The most precious gifts at Christmas are always the thoughtful ones and with personalised photo gifts, you just can’t go wrong. CEWE have a beautiful range of products that can bepersonalised with your own photos, words and more. The products are of premium quality and are a lovely way to celebrate your treasured memories, making the ideal gift.
With such a lovely range of personalised photo products, CEWE has something for everyone this Christmas; whether that’s a jigsaw for grandad, a mug for grandma, playing cards for dad, a photo calendar for mum, a matching pairs game for the kids or a photo book for the whole family – CEWE is your one-stop-shop for your Christmas shopping this year.
CEWE also has a gift finder software that can provide inspiration to help you chose the perfect gift. Simply select your recipient, the type of gift you’re after and your budget to find ideas that they’re sure to love.
Final order dates are today for guaranteed Christmas delivery – so you still have time to get the perfect gift!
Inside you will find some of the best and newest toys and products on the market, perfect for your Christmas shopping this year. You will be sure to find something suitable for the whole family, with gift suggestions suitable for babies, toddlers, young children, mum, dad and even a section of ideas for a whole family gift!
We hope you will find it helpful and it will give you lots of inspiration for your Christmas shopping over the next month!
Please find all links for the items featured underneath the guide x
Christmas traditions are always evolving and the tradition of advent calendars is no exception. We have already seen picture-based calendars be replaced with chocolate ones, but over recent years more and more brands have released their own version of advent calendars and I’m here for it! It now means there are plenty of options on the market that offer people something different to chocolate and instead people can choose to have advent calendars full of surprises that can be enjoyed beyond Christmas. These alternative options are becoming more and more popular, in particular with parents who wish to limit their child’s sugar intake or avoid sugar in the mornings. They are also seen as more sustainable options as the contents are intended to be kept for longer and don’t usually require plastic inserts like chocolate ones.
Here are my top 10 alternative advent calendar suggestions for 2022 that offer families something a bit more special than traditional chocolate:
1) Paperchase: Mr Men Little Miss 2022 Stationery Advent Calendar
This advent calendar is a fun collaboration between Mr Men Little Miss and Paperchase that has 24 stationery essentials hiding inside. It includes a variety of notebooks, paperclips, stickers, washi tapes, pens and even a key ring. Each item is characterful, bright and fun as per Mr Men Little Miss typical style. This would be perfect for primary school aged children to replenish their school supplies over December!
RRP: £35. Click Here *Sold out online, check in store.
2) Lindex: Squeezy Toys advent calendar
This advent calendar is perfect for children who like sensory toys or fidget toys. Behind the 24 doors are a variety of squishy animals and shapes in a range of colours. They are friendly in appearance and super satisfying to squeeze!
RRP: £14.99. Click here *Check in Lindex London store.
3) BRIO world 2022 Christmas Advent Calendar
Brio is a brand that any train-loving child will already be familiar with and this advent calendar is the perfect opportunity to add some festive pieces to a train collection! It includes track pieces as well as Christmas themed people, signs, trees and even a train with carriage decorated in a gingerbread style! The front of the advent calendar folds open to create a Christmas scene that children can add their new pieces to each December morning.
Super Wings is a popular children’s TV series that sees a variety of transforming characters save and rescue people. This advent calendar includes a variety of those much-loved characters in the form of planes and mini figures, as well as a few Christmas decorations too! Children will be super excited to open the new door each morning to see which character is joining the gang that day in the lead up to Christmas.
This advent calendar may seem small, but it is packed full of pretty little jewellery items! There is a range of items inside; from a necklace to clip on earrings and lots of cute charms and pendants inbetween. Children will love to build their own charm bracelet and necklace by adding something new to it each morning.
RRP: £9.99 Click here *Check in Lindex London store.
