Christmas Cards Raising Money for School

This year I arranged for my girls school to raise some money by getting the children's art work turned into Christmas cards. For some reason up until now the PTA hasn't been doing this easy money spinner.

The artwork is normally done during school time as part of a lesson but the trouble with this when having twins is that you get two pictures looking pretty very similar. So in an effort to create some individuality I decided to make some alternative pictures at home.

As usual I left everything until the last minute and had to madly get the three of them to create their masterpieces after school last night. Not the best way to go about things and it certainly did nothing to alleviate my stress levels but I think the girls did a great job!

I'll let you know how they turned out in a few weeks time.

Who do your school/nursery use? We used APFS (Art Projects For Schools) who are not the cheapest but they were the company the girls nursery used. I'd be interested in other peoples experience so I can look around for next year!

Details on what the girls used and how they made their pictures can be found on my crafty blog.

The Santa Letters Have Begun

Whilst 'A' was down stairs having a good old boogie with me on the Wii this afternoon, 'R'  was upstairs getting 'T' to write her a letter to Father Christmas ...

Dear Farver Crismers
I wood like a new Ariel doll, Hallow kittie and can I have a new little cape for Mr Moo. and can I have a new robot dog wat is a girl.
Love from R

'T' then came down and showed me her letter

Dear Farver Crismers
I wood like some dockter who lego and a new pony riding hat. and can I have a new pot of crayons. and can I have a new per of bike gloves
Love From T. I love you

'A' hasn't written her letter yet.

She did inform me as I tucked her into bed this evening that she would like a phone like mine so she can play angry birds and a DS!!!

The Adventures of the 'Tiddly Reindeer'

I'm a big fan of Hotel Chocolat and I've bought various treats and presents from them over the years.

My girls tend to get a either a snowman, reindeer or Santa as part of their Christmas stocking which they love but it takes ages for them to eat (we're talking weeks) and often results in the Mr Dad or myself sadly having to eat the remains a few weeks later. It's tough being a parent!

So when I had the opportunity to review one of Hotel Chocolat's Christmas products from their 2011 collection I decided to choose the box of 'Tiddly Reindeer' as a possible stocking filler for this year.

What do you get for your £5.50? A rather splendid red box (perfect for some after chocolate crafting) filled with 8 very cute, yummy milk chocolate Reindeer. One of these is just the right size to give to the girls, although as you'll read later if you where to ask them they'd say two each was just fine!

Introductions over, I then set about orchestrating my kids in readiness for my review snaps.

Now at this point I would  have liked to have been able to post some rather stunning photographs of the chocolate reindeer and my gorgeous girls. But my cunning planning was thwarted by an uninvited chocolate thief!

There I was camera in hand ready to capture the choccy look of delight on my kids when my eldest mumbled and pointed in the direction of the remaining reindeer.

'SQUIR'...chomp, chomp ... 'REL' ...chomp chomp ...

Our sneaky neighbourly squirrel had grabbed a 'Tiddly Reindeer' and sat down just out of throttling distance to mockingly enjoy its bounty. With my attention now focused on the chocolate chomping squirrel, the girls decided to make the most of this opportune moment and promptly stuffed another 'Tiddly' in their mouths!

Girls in hysterics, squirrel flying through the trees and Mumma? Well I was just a tiny bit peeved!

So would I recommend these. Well based on the happy faces of 3 children and one squirrel the answer is yes!

I think they're a lovely stocking filler for kids (or adults for that matter). The chocolate tastes divine. Not too sweet with a lovely creamy texture and best of all it's nice and chunky ...the kind of chocolate you have to bite a hunk off.

As well as their website you can also find out more about Hotel Chocolat via Facebook and Twitter. Go take a look it's so easy to order online and send direct to the person in question. As part of the options you can select the date you want the gift to arrive on and add a personalised message.


Oh by the way, there was one 'Tiddly Reindeer' left and that was mine ... all mine!!

I was not paid to write this review but was given the box of 'Tiddly Reindeer' to try for free. All words, thought and taste sensations in this post are my own