December 11, 2013

WIN A Large Cookies & Caramel Chocolate Wreath from Hotel Chocolat Worth £21 !

December 11, 2013/ Claire Spence

I don't often hold competitions on The World of Kitsch, but when the delicious people at Hotel Chocolat offered a prize for me to give away to my readers, I couldn't resist picking this HUGE chocolate wreath. I have one, worth £21, to giveaway to one of my readers.

I'm using Rafflecopter, which is the standard bloggers' giveaway tool. It's fair and randomly picks a winner for me. Hotel Chocolat will then send you the wreath directly, should you win.

Later in the week I will be reviewing their Christmas range they sent me to try. Oh my goodness, they are something else. The plastic bucket of Quality Street seems so inferior after you've had your taste buds introduced to Hotel Chocolat goodies.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

November 26, 2013

So What is The Elf on the Shelf? The Latest Christmas Tradition to Spring from The States.

November 26, 2013/ Claire Spence

I first saw the words, 'Elf on the Shelf' when an ex-school chum, fellow mum was discussing Christmas traditions. The Elf on the Shelf describes itself as a tradition, but it's still a budding one, especially in the UK where I hadn't heard of it at all. All good traditions have to start somewhere though, and whilst I recognise the sneakiness of trying to sell a specific toy and book set (£29.99 on Amazon), the Elf on the Shelf concept in itself is pretty magical, and can be done super cheap (I picked up an elf in Card Factory for 99p today).

Our son has just turned six, so I fear this game might only work for him this year, so I plan to make the most of it.

As the rules go, the Elf appears the day after Thanksgiving, and watches on behalf of Santa for naughty or nice behaviour, reporting back to the North Pole each night. In the morning the Elf is back, in a new mystery location within your home. The fun comes from finding comical or clever situations for Elf to be found in each morning. As the UK is a good couple of years behind on this, there's already a wealth of ideas online thanks to America's Mummy Bloggers sharing their creativity and Elf gimmick ideas.

So, anyone else fancy giving the Elf entrance this Christmas 2013? Let me know on Twitter, I'm @rudedoodle. Click the link to my Instagram beside my blog header to follow me and watch where I place our Elf every morning.