Category: Life

Blogmas 2019 Day Nine: Christmas Stocking filler ideas for kids 🎄🎅🏻

Stockings are one of my absolute favourite parts of Christmas.

So, I thought I would do another stocking filler guide, perfect for kiddies.

I will do an adult version too.

I will also leave below the link to my stocking guide from last years Blogmas. That one is a more general guide to stockings and my top 5 categories to include, instead of specific gift ideas.

I’ve tried to cater for lots of different ages so hopefully there is something for your kiddies/nieces/nephews etc

Stocking gift guide

Wilko

Mini games £1 each.

To keep them entertained in the small hours of Christmas day and throughout the day too.

Slime!

Fun, gross, glittery… what more do kids want??

Choccy coins, 50p

A must in a Christmas stocking & only 50p for a big bag in Wilko.

Craft carry case, £2

These are so cute and perfect for any creative kiddies out there, or to encourage a bit more drawing and colouring activity among your kids.

It’s nice and compact, perfect for taking out and about.

Animal/Enchanted Unicorn figure sets, £2

These a great little toy to pop into a stocking. There are lots of different ones to cater to your childs interests and they come with a variety of different figures in each pack.

Wilko Blox collectable figures, £1

Wilkos own brand lego have a figure set that you can collect.

These little bags are only £1, a great mystery suprise.

Wilko Blox Starter box racing car packs, £1.50

These are super affordable little ‘Blox’ starter sets. You get a little racing car to build, along with a figure to go in your finished car. These are really cool and are a perfect stocking filler

TY beanies keyring, £3

A classic! Children love a soft toy and a keyring so these would make a great addition to a stocking. They are very cute.

Primark

Harry Potter chocolate frogs

Primark have these cute little versions of the classic. They arent 100% like the original ones but you get a yummy chocolate frog and a witch or wizard card! Awesome.

12 pack of hair clips, £1

They do a few different sets, which are different colours/patterns. With 12 in a pack for just £1 they are an absolutely bargin.

Hot choc mug set, £5

A super cute festive mug and some yummy hot choc 👌🏻

Assorted Slipper socket, £3

These cute little slipper socks look super cosy. They have lots of different designs as well as festive themed ones too.

Novelty Bubbles, £1.50

Cute packaging, and they will keep the kids entertained. Because lets be honest who doesnt love bubbles!?!

Earphones, £4

For only £4 these are great for the more tech savvy children among us.

Christmas decorations, from £1.50

There are quite a few different offerings in this department from Harry Potter, Disney to more traditional Christmas decs, but they are all really cool.

Bathtime finger puppets, £3

These little finger puppet sets are such good value. They come in a huge variety of sets, that they change often, so there are lots of different ones to collect.These are great for bathtime but also for encouraging imaginative play with your child outside the bathroom.

Soft toys, from £2

There are lots of different soft toys on offer, so lots to choose from!

These are great for childrens stockings and are much more affordable than some soft toys on the market.

Mega Monster Maker, £2

Slime & accessories to create your own Monsters… a childs dream gift 👌🏻🤪

Matalan

Hat glove and scarf sets, from £6.40

One of the more expensive items on my list but very good value for the amount you get.

These sets includes, a hat, scarf and gloved which is pretty good for under a tenner… and they match!

Hairbands (Inc Novelty Christmas ones) £6

Hairbands and hair accessories are very popular around young girls right now. These headbands are great for a stocking. They have some festive hairbands included in the range too, exciting!

Assorted Childrens jewellery, £5

B & M

Colouring books, £1.99

Activity books, £2.49

Marvel action figures, £3.99

Toy Story 4 mini action figures/vehicle, Now £6 reduced from £7.99

Stickers, £1.49

Because what child doesn’t love a sticker ot ten!

Pens & gel pens (Assorted styles) £2.99

They have loads of different packs from plain colours, gel pens and scented pens (which children love!)

