To Me, Beauty Advent Calendars are Akin to Adult Colouring Books- A Sign of End Times. However It's an Apocalypse I Want to Be Part of. Gordon's Chemist £6.99 Beauty Calendar- Go Go Go!

I hadn't bought myself a beauty calendar this year. I often wonder are advent calendars for adults a sign of the decline of our species, but with beauty, candle & even gin calendars available, it's something I want to be part of.

On a single parent budget I can't throw £25-£30 at a calendar for me, so I only had a £1 chocolate calendar from Tiger Stores this year.

I popped into Gordon's Chemist with a prescription today and one of their special offers this weekend is this beauty calendar for £6.99.  

Gordon's Direct, their web store had it on offer too, down from £14.99 to £8.99, but they are sold out. If you fancy getting one of these yourselves this weekend I would advise ringing your local store to check for stock. 

Its all budget makeup, but when some nail polishes alone cost £12, a whole calendar of 24 products for £6.99 is a bargain.

It Took Me Two Hours to Put Together Smix's Advent Calendar... Was It Worth It?

As a product blog this is a bit useless, as I bought this in Lidl about a month ago and I think they sold out. Plus I can't even recall the price! Either £5.99 or £6.99? That seems a lot, when they don't come with contents, but even after they've been opened you are left with a very cute Christmas village that can be reused year after year. 

So, this morning I set about building the 24 houses. They are all the same shape, so once you get going you speed up, but it still took me two hours. Perhaps if there are two of you making them, 12 each, it would be faster, but I just stuck Netflix on and got folding. 

You have 24 sheets of housing, which are double sided, so you can alternate, or choose an all brown or all blue themed village. You've also gold stickers for numbering the houses and ribbon. 

As with most of these type of craft builds, you'll find it a lot easier if you pre-bend the folds before you try to fashion it together. 

The houses are a good size. I don't want to give away all the contents, but I was able to fit trinkets from Tiger Stores inside, sweets, small sets of battery powered Christmas lights from Poundland etc. 

They actually take up a lot more room than I anticipated. Only the first ten days fitted on the mantelpiece. I don't think I will keep all of them for displays next year. Probably just a selection of whichever ones don't get ripped to bits with the excitement of getting to the insides! 

My One Black Friday Shout Out: Free Shipping & Free Mystery Gifts on The Hand Drawn Creative's Etsy this Weekend

I think I'm turning into a grumpy old woman, as the Black Friday offers have rolled into my inbox all week, for  the day after our non-existent Thanksgiving, they've gone straight in the electronic 'trash can'. They didn't have Black Friday in my day!

I decided to give one small business a special Black Friday shoutout, and that's Neal at Hand Drawn Creative. He's my fellow mid-century loving, Bangorian, and I'm ever in his debt blog post wise as he made my The World of Kitsch banner heading for me for free.

Before you accuse me of being one of those pains in the arses of the creative collect, I did NOT ask Neal to throw something together for free, he actually approached me with the design he took upon himself to doodle up one day. Of course I adore it! I've had it printed on various things including chocolate and my own t-shirt!

 As you can see from the top image there is free shipping all weekend, and free mystery gifts.

Neal's store has a variety of prints in different genres, but my absolute favourite is the range of renderings of 70s & 80s Fisher Price toys. We kept some in my parents' attic, and I bought some at car boot sales such as the boat bus in this print.

We already had Smix when these prints came out, but my brother & wife are expecting their first child, so I've sent them a selection of the prints for their home.  

Take a look and take advantage of the Black Friday weekend. 

'Grotto Off 2015'! First Stop Ards Shopping Centre

'Grotto Off' doesn't have a very appealing ring to it, I am aware of that, but just in case we end up visiting a selection this Christmas, we might as well post about our visit today, at  Ards Shopping Centre.

Ards Shopping Centre always put on a good show. Their yearly 'mountain' display is immense. There have been DJing elves and the infamous 'Puffing Billy' who I captured in 2010 on video.

We pitied those working in stores in earshot of that song, on loop, all day, every day for over a month. The woman at the till of the butchers' definitely had a thousand mile stare on the go. I could imagine coming in one day to find her with a kebab skewer in each bloody ear due to her aural torture. 

Apart from being impressive, the whole grotto set up is hard to beat. Free visit, free chocolate lolly for each child, and one free photo printed instantly for you. So no monetary outlay, and no having to wait around for an hour, or even call back another day to claim your Santa photo. 

Ards' grotto was actually the first ever Santa visit had, December 2007, a month and a bit after he was born. 

Baby Smix 2007

What a little Christmas pudding! 

