London For Kids: I Need Your Help!

So much to do, so little time! Smix & I have booked an overnight stay in London for Easter time. I've been three times since he was born, but he's never came along with me. 

Micromachines London Bus

Zero gravity car

Because I went a few times (blog award trips), he has always associated London with fantastical toys. This is because I would bring him a quirky toy each time, something he couldn't see in the shops here. 

So I knew he would be excited at the idea of going himself, but I wasn't quite ready for the reaction I got. we were driving away from school and he wound his window down and yelled 'I'm going to London' to anyone he knew. You'd think no-one had ever been on holiday before.

Then he came home and built some London landmarks in Minecraft PE. I've also been bombarded with questions such as, 'How long are days in London?' & 'Do they use paper money for £1 or coins like us?'. Godlovehim.

This is why I DO have to take him places. We never travelled as a family before the separation- we went to Paris Disney paid for by my parents for a huge trip for my Dad's 60th, 4 1/2 years ago, and any local overnights were sought by me in a blogging exchange fashion. I remember my parents took us to Portugal every year for a fortnight- it seems everyone's families could afford that back in the 80s. Travel broadens the mind they say, so one of my attempts of being a good parent is to make sure Smix gets to see more than just NI. My circumstances don't allow for more than two days mind you. The M.E. is going to hit me like a tonne of bricks after this, I know that. But Smix's knowledge is worth it, and I'm hardly complaining about having a holiday either! 

So I have some ideas of tourist attractions to definitely include, but locals or other parents- I would love any advice or tips offs on lesser known events or novelty restaurants. Let me know on Twitter @rudedoodle or just shoot me a mail kitschandink@me.com 

Oh! Also is The Shard suitable for kids or would they be bored?

Thanks! 

Duck Bus tour for all the sight seeing. No time to visit each individually. 

Ripley's Believe It or Not. My spiritual home

I would be a terrible parent if I skipped out this

Not 100% on going on this- how long does it take and is it any good? 

Anyone have a review about this? 

Wed night simply MUST include a novelty restaurant

Breakfast here on Thursday morning for sure! 

Happy New Year, World of Kitsch Readers!

Heading into 2016 and leaving you with a vlog we made this evening for Smix's YouTube channel.​

We spotted this caramel flavour guessing game reduced in the post-Christmas sale in our local Tesco and had to buy it to give it a go.

Smix launched his channel in October when he turned 8, after making some Minecraft videos and having them posted to my own YouTube account.

He has already 1,750+ views on his videos in just over two months, and has worked with IKEA & Tiger Stores, he's going to surpass his Mum! If any brands would like to work with him, or me for that matter, you can contact me via the tab at the top of the page.

Happy New Year, everyone! 

The World of Kitsch- 2015 in Review Part 1- January - June

Our Scotland trip

A look back over 2015 in blogs. From January to June we were still pre-Smix's vlogging career, and in our first half year living alone, just the two of us. We were finding our feet, sorting out our reshuffled family set up and settling into the twosome super-team we have now. Things were different,  but over the months the change showed itself to be a positive; who would've known? 

Blogging was slow as we had so much else on in  'real life' to get on with! Here's how January until June looked for the two of us.

Our new living room- all kitsched up

Lovely big kitchen space  

In early February Smix & I moved home, from Carnalea to Bangor West, closer to my parents' house. Having M.E. means I need help sometimes. The stars collided with a guy from my year in Sullivan happening to be renting his home right as we needed one.

Lidl launched their fashion range in spring of 2015, adding clothing to a dossier of bargain ranges. Everyone was wondering would it be any good? Now a couple of collections down and with several pieces bought at excellent, competitive price points I can let you know their fashion buyers are doing a great job. The only hard aspect is catching the right week when the items you want hit your local store.

March also saw the famous Teenage Dreams mural reappear in East Belfast.  

Smix finally learnt to ride his bike.

Yo Sushi opened in Belfast and straight away became our favourite place to dine. They are our first choice eating out destination above all others. We are both hooked and the staff even know us to see now. Smix brings his own chopsticks that my friend Gill kindly sent him.

