Christmas Cookie Cutters

Christmas Cookie Cutters

Day 2 of the Christmas Holidays and all you can hear is "I'm bored!". Piles of presents wrapped waiting to be opened and the kids are driving you insane. Its too cold to go out anywhere, the shops are packed and anyway ... your totally skint! so what can you do?

Bake.

Baking together is a great family tradition, it gets everyone together and regardless of age or ability there is always something everyone can do.

So aprons on, hands washed and away you go. Recipe book out and mixing bowls at the ready but what should we bake?

In my house one key item decides whether we are going to make cakes or biscuits - eggs! If I have tons of eggs in then fairy cakes are made, if I am running low (or the eggs aren't exactly fresh) then we make biscuits. Icing is simple as its only icing sugar and water .. and we always have a ton of sprinkles to decorate.

http://www.thingsathome.com/ stock an excellent set of Christmas Cookie Cutters. Well made sturdy metal cutters to cut the thickest of rolled out dough. Each cutter is around 7-9cm in size which are a great size for little and big hands to create masterpieces with.

I also sometimes bake a massive sponge cake in a deep tray then cut out shapes of sponge using cutters, Emma decorates just like regular cakes and they look fantastic. These Christmas Cookie Cutters are also suitable for cutting sponge cake as they are nice and deep.

With an angel shape, reindeer, tree, star, Santa and candy cane, your family will make some great cookies with these cutters. I'm not suggesting they will be edible (depends on your cooking skills) but everyone will have fun anyway!

Recipes for both biscuits and icing are included in the box the set is £8.95 (free postage & packing in the UK).

For more information and other Christmas Gifts please visit: http://www.thingsathome.com/

Nestle Selection Boxes

Nestle Selection Boxes

"Mmmmmm Chocolate!" hums Homer, "Mine!" shouts my 8 year old daughter when I show her what Nestle kindly sent me to review .... with that the boxes were ripped open and the contents scanned greedily.

Emma decided to keep the Milkybar for her Dad, I was given a KitKat Senses to snack upon while Emma demolished a packet of Smarties.

After a few minutes of taking the sweets out of the box and putting them back in again Emma asked "Where's the big plastic tray with the chocolate sized holes in it?", "Ahh!" I replied and told her about their new super packaging.

Nestles save the planet recycling idea is that every bit of packaging is recyclable. Gone is the big plastic tray that fills up your bin and instead every bit of packaging is made from cardboard. You can flatten the box and put it out with your kerb-side recycling or take it to your local recycling bank.

The Nestle Selection Boxes contain sweets such as Smarties, Fruit Pastels, Kit Kat, Aero, Rolo's, Milkybar, Jelly Tots and Tootie Fruities. This means that for all ages there are confectionery suitable ie.. Milkybar for little people, onto Jelly Tots for the little ones that can run, then up to Smarties and Rolos for the kids, and finally Kit Kat and Aeros for the adults.

My only concern about the packaging is that the box was really really easy to open. Its a flap front opening that can easily open if the box is crushed ... so if you are buying selection boxes as a gift for Christmas then look out for an unsquashed box and be careful when wrapping.

Apart from that .... you can't say no to chocolate can you ;)

My rating: 9/10

Special Little People - Aromatherapy For Children

Special Little People - Aromatherapy For Children"What If?" Blend

"Anxiety in children is a common affliction, particularly as they get older.

We have specifically picked some of nature's most soothing oils to develop a relaxed yet positive emotional state. It combines floral and fruity tones resulting in a warming, exotic fragrance with a hint of fun!

When using What If?, explain to your child how the magic ingredients will make them feel better and stronger. Remind them to breathe deeply and steadily, then watch the smiles appear!

It is a particularly useful blend for use around school exam time."

I have been using "What If?" blend with my daughter Emma (8), she has recently been acting as if the whole world if going to end if a)she can't find her spellings book or b)they ran out of carrots at lunchtime ???

I know she is under the weather as she wakes up tired, her ears are blocked with wax (which isn't helping as the poor kid can't hear) and she has grown a HUGE wart on her foot.

Well so far so good ... the 'What if' seems to be working. I haven't told her about it (sneaky eh!) but I have been putting some on some tissue (ok loo roll) and hanging it off of the side of her bed. The aroma isn't overpowering but you can smell it a bit when you walk back into the room. She has calmed down a little, maybe it is coincidence? but she has seemed to have chilled out a bit.

Today she only got 6 in her spelling test (usually she gets upset as she struggles with spellings) but today she didn't seem to care. She actually admitted that she hadn't practiced them and was actually pleased with herself that she got 6! I congratulated her :)

She has also stopped asking stupid questions constantly, it could be that she has run out of questions ;) or that she just doesn't care about the answers any more? either way I don't mind as she was doing my head in.

I am thinking of using the 'potion' myself, will I chill out and stop yelling at the students? will I suddenly decide that rap music is cool after all and allow it to be played via a tinny sounding mobile phone in my classes? maybe ... you never know ... I'll keep in touch :)

http://www.speciallittlepeople.co.uk/default.asp

What if? A blend to relieve anxiety - Aromatherapy to banish the wobbles!

£11.95

My star rating: 8/10