Do you dread the school summer holidays, or count down the days until you’re free of the school routine?

Strangely, I used to dread the school holidays before my children started school. Last September my youngest started nursery at the same time that my eldest started Big School but prior to that we used to have a tightly balanced weekly routine that involved swimming lessons, mums and toddler groups and playgroup, and I never understood why all those activities for pre-schoolers would grind to a halt during the school holidays. It seemed kind of cruel at the time, but I now realise it’s probably to allow parents a well-earned break, especially in case of them having older children.

But when my boys were fully ensconced in the school routine, I'd been looking forward to the holidays for weeks. I'd been delighted at the prospect of not having to launder uniforms, make packed lunches, or supervise homework. I couldn’t wait to abandon the pressure of the morning routine and school run in favour of lounging in our PJ’s still lunchtime. And best of all I was looking forward to a more relaxed pace of life, with days spent on the beach or in the playpark, instead of regimented round the clock.

But once the holidays struck, they didn’t quite live up to my expectations. Unused to spending hours at home together, my boys started squabbling much more than usual, and the house turned into a tip almost overnight. Without my child-free hours to dedicate to work, I struggled to make the transition from working mum to full-time parent, and ended up snappy and short-tempered. I knew something had to change when I found myself hiding in the bathroom, drowning out the whining and hoping no-one would track me down for at least three peaceful minutes. At that point, I decided to take charge and ensure we have a summer of fun instead of nine long weeks of misery, so here are my top five tips for summer fun:

1. Clear out the toys.

In my experience, the more stuff children have to play with, the harder they find it to know what to play with. Getting rid of all the broken stuff or toys that my boys have grown out of and paring their bounty back to a few beloved items rather than piles of junk has really helped them get into the groove of playing together at home. They get so used to the structure and routine of school that having completely free reign at home can actually be really hard for them to handle. Try setting up an art table or a train set or wendy house - anything that looks inviting and encourages them to start playing instead of sitting around squabbling or moaning that they’re bored.

2. Make one good investment.

For less than a tenner each I bought my boys a superhero costume as their summer holiday play treat. It’s the very first thing they look for when they open their eyes in the morning, and ensures hours of cheap, imaginative playtime. They know this is my treat to them for the summer so they won’t beg for toys every time we go to Asda, but the novelty value of something new helped inject new life into their play. It doesn’t have to be pricy and it can even be something you make together, but somehow setting something up as THE summer holiday play item helps focus their attention when they’re kicking their heels and trying to work out how to spend all that free time that they’re not used to.

3. Get outside.

We have a 10 o’clock rule in our house. We have to have left the house every day by 10am. Generally we just go for a walk into town or to the beach and my boys ride their bikes and dress themselves (in the superhero costumes, naturally) so getting out of the house in the morning is still a leisurely affair, but I find that getting up and out, having some exercise and some fresh air stops them going stir crazy. They’re usually well in need of a rest and some down-time when we get home which makes for a relaxed lunch, and after that they’re usually raring to go again, but it just splits the day up and stops us all having cabin fever.

4. Take some time to think about what you want out of the holidays.

Personally, when September rolls around I want to know that I’ve spent some serious time bonding and having fun with my boys. I want them to remember me hanging out with them during the holidays, not getting bogged down with housework or juggling my work. It takes some serious commitment to follow through on those intentions, but writing them down and even talking about them as a family can help crystalize your sense of what’s important to you all.

5. Get creative.

Even if a holiday isn’t in your budget this year, you can still have plenty of fun on your very own Staycation. Sleep in a tent in the backgarden, embark on a family summer-long art project or make Friday nights picnic time. It’s amazingly easy to create fantastic family memories even on the tightest of budgets - it just takes some thought and planning, so dream big. Make a pot of tea, sit down with your calendar and a notebook and plan in some top notch family fun before the weeks run away with you and you realise it’s already back to school time.

Above all else, enjoy the holidays! They can be a really stressful time and tempers can all too easily get frayed but if you prioritise even ten minutes for yourself every single day, you’ll find your capacity increases and you’ll have more energy to direct everyone else towards a fun-filled school holiday. It doesn’t matter whether you sit with a pot of tea in the garden before everyone else is up, or soak in the bath with a glass of wine at the end of the day - just remember that parents are people too, and if you take care of yourself this summer, you’ll have more energy for taking care of everyone else.

It looks like Dannii Minogue is happy to keep on working with less than three months to go until the birth of her first baby.

The X Factor judge unveiled her own fashion line, called Project D at London's Selfridges store earlier this week.

Dannii wore one of the dresses from her label for the launch - a snazzy black sequinned number which didn't need to be adapted to accommodate her bump.

She told the Daily Mail:

"This one's stretched sequin thankfully so it goes over the bump."

"Being pregnant has completely opened my mind to having to really try different shapes and things I haven't worn before."

"You've got to dress cleverly around it but I've managed to get into my dresses without any alterations."