Smix also made the Belfast branch in Minecraft and sent them his design, which in turn they showed all the big bosses! Very cool. 

Judy giving me a hand

In spring I made some bunting with oil cloth with a step by step guide. It didn't last too wonderfully during the summer though. Will need more next year perhaps in a darker colour so weathering doesn't appear so obvious.

I tried making sushi at home- it was a disaster! We actually still have the Yo Sushi! Kit to try mind you. Maybe a Smix Brix project over Christmas?

In May we looked at two classic toys, a Brio Wooden train set and the Playmobil Victorian Mansion- the latter of which Santa brought me at the old age of 12-and I still was thrilled with it!

When we moved to our new house, it turned out it wasn't so new for one of us.  A story so strange the local newspaper even featured it. Find out the curious secret in that blog post from May.

June, and the summer started with a bang as Stena Line sent us both on a day trip to M&D's theme park in Scotland! It's a long day, but we loved it and I think we will make it an annual trip.

One of my favourite brands to work  with, who I get to do so with every couple of weeks, is Marks and Spencer. I absolute love trying their new Food Hall items, and at the end of June we had a fancy BBQ with their newest range.

June also saw the opening night of the Titanic Robots exhibition which ran all summer.

My favourite small trader this year has been Snixxy Swoons who operates on Etsy and EBay. She kindly sent me pieces to blog about, but I've also made return purchases as I love her chunky, wood cut, large statement necklaces & brooches.

Snixxy Swoons bird brooch £20

We had fun when we went along to learn  Ground Espresso put together their summer drinks. With branches opening in our home town of Bangor, we will now be able to be more frequent Ground customers.

Smix didn't launch his YouTube channel until the second half of 2015, but before that he still helped me out with any toys that needed reviewed, like Yummy Nummies. 

Second half of 2015 coming soon.

WIN: A Creative Kids' Stocking Filler, Nutty Putty Clay

If you have a creative kid like my Smix, then crafting kits make great smaller presents or surprise gifts at Christmas. 

The Nutty Putty set we received included 5 colours of clay, 4 shape cutters, 2 tools, a rolling pin, a baking sheet and instructions. The instructions are quite clever in that they double as a laminated mat to do your building & sculpting on. As it is the clay is non-staining, so you aren't going to end up googling how to remove clay from your sofa. 

Check out the sets available and read the blog on  http://www.nuttyputty.co.uk/

We have a kit to giveaway to one of my readers. Competition closes this time next week, so I can hopefully get it to you before Christmas. Good luck! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Toca Boca's New 'Toca Life: City' App. Smix Brix Gives You a Guided Tour.

Smix has grown up playing  Toca Boca game apps. Their creative play games are not only fun, but your child will be learning as they interact with the various locations or act out the jobs Toca Boca brings to life on screen.

The majority of the apps have no instructions, so if your little one can't read yet, they can still enjoy Toca apps. Game play involves tapping items on the screen to see what reaction they have.  

For example in Toca Town, and now also in Toca Life: City, combining food items can reveal a surprise. Drag an image of say a prawn onto an image of some rice and poof! it transforms into a sushi roll. Select a sausage and a bread roll and they'll turn into a hot dog. In the lab game you experiment with different combinations of elements, and lab equipment.

The original Toca Kitchen was one of their earliest app releases. In it your child can cook for their character using various foods, and food preparation methods. Toca apps are a modern day version of playing house. It's fun but your child will be picking up little life skills along the way. 

Another of the latest releases is Toca Life: School. We are yet to try it, but will do soon. I think the maximum price of any of the apps in the Apple AppStore is £2.49. A lot of the games are available on Android and Google Play too. 

The app we are looking at today, Toca Life: City is £2.49 which I was happy to pay because of our previous experiences with Toca Boca apps, you are guaranteed that it's worth buying. Smix gets a lot of play out of them, and City is a great example of why. Each location on the map has different stores to explore. 

You click on any of the items shown and some of them will react, for example lights turn on or off, the ATM dispenses money, but there are more impressive results than just those. If you enter the hairdresser location on the map, you'll find a whole working salon. You can place a character under a machine which scrolls through various hair styles, then you can transform your person's look. Then drag your character to the sink section and shelves of hair dye in a rainbow of colours, select one and your person's hair will change.

