Wildlife Spotting at M&S. If You've Ever Lusted After My Fake Plush Fox Scarf, This Post is For You.

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About two years back I bought this comical, fake fox scarf from H&M. It was very cute, even had its little face with black beaded eyes. I blogged about it here at the time, and every so often I will have someone contact me via this site, asking to buy it off me, sometimes for much more than I paid for it. I've never parted with my foxy, so I'm really pleased to have a link to one in the shops right now. 

The M&S fake plush fox scarf is limited edition, I'm pretty sure it will sell out like its counterpart in H&M did, not least because it's only £19.50 Make sure you get one now before they all go.

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Marks and Spencer is home to a forestful of wildlife this autumn. There's lots of deer and fox print clothing for all the family, and regal stag Christmas accessories like this ceramic stag decoration they sent me. 

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This cashmere fox and mittens set has officially gone  on my Christmas list £30

This cashmere fox and mittens set has officially gone  on my Christmas list £30

John Lewis Lights Up Our Christmas 2013

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Nowadays there are several little modern traditions that herald the Christmas season getting into full swing. Santa takes up residence in your local shopping centre. Channel 4 shows the movie Elf on a Sunday afternoon. The yearly John Lewis Christmas advert debuts and pulls at our heart strings. Last year we had Mister & Missus Snowman, the year before it was the little boy counting down the days until he could present his Mum & Dad with the carefully wrapped gift he'd chosen for them. I wonder what Christmas 2013's advert will be like, and most importantly which old, familiar hit song will get a breathy, indie remix as it's soundtrack?

While we wait the annual unveiling, you can do some early holiday shopping on the John Lewis site, as their Christmas collections are already in stock. They have lots of exclusive items for making your home extra cosy. Quaint wrapping paper & ribbons, unique tree baubles, bright indoor and outdoor lights, Christmas garlands and much more.

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Tweed Jackets, Flying Duck Print Jumpers, Joules is My New Favourite Clothing Brand

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I'd heard the name Joules.com before, but I had the preconception it was a bit of a Mumsy clothing retailer. They invited me to have a peek at their new, autumn/winter tweed jacket and coat range this week, and while I was impressed, I ended up spending half an hour on the site oooohing and aaaahing at the entire women's collection. It's certainly not Mumsy- check out the Taylor-Swift-a-like in the classic navy striped dress. 

The Joules range would work for anyone in the early twenties who wants a preppy, crisp, smart wardrobe, right up to those in their golden years who don't want to retire into granny smocks just yet. 

I've decided I want to get rid of all my clothes and get one of everything please, Joules. How can I say no to jumpers with flying ducks, foxes and wire fox terriers on them? Here are my absolute favourites, starting with the ladies' tweed jacket collection at Joules.com

 

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Family Board Game Review- Santa's Rooftop Scramble!

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Ravensburger played Santa to us this week, delivering their new Santa's Rooftop Scramble Board game for us to test out. It's a traditional travel-round-the-board style family game, for 2-6 people, with a suggested age of five and above. Our family consists of our son, almost six, my husband & me, and we sat down on Sunday afternoon to throw the die.

My initial thoughts were, 'there are an awful lot of instructions, this seems quite complicated for under 8s'. Straight from the box it does take ten minutes to get the hang of how to play, but once you get going it's less fussy than it looks. We wouldn't need to re-read the instructions if we took it out to play again for example. 

The object of the game is to spin a wheel to collect presents that your Santa must deliver, then move to the board and roll the die to travel around trying to land on the houses your lists match up with. The first Santa to deliver all his presents is the winner. My son won, much to his delight.  

Santa's Rooftop Scramble suggests it will become a tradition in your family to play every year around Christmas time, and I certainly agree it will be fun to bring out every year in December with the decorations & play together.  It's available on Amazon.

Who Wants to Win a Ponycycle in Time for Christmas?

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I bring news from the stables of Ponycycles. There are a couple of opportunities coming along to win a Ponycycle for your family that I think you all would appreciate knowing about. There will be a prize of a cycle to win at the Manchester Magical Christmas Fair from 29th November to the 1st December.

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The second chance to win comes via the Good Toy Guide. They recently awarded Pony Cycles 5 out of 5 in their rating system, and starting on the 30th October they will be giving away a pony in a competition running on their Facebook & Twitter @goodtoyguide. 

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Finally, if you are planning on assisting Santa with the adoption of a Ponycycle pet this Christmas, they have opened a Christmas Club to allow you to spread the cost over three payments, with a small deposit. 

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Darling Spuds' Sweet & Salty Popcorn Tastes Exactly Like Cinema Popcorn

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I could tell you all about how Darling Spuds' new Sweet & Salty popcorn is gluten free, vegetarian, and lower in fat than other similar snacks. I could also mention the corn is popped in small batches and flavoured with simply sea salt & cane sugar. Or that there are no GMOs or other artificial ingredients and each snack pack is under 40 calories.

The real important part to me is- does it taste good? We tried it out and it tastes exactly like cinema popcorn. Some sweet popcorn can be a bit too sugary, and nothing like cinema style, but Darling Spuds is spot on. Adding in the subtle salt to the mix makes it extra delicious.  

You can buy online here, or watch out for packs in your supermarket. 

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An Entire Rainbow of Kettles to Brighten Your Kitchen in Autumn from Debenhams

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It's the month of bundling into the house and sticking the kettle on. Big pots of tea with sugarcubes, mugs of hot chocolate with mallows. Debenhams sent me this beauty of a kettle to kickstart the hot drinks season. 

Their online store has an entire rainbow of kettles to choose from, you just have to decide which would make the coolest kitchen talking point. Debenhams are also running their famous Blue Cross Sale this weekend, so you can save some money.

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Personalised Party Themes from Snapsterprint. We went Aquabats Crazy

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It's my son's birthday next week, and this year he wanted an Aquabats themed party. Aquabats is an American kids' show that airs on CITV, but there is absolutely no merchandise available in the UK yet, let alone party supplies. 

We turned to Snapsterprint where you can create your own party banners and invites using images of your choice. This could also be photographs of your child, or images of their favourite toy. It makes for a very special and unique party theme, and the website makes it so easy to design the pieces, even for someone like me who isn't skilled in Photoshop.   

We absolutely loved the results. The invites can be tailored with the party details, but when we ordered them we weren't 100% sure of party times etc. so we had them printed blank. 

I wish I'd known of Snapsterprint years before this. My son was totally obsessed with hoovers as a toddler and I would have loved to have seen his face if we threw a vacuum cleaner themed birthday! One of his favourite birthday cakes was a specially made Henry Hoover one! I'm sure we will be back to Snapsterprint next October too for whichever obscure party theme he will request for turning seven. 

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