Sportsdirect.com £5 Christmas Challenge

I decided to put myself forward to take part in the Sports Direct #sdfiverchallenge Christmas Challenge.  Which is basically finding Christmas presents for under £5. I do struggle to find little stocking fillers that are good quality but also a little unusual too.  I like to shop online and it’s difficult to get ideas.

On Sports Direct’s website you can visit this page: https://www.sportsdirect.com/christmas and then select a price range.  You can also select who you are buying for – male, female, child etc.  I just filtered for under £5 and included all types – I was a bit disappointed to start with as it brought back lots of football gifts and nobody in our family likes football (not uncles, in laws, hubby – nobody!)  However, once I scrolled past these there was a lot more choice, something for everyone from toolkits to chocolates to wrapping paper and even jumper debobblers!  

I was surprised at some of the children’s toys, quite a lot of Disney there – I bought the following:

Disney Up games are £4.99 and you can buy Princess, Cars or Frozen – I bought a Cars one and a Princess one for relatives.  These are great little games and are decent quality for the money, they are a great price and I couldn’t find cheaper elsewhere – Sports Direct claim they are usually £9.99 however I found them on Amazon for £6.89 as part of Prime.

The Spirit Of Christmas 13in1 Hammer Tool was £4.99 and an ideal stocking filler for hubby who is always looking for tools!  This hammer is a real hammer and includes pliers, wire cutter, knives, screwdrivers, a saw, a bottle opener, a wire bender, a file, and a nail puller.  Quality seems brilliant, knives are sharp and it is a nice heavy item.  He will probably keep it in his car as sometimes needs tools with his job but doesn’t want to carry a toolkit round with him. 

My daughter is only a metre tall and she is on her knees - very small marble run!

I also bought Marble Mountain Game for my daughter, I can remember having one of these as a child and having great fun making different tracks and racing the marbles, the price was £4, claiming it was usually £8.  I have to say I was extremely disappointed with this product, considering it should have normally been £8 the quality is absolutely shocking – the plastic is really brittle.  The whole thing is tiny and the connectors don’t fit together well – the slightest knock and it falls to pieces, my daughter dropped a marble and knocked it over, one of the connectors chipped on the edge and it was not a hard knock at all.  This is not worth the money so I would avoid buying it.

Loop the loop doesn't fit flush and keeps falling apart

I do think Sports Direct are expensive when it comes to delivery as it is £4.99 flat rate and it wasn't free over a certain amount, even if you have it delivered to store it costs £4.99 although you do then get a £5 voucher to spend in store. So you do have to take this into account as it may not be worth ordering if you only have one or two items, however if you are buying several items it isn't so bad.  In future I will probably also stick to the branded gifts like the Disney games, the unbranded marble run was shocking quality and I am glad it wasn't a gift for a relative as it really wasn't worth the £4.

So all in all it is a great place to do some Christmas shopping at good prices and to get some gifts that you perhaps don't see every day.

This post is an entry for BritMums #sdfiverchallenge Christmas Challenge, sponsored by Sportsdirect.com. https://www.sportsdirect.com

VicksTricks Challenge

In Britmum's #VicksTricks Challenge, they want to know what we do with our children to make them feel better when they are unwell, as well as how our parents soothed and entertained us during cold and flu season when we were young.  

Whenever I hear the word Vicks it conjours up memories of Vaporub and the smell, it brings my senses to life and I can remember feeling soothed and able to breathe again.  We have done fairly well this year so far and have (touch wood) avoided all the colds and coughs going round!  However our #VicksTricks are as follows:

• Lots of Vicks Vaporub on the chest.
• Warm, comforting tomato soup
• A cosy blanket on the settee, cuddled up together watching a Disney film.
• Warm glass of milk with my daughter's favourite treat - marshmallows!  She doesn't like hot chocolate so just plain milk! 
• Early night with a nice story and cuddles in bed.

She doesn't like medicine, it makes her heave, she cannot stand the sweet sickly taste so Calpol/Nurofen is never an option in our house.  Therefore we have to come up with non-medicinal ways to take her mind off her cold.  She loves magic and Vicks have come up with a series of #VicksTricks magic videos, here is our favourite one:
 

The Facts
Vicks consumer research shows the following most common at home remedies:

• 52% of parents said that rest was the most important thing for making children feel better

• 40% relied on medicine

• 36% believed in the power of TLC

And when it comes to keeping children entertained: 

• 75% of British parents put on the TV or a DVD

• 27% read to their children

• 8% tell jokes 2% that do magic tricks
• 2% that do magic tricks

Family Psychologist Corinne Sweet highlights that “one of the most powerful antidotes to sickness developing further, is parental care and concern.”  Corinne advises that “listening to a story or watching a film is a good idea, as it is soothing and promotes laughter (an immune booster). But don’t let them play video games, watch scary films or spend hours on screens. This will keep their minds over-stimulated, when their immune systems need gentler stimulation and rest.”

 
This is my entry for the #VicksTricks challenge in association with Vicks and BritMums. As a thank you for taking part we were sent a story book, finger puppets and Vicks First Defence to try.

A-Z of Me!

I saw the ‘A-Z of Me’ on http://mrsmagovern.com/ and thought what a good idea. Some of the of the letters were tough!