So we were in the centre after school today, and the queue for Santa was tiny, so we both paid him a visit. 

Smix's smile betrays the fact that I was the one keener to see Santa! He was just after the lollipop! 

So yes, first grotto experience of 2015, how did it weigh up?  Score is out of five snowmen.

Display- ⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️

Actual rating for Santa-  ⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️

Price- ⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️ 

Gift (free on this occasion remember)- ⛄️⛄️⛄️ 

Photo quality- ⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️ 

Photo Gift Option- ⛄️ 

Queue time- ⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️⛄️ 

Hillmount Garden Centre Ladies' Nights: Get Christmas Shopping Underway

Hillmount Garden Centre are holding their annual Ladies' Nights, with the Belfast event tomorrow night, and Bangor's Centre hosting on Monday.

Between 5pm and 9pm you can partake in Christmas food tastings, with discounts throughout the entire store to help your gift buying budget spread a little further. Admission is free and there is a drinks reception.

There will be live music, and you can even visit Santa! 

Suckered By Naughty But Rice's Package Design Team

I'm a bargain hunter, it's in my genes. From my Gran Phillips teaching me the ways of the reduced counter, to my own mental map of every local supermarket in the area's mark down product section, I'm all about the savings, and rarely care about the packaging. 

However, put something in a retro style design container & I will buy it despite not even particularly liking it- see the 1970s' 7-Up tins that have been available over the summer; I never drink the stuff otherwise. 

Thats where today's product comes in, with its colourful, mid-centuryesque, simple design. I had them in my basket in Sainsburys before I'd even read what they were properly.

What are they then? Fancy rice puddings, with the puntastic name Naughty But Rice. The flavours are Raspberry & Coconut, and Chocolate Orange. There's also a Salted Caramel variety, but Holywood Sainsburys didn't have it in stock.

I wasn't mad about the raspberry one, despite being a coconut fan, but the chocolate orange is AMAZING and is getting bought again. 

As with traditional rice pudding you can serve hot or cold, and they are so filling they could even be a sneaky treat of a breakfast. They also might make a good break to send in to school. Let me know if you try them what you think. 

Sainsburys Christmas Advert has given the UK MOGmania!

Everyone with eyes surely must have seen this year's Christmas advert offering from Sainsburys by now. The nostalgic feast of a mini-movie with our childhood friend Mog the Cat brought to life, and as ever finding herself in mischief. 

If you haven't seen the ad yourself, get on YouTube & give yourself a treat. It's had 13 MILLION views since it launched 8 days ago.

But if you haven't seen it then anyone with ears surely must have HEARD about the resulting Mog-mania, and stores across the country selling straight out of plush Mogs the same day they come in stock. 

You can  order and buy the Christmas Calamity Mog book online for just £3, with the majority of that going to charity to help child literacy in the UK. You can't however get your paws on the plush Mog toys on the website. They are like gold dust. Some eBay sellers are stocking them with prices between £30 and £100. Considering the toy is sold for charity, and that these bulk buyers are taking away the chance of a child buying a £10 toy instore, I can't help but feel quite cross and hoping these folks end up with coal in their stockings from Santa this year.

I was thrilled to be able to get the Mog book in Sainsburys in Bangor NI last week. I think there were four or five copies left, so I was lucky. They had zero plush toys though. I took a notion to phone them this morning to ask the questions they must answer a hundred times a day, "when is your next batch of Mog toys due in stock?". They told me they don't think they'll get another shipment at all. So I tried Sprucefield, who said no, but they thought Forestside & Holywood had some arriving today.  

I phoned, then dashed up in the car to Holywood and got THE LAST MOG. Smix is over the moon (& so am I). So my suggested Mog obtaining strategy is phone around stores. If you're quick today, the Holywood store still had a large number of the books, but I imagine they'll be gone by tomorrow too. Good luck!

Mount Stewart Festival of Light Event. Ten Magical Nights.

I'd heard good things about the Festival of Light at Mount Stewart, which returns this year from 20th-29th November. 

The preview night was wet & cold, and on the drive over we almost turned back three times, but I'm so glad we wrapped up and persisted!​

The house, lawns and lake walk are brought to life with grand & magical displays complete with atmospheric music. Booking is essential, you can do so here.

I've lots of lovely photos, but much like photos of fireworks, you have to really be there to experience the scale of the light installations. 

There are also large tepees with open fires to keep warm and dry in, with views of the lawns. 

It's a wonderful experience for all ages, and we will definitely make it a yearly event. The weather next year can only be better than our experience this year, and we still loved it! 

View across the lake