6) Find Me A Gift: Harry Potter Advent Calendar Cube
This is an absolute must-have for all Harry Potter fans (big or small!) The fact that this advent calendar is a cube already makes it interesting and unique, but it is also packed full of Harry Potter characters and wands. By Christmas Day the owner of this advent calendar will have a full collection of wand and character keyrings and a couple of special pins too. If that’s not enough to tempt you, then on the 24th is a very special surprise ……. SPOILER: it’s a Harry Potter snow globe!
If your child loves marble runs and even already has a collection of GraviTrax pieces, then they need this advent calendar! It is packed full of 36 track pieces and accessories to help children build new routes and create crazy trick shots. GraviTrax is unlike typical marble runs in that it’s a brand that allows children experiment with gravity to power their ball through twists, loops and turns!
This gorgeous gingerbread house style advent calendar is full of stationery essentials and favourites and even includes a £5 voucher. Other items included are pens, paperclips, washi tapes, highlighters, pencils, sticky notes and more. The contents are worth £100 and although the advent calendar is usually just £45, it’s currently on sale for just £30!! Plus if you’re lucky enough to find a golden pen inside yours, you can win a £200 voucher too – how exciting!
9) Baylis & Harding: Luxury 24 days of beauty advent calendar
This is the perfect advent calendar for you – Yes, YOU! I’m talking to all you mums out there reading my blog right now in search for the best advent calendar for your children – you deserve one too. This Baylis and Harding one is perfect for mums that deserve some pamper time with some gorgeous products. Inside it is full of bath and shower creme, bath bubbles, hand cream, body lotion, foot lotion, body wash, foot soak crystals and lots more, each infused with gentle blends of jojoba, rich vanilla and sweet almond oil.
10) Baylis & Harding: Signature For Him Advent Calendar
Oh go on then, let’s throw an advent calendar suggestion “for dad” into the mix because I suppose he deserves a treat too….. haha! This Baylis and Harding one includes a variety of toiletries that are not just suitable for use at home, but also a great size for dads who work away or have to travel a lot. Contents include aftershave balm, shower gel, face wash, hair and body wash, foot lotion, muscle soak, shampoo, conditioner and more! The items come in 2 fragrances: citrus, lime & mint and black pepper & ginseng!
I hope this article has helped to give you some inspiration for buying your advent calendars this year. Please do let me know in the comments which one you think is your favourite!
A Tale As Old As Time, but somehow never gets old!
Last night I visited Bristol Hippodrome with Otis (5) to see Beauty And The Beast The Musical for their press night. I will admit this was my 4th time seeing the show, yet it still managed to blow me away, made me gasp at the magical affects and triggered emotions in me throughout. If you’ve never seen it, I recommend booking a ticket at Bristol Hippodrome before it finishes on 12th Nov. If you’ve already seen it, I recommend seeing it again!
Bristol Hippodrome: view from Row F, seats 20 & 21
After the prologue in which the back-story to the Beast’s curse is told, the show immediately starts full of energy as we are transported to a provincial village complete with an ensemble full of character, giving a perfect insight into the day-to-day lives of the villagers through beautifully choreographed song and dance.
I’m sure most of you will already know the storyline of Beauty And The Beast and how it is a story told through a rollercoaster of happy and light-hearted humour as well as dark and mysterious scenes. The Musical echoes the original family-favourite Disney movie, but with additional songs and even extra interactions between characters, such as between Belle and her father.
Throughout the show Lumiere (Alyn Hawke) and Cogsworth (Nigel Richards) bounced off each other’s humour in a way that had the whole audience smiling as we watched how the unlikely friends bonded so well. This humour teamed with the hopeless clumsiness of Le Fou (Louis Stockil) made for a serious story shown through a light-hearted manner, making it perfect for children too.
In such a musical, it is so difficult to pull out favourite scenes as they all play into each other perfectly, but there are definitely standout moments that had the audience gasping, emotional and erupting in applause.
Credit: Johan Persson
The Tavern scene was perfectly executed as Gaston (Tom Senior), Le Fou (Louis Stockil) and the Ensemble brought to life the aesthetic of a small, French tavern. As they performed “Gaston”, the audience were treated to brilliant choreography featuring metal tankards being clashed in beat with the song, all over the stage. There were even a few “magic trick” style stage affects that made it look like real arrows were being fired and guns were being shot on stage.
