Book a Theatre Break with Show and Stay and get your hotel stay FREE

Show and Stay, the London theatre break provider, is currently running an incredible Free Hotel Offer for a limited time only.

Book two tickets to one of their selected West End shows and get an overnight stay at one of our 3-star London hotels absolutely FREE.

The offer includes 13 of the West End's blockbuster shows, including family classics like Shrek The Musical and The Wizard of Oz, plus long-running favourites like Chicago and Les Miserables.

Packages start from just £47.50 per person, and if you feel like a bit of extra luxury, you can upgrade your hotel from just £10 per person. Plus, if you're travelling by train, you can save up to 50% on the cost of your rail travel. You can even add a visit to one of on London's top attractions to make the most of your time in the capital. 

So why not take the kids on a fun-packed cultural adventure to the capital that they'll never forget, or treat yourself to an indulgent overnight break with tickets to your favourite play or musical. And if you want to transform your break into something truly special, you can add an extra night from just £45 per person.

Book your exciting theatre break before mid-February to take advantage of this fantastic offer.

This is a sponsored post, supplied by Show and Stay

Giant pouffe from Vertbaudet

We recently received this fabulous giant pink pouffe from Vertbaudet.

This is an inflatable cushion, 145 x 100 cm in size, and one side is coloured (they come in either pink, green or blue) and the other side is grey.  And as my kids pointed out it quite closely resembles an elaborate air bed, so with that in mind my five year old insisted on sleeping on it the other night!

The kids have had great fun with this cushion, and it is great for providing additional seating in the sitting room - it looks good too!

This product is wipe clean, and takes up no room at all when deflated, and costs £49.99.

Shutters for a child’s bedroom

Shutters are often over looked when choosing a window dressing for a children’s bedroom but they have a number of practical benefits that can actually make them ideal.

Shutters can help control the amount of noise and light that you allow into the room. This is particularly useful if you live in a city where traffic noises and car head lamps can interfere with the sleep of many children. Outside of busy cities it is still very useful for parents to be able to control light and sound levels within the bedrooms of a young child as it can help you to regulate your child’s sleeping routine. This is particularly useful in the summer months when you might want your children to go to bed whilst it is still light outside and they can here other children playing. It can also help your children to sleep later during these months ensuring they get the rest they need and you get the time to yourself that you deserve.

Shutters are also a very safe window dressing, whilst many blinds and blackout curtains can be equally as effective when it comes to blocking out sunlight, the chords that dangle from these window treatments can prove a significant strangulation risk for younger children who can become entangled in the mechanisms. Adjusting the slats on shutters can also allow you to let air and light in whilst blocking the window as an entry or exit point helping to give you peace of mind that your child’s bedroom window is not a source of danger.

Children’s tastes change regularly so it’s important that you decorate a child’s bedroom in a style that will not lose its popularity. Most shutters can be easily painted so once you have shutters this is one area of your child’s bedroom décor that can be changed cheaply and easily with their tastes.

Shutters are a fantastic window dressing option worth considering for your child’s bedroom.

This is a guest post (sponsored) written by Shutters Direct

Air Total Home Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner by Vax

I recently received a new vacuum cleaner from the lovely people at Vax - their most powerful compact multi-cyclonic cylinder.

And WOW, what a vacuum cleaner it is!  I cannot believe I have been struggling with my other vacuum cleaner for so long, because this little beauty is incredible! 

I unpacked it on New Year's Day and let it loose on the bedroom carpets.  The carpets now look new - they have never been so clean!  This vacuum cleaner picks up everything - bits that have been stuck to the carpet for years - it is incredibly powerful, and it is so light and easy to use it practically does it itself.  And it gets under chairs and other low objects with great ease.

It comes with a a range of accessories for every cleaning task including a hard floor tool, TurboTool and Turbobrush for removing stubborn pet hairs from carpets, stairs, furniture and car seats. An extra long stretch hose lets you clean right to the top of your stairs, leaving the machine safely at the bottom.