Dannii's Project D frocks range in price from £210 to £485 and includes day dresses, cocktail chic and red-carpet-ready dresses. Glam though they might be, I don't think they'll be making it onto PlayPennies deal posts!

Meanwhile Denise Van Outen keeps on dazzling us with her pregnancy glow.

The first-time-mum-to-be is expecting a daughter next month.

By the looks of things, Denise is busy enjoying some retail therapy while she counts down to the big day.

Looking forward to kissing goodbye to maternity wear and getting back into some killer heels, perhaps?

We reckon she's been rocking the expectant Mama look.

But if she's in the market for some post-pregnancy clothes, maybe she should check out Dannii's new line?

Today I'm treating you all to two reviews for the price of one! How's that for a bargain, eh?!

First up, which laundry detergent do you use? I know some folks who swear by one single brand and who would never dream of being disloyal, and others who prioritise price above all else and who shop around to get the best deal on their detergent, with little regard for who makes it or what the label looks like.

I was raised a Persil girl but I'm happy to shop around for whatever's on offer and have found that Asda's own brand of detergents are pretty good. It's amazing, isn't it, how brand loyalty changes when you become a parent and you find yourself doing a zillion more loads of laundry than ever before?! Having once suffered an allergic reaction to another brand, I do feel I can trust Persil's Non-Bio  version of detergent and if I'm buying Persil I usually opt for the squidgy caplets which seem to do the job.

But when someone recently asked me to sample Persil Small and Mighty for the purposes of this review, I'll admit I was a bit dubious.  I'm perfectly happy with my usual Persil caplets so couldn't really see the point in another Persil option. I've always thought the product seemed on the pricey side for what seems to amount to a smaller bottle, too. In other words it was with some reluctance that I tried out Small and Mighty but I admit; I'm a convert.

Persil Small and Mighty is 2 x concentrated. That means it's kinder to the environment as it uses half the water, half the packaging and half the lorries used to transport the product compared with regular non-concentrated washing detergents; supposedly without compromising on the quality of the wash.

I'm told (by Persil, of course) that since its launch, Small & Mighty has saved 91 million litres of water in Europe alone, enough to fill 605,000 bath tubs. The plastic saved is the equivalent to the amount that would be used to make 590 million plastic bags.

It's available in Biological, Non-Biological, and Colour Care varieties, and is made with pre-treating agents so you can still get good results at low temperatures.  The easy-to-use, no fuss measuring cap is also designed to help ensure correct dosages, to help keep your wash load efficient. I like that, and loathe cheaper alternatives which are impossible to use without dribbling wasted drops of detergent down the sides of the bottle.

I think Persil Small and Mighty actually lives up to all that hype, too. I tried it on a low temperature and a short, economical wash and even my son's grass-stained trackie bottoms came out looking clean, and smelling divine. It has that unmistakable Persil whiff of wonder that I associate with piles of deliciously fresh laundry. So if you're looking for an economical option when it comes to laundry detergent I can happily recommend giving Persil Small and Mighty a go.

I've revised my thinking on the price, too. I've just checked the price and it's currently £6.84 at Asda for the large 1.47 litre bottle which is enough for 42 washes. Compare that with the £5.98 you'd spend on Non-Bio liquid capsules which will stretch to 20 washes, and you can see that Small and Mighty is the more economical option of the two. The small bottle is deceptive and you need to remember that the concentrated formula means it goes further.

However there are cheaper detergents out there, it has to be said. Asda's own alternative is more than half the price at £3 (although it only promises 28 washes) but admittedly two bottles of Asda's version will set you back less moolah but get more washing done than Persil Small and Mighty. But whether it performs as well as Small and Mighty is another issue, and of course in buying two bottles you've got twice the packaging. I think I'll be inclined to stock up on Small and Mighty whenever I spot it on offer at my local supermarket. I probably wouldn't choose it over another brand if the other brand was on offer but as a reliable, eco-friendly and economical option, Persil Small and Mighty gets my vote.

Now talking of economical consumer choices, wouldn't it be brilliant if you could buy a single cup to take your baby from weaing right through to toddlerdom without having to shell out on several different cups for each stage of development. You know what I'm going to say, don't you: now you can.

Brother Max was created by Jonathon, a product designer and dad of two. The idea for the products came from his first hand experience of being a dad and wondering why there were so few products available that would make the family's life easier and quicker so that they could focus on the important things in life, like playing with the kids!

Cue an innovative range of products, including the 4-in-1 cup which strikes me as a revelation in baby cup design. It converts in 4 ways, cutting out the need for different staged cups, therefore saving money in the long run.

The RSP is £5.99 and it is available at John Lewis, Mothercare, Kiddicare.com, Amazon.co.uk, Blooming Marvellous, JoJo Maman Bébé and leading independent nursery retailers.

I'd never heard of PlayMais until a box of the stuff arrived for my sons and I to sample for this review.

In case you've never heard of it either, it's basically an eco-friendly fun new modelling material. You can play with it, build with it, create with it, and technically you can even eat it, although why anyone would want to do that us beyond me!

