Argos are selling this Vtech Hello Kitty play mat cube for £24.99, its usual price is a rather expensive £59.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Vtech Hello Kitty play mat cube

This Vtech Hello Kitty play mat cube has so many features it's going to bust my word limit if I tell you about them all!

If you're looking for a play mat that's going to grow with your baby through their early developmental stages, then you've just found it.  From birth the Vtech Hello Kitty play mat cube can be used as a normal play mat - folded out flat with lots of things for baby to look at and under, along with dangling toys to reach for and grab.  When they get older, it can be folded up into a soft activity cube for them to play with and explore.

You can arrange to collect your Vtech Hello Kitty play mat cube for free in-store (providing your nearest Argos stores have stock), otherwise you'll need to pay an additional £5.95 for next day home delivery - c'mon Argos give us a cheaper standard delivery option (Tesco finally did!).

Thanks to wishihadadonkey at HUKD

Let's see what you all think about the latest celebrity mummy spat - in the mummy corner we have the mother of cricketer Shane Warne's children - Simone Callahan and in the 'mummy two' corner we have Liz Hurley the step -mother to be.

The threat of alleged potential war between the two is due to Shane's children calling Liz Hurley 'mummy two' and Simone doesn't like it.  I can't say I blame her, I've had direct experience of my teenagers calling another woman 'mummy' - I can't even begin to explain to you just how painful that was, luckily it was relatively short-lived and thinking about it some 12 or more years on still makes my blood simmer gently (it used to BOIL!).

Simone has allegedly warned Liz to 'back off and stop playing mum' to her children, although I can' t find a direct quote of her saying those precise words.  What she has been quoted as saying, in response to Liz Hurley announcing to the world that Simone's children call her 'mummy two', is this...

"I can’t control what people say, but it’s just disrespectful as far as I’m concerned.  She is not their mum and the kids know exactly what the situation is."

I agree, I think it is disrespectful and that the title of Mum is sacrosanct - if they want to call her something other than Liz, then a special name just for her could be thought up, but mum...that's just for mum.

What I can't get worked up about though is the children having a good time with Liz, either on her own or with Shane.  Yes, I'm sure it hurts, but rather that and know your children are happy whilst they're away, than have them hate the 'step mother' and be miserable.

It's got to be tough for the kids - they clearly like Liz and if she's invited them to call her mum, then

a) they might want to and will now feel bad that it's upset their mum or

b) they weren't sure but didn't want to hurt Liz's feelings and will now feel bad because news of it all has upset their mum

Ultimately, if it was instigated by Liz then I think that was wrong, grossly insensitive and selfish; if it was instigated by the children, then a very gentle explanation that it was a 'lovely and touching thought but the name 'mum' is just for their mum, and perhaps coming up with a special name just for her' would have been the kindest and least inflammatory option all round.

What say you?  Mum just for mum?  Or get over it, it's really not that important?

Home Bargains are selling either of these pink or blue Foogo Thermos Sippy Cups for just £1.99, rather than their £13.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Foogo Thermos Sippy Cup

It's a sad state of summer affairs when I think a deal on a thermos FLASK might me more appropriate than thermos sippy cups for keeping drinks cool *sigh*

Perhaps these Foogo Thermos Sippy Cups have been reduced so much because of yesterday's prediction from the weather men that the next four weeks, at least, are going to feel more like November than the end of May/first two weeks of June!

Still, I'm optimistic that summer WILL arrive and that parents of little ones will be wanting to keep drinks cool when out and about - the Foogo Thermos Sippy Cup will do just that, keeping its contents cool for up to six hours.

Not only will drinks stay cooler for longer but laboratory tests undertaken at Cornell University reveal that the Foogo Thermos Sippy Cups inhibit the growth of bacteria too; lovely, cool drinks and peace of mind.

If you have a Home Bargains near you you can collect your Foogo Thermos Sippy Cup(s) for free in-store, otherwise you'll need to pay a little extra (no more than £2.95) for home delivery.

Happy sipping cold drinks!

