Competitions

With many of the items I am sent for review, I am able to offer a duplicate item as a prize. Please check here for regular competitions.

A little while ago I was sent one of the loveliest children's CDs that I've come across.

The Land of Sometimes is a really clever introduction to a variety of musical genres, accompanied by the most mystical and magical, imaginative storytelling, reminiscent of Enid Blyton.

"Over the ocean, far away, there is a magical place called 'The Land Of Sometimes' where four seasons pass within one day, and everyone who lives there has a song…"

The CD follows the twins Elise and Alfie as they journey away to The Land Of Sometimes and meet a whole host of characters who inhabit the magical world. Each character has a different song to sing, a different genre of music from reggae to jazz via a whole lot more. Accompanying the story on the CD is the most beautifully illustrated hard-case and booklet showing a variety of the characters in 'situ' to aid the understanding of the story.

The Land Of Sometimes is the perfect bedtime story CD, with the soothing narrator's voice and the gentle melodies lulling your child into wonderous dreams and their own bedtime wonderland.

For more information and to purchase the CD at the bargain price of £9.99 visit the website here.

Competition

I'm very pleased to be able to offer a copy of The Land Of Sometimes to one lucky reader. Simply fill in the Rafflecopter form below. All entry mechanisms need to be complete for your entry to be valid.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I was sent a copy of this CD for the purpose of this review. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

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I wrote recently about the National Trust's list of Fifty Things To Do Before You're 11¾, adapting it, as The Boy's birthday is next month, to Five Things To Do Before You're Three!

On the weekend we attempted to tick off number 1: 'Fly a kite'.

And failed.

It was actually too windy. I know, can you believe that's even possible? It's like the wrong type of rain is causing a drought in parts of Britain at the moment.

Anyway, it was too windy because it kept gusting and eventually the kite broke, I stomped off and nearly fell in a river. Ok, it was a stream. Ok, it was a trickling tributary. Nonetheless, it didn't go well and we need to buy a new kite as a result. However, one of the things that did happen while we were trying to find the perfect place to not-fly this daft kite was that The Boy fell over and rolled down the hill. And he laughed. He didn't roll very far and unfortunately wouldn't try it again because he was distracted by the kite, but he inadvertently crossed off another things from the NT list.

This rolling is also part of Bear Gryll's Top Ten Things To Do Before You're Ten handbook created in conjuction with Persil's Small & Mighty. He seems to have the technique perfected a little more than The Boy though.

With other activities like building a den, being a hide and seek champion and counting the stars, it's a great and achievable list of activities for children to attempt, encouraging them out into the great outdoors and to get mucky!

To celebrate, TheBoyandMe is offering one reader the chance to win a copy of the handbook and six month’s worth of Persil Small & Mighty. It's designed to take on the toughest of stains, like mud and grass, so kids can take on the toughest of outdoor adventures- just like Bear Grylls!

In order to be in with a chance of winning this, please fill in the rafflecopter form below. All  entry mechanisms must be completed in order for your entry to be valid!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Aren't they pretty?

These rainboots from Fulton are part of their new Spring/Summer range and are called 'Union Garden'. They feature moulded PVC waterproof sole and upper for durability, lightweight construction for comfort, supergrip sole, comfort inner sole and they are supplied in their own shoulder bag.

They were sent to me for review purposes, but the wrong size was sent in error, my size was no longer available for review and I'm left with a beautiful pair of size 5 wellies that I can't wedge my size 8s into. (Oh and no wellies to go splashing about in during April showers, hmmm)

So, who wants to win them?

Fill in the Rafflecopter form below then:

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There are two ways to my son's heart: making things and reading books. And chocolate. Ok, so make that three things and we'll ignore ice-cream for now.

If someone was to send my son a big box of books (and I mean big) then I would undoubtedly be indebted to that person forever, and so would The Boy. Little Tiger Press were those people.

When they first contacted me about reviewing for them, I took a little browse of their lovely and engaging site and was pleased to discover that we already had quite a few of their books. I will post in more details again about the books that they sent us, but I wanted to share two specifc books with you for the moment, both of which are picture books with a CD featuring the vocal talents of one Justin Fletcher.

"The Very Greedy Bee" by Steve Smallman and Jack Tickle

The Very Greedy Bee is a delightful tale of a little bee who is so greedy that he won't share his nectar with anyone. While all the other bees works hard, the Greedy Bee spends all day guzzling pollen and gobbling nectar. But one day, he eats just a little bit too much and when he wakes up from his snooze, he finds it impossible to fly and needs to rely on the help of some other insects to find his way home alone and scared.

The picture book is beautifully illustrated with bright watercolours and the font of the text is clear and large for older children to follow. The pages are thick and easily turned by younger children.

