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

Totally Funky

Totally Funky

Secret Santa's, Stocking Fillers ... all things we think about purchasing gifts for at this time of year - but what do we buy?

A perfect mini-present are these lip glosses from Totally Funky, they are brilliant!!

The set of 4 'chocolate' lip glosses are great for any female (age 6+) they are shaped like posh chocolates and are flavoured to match: Praline Princess, Mocha Cherry, Rose Swirl and Vanilla Fancy.

You could use them as a set as a stocking filler or wrapped as a Secret Santa gift. Another great idea is to put one inside different home made crackers as the gift or as a Christmas Favour on a set table for Christmas Day dinner.

I would love to receive these as would Emma (age 8), she is pretty taken with them and has asked to use them as gifts for her friends for her 9th birthday party ... I am 'thinking about it' as they would also make a fantastic Secret Santa present for a friend of mine ...hmmm decisions.




But what about the men?
Well yes Lip gloss is a bit girly .. but Lip balm is for everyone !!

Also from Totally Funky are these Christmas Pudding and Mince Pie Lip balm sets. The Christmas Pudding style tastes like chocolate but the Mince Pie tastes exactly like mince pies !! Funky!!

Again great as a Secret Santa gift, or inside a Christmas Cracker. A Christmas Day favour or even as a Stocking Filler for a 'New Man' type man. Girls will love these too and with them being 'different' they can be used as a great talking piece at any party.

Chocolate Heaven Lip Gloss: £6.99
http://www.totally-funky.co.uk/Pages/ProductView.aspx?RET=SR&ID=2271&SID=949

Christmas Pudding Lip Balm: £2.99
http://www.totally-funky.co.uk/Pages/ProductView.aspx?ID=2236&SID=949

Mince Pie Lip Balm: £2.99
http://www.totally-funky.co.uk/Pages/ProductView.aspx?ID=2756&SID=949

Please visit Totally Funky for more great gifts !!
http://www.totally-funky.co.uk/

My rating: 10/10 !!

Organic Meltdown - Chocolate

Mmmm chocolate - now I like chocolate, not all chocolate (I don't like those seashell ones that taste powdery), but most other chocolate gets eaten pretty quickly in our house.

This week I discovered Organic Meltdown chocolate, usually when you sit and scoff your face with a big bar of delicious and creamy chocolate you feel guilty (right?) but this chocolate is clever .... it saves trees!
Delicious chocolate + Good conscience = A winning combo from Organic Meltdown

Organic Meltdown chocolate, is the first product of its type to save a tree for every chocolate bar sold. You buy the Organic Fairtrade chocolate, type the code from the wrapper onto their website ... and hey presto! a tree is saved. Sounds easy, which for us it is ... but I am sure there is a lot of hard work tree saving somewhere in a rainforest on our behalf.

Organic Meltdowns website states "We want organic and Fair-trade chocolate to be more than just a product. Chocolate needs to reflect the rich natural diversity of the tropical forests in the foothills of the Andes Mountains where cocoa beans were first discovered many millennia ago. These forests, the ancestral home of cocoa, are threatened with extinction and Organic Meltdown chocolate is the only product of any type to save a living, breathing tropical forest tree for every bar of chocolate we sell." so to buy a bar from Organic Meltdown actually helps you do your bit of the environment - fancy that!

So whats the chocolate like? Its actually very nice. Every ones taste buds are different, not everyone likes dark chocolate ... but even their dark was quite creamy and not bitter like other brands.

Sweet Candied Orange: A zing of orange and a crunch of sweetness rounds off the 'not too bitter' edge to this 'not too dark' chocolate.

Hazelnuts & Currants: There's hazelnuts in hoards and currants galore heading this trio of textures. Once bitten, thrice smitten.

Milk: Starts with a velvety waft of cream and butter and ends with eye-closing sensuality. It's more than chocolate.

Dark: Marked by a profound depth of taste and a satin-smooth texture this truly dark chocolate is certainly not plain.

All bars are Gluten Free & Vegetarian Approved. All bars except the Milk variety is Vegan Approved. They are proud to wear the Vegetarian Logo on the packaging of all their Organic Meltdown chocolate bars, to shout about the fact they use absolutely no animal by-products in the production their recipes.

http://www.organicmeltdown.com/ is full to the brim with information about Organic produce, Fairtrade and how the company saves trees. Please take a look and support their cause - treat yourself to some chocolate :) you know you want too!!

My rating: 10/10

Hot Chocolate Week - November 16th - 22nd 2009

Hot Chocolate Week is back! November 16th - 22nd 2009

Chocolate :) my ultimate favourite!! I can happily consume chocolate any time, any place, any where (with the exception of in the car as I get sick!). So when I heard about Hot Chocolate Week I nipped to Tesco and stocked up on delicious smooth Hot Chocolate products to celebrate in style.

Why do we need an excuse to take some time out for yourself and enjoy a gorgeous real hot chocolate drink anyway? I personally believe that Hot Chocolate shouldn't be classed as an indulgent treat - it should be a necessity!.

