Have You Joined Your Made For Mums Local Neighbourhood ?

As many of you may know, I am  a Community Manager for Made For Mums along with the equally wonderful Mymummyspennies and Mummy Vs Work. There are 25 of us in total dotted throughout the country trying to update our local areas with all of the amazing activities that are taking place, but as you can imagine 25 for the entire country is not very many.

So, to encourage people to help us out and add family friendly places, or write a review about somewhere they have visited, we frequently run giveaways.

At present I have a Snoozihedz to give away, just for submitting a review or family friendly place.

SnooziHedz is the ultimate travel essential for the car, plane, train or even a space ship! The 3 in 1 travel pal. The cute character simply unzips to reveal an inflatable insert for the pillow and a plush fleece blanket, ensuring little ones are comfy and warm from head to toe. The blanket also features a pocket for teddy to take some shut-eye too.
SnooziHedz features the unique Trunki Grip™ on both the pillow and blanket. This enables parents to connect the blanket to the pillow preventing it from sliding off in transit, leaving parents to relax safe in the knowledge their little one is tucked up and toasty!

Once you have added a place or review, just email me at great-yarmouth@madeformums.com or waveney@madeformums.com (I run two areas!)

Closing Date for this giveaway is 10th december 2011.

The area of Westminster is offering a Family Ticket for four to attend Bagpuss in London, all you have to do is email Westminster@madeformums.com and let her know that you have left a review, it really is that simple.
If you are not lucky enough to win the Bagpuss ticket, they are running a special offer for early January.
Shows taking place between Wed 4th January and Sunday 8th January with all tickets costing £7.50 each instead of £13.50 by calling the Box Office on 0207 478 0100 and quoting `Made For Mums.'

More details on the show can be viewed here

http://www.madeformums.com/local/westminster/events/bagpuss/236705.html

So come on lovely mums, give us a helping hand and you may win a lovely prize.

Minnies Bow Toons starts 18th November - Don't Miss It

 Minnie Mouse gets her first very own TV series.

As many of you know Eowyn is a HUGE Disney Fan, and she has shown a real love for Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, that was, until, she saw the advert for Minnie's very own show ...

Starting on Friday 18th November at 10.50am, on Disney Junior, the Sky+ box is already set, as I have a feeling this will be requested time and time again....

Known for her signature polka dot dresses and over-sized hair bows, Minnie Mouse made her first appearance alongside her leading man, Mickey Mouse, in the classic animated short Steamboat Willie, where she played a damsel in distress.  Whilst Minnie and Mickey Mouse are forever inseparable, Minnie’s Bow-Toons gives Minnie the chance to embark on her greatest solo adventure yet.

In the stylish new series of shorts, Minnie demonstrates the fashion flair that has inspired countless imitations, style icons and celebrities. Together with good friend Daisy Duck, Minnie runs Bow-Tique, a specialty shop, which stocks only bows and bow-ties. No matter what the occasion, Minnie has a bow (or bow-tie) for every possible situation. From using a rubber bow to fix some leaky pipes or shredded bows to make pom poms for a cheerleader – she has the answer!

We have had a sneaky peak at an episode and so far Eowyn has watched it 10 times, so I think this is going to be a hit with all the little girls out there.

The newly branded, learning-focused Disney Junior reflects the emotional and connection, generations of consumers have to Disney storytelling and Disney characters, both classic and contemporary.

Disney Junior's programming invites mum and dad to join their child in the Disney experience of magical, musical and heartfelt stories and characters, while incorporating specific learning and development themes designed for kids aged 2-7. Disney Junior's animated and live action series blend Disney's unparalleled storytelling and characters kids love deeply with learning, including math, language skills, healthy eating and lifestyles, and social skills.

This channel is a firm favourite with Eowyn, Tyrus seems to also like it, but I think that has more to do with the bright colours and nice music.

It has been known that all six children will sit and watch Mickey Mouse together, proving that Disney really is suitable for lots of different ages.