Here's what the PR blurb says: "PlayMais is a revolutionary craft toy using 100% natural ingredients.  Sweetcorn and plant dyes are moulded into colourful building material, which, using just a dab of water, stick to each other. Like all simple ideas, its brilliant! Once you start you can’t stop – this is THE ideal crafting toy for young artists!"

PlayMais is fully biodegradable and eco-friendly, as is all of the packaging and box contents too – even the cutting tool in each pack is made from the cornstarch. (Although mine arrived in swathes of bubble wrap which probably slightly undermined the eco-friendly nature of the contents!)

PlayMais has  won awards in its native country Germany, and has won acclaim from UK toy manufacturers too, including the NATLL Good Toy Awards, the ToyTalk Awards, Creative Play and Bizzie Baby Awards.

PlayMais is available in a variety of sizes and themes.  Generic boxes come in sizes M to XL, whilst the themed packs include Animal Farm, Pirates, Circus, African Jungle, Fantasy House, Castle and Sea World.  There are also two new Disney additions to complete the collection – Disney Princess and My Friends Tigger and Pooh.

It's ideal for mess-free modelling as no glue is required and just a small amount of water activates the natural starch in the maize to form a glue which will stick to many surfaces including paper, card, glass and other pieces of PlayMais. PlayMais is easily cut with a gentle sawing action using a serated picnic knife - so safety and learning is combined with creativity.

Here's what one PlayPennies parent had to say about her sample of PlayMais:

"I love PlayMais. I bought a very small packet last Autumn and we had a lot of fun back then. So when the opportunity arose for me to review some I knew we'd have a lot of fun and it's not too messy."

"The packaging isn't great - the design is very nice but the cardboard box is thin and not sealed well at the bottom and promptly fell open on me and I dropped a whole heap of them on the floor! Playmais are very similar to the packing materials you get when you get a parcel and they fill in the extra spaces. Except they are colourful and as they are made from Maize, semolina and water if you child decides they look tasty then you don't need to worry!"

You need a sponge which you wet, then you get some Playmais and dab it on the sponge and then stick to paper or one of the templates they come with. I had an ocean theme. It dries really quickly and within minutes you have award winning art, it's great for the ages of about 15 months to 10 years I would imagine! My children are 4 and nearly 2 and they love it."

"After we had created an ocean with grassy and coral reefs, we attempted to make an octopus, which was a good attempt  but looked nothing like the picture! The instructions are really easy to follow, it comes with a little serrated plastic knife which you can use to cut angles into the playmais, although personally I found scissors easier."

"We also got a massive sheet of paper about two feet and created a landscape picture with houses and trees. This was a lot of fun and your imagination is your only limit. This product is great value and really keeps the older children occupied for ages. My daughter happily played with it for an hour and then came back and did more later on. The next morning she was all 'PlayMais, PlayMais!'"

"Having had it in the past I can say that once playmais is stuck to the paper it's stuck for a long time and we still have a picture we made 6 months ago. But if by chance your tot decides to stick them to the kitchen cupboards don't fear they come off and wipe down easily!"

Personally I though the concept of PlayMais was brilliant but the  box we received was too complicated for my children, who are 3 and 5 years old. They absolutely adored playing with it and loved the thought of making a pirate ship complete with dastardly pirate crew, but there's no way they could make the models by themselves and having an adult do it for them defeated the purpose. Eventually they tired of the model making instructions and just started sticking the PlayMais onto pieces of paper, which made for hours of fun. I love that this is an  eco-friendly toy and that it doesn't matter if they decide to sample the taste of PlayMais but for younger children I'd recommend just buying a standard  box of PlayMais pieces instead of one of these model making kits - it'll be a cheaper alternative, and less stressful as you won't have little people pestering you to make them a pirate but can kick back and relax while thet let their imaginations run riot.

Nataliya's final thoughts on PlayMais are as follows:

Pros:-

• Hours of fun for you and your child
• Safe and environmentally friendly
• No glue required!
• You can learn your colours as you create
• It's a unique way to create arty pictures for family especially the grandparents!
• Easy to clean up

Cons

• Packaging a little thin
• If it gets to wet gets very sticky and will stick to anything!
• Hard to recreate the possible sculptures from the instruction book

Overall PlayMais is an unusual, innovative biodegradable and eco-friendly toy which we would recommend. Check out Amazon for prices and do let us know your verdict if you decide to try some out!

Gwyneth Paltrow was recently snapped out and about with her children, Apple and Moses.

Gwyneth recently spoke publicly about her experience of post-natal depression, and pulled out of her latest film in order to spend more time with her family.

And if that wasn't candid enough, she reportedly said this in an interview with Vogue about her tendency towards obssessive behaviour recently, too:

"Sometimes I think I'll have to check myself into a mental asylum, it gets so bad. I hate myself for it. It's like, what's wrong? Relax."

Yeah, relax Gwyneth. We think you sound refreshingly normal!