And as it uses multi-cyclonic force, the filters don't get blocked so you always have constant, powerful suction as you clean. Multiple cyclones separate dirt from the air path so it collects in the container, not the filter.

I cannot sing its praises enough - it has revolutionised the whole cleaning experience.  (I never ever thought I would get so excited about a vacuum cleaner)

It retails at £249.99 but Vax currently have it on offer at £179.99!

ELC Great Book Exchange

For me, the best part of the day is snuggling up with my girls and reading them their bedtime stories.

On 4th January 2012, Early Learning Centre launched The Great Book Exchange, a campaign to encourage parents to bring the books their children have outgrown, into local stores for them to redistribute to local children and charities who need them.

In return parents will be able buy new books for their children with a 50% discount voucher so their children will be able to benefit as much from The Great Book Exchange as the local children's causes that will receive the donated books.

The Great Book Exchange is a great way to recycle books for other children to enjoy - all children should have the chance to enjoy books - I think this really is a fantastic campaign.

Four easy steps to the Great Book Exchange:
1. Go to a participating ELC or Mothercare with an ELC shop-in-shop.

2. Bring in up to ten of your children's old books.

3. Receive a 50% discount voucher to spend on books in store.

4. Go home happy with the knowledge that your old books are going to children who need them.


To find out more about The Great Book Exchange please visit http://www.elc.co.uk/

Campaign ends on 31st January 2012

KidCam - keeping tabs on the kids

This is a product I wish I'd had when Betty was born five years ago.  We always had a standard baby monitor, but being the neurotic person that I am I never really had peace of mind - I would have loved to have been able to see what my babies were getting up.

Storage Options very kindly sent this KidCam to me just before Christmas - it comes with two cameras and a split screen monitor which means you can view two parts of the house or garden at once, and is ideal for slightly older children.

My children are now two and five and they share a bedroom which is situated quite a long way from our sitting room.  Often when we leave their bedroom at bedtime, it can get pretty wild in there.  We hear banging, and jumping, and yelling, and both blame each other for keeping the other awake.  With this product I can now keep a very close eye on them and see exactly what is going on - in fact they have taken to performing for the camera!  The cameras have the added bonus of having a night vision feature too.

The cameras are wireless and can be placed anywhere in the house and garden (they can even be used in the car).  It has a 100 metre range, and no interference.

I think that this is a really useful device, particularly if you are neurotic like me and like to know what is going on - it gives you total peace of mind,

The KidCam retails at £159,99 which may sound like quite a lot of money, but for what you get, I think that it is definitely worth it.

Ask Italian

Ask Italian very kindly sent us some vouchers to go and spend in one of their restaurants with a view to writing about our experiences.

So yesterday evening we headed for the Ask in Hereford and were greeted at the door by a waiter called Elliot. Elliot was cheery, attentive and very friendly, and the first thing he did was bring the kids some paper and crayons.

Both girls had a child's set menu (£5.95), which included a starter of veg sticks and garlic bread, followed by a pepperoni pizza, and then chocolate ice-cream. And Tom and I went for the three courses set menu at £16.95 each.

All four of us had three courses and the bill came to under £50. The menu is extensive, and the staff very helpful. Oh, and my five year old said she loved the music that was playing and that it made her feel happy!

“ASK Italian have launched a new menu with Theo Randall, one of the UK’s most celebrated chefs.

ASK Italian is ‘Calling all Italian Lovers’ to come and enjoy a very different restaurant experience. Inspired by Italy’s style, warmth and obsession with great food, it is transforming its 123 restaurants bringing a fresh, bold and authentic dining experience to the high street.

With over one million changes made to date – from the menus to the uniforms, music and Milanese-inspired decor – customers will experience the ‘cuore’ (heart) and ‘spirito’ (soul) of Italian food and culture from teams who are knowledgeable, genuine and passionate about making ASK Italian amazing every time.”