They also have packs of jumbo glitter crayons for the same price of £2.99, so lots of different options.

Bumper value craft set, £3.99

Perfect for all those little crafters, this set has loads of different items in it to get their juices flowing! From Pom Poms, foam shapes, stickers and more.

‘Paint your own’ sets, £3.99

These are such good value and are a lovely way to keep them occupied and for them to create something that they can keep.

B & M also sell some yummy edible items that would be perfect to pop into a stocking…

●Sweets, 3 for £1 or 39p per pack

●Sparkly jelly beans £1.99

●Retro Pez dispensers, £1 and refills for £1

●Standard Bags of chocolate (Cadburys etc), £1

●Kinder eggs Suprises, 89p

●Chocolate Santas & Chocolate coins, from 50p

Lots of shops also sell books that are super cheap! The Works, Poundland and B&M all sell lovely story books and they often have them on offer too.

I hope you have found this useful and it gives you a few ideas!

No one wants a stressful Christmas.

16 days until Christmas 🎄

Ho Ho Ho

Roseanne 🎅🏻

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Blogmas 2019 Day Eight: Decorating the Christmas tree 🎄

Heres to a very important Christmas tradition, the start of the festive season…

… putting up your tree!

Here is ours this year.

Here are my little helpers! They loved helping me decorate the tree.

& of course we needed snacks to keep us going during the decorating process.

I put our tree up quite early this year (in the middle of November, dont hate me!!) I love it.

I love our red, gold and green themed tree and each year I buy a new bauble. This year I got us a few which will feature in another of my Blogmas posts (Affordable Christmas decs)

I got ua a cute ‘2019’ bauble too.

Tell me about your tree? 🎄

Ho Ho Ho

Roseanne 🎅🏻

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Blogmas 2019: Day Six Decoration shopping 🎄

One shop that is doing amazing Christmas decorations this year is Matalan.

They have a great mix of traditional and more modern decorations.

They also have a real mix of the types of decorations that they sell, from small tree decorations, tinsel, wreaths, tall standing nutcrackers, centrepieces, table clothes, sacks, stockings and so much more!

It’s all really affordable too.

I’ll try and include as much info about prices etc as I can 👍🏻

Let’s take a look!

I was literally in Christmas heaven browsing the aisles!!

Christmas throws, From £6

These look super cosy ❤

They had a selection of different themed throws from the traditional Farisle patterned ones as well as tartan ones, reindeer and christmas tree patterned ones and block coloured ones, in various Christmas colours.

Assorted coloured Christmas Stockings & Christmas sacks (Sacks £10)

These luxurious lettered sacks and stockings are really lovely.

Santa and Snowman stockings and sacks

I love these traditional stockings and sacks.

Super cute and great for traditionalists a kids a like!

Pine cone Christmas wreaths. £15

These are SO pretty.

They had circular red pine cone wreaths and White heart shaped pine cone wreaths. They also did feather wreaths.

Assorted colour tinsel

Because let’s be honest, theres not alot that’s more christmassy than row upon row of tinsel!!! 🌟

Assorted tree decorations.

These were sectioned off by colour/style, so you’d definatly be able to find something to fit your style/colour or theme.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little look into Matalans Christmas offerings.

I love Christmas decoration shopping SO MUCH!!!

Ho Ho Ho

Roseanne 🎅🏻

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Blogmas 2019 Day Four: ‘The Season’ Musical ❄

Day four of Blogmas is here!

Recently me and my husband Tim made an impromptu visit to the theatre. I saw a local Christmassy show advertised on Facebook and thought, why not!?

Every year we see the Rock N roll Christmas panto at the same theatre so we hoped this would be to the same standard! And it didn’t disappoint.

‘A New Musical by Jim Barne & Kit Buchan

It’s Christmas Eve and Dougal has travelled from Ipswich to New York for his father’s wedding. At JFK Airport he’s greeted by Robyn. Tomorrow her sister becomes his stepmother and Robyn’s dreading it. Dougal can’t wait. But then Dougal loves Christmas and Robyn’s the original Grinch.