Argos are selling this Chad Valley Knight's Castle and Foam Sword play set for half price, £9.99 instead of £19.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Chad Valley Knight's Castle and Foam Sword play set

It's amused me, greatly, that someone felt the need to make it clear that the sword included in the Chad Valley Knight's Castle and Foam Sword play set is indeed a FOAM sword - you can imagine the board meeting discussion can't you...

"I really think we need to make it clear the sword is foam.  You know, just in case someone misunderstands, expects to receive a real sword and then complains in the comments!"  The same concerns clearly didn't extend to the Knight's Castle element - so just to clarify, you're not getting a REAL castle either *grin*

What you'll get is a play tent castle that features a fold down door and peep through windows, along with a foam sword for slaying (presumably) pretend dragons.  It's suitable for indoor and outdoor use, and wannabe knights aged three years or older.

You can arrange to collect your Chad Valley Knight's Castle and Foam Sword play set in-store for free (if your nearest Argos shops have stock) or you can pay £5.95 for next day home delivery.

Thanks to wishihadadonkey at HUKD

I wrote a Pillow Pets deal way back in September 2011 (well, it feels way back to me) and it wasn't until I actually saw one 'in the real', being ADORED by my niece, that I really appreciated just how marvellous they really are.

Here's the story of 'Lily' the Ladybird Pillow Pet...

My youngest son really isn't into cuddly ladybirds - other cuddly things yes, girly ladybirds - NO! - my 16-year-old daughter isn't really the target market and my 17-year-old soldier son even less so.

By sheer alignment of the planets and the Universe (and perhaps a touch of magic from Russell Grant, who knows!) my little niece came to stay for a few days, with her mum, and celebrated her 5th birthday whilst she was here - I gave her the Ladybird Pillow Pet as a pressie.

Arrrr this looks like a good deal if you have a young pirate fan in your family - this Paint Your Own Treasure Chest kit is currently on sale over at Amazon for £6.99 instead of £14.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Paint Your Own Treasure Chest kit

There's something rather magical about treasure chests isn't there!  That whole 'X marks the spot' on a treasure map, following the clues and digging up a treasure chest full of spoils is right out of The Goonies (one of the best kid's films ever made by the way) and who hasn't dreamt of stumbling across untold riches; if you say you haven't, I won't believe you.

Your little pirate can paint their own treasure chest and store all their special things in; they can draw their own treasure map and play treasure hunt games with you and their friends.

The Paint Your Own Treasure Chest comes with all the following bits and pieces and isn't suitable for little ones under three years of age:

• One wooden treasure chest (11 cms in length)
• One strip of paint pots
• A paint brush
• Some gem stones
• A blank treasure map and
• Two pirate figurines

I suppose you could also use this Paint Your Own Treasure Chest kit to try and instill early habits of putting things away - ARRRRRR me hearties, I know it's optimistic but you never know!

Happy treasure chest painting!

I have a rather sneaky feeling that Amazon are going to mess around with the price of this Bob the Builder trike and tool box with tools - don't ask my why, call it my 6th Amazon sense if you will, but at the moment it's £28.48 instead of £34.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Bob the Builder trike

My youngest son was a huge fan of Bob the Builder when he was little, he also loved JCBs and had a ride-on JCB digger for his birthday one year.  If this Bob the Builder trike with its tool box and tools had been an option, I think he would have been very torn between the two as that tool box makes adds that extra little something 'ordinary'.

A bit of self assembly is required - some reviewers have said this can take a while, although I don't see why as there aren't that many bits to it.  The handle bars are adjustable between 50 and 53cm and the seat height is at 30cm.

The took box sits between the back wheels and contains six plastic tools and is all suitable for little Bob the Builder fans aged two years and over.

Thanks to johndgrat at HUKD

The complete Oxford Reading Tree 'Read At Home' book collection is back in stock with The Book People and is up for grabs this time for £25, rather than the full list price of £243.91.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Read At Home book collection

If you've missed the previous offers for this Oxford Reading Tree 'Read At Home' book collection then I really urge you not to wait too long this time, it always goes out of stock fairly quickly and whilst it will come back into stock at some point, there's no telling when or what the price will be (it has been cheaper than £25 before now).

