Win a Curious Candy Hamper

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I hope you guys realise the sacrifice I am going through, by letting you know about this competition I'm pretty sure it means I can't win, BUT, maybe one of my lovely readers will win. Curious Candy is our local, proper, old fashioned sweet shop, here in Bangor Northern Ireland. As well as the classics, they import American candy, chocolate and sodas for us grown ups. To win their hamper, it's a simple Facebook like & share competition which you can find here. Good luck. 

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You Would Dream You'd Want To Pay £10 For Some Bin Bags, Would You? But You Will.

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We are lucky in our house, we have an open fire which gets pit on Christmas morning. We have an incinerator on hand to chuck in all the wrapping paper, plastic packaging and cardboard boxes as the spoils of Santa are urgently ripped open. Christmas means a LOT of extra waste, and not all of it fits in your black bin. Trips to the local dump aren't viable either, as they are closed over those celebratory weeks.

Here is you're answer. John Lewis have these Christmas Pudding Bin Bags, £10 for a pack of 12. Not just for waste, you could equally use them as sacks for Santa to leave the boxes in on Christmas Eve. Also great if you are visiting in-laws and have a bundle of a dozen boxes to try to carry I to their house. You could even use them to decorate a huge outdoor tree, as waterproof tree baubles to match your outdoor lighting.

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Birthday Express Has the Best Party Supplies. Anyone For A Legend of Zelda Party?

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It's my son's six birthday tomorrow. He wanted an Aquabats themed party, which is how I came across the US site Birthday Express. They have literally hundreds of party themes, including dozens you wouldn't be able to get in the UK. They ship to the UK too, just make sure you plan in advance and don't leave it until a week before to place your order. 

Each party theme is carefully crafted with links to absolutely everything you will need. Plates, cups, bowls, napkins, tablecloth, party bags, stuff for in the party bags, it really is a one-stop shop kind of place, all you'll need to sort out is the food. 

You can also make completely unique party themes buy adding photographs and text of your choice. 

I'm going to show you all our Aquabats' gear set up for the party tomorrow, there's a sneaky peek below, but in the meantime, check out these exclusive themes that I think you will love. 

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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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