Thrown together for a wild weekend in the city that never sleeps, their adventure becomes a musical whirlwind of confession, frustration and maxing-out credit cards in Macy’s. Will these two endearing misfits provide the ultimate test for the theory that opposites always attract? ‘

It had a lovely Christmassy feel to it and it was a very cute story.

The songs and acting were great and it was really funny, a feel good story.

It was set in NYC at Christmas which is famously magical and festive at Christmas so that was really cool.
I always think it’s so amazing how they do such an awesome job of portraying a story with few actors (there were only 2 in this show) and a simple stage layout that they adapt for different scenes. It’s very clever.

We felt so festive afterwards and it was the perfect pre Christmas activity!

I’m really glad we went as we don’t often go to these kinds of shows, favouring the cinema. It was a very welcome change and a lovely evening spent together.

21 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS 🎄

Ho Ho Ho

Roseanne 🎅🏻

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Blogmas 2019 Day Three: Christmas jumper guide

Festive fashion that doesn’t have to break the bank!

Here’s my guide to some of the best Christmas jumpers that I have seen this year on the high street ans online ….

Primark

‘Santa Claus is coming to town’

It sings.

Need I say anymore??

It’s nice, simple, cute & has beautiful red glittery embroidered writing, and did I mention, IT SINGS.

£12

Primark have a brilliant selection of Christmas jumpers and Christmas T-Shirts this year.

They are definatly worth a look.

Matalan

Fab-Yule-Us

Because who doesnt love a Christmas play on words.

This is one of my favourites this year.

£15

Next

‘Pigs in blankets’

So cute.

£30

‘Pink, high neck Ho, Ho, Ho Jumper.’

Such a lovely colour.

£32

Such a pretty reindeer 🦌

£35

George at Asda

How could j not include a Harry Potter Jumper…

£14

‘Merry & Bright’

£16

This is adorable.

Penguins always look cute on a Christmas jumper 🐧

£16

New Look

Longline Slogan Chrsitmas Jumper

£25.99

This looks super cosy and cute.

I like how you could team this with skinny Jean’s or leggings for a super comfy Christmas outfit.

Asos

Asos Christmas Charity jumper

I love the stylish cream colour of this jumper. The detailing of the colourful embroidered trees is really pretty, nice ans simple but effective. I like how they look like the they are made out of tinsel.

£28

Asos have a lovely selection of Fairisle patterned Christmas jumpers. So much so that I couldn’t choose! They ranged in style, size of the pattern and colour. Definatly worth checking out if you dont want anything too gimicky for a Christmas, something with a little festive feel to it.

Misguided

Rudolph, sequins, pom poms, what’s not to love!?!?

£25

I hope you’ve found this Christmas jumper guide helpful. Get those numpers bought and wear them with pride this December.

Christmas really is the most magical time of the year!!!

22 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!

Ho Ho Ho

Roseanne 🎅🏻

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Blogmas 2019 Day Two: My reading challenge, the December edition 📚

We’ve made it to the final month of my reading challenge! I’m honestly surprised I managed to keep this up all year but also very pleased.

I will do a little round up in Jan of everything that I have read this year and perhaps introduce a new challenge for 2020.

Firstly, I will share with you what I read in November…

  • A Christmas gift by Sue Moorcroft
  • T’was the Nightshift before Christmas by Adam Kay
  • A wedding in December by Sarah Morgan

I thoroughly enjoyed all of these books and they have definitely got me into the festive spirit

So, without further ado, for the last time in 2019, here are my reading picks for this month…

