Unicorn themed birthday party

Our darling little L is 4! I was planning Unicorn themed birthday celebrations for months, and finally the time has come to put all decorations up and celebrate this big event!

I have teamed up with Personalised parties who provided cute unicorn themed party pack for a party of 8 (£29.99),  Wowtastic online shop have kindly provided Unicorn space hopper (£16.80) and Unicorn hatch grow eggs (£1.45) for party bags and lastly we had mini unicorn pinata (£6.95) and iridescent foiled unicorn bunting (£5.75) from lovely Luck & Luck.

We have invited L's close friends from pre-school to a mini Unicorm themed garden party as I thought that I would feel so much more comfortable being in my own home, be in control of drinks and food and having kids all close by. 

Preparations started few days in advance, I needed something to create almost a photo backdrop for conservatory as it meant to be an escape room in case of a rain. I have spent several hours looking for a cheap alternative and came across plastic table cloth in purple on ebay which was about 99p, to finish the look I was lucky to grab the last Unicorn wall sticker from B&M bargains for £3.99 which was a perfect addition for the my wall decoration (I kept it in the packaging) and it was also used to play famous version of  "pin a horn on a unicorn" game. 

For little kiddos we prepared a separate table with snacks and drinks served in Personalised Parties tableware, we opted for a simple personalisation on plates, food flags and party bags saying "L's party". Party bags were very easy to assemble I just had to follow the number instructions on the bottom side of the bag, so were party hats, masks and food flags as the set comes complete with elastic cocktail sticks.

We had few jokes about parents not being able to share the same set as we only had enough for kids, which is a bit of a downside.

I decided not to go overboard with the party bag contents and kept it small but sweet. I have put couple of Unicorn themed printable colouring pages, Haribo mini bag, Unicorn hatch grow eggs (L had to try her own prior to the party), I have also put the masks from the Personalised Party set into the party bag which was a good idea as party hat were destroyed by kids the moment they got them.

Unicorn hatch grow egg was perhaps more than just a toy for L, she carefully listened to the instructions and tried to look after the egg as if it was real. "Hatching" didnt take long- approx. 24 hours and required a simple jar or a glass filled with water to allow an egg to hatch and for the hatching unicorn to expand. L was checking on the egg every so often and would tell me straight away if she spotted the unicorn or if the egg cracked more. I wasn't sure for how long we should be keeping unicorn in the water so after 2 days of waiting I allowed L to take it out and dry our little unicorn baby. It feels a little jelly and looks a little wrinkly but it's a fantastic idea and a very cheap party bag filler!

Unicorn space hopper took the main centre stage with it's pretty pink main and tail and golden horn. It was very easy to blow up as it comes with a hand pump and took us literally no more than 5 minutes! Unicorn hopper survived bouncing, squashing and many other things adventurous pre-schoolers were happy to do with it which just shows how durable the toy is. It's been almost a week and the unicorn didn't deflate at all! Even though it says that the product is for the age range 3+, I would say that it could even work for a 1 year old toddler too. 

To make the party more interesting I have also planned to play "Pin the horn on a unicorn" and a unicorn version of chase, where guests attached pegs with ribbons to their clothes at the back to represent unicorn's tail. I was planning another game with the cute pinata we have been provided, but due to it's miniature size (17cm high) it remained a table's centrepiece. I was really surprised to learn that kids actually knew what to do with pinata. Maybe until next time when they are a little bit older and I am feeling less stressed about them hitting each other with the stick/basher. 

The last but not least I wanted to mention Iridescent foiled unicorn bunting. Preparation and decoration of our conservatory with iridescent foiled unicorn bunting was lots of fun. As always I didn't look at the packaging and assumed that it would be fully assembled and we would just need to put it up, my fault! Thankfully we had few minutes before the party started to make our own unicorn bunting. The set comes complete with tissue paper, pink woolen thread and unicorn cut outs. 

It was extremely easy to do and didn't require any special skill hence I allowed L to get involved too. So we used purple, baby pink, peach and bright pink tissue paper to roll and create a tassel, once that was done we just needed to thread through iridescent foiled unicorn cut outs followed by a tassel which created a unicorn's tail look, very cute!

Some may say that perhaps I went overboard with filling the space with Unicorn items but I think that helped to break the ice in a way and create a party atmosphere. It just seems that it wouldn't be a proper Unicorn party without all these goodies!

Disclaimer: I was provided products mentioned above for the purpose of this review/feature. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Review: "I Learn" range from Gifts for little hands online shop

Being a mum of a bilingual child can be difficult, there night be a slower speech development, one language can be overlapping the other and many more other obstacles. 