It's ever so easy to forget what a huge task learning to read actually is; it's just something we take for granted once we can do it without having to think about it and the Oxford University Press are one of the leading book publishers for books that help speed this process along for your child.

The collection has 31 books with six stories for each of the five levels of reading.  It comes with an easy-to-use handbook that will help YOU to help YOU to learn how make reading fun your child and make sure you both have fun learning together.

Progressing step-by-step through levels one to five your child will learn through repetition of words and sentence patterns and be well on their way to enjoying reading for the rest of their lives.  If your little one is already at school then the characters in the books may well be familiar to them because this reading collection has been written so you can help support the reading work your child is doing in the classroom.

Your Read At Home book collection order should qualify for free home delivery, as it's £25, but if for some reason it doesn't, add this free delivery code - 2012CHAT - to your basket.

Thanks to sooofee at HUKD

The wonderful Julia Donaldson book collection is back in stock over with The Book People; you can grab one for yourself for £9.99, rather than £64.90, and they always tend to fly out of stock pretty fast so if you want one then I urge you not to dawdle.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Julia Donaldson book collection

I wonder, is it possible there are many people left in the land who haven't read a Julia Donaldson story? It's a bit like the bit of pub quiz trivia I heard the other day, that one in six households in the UK has a copy of an Adele album (I don't) - I wonder how many households have a copy of the Gruffalo?!

The titles included in the Julia Donaldson book collection are:

• One Mole Digging a Hole by Julia Donaldson & Nick Sharratt
• Rosie's Hat by Julia Donaldson & Anna Currey
• The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler
• A Squash and a Squeeze by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler
• One Ted Falls Out of Bed by Julia Donaldson & Anna Currey
• Hippo has A Hat by Julia Donaldson & Nick Sharratt
• Chocolate Mousse for Greedy Goose by Julia Donaldson & Nick Sharratt
• Tyrannosaurus Drip by Julia Donaldson & David Roberts
• The Troll by Julia Donaldson & David Roberts
• The Smartest Giant in Town by Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler

Delivery with The Book People is usually only free if you spend over £25, but if you add this code - 2012CHAT - to your basket then you'll get free delivery without having to spend more than £9.99.

Thanks to siandy at HUKD

Amazon are selling this Aqua Art kit for £6.94 instead of its usual £14.99 price.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Aqua Art kit

I love drawing and painting; I wish I had more time, in fact ANY time, to do it.  All of my children love drawing too - the two teenagers both choose Art as one of their GCSE options and my youngest will often choose colouring in over the PS3 or Wii.

According to the official blurb, this Aqua Art kit you will be able to create magical things on paper with felt tips and water.  I can't help it - felt tips, kids and water just send shudders of potential horror down my spine; perhaps that's why the Teenagers took Art GCSE, maybe they were deprived of this type of art activity as a kids!

The kit comes with:

• Work tray
• Eight sheets of blotting paper
• Water Pen
• Sticky pads
• Handbag shaped door hanger
• Silver chain
• Cardboard flower box/foam block/card insert
• Two cardboard bookmarks
• Assorted coloured greetings cards
• Three large white envelopes
• Eight flower stems
• Six felt pens
• Glitter glue
• PVA glue
• Template sheet (flowers, butterflies leaves)
• A sticker sheet and
• One pack of sequins

Just one person has felt compelled enough to leave a review about the Aqua Art kit so far - which you could either take as meaning no one else was very impressed with it, or they just haven't been bothered.

"I bought this for my daughter's 6th birthday because it reminded me of my school days. She loves it, making all the craft ideas are great fun and keeps her amused. You can also design your own patterns as well, which is good. Nice little craft toy."

Thanks to shadow1 at HUKD

Peaches Geldof's new baby son is now a few weeks old and the obligatory (for some) glossy photo spread of his first pictures have appeared in Hello magazine, along with more details of his arrival.