Credit: Johan Persson
We were then treated to the “Be Our Guest” scene which (if you’ve ever seen the film) had a lot of high expectations to meet, but managed to exceed them in every way. Tap-dancing, synchronised floor dancing, epically strong vocals, humour, transforming costumes, illusion-style staging and captivating lighting – you name it, this scene had it! And then it ended with cannons of streamers being fired into the audience which, as you can imagine, had everyone cheering in glee (Otis in particular couldn’t contain his excitements as the streamers fell all around us)!
It wasn’t just the busy scenes with a large cast on stage that impacted the audience though. The Beast’s (Shaq Taylor) performance of “If I Can’t Love Her” was so full of emotion that it truly felt like the Beast was singing from the heart there and then instead of remembering a well-rehearsed lyric sheet. Even as one person on stage, the scene was powerful and Shaq had the whole audience listening intently to every word.
This power is then echoed in Belle’s (Courtney Stapleton) lone performance of “A Change In Me”. Courtney absolutely blew the roof off the theatre and at the end (rightly so) the audience erupted in applause after being taken aback by such a strong vocal performance, delivered through deep emotion.
It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen the film and this show, the ending always gets the better of me. I’m not sure how many dry eyes there were as all the castle characters transformed back to their human selves, but mine certainly wasn’t one of them as Mrs Potts (Sam Bailey) was reunited with her son chip (Zayne Norris) who came running into her arms on stage. Beauty And The Beast The Musical has a truly magical way of taking you into the lives of its characters and experiencing this journey of love, loss, humour and desperation with them. It’s a story of falling in love that we can all relate to with a meaningful moral that we can all learn from. A 10/10 must-see show for the whole family!
Beauty And The Beast The Musical is on at Bristol Hippodrome until 12th November withh matinee performances on various week and weekend days until then. Tickets are available from £20 per person and there is a special performance for a visually impaired audience on Wednesday 19th October.
Back in January I made a New Year’s Resolution to “make more sustainable choices” and throughout the year there have been many simple ways that I have managed to stick to this commitment. I am keen to share these easy changes with you so that you can consider making these more eco-friendly choices too.
Here are 5 easy ways you can live more sustainably:
Opt for plastic free alternatives
Buy vintage furniture instead of new
Choose slow fashion brands instead of fast fashion
Rehome, fix or upcycle old clothes
Switch to reusable products; face wipes, wet wipes, period pants
1) Opt for plastic free alternatives
Fortunately, the knowledge of the impact of plastic waste on our planet has become more widespread over recent years and many people are looking for alternative options and ditching the single use plastic. I have recently learned that another place we can all make a more eco friendly choice is with our oral hygiene products. DenTek for example has a new eco range of interdental brushes that are made from Birch Wood. This is a sustainable material that creates less waste and uses less energy in the manufacturing process – it’s even more eco friendly than the most common alternative material bamboo! Birch trees are climate-positive as they work to reduce additional carbon dioxide from the atmosphere so DenTek have also made a commitment to plant more new trees than they use. As well as this, DenTek’s Eco Cross Flosser, Triple Clean and Triple Clean floss pick products are manufactured from a bio-resin made from sugar cane. Making the switch to use this renewable material compared to plastic creation reduces carbon emissions by up to 80% – crazy! To care for your teeth and the planet at the same time, buy DenTek products from Boots, Amazon, Lloyds Pharmacy, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Ocado, Superdrug, Weldricks Pharmacy and through the DenTek website.
DenTek birch wood interdental brushes
2) Buy vintage furniture instead of new
As well as being more sustainable for obvious reasons, buying secondhand furniture is more fun and a great way to give your home a more unique style. I personally love to think of the history and stories behind vintage and preloved furniture. When shopping for your vintage furniture, look locally such as in dedicated furniture charity shops or local auction houses in order to keep mileage down too.
