch free kids' e-book #byebyedryskin

Aveeno have sent us through a lovely package to promote their fab new initiative - they have launched their very first children’s eBook – The Dry- Ventures of Ellie & Eddie… Bye Bye Dry Skin by the popular children’s author Penelope Harper - available to download now from www.aveeno.co.uk

Aveeno are going to create a whole series of books that follow the adventures of Ellie and Eddie. The books are aimed at helping parents and children alike manage and address the difficulties of having dry, eczema-prone skin. Ellie and Eddie are very active characters who love to play outside and are forever exploring their surroundings and looking for new adventures, yet both struggle with ways to manage their dry, eczema-prone skin. The delightful tales feature various day-to-day scenarios that commonly trigger or aggravate their skin and provide readers with insight into managing dry, eczema-prone skin, so that kids can do what they know how to do best - play!

They also sent us a trio of products recommended for children with dry skin :

AVEENO® Cream (RRP: £6.80 for 100ml and £13.67 for 300ml)

• Clinically proven to soothe and comfort very dry skin from day 1

• Contains Colloidal oatmeal

• Easily absorbed, non-greasy formula

• Fragrance free

• Also suitable for adults and babies from 3 months who are also prone to eczema

AVEENO® Bath & Shower Oil (RRP: £7.70 for 250ml)

• Contains Colloidal Oatmeal and softening oils

• Thoroughly cleanses, moisturises and conditions dry skin without irritation

• Suitable to be used in both the bath and shower

AVEENO® Lotion (RRP: £12.69 for 500ml)

• Hydrates and soothes dry and sensitive skin

• Easily absorbed, light, non-greasy formula

• With naturally active oatmeal it moisturises dry skin leaving it feeling soft and supple

• With regular use, helps to prevent dryness and irritation caused by dehydration

• Also suitable for adults and babies from 3 months who are also prone to eczema

With the colder weather on its way, I often notice the Madhouse Mini-testers have dry and even irritated patches of skin so these will be perfect for keeping their skin soft and soothed throughout the winter months.

Disclosure : We received the products in order to write an honest review.

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Time to stop the lousy taboo ! Headlice advice

Forget Silk Sheets, Get A Silk Quilt ! (review)

Vamousse - the new sharp-shootin' head lice treatment ! (review)

Globe-cooking recipe : Thai Prawn & Coconut Soup (Thailand)

In this month's Thai-themed Kitchen Trotter box, there was a recipe for Red Curry & Coconut Milk Scallop Soup. I really don't like scallops so I decided to make it with king prawns instead. The result was delicious and made a lovely change to our usual soups. It looks very greasy in the photo but that's because you add a spoonful of red curry-infused oil at the last minute and it floats on the surface.

This recipe called for three ingredients from the box - Tom Kha instant soup powder which serves as a fabulous base (you could use chicken stock and add lots of Thai spices if you can't find any), red curry paste and Kaffir Lime Leaves which have the most amazing zingy, zesty fragrance.

Thai Prawn & Coconut Soup

ingredients : (for 4 servings)

400ml coconut milk

100ml water

3 Kaffir Lime leaves

3 sachets of Tom Kha instant Thai soup powder

200g king prawns

200g mushrooms

1 red pepper

1/2 red onion

1tbsp red curry paste

fresh coriander to garnish

juice of 1 lime

Heat the water and coconut milk in a saucepan until the first bubbles start to appear. Add the Kaffir lime leaves, lime juice and the Tom Kha sachets and simmer for a few minutes.

Finely chop the red onion, red pepper and mushrooms and add to the pan with the prawns. Simmer for 10 minutes - the vegetables should retain some crunch.

In a small frying pan or saucepan, heat a tablespoon of red curry paste with a drizzle of oil, stirring to combine. Add a few drops to the soup before serving and garnish with fresh corainder.

*** Don't miss my country-by-country globecooking recipe index ! ***

Other blogposts you may be interested in :

Globe-cooking recipe : Beetroot Salad with King Prawns (Thailand)

Globe-cooking recipe : Jasmine-infused coconut & cherry custard (Thailand)

Globe-cooking recipe : Maftoul Couscous (Jordan)

Saturday, 1 November 2014

So what did you win in October?

I always love hearing about all your amazing (and even your not so amazing !) wins every month so please do leave me a comment below to let me know if this month was a lucky month for you. I didn't win much this month but I didn't enter many competitions either - there could be a connection there ! ;-)

I did win a £10 ASOS voucher on the Switch To Witch competition - Sophie found a 1D T-shirt so that's been spent already !

I managed to nab myself a couple of sachets of porridge and a granola bar by being one of the first to reply to my Nature's Path newsletter

I won a rather funky pink, retro style stapler which will come in handy

And I won a 1D poster too, but it hasn't arrived yet - I seem to be having lots of luck with the 1D competitions on twitter. I've won a 1D book and perfume too already, much to the girls' delight !

Oh, I also won a Hoegaarden glass.

That's it for this month - bit short on wins so hopefully November will be better !

You may like to try your luck at my giveaways :

Giveaway #433 : Win 2 x Super Mario Bros Original Motion Picture DVD - closing date 13/11

Giveaway #432 : Win a Mooshka Sing Around the Rosie doll - closing date 11/11

Giveaway #431 : Win 1 of 2 Adventurer : The Curse of The Midas Box DVDs - closing date 6/11

#alphabetphoto : y is for ... yum or yuck ?!

I can't believe the Alphabet Photography Challenge is almost at an end and even more so that I managed to find a photo for each letter ! Y was actually a difficult one - and when I found the photo, I couldn't decide if it should be Yum or Yuck. Looking at Pierre's face, it's hard to tell !