Saving money isn't always synonymous with fun. Some of the PlayPennies team were chatting about this recently. Sometimes money-saving tips and tricks can seem a bit, well, dull, and if you're sticking to a really tight budget it's easy to feel like fun is always just beyond your means.

So we scratched our heads and chewed on the ends of our pencils and brainstormed a bit until we came up with some fun ways of saving money. So how do you like the sound of saving money, having fun AND being able to eat the end results?

According to the Royal Horticultural Society, increasing numbers of us are turning to our gardens instead of our grocery stores in search of affordable food, in a bid to keep our monthly food bills to a minimum.

The Independent newspaper had this to say on the subject earlier this month;

"With the force of the recession still being felt, increasing numbers of homeowners are turning green-fingered as a means of keeping their food bills down. In the past month alone 25,000 of them have signed up to an RHS pledge to grow more of their own. Over the past three years, more than 750,000 people have contacted the society asking for information on how to grow fruit and vegetables. Interest is at such a level that the RHS, which runs the Chelsea Flower Show, is launching a smartphone application to help amateur gardeners."

But can you really save money by growing your own grub? Well, yes,  if you focus on relativeley inexpensive fruits, vegetables and seeds such as tomatoes, herbs,  carrots, potatoes and strawberries. You might have to shell out in the short term to get the necessary kit but even that doesn't have to be expensive - a yoghurt pot and a packet of cress seeds is a brilliant start, especially for kids.

To get you started, check out the One Pot Pledge®. It's an exciting new grow your own campaign from leading gardening charity Garden Organic. Their aim is to get 30,000 people who have never grown anything before to give growing a go.

The Get Growing page on their website has some absolutely brilliant resources to get you started. There are 10 different PDF files that you can download completely free of charge, which tell you everything you need to know about growing 10 different fruits and veg, all of which are easy for beginners to get stuck in with.

All your questions will be answered, and the information is really comprehensive, covering whether you're growing plants from seeds or from seedlings, what kind of pots to use, and how to care, maintain and harvest your handiwork.

Suttons do some lovely seeds and How To Grow packs for little gardeners and most supermarkets do their own range of garden related items, with lots of ranges just for kids. For example, Marks and Spencers do a lovely Grow Your Own Strawberries set and at £8 it's quite competitively priced. We recently bought a set of 6 strawberry plants for £9 from our local garden centre. Argos also do an Unwins one for £4.99, down from £7.99.

Look out for seeds and related gardening accesories at your local pound shop too. The BBC's Gardening with Children Guide is also worth a look.

You don't need a greenhouse or even a garden to be a gardener. And there are few more money-saving pleasures in life than picking items to eat from your own kitchen garden, whether it's from the greenhouse, vegetable patch or pots on your windowsills.

If the thought of growing your own grub tickles your fancy and you're going to be anywhere near sunny Surrey this weekend, check out the Crocus Open Day for more inspiration! It's open from 9.30am until 4.30pm on Sunday 24th April and the first 50 people through the door will get a free plant and a cup of tea! We've been told it'll be a lot of fun and that there will be plenty of bargains to be had...

Ooh, it's not often I'm right, but I'm right!

Remember my prediction that England footballer Joe Cole and wife Carly were keeping their baby daughter under wraps because of an exclusive deal with a glossy mag?

Well, Ruby Tatiana Cole is proudly presented in the current edition of Hello! magazine. Very cute she is, too.

Personal trainer Carly says she left the decision about their daughter's name up to husband Joe, as a thank you for his support during her labour, which last 16 hours.

I wonder if Denise van Outen will be doing the same, when her babe arrives?

With only 2 weeks to go until her due date, Denise is still rocking the groovy Mama-to-be look.

She's also still hard at work and today launches the npower Climate Cops Green Fingers Campaign.

It's a scheme to help primary school children understand environmental issues, with the chance to win a growing makeover for their school, worth £5000.

Denise and husband Lee Mead are said to be expecting a little girl and in a recent interview with Closer magazine she claimed she is in no rush to get back into her pre-pregnancy clothes; "Luckily I haven’t ballooned during pregnancy. I still go power walking three times a week with my personal trainer Nicki Waterman. Although I want to get back into shape gently, there are a couple of things in my diary that I would like to look nice for – I’ve got David Walliams’ wedding a couple of weeks after the birth."

If you're looking for a book for a pressie for someone special, or just as a little indulgence for yourself, Octopus Publishing has some treats in store for you. So some of the PlayPennies team took it upon themselves to those treats on behalf of PlayPennies parents, and here's our verdict...

200 cupcakes

Now this really was a treat. I'm a huge fan of recipe books and love reading them in bed almost as much as I love cooking from them. There's something deliciously comforting about reading recipes when you're at your most relaxed - and this book of 200 cupcake recipes was the ultimate indulgence.