Vintage Peter Rabbit furniture in a local charity shop
3) Choose slow fashion brands instead of fast fashion
Now’s the time to ditch fast fashion brands that produce cheap and poor quality clothing that will only last for one season. Instead invest in slow fashion brands such as Frugi and Lindex where clothing is designed to not follow trends and instead they are stylish for many years, but will also last for longer – this is especially important for children’s clothing. Kids can grow so fast (too fast if you ask their parents!), so choosing clever clothing that grows with them is much more sustainable. Look out for adjustable waistbands, roll-up and down cuffs, adjustable straps, 2 sets of poppers or buttons etc. and always opt for GOTS certified organic cotton instead of alternative materials.
Lindex dungarees with roll-up ankles, adjustable straps
4) Rehome, fix or upcycle old clothes
Did you know…. An estimated €140 million worth of clothing ends up in landfills each year with less than 1% being recycled into new products. That means that 99% of all textile production goes to waste! These startling facts mean that it’s more important than ever to do our bit to extend the life of our clothing wether that is by re-homing them, upcycling them in to something else or mending them when they are broken. I personally love using repair patches to mend clothing, especially that of my children, as they are quick and easy to use and cute too. Frugi’s new repair patches are cleverly made from post-consumer recycled plastic bottles and they have a cotton backing, meaning that you can remove them and re-use them again and again as children outgrow their mended clothes.
Frugi repair patches
5) Switch to reusable products; face wipes, wet wipes, period pants etc
Making small switches to reusable products can be an easy habit to get in to. There are now many sustainable brands offering products such as reusable face wipes and wet wipes. Some fashion brands have also introduced new lines of period pants. Lindex is one of these – their new “Female Engineering” range includes a variety of period pants in different styles, sizes and colours and promises you up to 10 hours leakproof absorbency. Replacing traditional period protection with these reusable pants is not only more sustainable, but also more comfortable and better for your body too.
You may have noticed that recently bees feature a lot in jewellery. My favourite collection that I have seen is the one at www.latelita.com. Their range includes gold, silver and rose gold products in a variety of stud earring, pearls, drop earrings, necklaces, bracelets…. so many beautiful bees!
However as well as being a beautiful feature in jewellery, the bee is symbolic and has many representations when worn. Did you know this? Here are some details of the symbolism behind bee jewellery below:
Loyalty – Bees are extremely loyal creatures who will even sacrifice their lives for their Queen and hive. This selflessness and protective nature of the bee is what makes them symbolic of being loyal. For this reason bee jewellery is a meaningful gift of loyalty for a partner.
Determination – Bees are persistent creatures that work hard and never give up on their mission, no matter how many times they are shooed away. It is this characteristic of persistence, tenacity and determination that makes bee jewellery a lovely gift to a colleague who has been working hard, or a gift for a graduate who has completed a degree.
Peace and Harmony – Bees are team players and work in harmony in their swarms to reach their goals. They don’t compete against each other with jealousy, but rather work together peacefully. For this reason bee jewellery is often representative of this peace and often fondly given as a gift of friendship.
Ambition – According to all known laws of aviation, the bee does something impossible every day. It’s little wings should be too small to get it’s large body off the ground….. but it does it anyway! This notion of “doing the impossible” is what inspires a love for bees amongst many people and why they can represent ambition.
As above, jewellery featuring bees is not only a beautiful gift, but it’s a symbolic and meaningful gesture too.
So, if you are a jewellery lover, a bee lover and also love what they symbolise, I thoroughly recommend heading over to www.latelita.com to check out their collection! Their products come beautifully gift wrapped too so would make a special present for a loved one to receive in the post. But my advice is treat yourself! You absolutely deserve it after the last few months and it will serve as a lovely reminder of your strength during lockdown and moving forward from this chapter in your life!
It’s been no secret that I’m starting to struggle with this lockdown situation now. Most days I have both boys at home by myself and I’m finding it exhausting, so much more so than if we had the freedom for days out. Then @oylelondon got in touch and have helped make me feel more human again!