We really like the story as it is friendly for young children and teaches them an important lesson of not being glutonous and also being friendly to others. The story is beautifully read by Sophie Thompson (Stella in Eastenders and also known as the sister of Emma), with Justin Fletcher providing the voice of the bee with much humour and intonation. The Very Greedy Bee is a firm favourite in this household.

Smelly Peter, The Great Pea Eater

The second picture book and CD set that we were sent is the story of a young lad by the name of Peter, who is very fond of peas. It's the only thing he'll eat and as a result they've made him turn green and a little fragrant. One day, he is whisked away by aliens and becomes the king of their planet.

This book is appropriate for slightly older children than The Boy, as it does discuss 'wind' and toilet humour, all those sorts of things which appeal to young boys. It's hysterically read by Justin Fletcher as this video shows:

'The Very Greedy Bee' and 'Smelly Peter, The Great Pea Eater' are available from Little Tiger Press at £7.99

However, the very kind folk at Little Tiger Press would like to give two readers of TheBoyandMe a copy of Smelly Peter, The Great Peat Eater. To be in with a chance of winning, simply fill in all aspects of the Rafflecopter form below.

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One of the things that I was adamant with when setting up The Boy's bedroom when he was first born, was the window coverings. I was determined he'd have a black out blind and the linings on the curtains, as I didn't want him waking up at silly o'clock in the morning during the Summer, and I wanted him to have uninterrupted sleep during his afternoon naps. It's worked brilliantly and as a result is always something that I've worried about when we've gone to stay with friends and family, or gone on holiday. Most holiday homes have thin curtains which serve little purpose other than to throw a tinted hue over the room. I've been known to be pegging black out lining to the curtain rail in an attempt to darken it sufficiently enough for him to sleep.

Well, not any more!

Last week we were sent the Lights Out Portable Pop-Up Blinds to review, and they came at a perfect time as we were away for Easter weekend in a place that I knew had wafer-thin translucent curtains at the windows. These blinds are excellent. The pack contains two blinds and each one measures 1.2m x 1m. They fold down into a circular lightweight storage bag (measuring 45cm diameter) which took up barely any space in an otherwise cramped car!

Each of the blinds has a toggle through the middle of it with a suction cup attached to the one end. Simply position the suction cup and attach it to the window, pull the toggle and it holds the blind in place over the window, pulling taut to rest against the frame.

They overlapped perfectly and pulled tight to cover the wide expanse of window with no problem whastoever. Bearing in mind I'm not a 'follow-the-instructions' person, I had them up in the window within thirty seconds. For deeper window recesses there are extension rods to attach.

The left picture above shows the window to be covered, the middle shows it with the 'curtains' drawn, and the right hand picture shows the blinds in action. Apologies for the blurriness on the middle picture but I was taking the photo without a flash and had to stand still for thirty seconds to get the photo. I couldn't take a photo of the room with the blinds attached at first, as it was pitch black and my camera couldn't focus. I had to place my phone on the bedside table with the light on to give it something to focus on. As a result the slight light strip you can see is from the reflection of my phone not from the window.

One last point to note is that, despite many 'pop-up' items being nigh on impossible to 'pop-down' again afterwards, these were back in the storage bag within thirty seconds.

The Lights Out Portable Pop-Up Blinds are excellent! I would buy these in a flash because they work brilliantly, and I wish I'd known about them when I first had The Boy, so many holidays could have been more enjoyable with more sleep!

The kind souls at Lights Out are offering a set of the Portable Pop-Up Blinds to one lucky reader. Simply fill in the Rafflecopter form in order to enter.

All entry mechanisms must be completed for your entry to count.

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The lovely people at Abbey Home Media have sent us one of their latest releases to feature in this post and competition.

Strawberry Shortcake: The Berryfest Princess is a brilliant value double DVD featuring over two hours of the delightful little pink lady in six episodes:

  • Berry Best Berryfest Princess
  • Strawberry's Berry Big Parade
  • The Berry Best Choice
  • Happy First Frost
  • A Circle of Friends
  • The Glimmerberry Ball

The original fruity lady has had a little bit of a makeover since I was a girl now, and she's been brought bang up to date in this excellent value DVD set.

Courtesy of Abbey Home Media, I am able to offer five lucky readers a copy of this DVD.

To enter simply fill in all entry mechanisms on the Rafflecopter form below. Incomplete entries will be removed.

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We've recently been sent another Care Bears DVD set to review and I wanted to share the information with you.