At just £4.99 it's a huge bargain - and works out as the equivalent of paying a couple of pence per recipe! The recipes are astonishingly varied, and split helpfully into categories covering everyday cupcakes (I love the thought of cupcakes as a daily occurence!), chocolate cupcakes, cupcakes for kids, savoury cupcakes and cupcakes for special occasions. In fact, what this book doesn't cover when it comes to cupcakes probably isn't worth knowing.

There's a helpful introduction to baking cupcakes with loads of practical hints and tips for doing so, as well as recipes for three different kinds of frosting and information about various different decoration options.

The savoury recipes are especially yum - I've never tried any of them before, or even heard of them in fact, and I can't wait to try out the spicy cheese and parsnip muffins or the parmesan and pancetta cupcakes.The goat's cheese and tomato cakes and the red pepper pine nut cupcakes look amazing too, and the photographs are so vivid that I swear I thought I could smell freshly baked cupcake feasts as I was reading.

I really like the fact that every single recipe is accompanied by a photograph. I hate attempting a new recipe with no idea of what I'm aiming at in terms of how it should look, and the recipes seem to come alive in the stunning pictures. My children also adore this book and can leaf through looking at the pictures in amazement for ages. Any recipe book that gets little boys enthusing about food is a winner, in my book.

All the recipes seem straightforward - there's nothing terrifying about any of them, and most of them have a preparation time of between 15 and 34 minutes, with a similar cooking time.

Every single recipe ends with an alternative option too, so if you want to try one particular cupcake, like the chocolate peanut cupcakes but are worried about peanut allergies, you can opt for the alternative chocolate jaffa cupcakes.

For me this is an indispensable addition to my recipe book collection, and one that I know will be seriously well-thumbed in no time. This is an impressively comprehensive book and one I expected to be twice the price that it is. Even if it were a tenner or more, I'd still consider it good value, and money well spent.

Tamsin sampled 501 Days Out for Kids in the UK & Ireland and had this to say:

"The book is really bulky and heavy so it's definitely not for taking with you on your great adventures across the UK and Ireland. I didn't like the fact that the contents page didn't have page numbers allocated for each county. It simply says England or Wales or Ireland. So if you live in Essex then you have to either thumb through the book or locate the relevant region in the index. Not exactly a major chore, I know, but it would have been nice to instantly find the area I wanted."

On the upside, Tamsin says the book comes with a clever key that breaks adventures down into recognisable formats such as a Sun icon for "best enjoyed on a fine day" or a 365 icon for "these days can be enjoyed at any time of the year."  This met with her approval; "Considering that I'm often struggling with a place to take my daughter when its pouring with rain outside, the fact that the book has plenty of indoor related activities at decent prices is a good thing. Certainly there are a ton of places in my area that I didn't know about, and many of them are for free. I also think that the fact that they tell you what kind of costs you're looking at, what not to miss, the best time to go and what you should know about the area is a big plus."

At £9.99 Tamsin felt this book was well worth the price for all the free days out to be found, and she also liked that the book thinks ahead on your behalf; "Oh, and the fact that they always tell you how much walking you can expect - especially important for parents who don't relish the idea of carrying their offspring for miles and miles. It definitely has thought of what you need to plan ahead."

Tamsin also reviewed Lorraine Kelly On Looking Great. Here's her verdict:

"She won me over because she wasn't skinny. Thank you! I am heartily fed up with starving women telling me how to look beautiful. The book is broken down into sections such as healthy eating, exercise, looking great and staying healthy. "

"The first section has detailed information on what vitamins do, which ones do what and why, as well as their sources. You also get info on superfoods, bad foods and more. I like the recipes such as buckwheat pancakes and baked apples. Healthy and yummy - my kind of food."

"She also has a diet plan along with advice on how to formulate your own. They did get a skinny bint to do the exercise photos - pah. The exercises are clearly explained but obvious, for me anyway. I think that most women would have read these elsewhere and they aren't really essential. However, as a complete package book they are a good extra. It seems to cover all the bases for anyone wanting to start out on a new healthy regime."

So there you are. Lots of lovely inspiration for your book shopping. On that note I'm off to bake some strawberry marguerita cupcakes, complete with tequila. Cheers!

The celebrity rumour mill is in overdrive with speculation that Victoria and David Beckham are hoping to hear the patter of more tiny feet in their household in the not-too-distant future.

According to various reports, Victoria has David on a strict, um, regime, to ensure that she falls pregnant.

I don't know how the papers reckon they know this stuff, but they're all saying the star couple had planned to try for a baby after the World Cup but have brought their plans forward due to David being ruled out of the World Cup because of his injury.

Watch this space to find out if it's going to be a Party of Five for the Beckhams this year...

Also in the world of celebs and their babies, Gwyneth Paltrow has reportedly pulled out of her latest film in favour of spending more time with her family.

The Daily Mail had this to say on the subject:

"The 37-year-old has just finished shooting Love Don't Let Me Down in Tennessee and was to start work on the new film with Nicole Kidman.

But Gwyneth, who has two children with Chris Martin, dropped out, saying: 'Some days I feel like everyone in my world has plugged themselves into my kidneys. I'm so tired.'

