Giveaways & Reviews – Lately we’re loving prepping for Christmas

This has been a busy month and of course we’ve been thinking potential Christmas presents amongst other things. We’ve got two giveaways, in orange below – all you need to do to enter is leave a comment expressing your preference, or saying you’d like to enter both, or email me, or subscribe to my blog to enter. (Ts&Cs below) If you do all of the above it won’t get you any additional entries I’m afraid – my tiny brain simply cannot cope with all of that malarky.

*GIVEAWAY* Book – Fun & Games for the 21st Century Family

This is the perfect gift for those hard-to-by-for family members.  Steve Caplin and Simon Rose have created a really fun book with tons of ideas for family games the 21st Century Way.  There’s something for everyone in this excellent book and you can choose from such gems as Skyping Scaramouche! Pass the Parsnip and my personal favourite Experimental travel, because I think Victoria would love it, and because it includes a variation named Dogging the Dog.  Of course I’m not going to tell you how to play any of these, you’ll have to spend your £9.99 at a bookstore of your choice or you could enter to win a copy here – entry details above.

*GIVEAWAY* – Sugababes Perfume

The Sugababes have launched a series of perfumes called Tease, Tempt and Touch and we’ve got one of each to give away.  I trialled the Tease, available from The Perfume shop, Superdug, Debenhams and Lloyds pharmacies for £19.99 and is a heady concoction of “zesty lemonade and juicy pear with luscious jasmine seductive magnolia” not necessarily an every day fragrance it’s perfect for the office Christmas party – if only I had one to go to. If you’d like a chance to win just enter as described above, and if you’d be so kind as to join their facebook group, they’d be everso grateful.

*REVIEW* – The much exulted release of Doctor Who – Evacuation Earth on Nintendo DS and Wii has been met with great excitement by gaming Whovians.  Obviously it’s just not been the same since DT left but I’ve quite taken to Matt Smith.  I’m not an aficionado of either platform but I’d say the fact I haven’t seen much of my 8yo son for the last month is testament enough to the fact that they’ve been extremely popular – especially the DS version.  He did attempt to play the Wii with his younger sisters but it’s probably a bit too complex for a 5yo. Both retail at £35 but can be found cheaper online if you’re prepared to do some research.

*REVIEW* Friends of ours have long provided the logistics support for Rowse Honey so being offered some to review gave me visions of an arctic lorry backing up the drive to drop some off. As it was it came very nicely packaged in a box.  Normal honey, manuka honey and lemon manuka honey.  I’m a bit faddy with it to be honest so I passed the normal and the manuka onto a very happy mother-in-law who takes it daily on the advice of a friend who knows about these things.  I’ve been trying to take a spoonful of the lemon manuka every morning to ward off colds and flu bugs and it’s possibly working.  Either way it tastes pretty good, so maybe I’m a latter day convert?

*REVIEW* Personally I think that anyone who wants to send me books is pretty wonderful, so when someone sends me a book and three huge bars of Galaxy chocolate they are automatically catapulted into the best friend chair.  The book was The Beach House by Jane Green. Best categorised as unashamed chick lit, it drew me in, held my attention and kept me complete unaware of the fact that I’d eaten quite as much chocolate as I had.

*REVIEW* Peppa Pig is a bit of an icon in our house so I snapped up the Happy Mrs Chicken iPhone app.  I’m never sure about apps for children but this is just great – there are 4  games aimed at differing levels of ability and the only issue really is who’s going to get the next go.  The 4 and 5yos in particular loved this app, and have literally played it to death – they ‘win’ stickers for doing well in the games then get to create a picture at the end.  This app has transformed many a fraught car journey of late. If you’re travelling around the country this Christmas I’d say this would be £1.79 well spent. Available from itunes.

*REVIEW* Being offered an in car hands free device by Jabra was really exciting.  I generally have to cope with my headphones, which often requires juggling of phone and cables desperately hoping that I’ll get it all plugged in before the call goes to voicemail.  As it was, the Cruiser2 appeared and disappeared into the OH’s car immediately where I’m told it’s doing a fantastic job.  It’s really easy to set up and use, charges at home and in the car very quickly and, most importantly, it doesn’t sound like the user is battling the elements atop the nearest hillock when you call.  Full marks! RRP £99 but I believe you can find it from £63 on many online shopping sites. I’m getting it back btw….

*REVIEW* The other big favourite with the 4yo this month has been the Rainbow Collection, Snowflake CD we were sent. Lots of Christmas songs to really get you in the festive mood. Created by Zero 7 lead singer Sophie Barker and producer KK which those of you who are down with the kids may have heard of – I’m obviously WAY over the target age demographic here, this is the kind of CD that your child will insist on being played on a constant loop.  Luckily it’s even bearable on the eleventybillionth listen which is a pretty good sign.  RRP £9.99, it’s available here for £7.99

*THANKS* This was the month that Appliances Online devised a really successful outreach campaign that perked up lots of my favourite bloggers.  Rosie was the very happy recipient of a new television and just for the very fact of leaving a comment Appliances Online contacted me and offered to send me a little treat just for me. The treat turned out to be a rather gorgeous hamper that I’ll be passing on as it’s Christmas – the 8yo did ask if we could eat the chocolates first though.

*TIPS* And finally, if you’re running out of time to buy /write / send your Christmas cards check out Tailcast – an online platform for amateur and professional creatives to join the personalised print-on-demand product market through submission and commission based sales.

Good luck with the giveaways. Ts&Cs below.

* The giveaway is open to UK residents only (sorry!)
* The winner will be drawn randomly, using names in a bucket, because that’s as hi-tech as I get
* Entry closes at midnight on Wednesday 15th December and the winners will be informed asap
* If winners do not respond to requests for postal addresses within 3 days, a redraw will take place
* There are no refunds, replacements or alternative offerings available
* I think that’s all – Good luck!