When I was given this Arm & Hammer My Way! Spinbrush for my daughter I was extremely sceptical. An electric toothbrush for a five-year old? Really? I was willing to bet that she would cut and run the moment she felt it vibrating against her teeth.

The My Way! Spinbrush isn’t entirely standard fare. It’s very gadgety and has been rather cleverly designed to attract a child’s attention. It can be customised with stickers. And they give you a LOT of stickers in the box. We still have three sheets of them floating about the house.

The stickers for the “girls” toothbrush consist of rainbows and pinks, purples and flowers, unicorns, princesses and castles. The boys get footballs and cars and other such exciting things. You have enough letters to write most names on the brush.

The sticker part was a hit. She spent absolute ages painstakingly sticking them onto her brush and getting them right. Then she spent some time getting used to the switch to turn it on and off by brushing my chair, the lounge suite and the table. Obviously the brush needed cleaning…

She has been a lot more focused when it comes to brushing her teeth since she started using this. I was completely wrong about her hating it. She loves the vibration, loves the way her teeth feel afterwards, and now I don’t need to nag nearly as often. Bonus.

So, those are the pluses. And the negatives? Well, you can’t change the brush. The batteries, yes, but not the brush. So, if you are one of the Good Teeth People you will have to bin it after three months which is bad for the planet. However, it costs only £5.99 at Boots or Tesco which is marginally more expensive than a standard brush, and does clean more efficiently. Overall, I have to admit, this is a surprisingly good product.

Green People are celebrating National Parents Week a tad early with some ace discount codes for mums and dads. National Parent Week is from 17-23 October and while you aren’t going to get backrub fairies show up in your garden, it seems a good enough excuse to shop.

• Click here to get some discounts at Green People

To celebrate the week, Green People are offering some exclusive discounts. For mums they have a Moisturising Shower Bath scented with Neroli and Mandarin to rejuvenate the skin and leave it feeling super soft and silk. This normally costs £10.95 but if you quote PARENTMUM you get it for £7.

For dads there is the super fresh Cool Style shower wash that naturally cleanses, energises and refreshes with organic mint and eucalyptus. This usually costs £10.50 but if you quote PARENTDAD you get it for a mere £6.

These discounts are exclusively for these products and you can either quote them online or call them to place your order yourself. Perhaps a treat for you and your partner?

Superdrug is currently offering free delivery on all orders and up to 50% off a wide selection of skincare and make-up products. If you combine these offers with their two £5 or £10 discount codes then you can get even better value for money. In short, get some lovely Christmas gifts here!

• Click here to get discounted at Superdrug

Until 24 December 2011 you can get free delivery on all Superdrug orders. Then, the Sanex and Andrew Collinge skincare ranges are now down to 50% off as well as a bunch of other fab products. The ones that stood out for me include the Olay Anti-wrinkle 2-in-1 day cream and serum for only £5.99 and the Ooh La Spa pampering indulgence collection for only £5.99.

There are face masks, skin masks, body lotions, foot butters, face washes and detox scrubs all included in the sale. In fact, you are likely to find a ton of fabulous items here for both yourself and for grandparents, sisters, in-laws and more, many of them really great value for money.

Get £5 off orders over £20 with the code MIRROR5 or £10 off orders over £50 with GIFTGUIDE11. Have fun!

Thanks to tasi124 at HUKD!

My first every experience of Champneys was in the bathroom of one of the poshest hotels I’ve ever stayed in. It was a romantic weekend away and I even helped myself to the left over shampoo that we didn’t finish. So in my mind, Champneys has always been a really luxurious brand.

A few years later I was really surprised to find it, not only in Boots, but at a really affordable price too, and since then, I’ve always had at least one or two Champney products in our bathroom – which is no where near as posh as the hotel.

Recently I started using the Champneys Spa Treatments Relaxing Dream Bath, which is a lavender scented bubble bath, which they promise will leave you feeling relaxed and your skin moisturised.

First off, the ingredients. It’s not a bubble bath I’d recommend for someone with sensitive skin or eczema, as it contains SLS, Parfum and a couple of other hard to pronounce names. However, if your skin can handle ‘regular’ products, this should go down really well.

The Dream Bath makes tons of bubbles and they last pretty much for an entire bath time – in fact I’ve climbed out the bath and there’s still a good covering of foam, which I found quite unusual. Normally the bubbles are gone long before the water cools down.

The smell is beautiful. I love lavender, but being pregnant I struggle with overwhelming smells, so I’ve loved the subtlety of this.