A spokesman said: 'Chris and Gwyneth have spent a lot of time apart. This way she gets more family time.'

Gwyneth told Harper's Bazaar that her husband's reaction to her decision had made her appreciate him more.

'When I pulled out, he said, "I think you'll be happy with your decision." I really lucked out with him,' she said.

'He's deeply lovely and special.'"

All together now: Ahhhhhh...

Oh, this brings back memories. Other 70's kids might remember the craze for making friendship bracelets - and now you can pass the retro love onto the next generation with this fab kit for making friendship bracelets, reduced from £7.99 to £4.99 at Play.com now.

• Click here to check it out

Included in the kit is everything you need for hours of friendship bracelet fun, plus a funky tin to keep your creative bits and pieces in one safe place.

There doesn't seem to be an age guide for this item but I must have been about 11 years old when I got obsessed with making friendship bracelets. The thing I love about this set is that it looks as though it comes with safety pins too - when I was a kid the cool thing to do was pin your work-in-progress to your jeans around about your knee so that the whole thing was secure while you worked away at it, so it's a cute touch that they've got the safety pins included for that purpose.

I think this would make a sweet gift for a little girl with a love of crafting, or if you remember making friendship bracelets when you were a kid as fondly as I do, why not indulge in a little you-time with a retro twist? I am tempted to click on 'buy' as I type this...

Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney is an absolute classic tale for children, and this special Spring edition is just lovely. It's also a lovely price, down to £2.99 from £4.99 at Play.com now.

• Click here to check it out

It's spring and Little Nutbrown Hare learns how things grow - a tadpole into a frog, a shoot into a big tree. And if everything grows and changes, can Little Nutbrown Hare guess what he might grow into one day?

I haven't clapped eyes on this particular board book but my boys have the original version which they've loved since they were tiny - and they still love having it read to them at bedtime. I think the Spring version of Guess How Much I Love You seems like an ideal gift for a Spring baby, if you happen to know someone with one on the way!

Ooh, and it turns out that you can also get a Summer, Autumn, and Winter version of this book and Play.com are offering a set of all four seasons in a slipcase for £5.99, down from £12.99 - so if Spring appeals, you might as well spend an extra £3 and get the whole year covered with all four books!

If nappies are one of your weekly household essentials, check out your local branch of the Co-op for Pampers Easy Up Pants, which are reduced in-store from £5.99 to £2.99 now.

• Click here to find your local Co-op store

Pampers Easy Up Pants are handy for toddlers on the move who are either embarking on potty-training or not quite ready to take that step. Persuading a busy tot to lie down for a nappy change is no fun for anyone, so these allow for swift nappy changes with minimum interruption.

There is some debate among parents as to whether this type of training nappy helps or hinders when it comes to potty-training but at £2.99 for a packet it's a good time to pick them up if you've thought about giving them a try.

This promotion runs until the 4th of May but obviously there's no guaranteeing what stock will be available in at your local store at any given time - worth popping in and out over the next few weeks if this deal appeals. While you're there, don't forget to sign up for a membership card to get even more bang for your buck, and help change the world, too. Now that's a bargain.

Thanks to lucerysmum at HUKD

Fans of Alvin and the Chipmunks will love this. www.blahdvd.com are offering Alvin and the Chipmunks 1 and 2 on DVD together for £14.95 instead of £22.99, saving you over £8.00.

• Click here to check out the chipmunks

I was just surfing around comparing some prices on movies for kids and families to find the best deal when I stumbled across this. It is a few pence cheaper at Amazon but the price often changes there, and if you buy from blahdvd.com you can earn 60 maximiles to add more value to your online shopping.

Plus, if you join Maximiles through blahdvd.com you will receive a bonus 80 maximiles without spending a thing. Your Maximiles can be spent on thousands of free gifts, from all you favourite tracks o books, something for your house, the latest electronics and even trips around the world! UK delivery is also free.

Check out their toy deals of the week too, if you're in the mood for a spot of toy shopping...

Not being a gamer I'm not too sure where to start with this deal but Gamestation, apparently the fastest growing retailer of video and computer games in the UK, have dropped us a line to tell us about their Easter sale, which is still on. It's your last chance to grab a game bargain from as little as £4.98.

• Click here to check out the sale

In-store, Gamestation also offer a 'steal of the week' such as pre-owned Nintendo or Playstations that are sold at much cheaper prices.  And if you've got old games consoles lying around that are no longer flavour of the month, you can hand them  in to Gamestation to earn extra cash. Find your local store here: www.gamestation.co.uk/Help/StoreFinder

There is also free UK delivery on all online purchases. I've done a quick comparison of prices and they're offering Ice Age and Ice Age 2 on UMD for £4.98 with free delivery, so if you're a PSP owner looking for something to entertain little people on a long journey, Gamestation might be worth a look.

Have you discovered Savers? The health, beauty and home store have a range of trusted household and beauty brands at better prices, meaning you can indulge without compromising your budget.