Yes we can rabbit on and on about calories, healthy options, obesity .. but to hold back from a Hot Chocolate addiction can also hold fatal consequences, think of the mood swings, the hunger pangs, the craving of sweet hot melted chocolate ...... yes I am now drooling!

So when I discovered the Hot Chocolate from Mars I had to try them.

First up: Moment du Chocolat Gourmet Hot Chocolate contains Real Belgian Milk chocolate with scrumptious marshmallows as an added topping. It is unashamedly sensuous, providing a melt in the mouth sensation. Its also very cocoa'y like a real hot chocolate like your Granny used to make. I personally had to add in a splash of milk to take off the edge, but it was very warming and scrummy.

Second we have : GALAXY Creamy Hot Chocolate is unlike most hot chocolates, as half a bar of real GALAXY chocolate is lovingly melted into milk to create a hot chocolate with that unmistakable delicious GALAXY taste. With a dash of cream and mini marshmallows to add as an optional topping, this is one hot chocolate not to share.

Its also sickly sweet - so beware those of you who like to indulge but sometimes go OTT and end up feeling quite ill. Andy tested this one but left most of it due to the sweetness, he prefers Galaxy block chocolate to the melted hot product.

Thirdly Emma tried out: MALTESERS Malted Hot Chocolate. Being only 3% fat its great for those wanting to indulge but also wanting to watch their waistline and has real chocolate melted into creamy malted milk. With a mini packet of MALTESERS to munch along side or melt into your drink this is a treat that everyone can enjoy.

Well she loved it! She even licked the lid :) I had a quick sip and it wasn't as sweet as the Galaxy drink, I wish now that I had opted for this one rather than the 'posh' one.

Finally: The range would not be complete without Melted MARS Hot Chocolate. The classic combination of chocolate and caramel is melted into milk to create a smooth hot chocolate with the instantly recognisable flavour of MARS. In addition there are two real MARS miniatures to complement this undeniably delicious drink. We are keeping this one, Emma has deemed it hers and we are not allowed to touch it. I think she is keeping it for a cold afternoon after school treat.

Pure liquid heaven will be yours to enjoy in just 90 seconds, when you simply pop your chosen hot chocolate into the microwave. With the cup designed to keep the drink hot without hurting your hands, you can savour pure decadence without any worries. It is that easy - peel off the foil top, give it a stir, bung it in the microwave for 60 seconds, give it a stir, back in for a further 30 seconds and its done !!

So cosy up, settle down and give yourself some ‘me time’ by enjoying Hot Chocolate Week with your favourite real hot chocolate drink from Mars Consumer Drinks.

The Hot Chocolate drinks are available in larger stores of Tesco, Sainsbury, Morrisons and Asda.

A Quarter Of ... The Old Fashioned Sweet Shop

A Quarter Of ... The Best Sweets Ever !!!

We like sweets :) any type of sweets, especially the old favorites.

My Nan & Grandad used to own a Newsagents, I spent Wednesday afternoons sat behind the counter eating White Chocolate Mice direct from the storage boxes hidden under the counter for the Penny Sweets Bags, to this day I blame my sweet tooth (and size 22 dress size) on those white mice but oh they were tasty!

When I discovered "A Quarter Of" my mouth started watering, I started to twitch and when my box of Halloween goodies arrived I was greatly annoyed when my husband Andy barged me out of the way shouting "Mine! The postman handed the box to me !!".

Squabbling aside there was enough in the box to feed an army of trick or treaters, so we went back to being civil to each other and dug into 250g of white mice, 250g of jelly Dracula fangs, 10 bags of fizz whizz, 250g of scary jelly skeletons and 250g of eyeballs (terror eyes).

Now please don't get me wrong ... its a lot of sweets and after stuffing ourselves silly for a good 10 minutes we put the rest back into the box for another day (to save ourselves from nasty results).

I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised, the sweets were all fresh, properly formed (no dodgy miss-shapes) and expertly packaged. On returning to the website the choice of sweets is immense ... they have so many to choose from that they have categorised them! Available to purchase are Boiled & Crunchy through to Choco Heaven, Gift Boxes and ready packed selections are available for all events (eg.. Birthday, Christmas, Halloween).

With Halloween coming up their Halloween section is gruesome (in a good way!) http://www.aquarterof.co.uk/gift-ideas-halloween-c-109_10001.html with 35 different Halloween themed sweets you'll have Trick Or Treaters queueing around the block to knock at your door.

For Birthdays children's party bags will be bulging with delicacy's http://www.aquarterof.co.uk/gift-ideas-party-bags-c-109_918.html

The shop also caters for Weddings with a selection of coloured themed wedding favours http://www.aquarterof.co.uk/gift-ideas-wedding-sweets-favours-c-109_9222.html brilliant !!

What attracts me most to 'A Quarter Of' is their Sugar Free, Gelatine Free and Gluten Free ranges ... they have something for everyone.

http://www.aquarterof.co.uk/index.php

Please visit the site for more information and pricing in regards to shipping costs.