I haven’t found it hugely moistening, but I can’t really blame Champneys too much for that, as I do have a very dry skin, and never find bath products moisturising.

For £6, I have to admit that I’m quite pleased with Champneys Spa Treatments Relaxing Dream Bath and I would definitely buy it again, if only for the quality of the bubbles.

I have, at the moment, got the worst hairstyle in the world. I am growing it out from a short cut and currently look like a cross between a yeti and a waterfall. I also can’t really afford to go to the hairdresser every month to tidy it up and make it nice so I figured I’d get some hot tips from an expert hair human, Denise McAdam, on how to get great hair on a budget.

Denise McAdam cuts the Queen’s hair. Yep. She actually whips out scissors and slices away at Royal locks. So her tips are bound to get those of us with lesser hair styling skills somewhere good. Well, one hopes so, doesn’t one?

This is a lovely freebie for a mum! I am a fan of Dove actually, I like their ad campaign and have a soft spot for their products, probably because their soap is one of the few that doesn’t dry my skin out. Anyway, if you fancy a free sample of Dove Body Wash you only need to amble on over to their Facebook page.

• Click here to get a free sample of Dove Body Wash

The new Dove Body Wash is all about nourishing your skin deep down to keep it soft, clean and fresh. They have a new ingredient/formula called NutriumMoisture (hahaha) that is a unique blend of moisturisers, enriched with natural lips to restore the strength of your skin.

Once you have ambled on over to the Dove Facebook page, click Like and you’ll be take to the Get your free sample link. Click on this and fill in your details on the form provided. It won’t take you long and you’ll soon have your lovely free sample to enjoy.

I was recently visiting a lesser visited part of the family and met up with hitherto unknown humans that belong to my family tree. The experience was interesting for all the usual reasons and one not so wonderful reason – one of the mums happily left her child in the bath and went to get something to read.

This is probably fine for a child over the age of five, but when the Child Accident Prevention Trust points out that 12 children under the age of four drowned in the UK in 2008, that becomes a little scary. Children can drown in as little as 5cm of water. I know, insane, right? But true.

This particular deal has been sort of floating around for a while at Boots but I thought it was well worth bringing back into the light, especially as Christmas approaches and we all need to get good pressies without spending a fortune. You can nab this enormous bundle of yummies and goodies for only £35 at Boots and you get 500 advantage card points at the same time.

• Click here to get some beauty at Boots

The Soap and Glory gigantic bundle comes with quite a few lovely products. I’ve used some of their things before and found them quite nice actually. In fact, I preferred some of them to the more popular brands on the market.

The bundle comes with Wash Almighty body cleansing gel, Wizard of Flaws line filling luminiser and concealer, Return to Sender body contouring gel, Slimwear Peptide balm (no clue!), Mighty Mouth gorgeous lips kit, Night In Shining Armour, Sexy Mother Pucker gift set, Calm One Calm All bubble bath, The Greatest Scrub of All, One Pit Wonder deodorant, Spa Butter Up, and the Scrub of your Life body buffer.

Nice!

Thanks to GLENHESKETH at HUKD!

This is a rather tasty deal for those of you who love to indulge in scrummy Body Shop goodies. Actually, they have quite a few offers on at the moment and those of you who have Quidco will also get even more money off if you follow the instructions below.

• Click here to get some body shopping at The Body Shop

Right, so currently Body Shop has a 24% Quidco cashback deal on which means that you can take even more money off the price you pay on the buy 3 get 2 free deal. You also get free delivery on orders over £20 and you can take another 50% off the total by using the code BODY50.

So, this means that you get some seriously awesome stuff for a fraction of the price you would normally pay. I have actually gone through and done the deal from start to finish to make absolutely sure that these discounts are valid. And it worked.

I got three body butters and two body washes worth about £50 for only £15. This is a brilliant deal if you fancy stocking up. But the offer of buy 3 and get 2 free is one use only so use it wisely.

Thanks to geegee-pinata at HUKD!

There's a sale on Johnson & Johnson wipes and toiletries at Sainsbury's right now. Everything is half price, meaning you can get a 4 pack of 64 fragrance free baby wipes for £2.49 instead of £4.98. Or a 300ml bottle of Johnson's Baby Shampoo for 96p.

• Click here to get a Johnson's product for half price at Sainsburys

The offer finishes on the 9th of August, so now is a good time to get in some supplies. Handy for bulk buying if you want to stock up for the year. Plus items like the shampoo, baby lotion and talcum powder make for great baby baskets if you're looking to put together your own gifts.