Have you heard of aromatherapy jewellery before? I certainly hadn’t and I have to admit that the @oylelondon jewellery is an absolute game changer! Aromatherapy can improve mental, physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. I really believe in the powers of essential oils and the fantastic thing about Oyle London is that they design jewellery that is constructed specifically to diffuse a chosen essential oil aroma throughout the day – in style too because their clever jewellery is also beautiful.
I chose the “mood” essential oil blend because of its promise to “get you energised!” It is a refreshing blend of Lemon, Scotch Pine, Rosemary & Lime. It is an energising mix of citrus and uplifting pure essential oils which is perfect for the afternoon slump feeling and helping to make me feel refreshed. And it really does work! I don’t feel so exhausted in the evenings and feel like I’m able to cope better during these weird times. The fragrance is so lovely and really does uplift my emotions throughout the day as it’s released from my gorgeous necklace.
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Oyle London jewellery is so easy to use. All you need to do is:
1) Open the locket.
2) Place 1-2 drops of your chosen oil onto the bead.
3) Put the bead in the locket, closing firmly.
And that’s it! The oils will diffuse through the vents of the locket throughout the day.
Oyle London have a fab range of essential oils and blends to choose from for different purposes.
Dusk essential oil blend: This relaxing, calming night blend has soothing properties of Lavandin, Valerian Root and Chamomile Roman. It is advised to use this one an hour before bed for a restful night’s sleep.
Rosa essential oil blend: Rosa is a romantic blend that combines the sweet aroma of sweet oranges, with the qualities of ylang ylang and Patchouli. The blend is finished of nicely by the sweet floral scent of fresh palma rosa.
Hush essential oil blend: This blend combines the uplifting properties of Bergamot, with the soothing woody aroma of Rosewood, grounding properties of Vetiver and comforting fragrance of Lavender to help you relax and unwind.
Rise essential oil blend: This blend is a mix of uplifting properties of Orange & Lemon oils, Mandarin, Pine and reviving properties of Spearmint get you set for a busy day.
The aromatherapy jewellery is available in lots of different styles and colours and they include bracelets too!
I would 100% recommend Oyle London as I really think everyone deserves to experience the benefits of this very clever piece of jewellery.
Are you even experiencing lockdown if you haven’t done some DIY??
We recently took advantage of the extra time at home to redecorate the dining room. We used this gorgeous rainbow mural kindly gifted to us by @photowall_sweden. They have thousands of incredible designs to choose from, in fact I spent a whole weekend trying to decide. I eventually went with this one because I just couldn’t get it out of my head, I’m so pleased with my choice! I’m just rainbow obsessed!
When you are ready to put your mural up, you unroll the paper and cut the different sections off at the marked lines. This means you are then left with all the sheets you need for the space you measured and they’re even numbered in order, so even as a first-timer you can’t go wrong!
We also used their wallpaper kit. It’s a bargain at £16 and includes every tool you could need to put wallpaper up: smoothing blade, mixing brush, wallpaper brush, Stanley knife, spirit level, seam roller, pencil… all the murals come with free wallpaper paste too!
@photowall_sweden murals are easy to put up, even myself and Andy managed it between us and we have never wallpapered anything. Ever! With this wallpaper you paste directly onto the wall and then stick your sheets up in order – they are numbered too so you can’t go wrong.
I am now so proud of my dining room, I want to show it off to everybody. It’s so much better than how it looked originally.
Before:
After:
Photowall has some incredible statement pieces to choose from and all their designs are also available as a framed print or canvas too if you don’t fancy wallpapering.
You can get a generous discount over at Photowall with the code Littlepeas25
Eddison has been testing out the new Tiny Love Kick & Play Gymini. He has had endless fun on this playmat and it really is a pleasure for me to write this review.
This @tinyloveglobal mat is a parent’s dream for helping to entertain and stimulate their babies whilst assisting with their development too.