The Christmas Wishlist by Heidi Swain

After being let go from her job in a swanky hotel just weeks before Christmas, Hattie is feeling lost. Even more so when her high-flying boyfriend announces he’s landed his dream job in Abu Dhabi and asks her to move with him. Luckily, Hattie’s long-time friend Dolly is on hand to help and invites Hattie to spend one last holiday in the small, festive town of Wynbridge, determined to give her a Christmas to remember . . .
Upon Hattie’s arrival, holiday preparations are in full swing. But for Hattie, whose Christmas cheer has long since run out, it’ll take more than mince pies and mistletoe to open her heart to the season once more. Relishing the task of reigniting Hattie’s Christmas spirit, Dolly suggests they create a wish list of all the things the season can offer, and with the helpful hands of Wynbridge’s resident handyman, Beamish, Hattie finds her frosty exterior is starting to thaw.
As Wynbridge prepares for its most spectacular Christmas yet, will Hattie leave snowy England behind for life in a sunnier clime, or will she in fact realise that her heart’s desire lies much closer to home?

The Christmas Stocking and Other Stories by Katie Fforde

THE CHRISTMAS STOCKING: Romy is all set to join her boyfriend and his family in France for Christmas, though truth be told she isn’t looking forward to it very much. And then she meets Felix – and her plans for the big day suddenly become a lot more interesting.

CANDLELIGHT AT CHRISTMAS: It was meant to be the perfect Christmas – surrounded by friends and family in their beautiful home in the country. But then the lights go out, and Fenella knows she will have to work very hard to keep everyone happy …

THE CHRISTMAS FAIRY: It’s Christmas Eve in Crinan, and a young man is on his own with only his nephew and niece for company. Then Ella arrives. Dressed as a fairy, she is determined to wave her wand and give them all the best Christmas ever.
And many more!

23 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS 🎄

See you tomorrow for Blogmas Day 3!

Ho Ho Ho

Roseanne 🎅🏻

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My reading challenge: November ⛄📚

The penultimate installment of my reading challenge is here!

This year has gone seriously quickly.

I’m quite looking forward to reflecting on all the books I’ve read this year though.

So, without further ado, let’s take a look at what I read last month and what I’ll be reading this month…

What did I read last month:

The big little festival by Kellie Hailes

&

The Husbands secret by Liane Moriarty

I enjoyed both of these. The big little festival was a very easy read and I really enjoyed its cosy vibes. The husbands secret took a little bit to get into it and you had to really focus on each character to keep track. When the characters started to link together it was a bit easier to follow and towards the end the chapters were a much more manageable length which I liked, and this made it quite gripping as the story really got going.

This months books:

A Christmas Gift by Sue Moorcroft.

One Christmas can change everything…

‘Georgina loves Christmas. The festive season always brings the little village of Middledip to life. But since her ex-boyfriend walked out, leaving her with crippling debts, Gerorgines struggled to make ends meet.

To keep her mind off her worries, she throws herself into organising the Christmas show at the local school, and when handsome Joe Blackthorn becomes her assistants Georgines grateful for the help. But rheres something about Joe she can’t quite put her finger on. Could there be more to him than meets the eye?

Georgine’s past is going to catch up with her in ways she never expected. But can the help of her friends new and old make this a Christmas to remember after all? ‘

T’was the night shift before Christmas by Adam Kay

‘Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat… but 1.4 million NHS staff are heading off to work. In this perfect present for anyone who has ever set foot in a hospital, Adam Kay delves back into his diaries for a hilarious, horrifying and sometimes heartbreaking peek behind the blue curtain.

T’was the nightshift before Christmas is a love letter to all those who spend their festive season on the front line, removing babies and baubles from the various places they get stuck, at the most wonderful time of the year.’

&

A wedding in December by Sarah Morgan

‘The White family are gathering for Rosie’s whirlwind Christmas wedding. First to arrive are the brides parents, Maggie and Nick. Their daughters marriage is a milestone are determined to celebrate wholeheartedly, but they are hiding a huge secret about their own, they are on the brink of divorce. The last thing they need is to be trapped together on an irresistibly romantic Winter wonderland.