Astala (yep, Astala) was born via c-section and apparently developed breathing difficulties after his dad, Thomas Cohen, cut the cord.

"It was the most terrifying experience, to have our tiny baby whisked away like that," Peaches is quoted as saying in the mag' interview, "I was yearning for that skin-to-skin contact I’d waited so long for and to not be able to hold him and nurse him and comfort him was so upsetting."

All is now well with baby Astala, other than the fact his grandfather wishes he'd been named Leonard instead!

He appeared on Lorraine Kelly's morning TV show (whatever it's called these days, I used to love watching Lorraine!) and didn't react well when she asked him how Astala should be pronounced, "Shut up, I don't know. I don't know, I haven't said it yet - I can't bring myself to say it! I wanted to call him Leonard - Leonard Cohen. "Have you met my grandson Leonard Cohen?"' 

Despite the lack of love for his grandson's name - which I think is a bit of a cheek bearing in mind the names his daughters have! -  it would appear that he is totally smitten with the new family member.

"Dad was incredibly gentle with Astala; he took him aside and was so quiet, which isn’t something he’s renowned for.  He’s besotted with Astala because he’s his first grandchild but especially, I think, because he’s the first boy in the family," Peaches revealed.

And as far as Sir Bob is concerned?  Well when he was talking to Lorraine, he said, "He’s a fantastic little chap. He is cute and they’re really good parents so it’s great. They’re really happy."

Sounds to me as though everyone's happy; long may that continue - we like happy!

John Lewis are selling this rather cute, but not OTT sickly cute, Robots and Rivets lunch bag for half price - £6 instead of £12.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Robots and Rivets lunch bag

I know it's just a lunch bag but I'm really taken by this Robots and Rivets lunch bag; it has a design that will really appeal to little ones without being overtly childish - looking at the picture, do you see what I mean?

The entire outer shell of the Robots and Rivets lunch bag is showerproof and the inside is insulated, so hot things will stay warm and cold things will stay cold - although not at the same time, obviously! - it's also easy to wipe clean.

There's an additional exterior pocket section containing a plastic beaker, and plastic knife, fork and spoon set.

You can arrange to collect your Robots and Rivets lunch bag for free in-store, the day after you place your order (most other stores make you wait four days for in-store collection), or you can pay £3 for standard home delivery, or £6.95 for next day/named day delivery.

Thanks to lucerysmum at HUKD

My mum's a big fan of anything Asda - I'm more of a Tesco girl myself, but when it comes to baby clothes I don't care who they're made by as long as they're CUTE!!  And, OH MY GOODNESS, there are some seriously lovely little clothes included in the George baby clothes sale.

• Click HERE to see all the George baby clothes in the sale

I don't miss the little baby days one bit, I'm not a natural Earth Mother at all, but I do miss musing over all the lovely baby clothes - teenage and grown-up clothes, £120 prom dresses (daughter) and expensive suits for travelling too and from barracks in (eldest son) aren't anywhere near as much 'fun'.

There are 125 different outfits and items for you to choose from, with various amount of discount, and whilst I miss tiny clothes I don't envy you having to choose just a few bits and pieces because almost ALL of everything is lovely - I don't even know which items to highlight for you!

There are knitted hoody jumpers and cardigans, summer dresses, smart little shorts outfits for boys and girls and romper suits.  There are plain things, understated things and things with cow prints and bright patterns that will require sunglasses to look at.

Go and have a look at the George baby clothes sale, there's absolutely going to be something there you'll fall in love with and just HAVE to have!

Thanks to bestec2 at HUKD

Argos are selling this Early Learning Centre Shape Sorting Bus for half its retail price - £7.99 rather than £16.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Early Learning Centre Shape Sorting Bus

I don't know what it is, but if there are things to sort I'll volunteer to sort them; it must satisfy some inner 'something'.  It doesn't matter what it is either - jigsaw puzzle pieces, kitchen cupboards, socks in the laundry even, but sorting shapes and putting them into a shape sorter still does it for me even as a grown-up.