As with most Toca Boca apps there is no wrong way to play the game. It inspires investigation and creativity. With the AppStore version you can now record little stories from inside the game, with your characters and locations. That's a whole new way to play, your child can play out situations or stories and play them back for the family to see. 

The Kindle App Store version which Smix is playing hasn't got that option yet, but here is his video taking a quick tour of Toca Life: City and showing you some of the interactions, but not all of them as that would spoil the surprise of your child discovering them by themselves.

Don't forget to like & subscribe to Smix Brix for toy reviews & Minecraft videos. 

Here are the other Toca apps. Some are free on the AppStore right now and also available are multi-app bundles which are cheaper than buying each game separately.

Hair Salon is great fun and you can use it with your own images. 

Toca Tailor is a fun fashion app. Toca Band is a unique choral game with different layers to add and remove until you have the ideal song. Toca Train is a straightforward enough app, and the countryside you travel through is gorgeous. 

Kitchen Monsters is a version of the other Kitchen app. The difference is the monsters love all sorts of gross foods which you can chop, microwave, boil or fry. Serve it up and your Monster will tell you if they like it or not.

We also have Toca House which is fun, but if you're only getting one Toca app to try, I'd go for one of the newer ones, like Toca Town, or indeed the Toca City. 

We haven't played the Birthday Party app but it seems to be another 'playing house' type of gameplay with cakes to cut and decorations to choose. It's free to download on AppStore right now, which is even better.

Toca Hair Salon Christmas Gift is a free version of the Hair Salon app. You can cut, dye or grow Santa's hair.

Toca Store is a two player game. One person takes the role of the shop keeper, the other is the buyer. The shopkeeper first chooses which products they want to sell, then the customer picks what they want, then pays the correct number of coins at the till. It's a super way to teach nursery or even pre-nursery children to count to five, as they count out the coins in their purse to match the total the shopkeeper has requested. 

Toca Doctor is another simple role playing game, and IPad Tea Party is a lot like Birthday Party I imagine. 

Toca Boca also have an  online store. I'm a fan of their cute periodic table. They also sell t-shirts, paper crafts and even socks. 

Tiger Stores Have Opened in Belfast & It's a Real Life World of Kitsch

Scandinavian brand Tiger have opener their first Northern Irish store, in Castle Lane in Belfast (near Lush). We discovered  Tiger in the summer in Dundalk, and spent a small fortune on bits & bobs for crafting, homeware, toys, etc. and the best thing is the price, it's tiny!

Here is a snap shot of just some products Belfast has on sale for the Christmas season. I got two rolls of tapestry print wrapping paper, £1 each! The matching advent calendar is for me too.

I've picked up an advent from Lidl which you build yourself into a little village of Christmas houses. So I was able to buy some little fillers for that for Smix in Tiger, growing elf washcloth, set of stamps etc. I also have some fun stuff from today for him to make a vlog about. You can find it at the end of this post.

These are sweet. You stuff them with your cotton wool balls that poke out the back as the bunny's tail. 

Dozens of quirky napkins got Christmas and all year round, £1. 

Also a great selection of bargain cards. 

Tiger don't have an online store, but they do show the items that are new in store that month.

I brought Smix a bag of goodies, here is his latest video. The audio is overlapped at the start but evens out quite quickly.

The Power of Play, IKEA Ideas Festival : Smix Brix's Mysterious Delivery

IKEA  Ideas Festival is this month, encouraging families to 'play everyday'. One of the fun events is the Toy Design Competition. Kids can enter by drawing their dream soft toy and the winning designs are made into real toys to be sold in IKEA stores nationwide.

Here are last year's winners. For every soft toy sold, IKEA donates €1 to Save the Children.

One of last year's toys made its way to Smix in a mysterious parcel, his first time receiving cool things to vlog about on his YouTube channel, I'm a proud first generation blogger! 

Check out his video to see what awesome items he was sent. Thank you, IKEA Belfast!