Posts by Tamsin Oxford
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By Tamsin Oxford in Deals on
30 July, 2010 at 6:00 pm
 Down from a very expensive £21.99, this Lamaze toy is a fabulous deal at only £11.59 including free delivery. This toy will let baby make merry music and even comes with (wait for it) a song book and a soft vanilla scent.
I am intrigued by this new trend in scented toys. First (well, that I heard of) is the almost impossible to find, and extremely expensive, Lotso Bear from Toy Story 3. Apparently that bear smells of strawberries. The thing is, I love the idea but how long will the smell realistically last?
In our house toys need a jolly good wash or a wipe every month (at the very least – the popular ones are weekly) so won’t any form of cleaning remove the yummy smell and therefore the entire reason you spent nearly £50 on a stuffed toy? This is my question of the week.
Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes, the Lamaze Octotunes. So this toy is for 0-2 years old and is designed to stimulate baby’s imagination and senses. Each tentacle makes a different note and you can play lines from some of your favourite nursery rhymes.
Thanks to millarcat at HUKD!
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By Tamsin Oxford in Deals on
30 July, 2010 at 4:00 pm
Toy Story fever has literally gripped this nation by the throat and shaken it. I went to the movies the other day with my daughter. It was her birthday treat and, silly me, I thought we could just show up and buy tickets. How wrong could I have been! Well, this duvet set should stop the nagging to see the movie “one more time” and it costs £7.99 including free delivery.
The duvet cover is a hard wearing and colourful Toy Story 3 rotary printed single with a pillowcase included. It is machine  washable at 40 degrees (although try and save the planet with using only 30 degrees!) and is also tumble dryer friendly.
The new movie is all about how Woody and the gang find themselves in a room full off unnamed tots who can’t wait to get their hands on the new toys. The movie has been given superb star ratings by critics and fans, and I am finally off to watch it today.
Thanks to ednamaya78 at HUKD!
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By Tamsin Oxford in Deals on
30 July, 2010 at 3:00 pm
Yesterday I was the luckiest chocaholic in town. I got to go and see what Thorntons are planning for their Christmas chocolate range this year, and I can tell you that we are in for some seriously yummy stuff. They even had a chocolatier come and talk to us about the different kinds of chocolate and we tasted them while he talked so we could understand more about the flavours.
 I was, I admit, amused by the fact that the man who makes chocolate and tastes chocolate was thin. How is that fair?
So, at the launch he told us about how normally white chocolate is deodorised so it doesn’t smell as strong. The white chocolate that they are using for the yummy new white chocolate, coconut and lime bars (see above!) hasn’t been deodorised and so smells and tastes incredible. It is, honestly, the best white chocolate I’ve ever tasted.
 Other delights in store for you include: personalisable chocolate Christmas trees, personalisable chocolate advent calendars, gorgeous Santa chocolates (actually you can personalise most of this lovely stuff), gigantic adult sized bars of chocolate (and I mean GIGANTIC), and more.
There were two things that I really liked. The first was the new dipping set (picture to the right), that has yummy dippers like marshmallows, and chocolate pots that you can heat up in the microwave. How perfect are those for winter?
And the last thing that I really liked was the advent calendar. You can personalise a little mini-slab of chocolate so everybody knows who’s calendar is whose. In a big family, that’s a real winner. As a parting shot I have to tell you a funny story that one of the lovely Thorntons’ people told me…
 “If you are really careful, you can ease the advent calendar out of the box, steal the chocolates, and ease it back in without anybody knowing,” he said, “In our offices we take turns opening a day and so we all snuck one lady’s chocolate out so when she opened it up, there was nothing in there!”
I don’t know about you, but I found that really funny.
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By Tamsin Oxford in Features on
30 July, 2010 at 8:00 am
 Well! It may be measuring day but I can tell you right now that the evil and wicked Thorntons may have destroyed all the hard work I did this last seven days. Let me explain…Today was a day with a great deal of walking and my FitFlops got one heck of a workout.