I'm not exactly the target market though, so it's a good job kids love things like this Early Learning Centre Shape Sorting Bus.

The big red bus has six activity blocks to sort out and push through their corresponding holes in the roof, they have rattles, mirrors and beads inside to make them just that little more interesting too.

Shape sorters like this arly Learning Centre Shape Sorting Bus are great for helping to develop young hand eye coordination, shape recognition and vision and sound awareness; lots of lovely learning to be done and all without the need for any batteries, flashing lights, bells and whistles - hurrah!

Thanks to lucerysmum at HUKD

The Reader's Digest aren't just about books, grand prize draws that I've never won and those funny little magazine-books that are always available to read in hospital or GP waiting rooms!  They sell other things too, like this rather fabulous 7-in-1 wooden games set for £6.99 rather than its original £34.99.

• Click HERE to take a look at the 7-in-1 wooden games set

I've ordered this 7-in-1 wooden games set from the Reader's Digest because I'm a rather big fan of traditional board games.  I learned to play draughts, backgammon and chess when I was small - we used to play for Smarties, the winner always got five of them - and I played dominoes with my granddad every Saturday afternoon before he fell asleep in front of the TV whilst Big Daddy wrestled with Giant Haystacks; such lovely memories.

All the pieces and decks of cards that make up this 7-in-1 wooden games set come self contained in a lovely wooden box - the lid slides out and when turned over reveals the chess and draughts board and the box itself is the backgammon 'arena' (is there a proper name for that?  It's always been the backgammon arena to me).

There's also an instruction and getting started booklet that will explain how to play all the games: cribbage, draughts, dominoes, chess, back gammon, aces and various card games.

Thanks to andywedge at HUKD

Tesco Entertainment are selling Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs on DVD for just £3; there's no delivery to pay either as long as you're living within the UK.

• Click HERE to go and bag yourself a copy of Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs

I've not seen this movie; I've not seen lots of the recent CGI kids' movies, I've haven't seen Up! I haven't seen Rio, I haven't seen MegaMind - I'm very far behind in the kiddy film genre.

I have had a quick look-see on the IMDb website though - I trust them for reviews - and from 47,361 users it gets a combined star rating of 7 out of 10 which is pretty high by IMDb standards; they also describe it as 'the most delicious event since macaroni met cheese.'

The plot line goes something like this...

Flint is an inventor, a not-very-good inventor in-so-far-as none of his inventions seem to have any practical use or they don't work.  His mother was always supportive but she dies, leaving him alone with his father who thinks he should quit inventing.

Flint invents a machine that turns water into food - not overly handy in the grand scheme of things but when the town falls on hard economic times because their main source of income is lost (a sardine cannery) then it could come in useful...but only in the right hands and with the right motive.

Unfortunately, Flint's machine falls into the wrong hands, ends up in the atmosphere (or is fired into the atmosphere - someone who's seen it is bound to point out everywhere I've gone wrong here!) and instead of rain falling, food falls in its place.

Sounds weird, bonkers and rather fun to me; I might just have to add it to my LoveFilm rental list!

Thanks to lucerysmum at HUKD

The Book People are selling these two Driver Dan's Story Train story books, as a pair, for £2.99 - their usual full list price is £7.98.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Driver Dan story books

I don't know anything about Driver Dan's Story Train, he's come along too late for me to be able to tell you about him first hand.  I have to say though, after a bit of Googling, that he looks rather fabulous and all of my kids would have loved him when they were in the right age range to be Driver Dan's Story Train fans.

So, Driver Dan is a CGI lion who drives the Story Train; each character within Driver Dan's Story Train has their own carriage (apart from Driver Dan, well, unless you count his driver seat engine, of course and Twinkle - she's a bird) that can be hitched up to the Story Train.  When Driver Dan stops at a character and hitches their carriage to the Story Train an adventure unfolds involving that character - that's the brief gist of Driver Dan's Story Train!

These two Driver Dan's Story Train story books are suitable for youngsters aged one year and older and the titles are: The Stripey Seed and The Congo Conga.