I got a few of these when I had my son, and it was great. I didn't have to buy a thing until he was about four years old! Came as a bit of a shock to realise I had to buy my own baby shampoo.

There's also Johnson's nappy rash cream, bedtime oil, and soothing bath oils too. All of which are nice to tuck into the gift basket, or store in the baby supplies cupboard.

Thanks to sufchenko at HUKD!

Boots do a range of baby bath products. Yes, I know, that's hardly earth shattering news. But how often have you bought or tried one of the many ranges of baby bath products that are out there? If you're like me then it was pretty much never unless you got a sample first. There's just such a lot of them, and do they work? What are they like to use? You don't want to spend the months your child is a baby trying them all out.

Which is why PlayPennies likes to review these products, so you can learn from our parents' experience. I was given a few items from the Boots Bath range, and gave them to our PlayPennies parent Julia to try out. Julia has a baby girl aged 6 months, and a daughter of 5 years.

The My Munchkin Towel is an organic, cotton towel, designed to keep your hands free and your clothes dry while getting your little one in and out of the bath.  It is a superbly soft butterfly shaped towel that uses quick release Velcro to tie behind the neck and has a hood to one side for drying baby’s hair – baby being 0 – 18 months, but I still use it on my 21 month old.

The My Munchkin Towel comes in a bag made out of the same cotton material. At first I thought it was a waste, really, because why would a towel really need it’s own bag, but actually, it’s a great toiletry bag to keep all my daughter’s special bath products together, which makes packing up for the weekend a whole bunch easier as I don’t forget half of everything.

The My Munchkin Towel does make it possible to give a toddler a bath without getting soaked yourself. Of course, I have to mop up the floor after a splashathon bath, but at least I’m dry. When we’re done, my daughter stands up, and I pop her wet head into the ‘hood’, wrap one side around her, lift her to my chest, and wrap the other side around her – usually accompanied with plenty kisses and squeals.

In the room, a light yank frees the towel from around my neck and she goes down on the bed, tightly wrapped and ready for her evening rub down or massage.  The towel is large too, and really absorbent, so there’s no wet patch on the bed either.

The towel did have a slightly odd smell to it, straight out the packet, but that faded as it was exposed to air, and we think it’s a winner, and I’ll be using it with our next little one too since it’s anti-allergenic and cosy.

You can see the My Munchkin Towel in action in this YouTube video and it’s available from the My Munchkin website in pink, blue and white at £24.99, although you can still get 15% off with the exclusive PlayPennies offer.

I was quite excited when I got my Shiseido Benefiance Cleansing Massage Mask Brush from QVC as it came with a cleansing foam and apparently has all sorts of skin benefits. The kit is expensive, though, at £21 for a tiny bottle of cleanser and a fancy facial brush.

So, I was already sceptical when I opened it. Why was this worth £21. The short answer is that it isn’t. The brush is truly lovely, don’t get me wrong. It has the softest bristles I have ever felt and it cleans like a dream.

The outer ring consists of long, soft bristles, and the inner ring of massaging nubs that improve circulation and feel heavenly on your skin. The brush also comes with a detachable head that clicks on and off for when it is not in use, allowing for water to drain off the brush keeping it dry and mould free.

The cleansing lotion bottle is tiny; however you only need a miniscule amount to create a thick foam that will clean your entire face. I squeezed a little onto my hand, rubbed the damp brush into it, and then applied it to my skin.

It went on beautifully. It is really luxurious and my skin felt very clean afterwards. The only complaint I have is that it really dried my skin out. I have had to apply an extra layer of moisturiser to keep my skin from feeling tight and stretched. And I had a bad breakout for the first week after using it which may, actually, be a good sign, showing that it really did a thorough job of cleaning my skin.

It would make a lovely gift and the brush is divine but the price tag is a tad too high for my taste.

Lucyrose has offered us an exclusive PlayPennies discount code to take 10% off any items on the site for the period of one month. There are a couple of terms and conditions, of course, but if you are on the lookout for scrummy pampering products or to stock up on the Baby Burts Bees we reviewed yesterday, then this is your chance.

Click here to get some yum at Lucyrose

• Discount: 10%
• Valid till: 23 July 2011
• Valid on: E-ver-y-thing.
• Discount code: PP10
• Minimum Spend: £20

Lucyrose offers more than just Burts Bees organic baby products, they have several different organic baby products on offer too. Take a look at some of the lovely items they have in stock to see what suits both you and your budget. Me, I am a Burts Bees fan now, especially since they last so long and feel so yummy.