Rosie’s older sister Katie is worries that impulsive, sweet-hearted Rosie is making a mistake so she is determined to save her sister from herself, if only the irritatingly good looking best man, Jordan, would stop interfering with her plans…

Bride-to-be Rosie loves her Fiance but is having serious second thoughts. Except everyone has arrived – how can she tell tell she’s not sure? As the big day gets closer, and emotions run even higher, this is one family Christmas none of them will ever forget.’

I am so ready for cosy Christmassy, festive, reads 📚📚

This is definatly one of my favourite times of the year to grab a book.

I’m glad I’ve got mine ahead of time as it can get so busy at this time of year and these kinds of books are great for grabbing a few moments of calm in all the Christmas chaos.

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Halloween party fun! 🎃

Today we had a little family Halloween party!

We all got a few bits together, costumes & food and headed to my twin sister Sarah’s house, with her family, my husband Tim, and my sister Charlotte and her family.

The kids (& me) were very excited.

Noah was desperate for a party and this was the perfect time to do it as we were all working on Halloween.

We popped on our costumes and Halloween themed clothes to get into the Spooky spirit.

& first things first, we needed to decorate!

Once everybody had arrived we tucked into some yummy party food whilst watching a bit of Hotel Transylvania.

(If you would like to know how to make these cupcakes head over to my previous post )

For our activities we had Spooky Halloween arts & crafts…

…A bat pinata,

& a game of ‘Pin the eyes on the spider.’

It was lots of fun!

🎃HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY🎃

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

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Halloween Bat cupcakes 🦇

I hope you enjoyed Halloween on Thursday 🎃

What did you do?

If, like us, you are celebrating Halloween this weekend then this little recipe will be right up your street.

These bat cupcakes are super cute, chocolatey and my ultimate favourite flavour combo, chocolate orange.

They are perfect for the spooky season, a Halloween party, to make with the kids or to just to help you indulge with a cuppa this weekend.

So, enjoy!

What you’ll need…

  • A chocolate cupcake packet mix (12 cupcakes)
  • 1 egg
  • 1.5 tbsp oil
  • Water
  • Chocolate buttercream icing
  • Orange extract
  • Jaffa cakes
  • Jaffa cake nibbles
  • White choc drops (for eyes)
  • Icing tubes (to draw on the fangs)

What you’ll need to do…

  • Make the packet mix as instructed
  • This usually entails adding your egg, oil and water to the packet mix and stirring.
  • Separate into your cupcake cases evenly.
  • Cook in the oven (See individual packets for times/temps.
  • Whilst the cupcakes are cooking, mix some orange extract into your chocolate buttercream.
  • Leave your cakes to cool before decorating.

Decorating…

  • 12 Jaffa cakes
  • A pack of Jaffa nibbles
  • Chocolate orange Buttercream
  • Icing
  • White choc drops

  • Top each cupcake with a generous helping of chocolate orange buttercream.
  • Cut each Jaffa cake in two, to create wing shapes.
  • Pop the wings either side in the icing.
  • Pop two nibbles in between the wings for the eyes.
  • To add detail to the eyes, use a little leftover buttercream to stick a white chocolate drop onto the nibbles.

Eat & enjoy!

I hope you like this little recipe idea, they taste heavenly or should I say devilishly good 👹

🎃🎃 Happy Halloween 🎃🎃

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My half term diary!

October Half term 2019

… because it’s been a busy but fun one!

#stillgotloadsofchorestodo

#whocareswehadfun

Saturday

Me & my mum went out for afternoon tea to start off the half term! We both work in schools so we thought it would be a nice treat at the beginning of the holidays.

We went to a little cafe along the waterfront, in our hometown and it was lovely.

The interior of the cafe was really cool and quirky and the view (with sunshine!!) was amazing.

There were three tiers to the afternoon tea. On the bottom tier were finger sandwiches: Smoked salmon & cream cheese, Ham & mustard, Cheese & red onion chutney and cucumber.