The Kick & Play Gymini has so many amazing features such as:
✔️ interchangeable and removable toys
✔️ Interactive and musical hand and feet pads
✔️ teething tools
✔️ sensory aspects
✔️ A mirror to assist with extended tummy time
✔️ a cow bell
✔️ poppers that create a barrier to stop babies from rolling off the mat.
It really is very cleverly designed and if all that isn’t good enough, it’s machine washable too!
Eddison loves to use this mat for tummy time as well as to lay on his back and kick at the musical pad. He enjoys watching the toys dangling above him and interacts with them by cooing. He’s now starting to reach for and grab them which is a development that is fantastic to see. The toys are attached to rings that I can move up and down the arches, this is great for adjusting them according to how he’s changed position. The mat is really padded and generous in size which makes it ideal for rolling on too (Eddison did his first roll on this mat!).
The musical pad is a wonderful feature as it is responsive to the hand and foot pressure when Eddison plays. It lights up too which I think is a great aspect as it’s yet another sense that this mat helps stimulate. The pad has two settings: music or play so if it’s not being used to interact with, it can still be used to play music during the play time anyway. The music is really soothing and not garish like with some baby toys.
I’d absolutely recommend the @tinyloveglobal Kick & Play Gymini to all new parents as it is the mat that has all the tools in one place.
Do you have a little Prince or Princess at home? If you’re anything like me then you love to treat your little ones like the royalties they are in our hearts. As a mother I have fondly called my boys “my little Princes” and I always want to dress and wrap them in the little bit of luxury that they deserve. So, let me tell you a little bit about the beautiful brand G.H.Hurt & Son which specialises in luxury (and affordable!) baby shawls with a rich, royal and British heritage.
G.H.Hurt & Son has been producing shawls since 1912. Inspired by their rich heritage, G.H.Hurt & Son’s lacy knitted shawls are manufactured using a combination of traditional artisan techniques (that have been passed down through generations) and modern design innovation. Each of their shawls travels through a journey at their shawl factory in Chilwell, Nottingham, taking two days to produce and involving eight pairs of technically skilled hands. Today, G.H.Hurt & Son are the last remaining framework knitting factory in England to still produce lacy knitted shawls with traditional hand-finished scalloped edges. It is this beautiful edging that makes their products truly unique.
You can see here Eddison is wrapped in the most beautiful shawl with a dainty teddy design. It also features the alphabet across the top and bottom (as a teacher I adore this part of the design!) He has taken an immediate fondness to the shawl and likes to hold it against his cheek. Due to the cellular design of the shawls I know that he is safe as well as comfy and I love that the shawl works as a lovely lightweight blanket for the summer months. This teddy shawl is available in cream too. It is my vision that this one will become a heritage piece for Eddison’s own family one day and so I think the unisex style is just perfect for such a traditional heirloom.
G.H.Hurt & Son baby shawls are knitted from the finest yarns and they are crafted to last a lifetime so they can be passed down for many generations. Our teddy shawl will hold a special memory to our family in years to come. This makes them a beautiful gift for any new born, as a christening gift or for an expectant mother as a baby shower gift too.
They come beautifully gift wrapped in tissue paper and an embossed gift box which features their equally beautiful logo.
G.H.Hurt & Son are a favourite amongst our much loved royal family too. For the last 72 years they have been designing shawls for the arrival of the royal babies, since the Queen gave birth to Prince Charles in 1948. Most recently baby Archie Harrison was wrapped in a G.H.Hurt & Son shawl on the arrival of his birth. This makes the shawls extra special and I love the thought that my own Prince has something that is equally loved by the royal family too.
I would thoroughly recommend G.H.Hurt & Son as the shawl provider for families. You just can’t beat the quality, history and luxury of these British shawls and they really are on a level of their own.
You can shop the G.H.Hurt & Son baby collection here:
They come beautifully gift wrapped in tissue paper and an embossed gift box which features their equally beautiful logo.
Our Daycation Life 