Not only do you get to shop for baby, but there are loads of products for mum and dad too. From face washes and bath products to pampering and feet, there is lots on offer on the site.

Lucyrose is an online organic beauty boutique that offers some of the leading organic skincare and cosmetic products around. This is a scrummy voucher code indeed!

I may be something of an oddity in this world but I do have a thing for good handwash. I’m very fussy about it and need it to achieve several things at once. The first thing is that it must be gentle on my skin. My skin is prone to dryness and there is nothing worse than dry, dry, dry hands.

The other things include environmental awareness and, obviously, actually containing ingredients that will clean my hands and keep those nasty germs at bay. I have experimented with quite a few different brands such as Carex and this time around I am using the new Method range called Waterfall.

Method Waterfall is paraben free and the bottle was designed by karim Rashid. That amused me, I never imagined hand wash bottles needing a special focus on design but now that I have one I rather like it. It looks like an enormous teardrop.

Packaged in a 100% percent recycled and recyclable bottle (two enormous pluses there) the hand wash is made from naturally derived and biodegradable ingredients. It has vitamin E and aloe vera for moisturising and the entire bottle costs a mere £2.49.

This hand wash has undergone a month of testing in our house. To start with I have to say that the actual dispenser works a charm. None of that squipping off to the left or right, sticking on the way down, dispensing half a kilo of hand wash rubbish. It works well and delivers a neat little circle of hand wash.

While hand wash in every form will dry hands, I find the Method Waterfall hand wash particularly light. The lotion cleans well, leaves a very unobtrusive scent, but doesn’t raid your hands of all moisture and leave them gasping. In short it is cheap, ethical, environmentally aware, and gentle.

Join the Dove club and you will be getting some tasty free samples in the post. Yes, you read that right – Dove are giving away lots of lovely free samples and special offers and all you need to do is sign up to withDove. It’s easy and quick too.

• Click here to get free Dove samples

The form you need to fill in with Dove is really not that complicated and won’t take you very long at all. It took me about 30 seconds and voila, I was registered. Once you have submitted your form you’ll get taken to another page that will ask you if you are interested in sharing your thoughts about Dove with them.

The questionnaire is easy and rather fun actually, although you may find it a bit embarrassing if you don’t use any Dove products…

Now all you need to do is wait for your free Dove samples to appear in the post. Fortunately Dove are really good with this sort of thing and don’t promise a freebie that they don’t deliver. I got some scrummy samples in the post last year!

Aw bless. A Forever Friends range of baby skin care products. My heart melted just looking at the beautifully designed website. Forever Friends Baby Naturals has a small range of five products that will take you through your baby's bath and nighttime routine.

I was particularly impressed by the attention to detail. A commitment to leaving the planet in a reasonable state for the babies its products will be used on means that all bottles and jars can be recycled.

We gave the range to PlayPennies mum Emily, to test with her one year old daughter.

Nighty Night Cuddle Lotion

The Nighty Night Cuddle lotion (£5) comes in a 150ml jar. It is a moisturiser designed for those dry areas, but also for giving a lovely, night-time massage to your little one. It is made with shea butter and aloe vera extract.

Emily particularly like the refreshing smell released when you open the tub. "The cream is more jelly like than I have seen on most creams, it doesn't seem really thick. But when put on the skin, it's a really nice smell, and a non-greasy finish." Another plus for Emily was that the cream dried in fairly quickly, which is always important when you're using it on the little ones.

She also offered some to her other half, who used the cream on a dry patch of skin on his elbow.  " At first he thought it was nice, but then he said "oh-oh." He said it felt warm, which can sometimes be a bad sign that he's going to be allergic to a product." Luckily though the warmth disappeared after a little bit, and it didn't have any adverse affects. Emily explained that "it's moisturised the dry patch pretty well, and looked good when I checked on it after a few hours."

So good for little ones, and the grown up members of the family.

Softly Softly Body Butter

I particularly liked the sound of this. My son had very hard skin as a baby on his legs. It was particularly uncomfortable, and we used to have to massage him in olive oil three times a day.

Which is fine really, but it is a bit disconcerting to have your baby smelling like dinner! The Softly Softly Body Butter (£6) comes in a 150ml jar as well. It has the same fragrance as the Nighty Night Cuddle lotion. The key ingredients are also Aloe Vera and shea butter.

Emily wasn't so impressed. "As a body butter, I think this falls a bit short in the texture aspect. I used body butters through my pregnancy on my big belly, but the Softly Softly body butter seems just like a moisturiser, and doesn't have that buttery texture whatsoever."