Single item delivery with The Book People is usually £1.95.  However, I have a free delivery code for you - yipppeee!  To have your pair of Driver Dan books delivered for free simply add this code - 2012CHAT - into the promotion code box in your online basket and the £1.95 single item delivery charge will disappear before your very eyes; magic!

Thanks to lucerysmum at HUKD

We wait for ages for some celebrity babies to put in an appearance and then three of them turn up in one month - Jessica Simpson's daughter, Maxwell (still can't believe she's been named that!), and Jack Osbourne's daughter, Pearl.  Now we have Stacey Solomon's new son to add to the list too.

He arrived on 5 May and his arrival in the world was announced on Twitter by...Max Clifford!  He's Stacey's representative and there's just something about that man that makes me want to run at a hundred million miles in the opposite direction of him - I maybe doing him a disservice but the words 'liar' and 'scumbag' always spring to mind.

Anyway, back to the baby news.  Stacey is already mum to four-year-old Zachary and has named her new son, Leighton.

What do we think of that?  At least it's a boys name and has been given to a BOY (Jessica Simpson!) but I have a rather horrible feeling it's going to get shortened to 'lay' which, in my opinion, just sounds naff.

Back in March Stacey was caught smoking cigarettes 'out the back' which triggered a whole lot of controversy in the media but it would seem, at least from the outside and in the immediate term, that Leighton is non the worse for being subjected to cigarette smoke.

It still makes me cross to think about it, it's just irresponsible and selfish and whilst it's all blown over as quickly as her cigarette smoke blew away, I sincerely hope there won't be any repercussions arising from it that surface later on.

All of that said, I'm thrilled for the family and wish nothing but a happy future for them all.

Mothercare have two Lindam door bouncers on offer at the moment; one is £14.99 and the other is £19.99 - both of them have £5 off their usual full retail price - and if you add code QBTV to your basket then you'll get a further 10% off; marvellous.

• Click HERE to take a look at the Lindam door bouncers

All of my children loved bouncing from the door frame in a door bouncer; it was a great way to kill some time and cheer them up when they were feeling less than happy or fractious and bored with all other activites - bouncing ALWAYS produced instant giggles and smiles...for me too, not just them.

Both the Lindam door bouncers are suitable for babies who can hold their head up, unaided,  from three to 15 months and the maximum weight limit is approximately 12 kilos.  They attache to interior door frames using a springloaded clamp and are fully supportive, are adjustable and the little saddle/seat/hammocky type thing (or whatever you want to call it) is washable.

The door bouncers I bought were some of the best baby 'stuff' investements I made, and produced the most fun - if you've got £20 floating around, or someone has asked if they can buy your little one something then I'd really consider going for a door bouncer of some description.

You can arrange to collect either of these Lindam door bouncers for free at your nearest Mothercare store, or pay an additional £4.95 and have it delivered to your door.

Thanks to cazzap06 at HUKD

Red House Books are selling two Famous Five books - Five on a Treasure Island and Five go to Smugglers Top - that have been illustrated by Quentin Blake to celebrate their 70th Anniversary for £5.99 instead of £11.98.

• Click HERE to take a look at the two Famous Five books

Of all the Enid Blyton books I read as a child, the Famous Five stories weren't among them!

I don't know why, but they just never appealed to me - I read the Adventure series, which were very similar kids-turn-detective-and-get-themselves-into-all-sorts-of-trouble stories, and the Malory Towers series, along with Enid Blyton's Book of Fairies, but NOT the Famous Five.

I don't know what it was about them that put me off, you know - maybe it was the boring looking covers they had!  If they'd been illustrated by Quentin Blake back in the day then maybe I'd have been more interested - look at them, don't they look fun!

So, if you want to introduce your children to a time when lashings of ginger beer was a good thing, and kids went out for the entire day, didn't have mobile phones and got up to all sorts of mischief then these two Famous Five books are the way to go.

Single item delivery will cost you an additional £1.95 unless your order total is over £15, in which case delivery then becomes FREEEE!