It all started out innocently enough. I got off the train, I bought a coffee, and I ambled up to the entrance of the Underground. In my half asleep state I didn’t really click that the reason the man was walking in front of me (causing me to keep on moving to the right) was because he was closing the gates. Victoria was shut. Sorry for me.
Cue some breathless pounding of pavements as I galloped around the area in search of a bus that would take me to work. Eventually, after navigating an angry granny (not at me, fortunately), a deranged teenager, and some roadworks, I found a bus. Then it was running to work, running up the stairs and running about all morning.
At lunch PlayPennies was invited to the Thorntons Christmas in July. I walked all the way there in my FitFlops and it was about 30 minutes of hard exercise as I only had an hour to spare. The event was fantastic, by the way, so check out my mini-deal announcement at 3pm today.
The room was dripping delectable chocolate from every pore. How could I not have Thorntons for lunch? They also gave me some samples to try out which I rapidly enjoyed in case someone at work wanted me to share. Yes, I am a bad person but this is chocolate for heaven’s sake! Now there was a lot of pressure on my FitFlops to somehow burn those naughty calories down to the ground. I’ve put some pics of the treats here for you to enjoy.
So I hiked the 30 minutes back to the office, did some more bustling about and galloped home on the tube and train. Now it is time to reveal whether or not a week of FitFlop marathoning has changed my measurements…
Week One Measurements:
Thighs: 21.5 inches (RESULT! I lost half an inch)
Calves: 14.5 inches (Sadness! I gained half an inch!)
Hips: 37.5 inches (OOOH! That’s another half an inch lost)
Conclusion: Perhaps the saying should go, “A minute on the lips, an inch on the calves” because that is the only place I gained in size.
Stay tuned next week for the final stretch when hopefully I will have managed to lose even more inches off my frame.
I also have to say a big thank you to Fitness Footwear, who gave me my yummy chocolate leather FitFlops for the challenge.
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By Tamsin Oxford in Deals on
29 July, 2010 at 6:00 pm
I have a confession. I like Chuggington. I rather enjoy watching it with my daughter, and we’ve been known to have little chats about which character we like the most. I’m not sure why this series has enchanted me, I think it’s the light humour and adult friendly characters that populate each episode. Well, here is a lovely toy from Argos that promises hours of fun at half price – only £19.99.
The set is for children over the age of three and includes die-cast copies of Brewster, Wilson, Koko, Mtambo and an elephant safari car. The engines all have coupling systems so they that don’t detach from each other too. I’m not sure if this kit needs batteries but Argos have  stuck up an ad for cheap packs of batteries so I am assuming the answer may be yes.
I rather love the playmat you get too. I wish I’d had stuff like this as a kid! Your Chuggington fans can race their trains all over the place with this brightly coloured map of the area. I can see many happy adventures ahead.
Thanks to hayhloo at HUKD!
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By Tamsin Oxford in Deals on
29 July, 2010 at 4:00 pm
ASOS have a rather impressive range of cool clothes for parents and kids, with a load of different designs and styles to choose from. You can happily uncover bargains here, if you spend some time hunting around, or you can just go in and get yourself a special treat. Why not! After all, until Friday you will get free next day delivery on anything you buy.
The site isn’t that easy to navigate really, I’ve definitely worked with better in the past, but if you type ‘clearance’ into the search bar at the top you’ll get a list of all the items that are currently on sale. You’ll find quite a bit here and should be able to sort out your make-up and night time attire for a bargain.
When you check out, though, don’t forget to select Next Day Delivery to qualify and that this all expires by 5pm tomorrow. I wish you happy shopping and bargain finding.
Thanks to bargainhunter10 at HUKD!
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By Tamsin Oxford in Deals on
29 July, 2010 at 3:00 pm
 These hangers from M&S are truly adorable and have been marked down to a palatable £2. I must admit that initially I was wary of posting this deal because they really do seem like a frivolity rather than a necessity. I certainly wouldn’t have paid the original £9.50 for two hangers, no matter how cute they are.