In Oopsy Does It! Oopsy accidentally destroys an amusement park that Cheer Bear and Grumpy Bear built for their friends. An evil bear called Grizzle uses Oopsy's mistake in a plot to steal the Care Bears' belly badge. Will Oopsy stumble to the rescue or will he just stumble? The second of the films is called The Giving Festival Movie and features Funshine Bear and the whole power team as they arrane the annual Giving Festival. Their fabulous festival welcoming Princess Starglo is threatened by a powerful wind blowing through Care-a-Lot.

With the DVD running at 136 minutes long but featuring two episodes, it's the perfect length for pre-schoolers learning about nurturing and kindly ways. We all remember the Care Bears fondly from our youth and it's time to bring them to another generation, and help use this media to encourage a caring attitude in our children.

Abbey Home Media have kindly donated five copies of this DVD to the readers of TheBoyandMe. To be in with a chance of winning, please fill in all mechanisms on the Rafflecopter form below.

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A few weeks ago, I blogged about a gardening kit that The Boy was sent from the thoughtful folk at Innocent Smoothies.

We were very excited about planting out the seeds that are available in the promotional packs at the moment (until the end of April), and set to planting them in a variety of containers.

We set one of those seed pots aside and put it somewhere special to grow. The seedlings sprouted and I was preparing to take a photo for the competition I'd promised you. And then Mr. TBaM managed to knock it over and I had to start again, hence the delay!

Anyway, all sorted now, and so I give your this photo of our secret seedlings. What I want to know from you is where you think they are being kept to germinate?

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One winner from the correct entries will win a gardening set from Innocent like the one I had, plus some vouchers to buy some more Innocent products.

Simply fill in the Rafflecopter form below to be in with a chance of winning (sometimes it plays up on Google Chrome, try Internet Explorer or Firefox instead)

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As regular readers will know, The Boy and me I like cooking together. It's a great activity to do with little ones, offering them a wealth of experience, education, sensory stimulation and fun. We usually go for cakes, have dabbled in pizzas, but have never tried cookies before. When I was a teenager, I had an amazing recipe for cookies (but have since lost it) and any that I've tried have never come close on the moistness front.

Then I was sent a cookie mixture in a beautiful kilner jar by Baked By Me.

The jar contains all the dry ingredients needed to make up to 20 delicious Mini Eggs Delight Cookies, all you need to add is the butter and one egg. The Boy was delighted with the idea that everything was already in the jar and couldn't wait to get started on fishing out the mini-eggs for later decoration.

Once the mini eggs had been set aside, we mixed the dry ingedients into the butter, and then mixed in the egg. It mixed together incredibly easily, and then we divided the mixture up and lay them out on a greased and floured baking tray. The recipe suggested adding the eggs to the freshly cooked dough, but we decided to put some into the cookies before cooking (because we're rebels).

They were cooked 15 minutes later, and we added the remaining mini-eggs to the top of the cookies, allowed them to cool a little and then enjoyed some of the most moist, 'more-ish' cookies I've eaten in years!

Please excuse the expression on his face, but he was trying to smile through a big bite of cookie!

Baked By Me create fabulous cookie-mix jars with such a huge range: Triple Chocolate Toblerone Cookie Mix and Caramel Mocha Cookie Mix are just two of the tantalising recipes available. With prices starting from £8.80 cookie mix, which includes a sturdy and reusable kilner jar, they are a fabulous gift for the those who love cooking, especially with Easter coming up!

Baked By Me would like to offer two readers the opportunity to purchase their products with the prize of a £15 voucher each. In order to be in with a chance of winning this, please fill in all aspects of the Rafflecopter form (part entries will be removed).

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Come on a magical journey into Dino world as Harry jumps into his magical blue bucket and his prehistoric toys spring to life.

Harry and his Bucket Full of Dinosaurs is a classic children's book written by Ian Whybrow and illustrated by Adrian Reynolds. Featuring five year old Harry, it tells the story of the hi-jinks he gets up to with when playing with his toy dinosaurs, a bucket full of them! In the television adaptation of the books, Harry plays with the dinosaurs by jumping into the bucket, which transports him to another world, called DinoWorld. Although the dinosaurs are toy-sized in the real world, when Harry joins them in DinoWorld they become actual dinosaurs.

In this two-disc DVD set from Abbey Home Media, Harry is an explorer, discovering the undiscovered aspects of DinoWorld, and then he is challenged to further explore in order to retrieve his green crayon. Never has such an ordinary task been so challenging. Full of adventures and simple lessons, this DVD set has over two hours of fun and frivolity for your explorers!

Competition

I have 5 copies of The New Adventures of Harry and his Bucket Full of Dinosaurs to give away, courtesy of Abbey Home Media. To be in with a chance of winning, please fill in all aspects of the Rafflecopter form below. Part-entries will be deleted.

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