The second tier was cakes, we had a piece of Victoria sponge to share, a piece of coffe cake to share syns a lemon curd that each.

The final, top tier was the fruit scones with clotted cream and jam.

You also got a pot of tea or coffee to accompany your food.

Sunday

I spent Sunday relaxing at a local day spa with my friend.

It was a great way to wind down after a busy first half term.

Relaxing in the jacuzzi, sizzling in the sauna & having a spot of lunch too.

We both decided to treat ourselves to a treatment on this occasion. I went for a back, neck and shoulder massage (Which was amazing) & my friend went for a facial.

A perfect Sunday 🧖🏼‍♀️💧

Monday

Before heading to work in the afternoon I caught up with my friend Livy and her little bundle of joy (SO CUTE!!) Finley.

We met at a local cafe, that I love! & is just around the corner, for what is possibly one of my favourite meals, Brunch!

So good!

But not as good as the catch up and Finley cuddles/giggles ❤

Wednesday

Another day, another brunch!

& this time with my lovely work friends from school.

It can be really tricky organising getting us altogether so it was lovely to be able to finally coordinate our calendars during a school holiday! We see each other every day but it’s good to just be able to chat properly.

Brunch is one of my favourite meals! Breakfast food is the best food for sure.

Thursday

On thursday evening I had both of my nephews and my niece over for a sleepover! (Call me crazy, but it was really fun)

I’ve never had them all at once seeing as they are 5, 3 & 2 but it was triple the fun.

We did lots of fun colouring together as I bought them a little colouring pad and pencil set each for the occasion.

We had tomato and cheesey pasta followed by a bit of Peppa Pig and a story.

And to make things even better they all went straight off to sleep 😴

Friday

On Friday morning I took the boys to the cinema before they headed home.

It was Casey’s pick this time and we watched Shaun the Sheep Farmaggedon.

With lots of snacks of course!

In the afternoon I headed to the station as me and my Auntie had a weekend in London planned together and I was meeting her on the train.

Once we had got to the hotel we headed out for a spot of dinner at a local Bella Italia. It was delicious!

We both had Calamari to start followed by a ‘Create your own’ pizza for me and creamy pasta for my Auntie.

I’ve never known a chain Italian restaurant to have a create your own option so this was great. I went for mozzerella, garlic mushrooms & salami.

Once we had eaten we headed back to the hotel to change then made our way to the theatre.

The show was amazing and such a cool and modern way to tell history.

If you dont know, Six is a musical concert telling the story of Henty the 8ths Six wives. They perform songs as if they are in a girl band and each take it in turns to tell their story.

The songs were really good and the singing was incredible.

Saturday

We started off the day as any day that proceeds a night stay away should… with an unlimited breakfast buffet, YES.

After that we packed up our things and headed to our first stop of the day, our London Bus tour.

I know that its so touristy but I’ve always wanted to do one so that’s something to tick off the bucket list.

We really enjoyed seeing all the different London sights.

We were definatly ready for some lunch, after our two hour trip, so we headed to a nearby restaurant/bakery for what turned out to be an incredibly delicious meal.

This avocado on toast was to die for and the chocolate bomb cake that I had afterwards was pure indulgence!

All that was left to do after this was make our way back to Covent Garden and grab our bags.

We stopped off for a cheeky soft drink at the hotel before making our way to London Liverpool street, homeward bound.

It was such a fun weekend 😁

I had a great time xx

Sunday

Today was the last day of half term 😭

But, it still counts so we made the most of it by spending the day together, having fun!

We started off by gaming, ‘caus we’re cool 😏

& we took sed gaming to that lovely local cafe I mentioned in Mondays entry, (because as I said, its awesome)

So we spent the late morning/early afternoon playing in there and having some yummy lunch together.

The perfect end to half term with my favourite 💗

How was your half term??

🍁

Until next time,

Roseanne 🙂

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