• Click here to take a look at Savers

Many parents want branded products they know they can trust and don’t want to deviate when it comes to their precious little ones. But big names usually come with bigger prices tags. At Savers – who were voted number one for price by the Verdict Consumer Satisfaction Index for UK Personal Care 2009 - you can pick up the likes of Pampers, Huggies, Johnson & Johnson and many more at bargain prices, so you needn’t compromise on choice or lifestyle when it comes to cost.

Shopping around to save on everyday essentials is a basic money-saving trick, as Playpennies parents know, and Savers could be worth a look for items like wipes, nappies, medication and basic beauty products at better prices.

Here are a few of the current offers in-store:

• Huggies Everyday Wipes  just 79p (RRP £1)
• Pampers Simply Dry Maxi Nappies (26 pack) for just £2.99 (RRP £3.99)
• Johnsons Baby Wipes (64 pack) for a credit crunch busting £1 (RRP £2.39)

There are 230 Savers stores throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland so you can pick up all your favourite brands at bargain prices.

To find your nearest store visit www.savers.co.uk or call 0800 107 8495.

Focus DIY have launched a new range of paints - World of Colour - and are offering 3 for 2 on all coloured emulsions in store until April 25th.

• Click here to find your nearest store

This could save you a minimum of £10.99, and if you're expecting a little one soon it could be perfect timing if there's a nursery to be decorated!

There are 55 matt and silk shades to choose from in the World Of Colour range which is normally priced at 2.5 litres for £10.99 and 5 litres for  £18.99. Obviously the more tins you buy, the greater the saving so this could offer could be just the incentive you need to get those paintbrushes out while there are savings to be had.

Visit www.focusdiy.co.uk for more information.

Promotional packets of Green's cake mixes are currently offering FREE kids tickets to top family attractions across the country, including LEGOLAND, Chessington World of Adventures and Warwick Castle. You can save up to £28 per child on great family days out.

• Click here to take a closer look at Green's

From April to September 2010, pick up a pack of selected Green’s cake mixes from just £1.49 giving free child entry (*with a full paying adult) to LEGOLAND Windsor, the new LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Manchester, Chessington World of Adventures, Warwick Castle or your nearest Sea Life Centre.

For your voucher just pick up a pack of fun kids baking mixes such as Tom and Jerry, Dora the Explorer, Thomas the Tank Engine and Dennis the Menace. Plus, for the adults Green’s have also included some of their family favourites in the offer so you can indulge in the Velvety Cheesecake, Lemon Meringue Crunch or Butterfly Tops to satisfy your sweet tooth and your wallet! From just £1.49 each packet will include a free child coupon saving you up to £28 per child on favourite family attractions.

Head to Morrisons, Co-op, Asda, Somerfield, Tesco, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s while stocks last and let the baking bonanza begin!

And if that’s not enough, all Green’s kids cake mixes come with an action-packed activity sheet to entertain and collect, plus jam decorating tubes to really add the icing on the cake.

For more Baking News log onto www.greenscakes.co.uk and join Green’s free cake club today. The website is jam-packed with games to entertain and educate the little ones, top tips on party planning and all the latest deals!

QUICK! This Little Tikes Anniversary Edition Cozy Coupe Ride-On toy is down from £49.99 to £30.27 at Amazon right now, but they do love to change the prices over there so if you fancy one you probably need to snap it up fairly quickly.

• Click here to ride away your own cozy coupe

As outdoor toys go, this is an absolutely classic ride-on  outdoor toy that no self-respecting toddler group would be without. But this is a twist on the original Cozy Coupe because it comes to life in this friendly-faced 30th Anniversary Edition.

The Amazon blurb says this: "For generations--30 years--children have been taking adventure and imagination on the road with one of the original ride-on toys--the Cozy Coupe. Now this classic kid-powered car has a whole new look. It's designed with a high seat back and storage in the rear. This version includes a removable floor to protect the child's feet and a handle on back for parent-controlled push rides. It also has special features like an "ignition switch" and an open-and-close petrol cap. Cozy rolls on rugged, durable tyres and the front wheels spin 360 degrees."

This item is also likely to re-sell for a good price as a second-hand item. That is, if you can ever prise it away from your own little tikes!

This VTech First Steps Baby Walker is down from £25.00 to £15.00 at Asda Direct, now.

• Click here to walk away with this deal

According to Asda, this item supports and nurtures your baby's first steps. It features a detachable learning centre packed with activities,  shapes and light-up musical keys to help introduce your little one to letters, words, numbers, animals, colours, sing along songs and melodies. It also includes a phone with beads for noisy role-play, a moving butterfly, plus discs and rollers to develop manipulative skills.

The First Steps Baby Walker is suitable for children aged between 6 and 30 month and requires 3x AA batteries.

Confusingly, it also says the item has small parts and is therefore a choking hazard for children aged under 5 years old so I recommend either ringing Asda to query this, or ensuring that the toy is not played with unsupervised, if you're concerned.