Today I took Eowyn into a shop where she saw a poster of Mickey Mouse, she immediately began dancing and singing the theme tune for Mickey Mouse Clubhouse....

Options - Not the Chocolate Drink!

Xene as Luna Lovegood- Not her usual School attire!

Xene is approaching that age where she has to decide which GCSE options she is going to take, and that is quite a scary thought, she said to me yesterday, but what if I choose the wrong ones!
Which made me think about my own career path and would I have chosen differently if I could turn back the clock....
I definitely remember exams playing a big part in my choices-I was never very good under pressure, so anything that involved continuous assessment, or coursework (as we called it then!) was a big bonus.
Hence I chose Business and Information Studies, Integrated Humanities and Information Technology-all with no final exam.
I had a love for languages, but favoured German, which also meant two trips to Germany as part of the course!
The mandatory English, Maths and Science, which left one choice, so I went for Childcare!

And now, twenty years later, I think I made the right choices....

So how can I ensure that Xene does the same and decides correctly ?

At present she is unsure which career profession she would like to undertake, therefore, she will need to have a broad subject range, but at the same time I would rather she enjoyed her lessons and didn't look at her timetable and say YUCK!!

And so the search for the perfect balance of career, happiness and the desire to go to school begins...
Follow us on this journey and any suggestions or tips from mums who have already done it would be welcome, as this is a first for me, although by the time Tyrus is chossing I shall be an expert...I hope x

Disney Princess Magic Wand Game

Eowyn is slightly obsessive on anything Disney, from Mickey Mouse to the Princesses, so when we were given the opportunity to review The Magic Wand Game, she was VERY excited.

Although the game is from aged 3+, Eowyn is only one month from hitting the magic game playing age, plus she has two big sisters and two big brothers to help her out!

The game was very easy to set up, although an adult will have to push the studs into the moving magic pathways, as they were quite tough to assemble.

However the castle and gate were easy to fit together, just slotting the pieces into place.

The big bonus of this game is that it does not require any dice hooray....

nstead you have a very girlie pink magic wand that guides you around the board.

To activate the wand you wave it in the air and it says numerous different instructions such as  "Beautiful Princess I Grant you to move three spaces", each wave of the wand activates a new instruction.

To play the game you have the choice of four Disney Pricesses - Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Belle.

Each player takes it in turns to wave the magic wand, and follow the instructions, moving them around the board, with the aim of reaching the gate to the Castle.

This game was easy to play and the girls enjoyed playing it, properly, and also finding other `new' games to continue their enjoyment.

When Eowyn's princess was near to the gate, she had placed her too close, which resulted in the Princess being catapulted across the table when the wand opened the gate....

This provided much amusement and a new game was created....

The only slight problem with the game, was the same voice being heard throughout the game, every time the wand was waved, perhaps, different commands, could be said by different voices....

This would be a very good Christmas present for any little Disney Princess Fan, and is available from Argos, Toys R Us, Tesco, Smyths, Entertainer and Mothercare at 14.99 RRP

For more information on the game and other great games for young children visit Jumbo Games

John Crane have Sevi Hooray

For those of you that are familiar with John Crane Toys, you will know how absolutely adorable their toys are, well, they have just got better!

With the introduction of Sevi...

Sevi spans almost two centuries in  its devotion to wood, beginning in the 1920s Sevi excited the local market with small hand made masterpieces.

It continued to grow and in 1998 was acquired by the Trudi Company, remaining faithful to its founding principles and values; Sevi continues in hand crafted wood, caring for detail and dynamic creativity.

Finally, John Crane was chosen to distribute to retailers in the UK and a strong wooden partnership has been born.

My children have all adored wooden toys from a very early age, and I am sure they will continue to.

These bright colourful toys are perfect for little ones, and will continue to delight for many years to come.

They also have a fantastic range of Christmas Toys and Decorations, that would make any household festive.

For more information you can visit the John Crane website or like their facebook page.

The wonderful people at Blog Match enabled us to spread the word about this wonderful partnership.