Your £2 gets you two wooden hangers with adorable designs on them and that measure out at 31×14x3cm. The hangers sport either a zebra or giraffe motif. They are really cute actually, and they fit into my idea of the Dream Nursery that has everything co-ordinated and beautiful. Sadly, my nursery wasn’t like that, although I did get the colours to match!
Personally I wouldn’t buy these for myself but, at this price, I would get them for a mum who was expecting as a cute little gift to make her smile. The original price is just insane though. Who pays £10 for two hangers? Surely that would mean spending at least £100 to get enough for a basic wardrobe?
Thanks to millarcat at HUKD!
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By Tamsin Oxford in Features on
29 July, 2010 at 8:00 am
 I ached today, ooooh yes I ached. Not a lot, not as if I’d done ten rounds with Mike Tyson, but enough to make me totter a little as I made my way to the station in my FitFlops. Plasters adorned both feet to prevent the current holes in skin from getting any bigger, and I was armed with my camera to take some shots of the lovely underground, just for you!
I must admit that I am starting to feel more of a burn as I progress through the challenge. The FitFlops are on my feet from 7am to 8pm every day, all day. I’m positive my bum looks tighter and leaner, and I am hoping that’s not wishful thinking. Ha! Well, measuring day is on Friday so we’ll soon know which one it is.
The FitFlops are also becoming more comfortable each day. From feeling a little clunky and stiff last week, to now molding nicely to my feet. While I do have some rubbed spots on the top of my feet (as per the plasters), the rest of the foot doesn’t even realise its in shoes. A vast difference from my usual footwear that I used to travel to London in. I don’t suffer from sticky foot syndrome, which is very nice.
 I really do hope that these FitFlops rise to the challenge and get me those leaner, longer legs that they promise. Because they look good, feel good, and frankly, if they make me look like a babe at the same time, then they are the dream shoes. Today the photos I took were my version of “subway action shots”. I was forced to detour via Westminster because the Victoria line had ground to a halt and I was really impressed with how nice it was.
Thank you to Fitness Footwear, who gave me my yummy chocolate leather FitFlops for the challenge!
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By Tamsin Oxford in Deals on
28 July, 2010 at 6:00 pm
 Yes, yes, I know that today I seem to be all about Play, but just LOOK at these deals! I am in love with this little doll and I’ve already bought her as my daughter’s Back to School congratulations present. She is really into fairies so it should make her very happy. Down to a mere £5.99 and (wait for it) including free delivery from Play.com, she’s a charmer!
This pretty green Tinkerbell fairy doll is only three centimetres tall and sports and gorgeous little green and gold glitter dress. For girly girls she is a complete and utter charmer! But wait, this isn’t just a teeny, tiny little fairy that you can ooh and aaah  at, she also does some cute little tricks.
When you wave Tinkerbell through the air, her blue glitter wings spiral around and around. You also get a glitter wand that you can clip to the fairy or use separately as a fun extra toy. This is really cute and a definite winner as a pressie, stocking filler, or reward.
Thanks to millarcat (today’s hero) from HUKD!
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By Tamsin Oxford in Deals on
28 July, 2010 at 4:00 pm
 Most meerkats live in large underground tunnels which they only leave during daylight hours. This particular breed, however, prefers to be cuddled by the smaller members of the human race at any time of the night or day. Costing only £3.99 from Play.com (including free delivery), this is one deal that makes you say…Simples!
Whether you’re a new fan of the meerkat race thanks to a popular ad campaign, or you just love the idea of giving your child a cuddly little meerkat to play with, this is an ace deal. I adore these furry little creatures and used to be quite addicted to the TV show that followed some meerkat families around Africa.
I can’t remember for the life of me what that show was called, but it had me hooked. I remember shouting encouragement at the screen and being genuinely gutted when something bad happened to one of them. Just fabulous. Anyway, this little guy has found a home with us. Don’t you think you should save a meerkat today? Go on, make a little space in your home.
Thanks to millarcat at HUKD!
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