As she had the two products together Emily couldn't help but compare them both. "I could not really see any difference between the two creams."

Splish Splash Bath Bubbles

The Splish Splash Bath Bubbles (£4) 150ml was a hit and a miss for Emily. She liked the fragrance, which wasn't too strong in the bottle but filled up the room nicely. The key ingredients in this product are Calendula and Camomile.

The bubbles were disappointing however. "It didn't make huge bubbles in the tub."

Sleepy Head Body Wash

The Baby Naturals Sleepy Head Body Wash (£4) 250ml  is a clear gel, similar to the bubble bath. When Emily used the body wash, she found it made a really nice lather on the skin, and rinsed off easily. "It also left a really refreshing fragrance on the skin, I really liked this body wash."

It looks like baby is going to miss out. Emily has snagged this one for herself. Her excuse? "I've got tons of different body washes for baby, so I'm probably going to use this one in the shower myself."

Rub A Dub 2 in 1 shampoo

The Rub A Dub 2 in 1  shampoo (£4) is very similar to the body wash. Emily explains "In a similar story to comparing the cuddle lotion and the body butter, I'd also have difficulty telling apart the shampoo and the body wash."

There was one difference though. "It was quite difficult to get up a good lather with the shampoo, but it did wash off easily, leaving a lovely fragrance on baby's head."

And Finally...

Emily thought that the fragrances and presentation of the Baby Naturals products were first-class. But actually using the products, she was a little disappointed in their performance.

But while she wouldn't buy them for herself she still would as a gift. "However,  I think I would still buy these as a gift for someone with a small baby or child. They're lovely bottles and smell great."

The Grace Cole Glitter Fairies fairytale castle gift set has been marked down from £6 to only £2.50 on Amazon, a really nice saving of over half the original price. This glitter fairy gift set is really sweet and just perfect for adding to your Present Cupboard.

• Click here to get glitter with Amazon

The Grace Cole Glitter Fairies gift set would not just make a sweet present for any little girl, but at this price could well replace the party bag as a party gift for all the little ones at your child’s party. It is cheap enough and has plenty to offer.

You get a cute little bag that includes a bath/shower gel and body lotion that com in a sundae-style bottle, and a body ball to lather up with at bath time. The scent is described as comforting with fruity top notes and a heart of heliotrope and rose, resting on a sweet base of caramel and vanilla.

I am more inclined to eat the Grace Cole Glitter Fairies gift set after that description. Kids will also love the little bag that comes with the set.

Thanks to RabiaBila123 at HUKD!

The Body Shop is having a 60% off special on their Pamper collections in honour of the approaching Royal Wedding. You can find their most popular products for wonderfully low prices in enormous gift packages that you can share with friends and family.

• Click here to get pampered with The Body Shop

The Royal Wedding range at The Body Shop includes a huge number of products for a very silly low price. As the Royal Wedding approaches they are selling two tailor made pamper collections containing their most popular products for only £20 each.

These Royal Wedding pamper packs are worth over £50 and you are only paying £20. That’s a ton of stuff for free or at a stupidly low price. You can choose between the English Rose collection or the Perfect Princess Package.

The Perfect Princess package has products worth £52.50 and gets you a white head band, vitamnin E hand and nail treatment, peppermint cooling foot lotion, hi-shine lip treatment, vitamin E sink in moisture mask and coconut shimmer body butter.

These Royal Wedding packages are delicious and cheap. Bargain, even if you don’t care about the Royal Wedding.

Thanks to topsup at HUKD!

Argos seem to be providing me with all the lovely deals today! Here we have the awesome Bobo Snake Bath Bridge down from £9.99 to £3.99 which is less than half the original price for a very useful item indeed.

• Click here to get bathing with Argos

The Bobo Snake Bath Bridge is a clever fellow. It sits across the top of your bath and holds all your toys and accessories so you do not have to constantly scoop them up off the floor or the bottom of the bath. I know it drives me crazy and I wish I’d thought of getting one of these a lot sooner.

Bobo the Snake bath bridge fits across most baths and is very easy to clean. Well, they say it is easy to clean but some of the holes look a bit tough to polish if you ask me. It is 76.5x20x19cm in size and will hold a fair portion of your child’s bath accessories and toys.

He is also pretty cute, this Bobo Snake Bath Bridge. Those eyes are too adorable and there are two bit compartments to use as item holders.

Thanks to ciaran4174 at HUKD!