With thanks to Natz85 at HUKD

There is so much debate in the media about how to combine a career with being a Mum, and it can be confusing to know what’s ‘best’ when making decisions about fitting work around family life.

The good news is that more and more Mums are finding creative ways to juggle earning a living with raising children. Indeed, if you’re looking for flexible work that can be done part-time and even from home, there is a growing number of resources out there to help you create a family-friendly working life. The trick is knowing where to find them. So we’ve done the hard work for you and have put together a quick guide to some of the best sites and resources for working Mums.

1. www.motheratwork.co.uk

Motheratwork.co.uk was founded by Denise Tyler, a mum and PR consultant who struggled to find answers to her questions about being a working mum when her daughter was small. Denise says:

“I was a self-employed working mother which is quite a tricky thing to juggle and I tried to find information and advice, not so much about facts like what I was entitled to but just friendly advice from other working mums, and I literally couldn’t find anything so I thought I’d start a website and see what happens. It just took off and until then I had no idea quite how many women were in a similar situation who just felt a bit lost and a bit isolated.”

The emphasis at mother@work is on helping Mums to ease into the transition between having a job and being a Mum. The site is packed full of resources, up-to-date information relevant to working parents and there’s also a community element with a forum where parents can post questions or queries and get supprort and feedback from other parents.

The site covers everything from health matters, business issues and work-life balance advice through to tips about juggling work and home, and handling childcare issues.  “It covers pretty much the main aspects of a working mother’s life but is relevant to all kinds of Mums, and Dads too,” says Denise.

2. www.helpforbusymums.com

Help For Busy Mums is a site run by a life coach who specialises in helping mums to juggle their many commitments and responsibilities, and make time for fun, too. Founder Diana and her husband Steve have seven children between them, so she knows what she's talking about when it comes to being a busy Mum! She offers online (email and Skype), telephone and face-to-face consulations including a free initial consultation to find out more about her work and how she might be able to help put together a coaching programme to fit your time and budget. Drop her a line at diana@helpforbusymums.com if that sounds appealing!

Alternatively you can sign up for Diana's monthyl Busy Mums bulletin, offering time-saving tips and free online workshops that promise to help you stay on top of life.

3. www.familyfriendlyworking.co.uk

Family Friendly Working is run by Mum and PR consultant Antonia Chitty. Her site is aimed at mums who:

# ~ have a job, but feel fed up with trying to do too much in too little time
# ~ feel torn between work and spending time with your children
# ~ dream of being a mumpreneur
# ~ would love to find work that fits in with the family
# ~ are running their own business and want resources and support

Antonia's blog offers loads of helpful hints and tips for working mums and the Franchises and Party Plan Directory lists lots of family-friendly job opportunities

Antonia is mum to Daisy, 7, and Jay, 4 and baby Kit. She says  on the site: “It’s not always easy running your own business and being a mum at the same time. I couldn’t do it without my partner, David. We both find there are never quite enough hours in the day to do everything, and you may find me typing frantically in the train on the way to a meeting, making the most of every moment I get. But I wouldn’t change the way I work. I get to spend time with the kids, choose my own hours, and be there for events at school. I have the flexibility to adapt if one of the children is sick. Work-wise, I get to choose a range of interesting projects, and still love what I do.”

If that appeals to you, other sites worth checking out are www.workingmums.co.uk, www.jobs4mothers.co.uk, and  www.mumsandworking.co.uk, all of which list job opportunities suitable for mums.

4. www.familiesrecommend.co.uk

Sarah Sharp runs this innovative site that specialises in listing recommendations for families, by families. It's aimed at families who want to share a great experience of a family day out, holiday, club, class, venue, service or activity, as well as for families looking for honest information and real verdicts about those same things. While it's not a site primarily geared towards working mums, it's a great one to bookmark if you are a working mum, to help you strike that elusive work-life balance and plan some family fun for the end of the working week!

A Mum herself who impressively combines a day job with her self-employed role at Families Recommend as well raising a family, Sarah offers these top tips for managing your work / life balance if you're anticipating a return to work after having baby:

1. Give yourself time to readjust. I thought I could just go back to work and fall straight back into my old job, but being a mum makes you think different and act differently. Not only have you spent months (perhaps years) having conversations with your partner about nappies and chatting to your child, getting back to adult work conversations is great but can be strange. Add to this the tiredness and the guilt - it's a different you in the workplace.

2. Let people know that you have a child / children - most people understand that you have other priorities - such as leaving on time and looking like you've not slept in a week (which is probably the case). The more people know about your personal situation, I found the more accommodating and supportive they have been.

3. Generally going back to work (either to your old workplace or even your own business) you will feel guilty about it. We all feel it, but it does get easier.

Finally, do bear in mind that you are entitled to request flexible working hours (including working from home, working part-time or changing your hours) if you have a child under 5 or a disabled child under 18 but you do need to give your employer plenty of notice so apply early, preferable while on maternity leave, and check out www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/index.htm for up-to-the-minute advice and information about your rights as a working parent.