Agility – Dog agility, something I have missed when I suffered SPD during pregnancy, the dogs getting older.  So Sweep it is down to you!!

Bridgnorth – Where Macy was born, a lovely little MLU, the staff treat you as an individual and we just had a lovely experience there, very well looked after.

Cape Verde – Amazing holiday, guaranteed sunshine heat and no rain with a bonus of no time difference.  Amazing beaches, cocktails, desperate to go back!

Dolphins – I will never get bored of watching the dolphins play in the wake of the boat.  Previous post when we saw them a couple of years ago.

Epic – One of my favourite words, I want everything in my life to be epic and if it isn't I want to make it so. 

Farm – Farming is in the family on my mum’s side, Macy loves to visit the animals and so do I.  When she is older it will be wonderful to teach her where our food comes from and how important farming is.

Goats – I love goats, have always fancied having some pygmy goats, naughty aninals are the best!

Horses – I love riding, there is no better way to relax and clear the cobwebs away.  I love being around horses and the smell of them, wonderful – only a horsey person could understand it.

Important - Important people in my life including my mum and my husband both of which are my best friends.

Joules – I do love Joules clothing!

Karting - I love karting but only on the big tracks like Rednal, Oswestry, I hate the little indoor tracks.  I am awful at karting which surprises people as am good on track in a car but I never did any karting as a child and haven't done a lot as an adult, I seem to be able to nail a car round a track and in a kart I am a big girl!!

Lamborghini – One day…..we can all dream…..

Menagerie - Frequently told we have a menagerie of animals but really 3 dogs, 2 cats and the occasional horse on part loan isn't a lot.  I do love my animals but have never really understood the point of caged animals - little furries, rabbits etc.  If we had land I would have goats, horses, alpacas - now that would be a menagerie!

Nemo - I have watched this film for the millionth time today thanks to Macy's new obsession!

Offspring – My crazy child that is Macy!

Photography – Another hobby, everywhere we go I want to be able to take decent photographs.  These hold your memories, capture a moment in time and you will always look back at them so I want to capture them in the best way possible.

Quit - Something I do too easily a lot of the time, I need to practice that try, try again ethos.

Roses – The only flower I ever plant in my garden, they last forever, flower several times a year and are hardy so withstand my not very green fingers!  There are so many different colours and varieties.

St Lucia – This is where we got married at Calabash Cove, it was perfect in every way.

Track – A track day in a fast car is a great way to spend a day :)

Unimaginative - I wish I had more imagination, I gave up canine freestyle as I just didn't have the imagination for props and routines etc

Vegas – We got engaged in Vegas on horseback on the ranch – how could I not mention that!

Wales – Holds many a happy memory from childhood holidays.

Xscape - Milton Keynes houses airkix and an indoor ski slope - the sort with real snow.  We have enjoyed doing a bit of skiing, boarding and skydiving there :)

Yummy - I love yummy food, I eat most things.  I love my Michelin star dining, but I also love a Maccies as well!

Zzzzzzz – without 9 hours sleep I can’t function, luckily Macy has always been a good sleeper!

 

42 Days of Summer

This post is an entry for 42 Days of Summer Linky Challenge sponsored by McVitie’s BN. Learn more at http://bit.ly/1mRpMCL

The Challenge was via Britmums and is sponsored by McVitie’s BN Biscuits.  We were sent a packet of chocolate and a packed of Raspberry BN Biscuits – bit disappointed there weren’t any vanilla ones on offer!  We love the chocolate biscuits, the biscuit itself melts in your mouth and the chocolate filling is lovely and creamy.  There are a lot of copycat biscuits out there but none are as good as BN themselves.  The raspberry ones were a bit of a different matter, not even my little girl liked them.  We found the raspberry a bit chewy and VERY sweet so we are sticking to chocolate in future!

Our 42 days of summer fun generally runs a bit like this:

Visit the local outdoor paddling pool or the beach if you’re close to the sea!

Macy loves to paddle so a trip to the local paddling pool is a great way to cool down on a hot summer’s day, again it doesn’t cost anything. Take a picnic and make a day of it, plenty of towels (though if it’s hot enough you won’t need them!). A few swim nappies and UV suit make life so much easier! We bought a UV all in one from Primark, Macy lived in it in Spain as it didn’t make her hot and after it got wet it dried really quickly and didn’t get heavy, it was under £10 and came with a hat too. A necessity in the summer wardrobe!

 

Visit the playground

We have just had a new playground in the village so when we have a spare hour we like nothing better than to walk down and Macy can run riot, she has a great time and it doesn’t cost a penny.

Visit the local farm

Again supporting local businesses and Macy loves the animals so a day at the farm is definitely on the summer things to do list!  We tend to normally have a snack for lunch there.  Be prepared with wet wipes as Macy normally gets filthy!  Pack the sun cream and some wellies just in case.

 

Go for a walk
One of Macy's favourite thing is going out in her trike!

BBQ

We like to support local business as we live in a small village, so we get our BBQ food from our local butcher.  His burgers are 50p each and are amazing quality and don’t shrivel to nothing like supermarket bought burgers.  His sausages are about 70p each and are the length of two supermarket sausages and he does a lovely tomato and pepper sausage.  It means Macy can run amock in the garden!