As L is going to school in September I thought that we need to up the game a little bit. Gifts for little hands have a great range called "I learn" covering basics of learning, reading and writing. I have opted for a product suitable for a slightly older kids 5+ but I feel it not only allows you to remember letter but develop the knowledge- I Learn to Read worth £19.99.

The activity set comes in a colourful plastic case with 2 compartments: 1st section has 15 activity cards with holes for each letter and the 2nd section has mini letter blocks.

Each activity card has a different level of complexity starting from copying the word/object by looking at the image and a clue word, spelling and finding missing first, middle or end letters and spelling the word by looking at the image.

All words consist of no more than 5 letters, each letter has it's own colour code which aids kids in finding the right letter quicker and fitting it in the correct compartment. 

The child can try and fit any letter in any of the card's compartments but if it's incorrect letter it won't work as each letter on the card has mini holes which will only match with the "prickly" backing of letter blocks.

Even thought I learn To Read is aimed at 5+ year olds I think it is a perfect activity for L, she recognises letters and will try to match them to the picture, is mesmerised by her own ability to guess a letter, she loves how colourful and entertaining it is and I can see how the activity aid in learning to read, it just seems like a perfect reading/learning tool for L!

I Learn range also offers other educational activities for little ones: I Learn Maths, I Learn to Write, I Learn Numbers, I Learn on my my to Reception, I Learn Syllables, I Learn Letter and I Learn Shapes.

Disclaimer: I was sent the product mentioned above for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Father's Day with Personalised parties

I am always last minute when it comes to buying gifts for Father's Day. This time I had a good excuse as we have been away for 2 weeks. Personalised parties had such a great range of products for the upcoming day starting from Notebooks for "Retro Tech Dads" to Personalised Dad's Bike Chocolate Bar.

Father's Day range includes (personalisation option available): wrapping papers, mugs, chocolate bars and notebooks.

I have opted for 2 products that I thought are a close match to man figures in our family- 

chocolate for a sweet tooth of a techy guy and 

an notebook for thoughts and doodles of a "lone rider"- perfect match!

What have you or your little ones bought for this spacial day?


Disclaimer: I was sent the item mentioned above for the purpose of this feature.

Review: Learning Club- monthly subscription box for pre-school children

I am a big fan of practical and educational toys so when Gifts For Little Hand asked us to review a recently launched The Learning Club- monthly subscription box for pre-school children I knew it would be something to look forward to.

"The Learning Club is a subscription box with a difference – packed full of fun activities and carefully crafted to help children aged 3-5 years to learn and develop".

The subscription box was posted through the letterbox while we were away which seems to be very convenient- you don't have to wait for the courier to arrive or sign for the package. 

At first I have noticed little touches such as The Learning Club characters on the box itself and of course personalisation "To Little L". L loves to check the post everyday and would search for her letter (L) on address labels, just imagine how happy she was not only to spot her big L but to know that this package is actually for her!

The contents of the box were nicely packed in a tissue paper and sealed with the branded label, all looking tasteful and cute! 

So what have we received:

- Learning Club booklet with all information we need to know about each item with detailed instructions

- a little round tray and a mini bag of sand for mark making

- a book to read

- some craft supplies for a certain activity

- progress chart with start stickers

From what I have gathered each Learning Club character represents a certain area of leaning which is covered each month. 

Our first box was dedicated to Lucas Lion and activities focusing around literacy.

We have started with "getting to know" Lucas Lion and used crafty supplies provided to create the character by using wooden spoon, yellow and red paints, paint brush, a pair of googly eyes, glue, mini mixing spatula, permament marker and coloured threads.

Next up was mark making activity which we performed by using Flash Card (provided) set, mini tray and sand. It was perhaps the messiest out of all 3 activities but fun and educational nonetheless. 

As the day was coming to an end L asked daddy to read her the book which was also provided in the subscription box. "Book of the month" was Cinderella, a well-known fairy-tail and one of L's favourite too!

Overall, I am very impressed with the contents of the Learning Club subscription box and the way it was all presented. Educational toys are certainly suitable for L's age and will be used over and over. And this is what entice me in this particular project-practical and educational!

Having said that I felts that perhaps arts and crafts activity was advanced as needed more encouragement and involvement from an adult, but kids are all different and could me more or less developed.

Learning Club subscription box can make a great present, which you can opt to purchase for a duration of 4, 7 or 12 months with price starting from £60; or you you can opt for a monthly (£15 per month) or annual (£144) subscription.

Learning Club also have a 50% discount code at the moment: LC50 so hurry it's an incredibly good deal! 

Disclaimer: We were provided with the Learning Club subscription box for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.