Diamond Jubilee

Kids Freebie: Free Diamond Jubilee Printables @ Tinyme

by Tamsin Oxford in Freebies on 4 June, 2012 at 3:00 pm

Kids Freebie: Free Diamond Jubilee Printables @ Tinyme

Tinyme is offering an adorable range of free Diamond Jubilee printables which are a great way to celebrate and to keep kids busy on the day. The site specialises in affordable, designer products for kids so while you’re there, take a peek at what they have on offer.

Tinyme sells things like wall stickers, framed artwork, chalkboard planners and plenty of lovely personalised goodies. These are all really lovely and I have to admit that the design style is right up my alley, really sweet and clever.

The free Diamond Jubilee printables follow the same design styles and are really cute. There are Bingo cards, cupcake toppers, playing cards, and different instructions for different games. On the whole it is a pretty cool idea and is made even better by the fact that it is completely free. Enjoy!

Free Jubilee Printables From Kodak And iChild

by Luschka van Onselen in Freebies on 1 June, 2012 at 7:00 pm

Free Jubilee Printables From Kodak And iChild

Have you got everything ready for your Jubilee Celebrations? No? Don’t worry, me neither.  But, thanks to Kodak’s special Jubilee themed party packs you can quickly create a range of inexpensive decorations using your home printer. Hosted at iChild, the online resource for parents, there’s a plethora of ideas.

The printable templates from Kodak include:

  • Union Jack Bunting - Bring out the bunting, it’s a staple feature of any Jubilee celebration and there really is nothing more British, and anyway, bunting is making a real come-back this year, it seems!
  • Jubilee Flag - Make your own Union Jack flag
  • Crown - Print out your own crown and you can be Queen for a day
  • Cake decorations - Make sure your food is up to royal standards with these printable cake flags
  • Party hats - Put on your party hat and let the fun begin
  • Name cards - If you’ve got VIPs coming over, be sure to print out your Jubilee name cards for that extra special touch

Now all you need is a discount code for print cartridges, but I’m trying not to be a scrooge!

The Kingsmill Bread And Recipe Book Review

by Tamsin Oxford in Reviews on 31 May, 2012 at 5:00 pm

The Kingsmill Bread And Recipe Book Review

Kingsmill recently sent me a copy of their brand new recipe book. It’s a very unusual one. This was created by kids from across the UK who all entered a competition to create sandwiches that make lunchtime fun. The Fun Lunch Recipe Book is entirely free to download and each idea was created by the regional winners who range across a ton of different age groups.

I nabbed the book, chose the ideas that I wanted to copy, grabbed a ton of Kingsmill bread and forged ahead. The Jubilee Stars you see above were a copy of the gorgeous Sandwich Rings created by Molly Gilbert, age 12. She used cookie cutters to make her awesome circle sandwiches but we only had a star, so that’s the way we went. We added a dollop of raspberry jam in the middle and topped them with chopped fresh strawberries. Yum.

The bread we used was a combination of the 50/50 and the plain white and both were quite hard to cut into shape as they were so fresh and soft. We were making our sarmies for a school Diamond Jubilee picnic today and my daughter had so much fun creating these stars and shields. She also didn’t need breakfast as she pretty much ate one of her own creations for every three we put on the plate.

The Kingsmill Bread And Recipe Book ReviewNext up was our copying the Knight’s Shield sandwich invented by Gabrielle Brooksbank-Eames. Only six years old and she created this awesome idea. Her shield actually looks like one (see on the left). Ours, not so much. In fact, ours look terrible. I did try, I really did, but I am not even remotely artistic.

Still, we stuffed them with chicken, used carrots, cucumber and olives as our shield markings and my daughter loved them. We used Kingsmill 50/50 for these.

The recipe book is fantastic and it is a lovely way to inspire kids to get involved with their food. The bread is ace too, my daughter has been munching on it solidly for two days now. If that isn’t a good review, then I don’t know what is, because she actually hates sandwiches!

Top Tips To Enjoy The Jubilee Weekend!

by Lynley Oram in Features on 31 May, 2012 at 1:00 pm

Top Tips To Enjoy The Jubilee Weekend!Here it is, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. It is going to be a long time before there's another jubilee. If ever (who knows if there will be a Monarchy by then?). I don't remember the silver Jubilee at all, although I was living in New Zealand then.

This time around I feel obliged to make a bit of something of a fuss about it all, for my son if nothing else. All that pageantry is the sort of thing kids just love. It is also an excuse for street parties. We're having one, although it is less for a chance to celebrate the Jubilee and more for an opportunity to shut the road and have it car free for the day. I can't wait - an opportunity for my son to play out front, just like I used to when I was a kid!

There's lots of things going on all over the country, and lots of ways to enjoy the Jubilee, and many of them without spending a penny. Let's just hope the weather holds, and we get to enjoy it outside as well!

Click here to read more...

Diamond Jubilee Baking Ideas

by Lynley Oram in Features on 28 May, 2012 at 1:00 pm

Diamond Jubilee Baking IdeasThere's a Diamond Jubilee celebration at my son's school this Thursday for which I have to bake something vaguely in theme. Then we're off to the country on Saturday and Sunday, with a BBQ to go to, and dessert to bring. And finally our street is having a party on Monday.

So I've been spending the last week drooling over all sorts of wonderful Jubilee-themed baking and desert ideas.

Here's some of the best, yummiest, or easiest ideas that I've come across or have been suggested by our PlayPennies parents.

The weather forecast for the weekend made me laugh though. Apparently it is going to cool down but still be fairly pleasant. Kind of sounds like how most people I know feel about the actual Jubilee. Not exactly excited in any way, but a pleasant four days off and a chance to close the street and let our kids play outside for a change.

Now just make sure you stock up on plenty of red and blue colouring for the inevitable icings!

Click here to read more...

The ASDA Diamond Jubilee Commemorative Plate & Mug Review

by Tamsin Oxford in Reviews on 24 May, 2012 at 5:00 pm

The ASDA Diamond Jubilee Commemorative Plate & Mug Review

I recently discovered the ASDA range of products that have been designed to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. They are really well priced and utterly brilliant for that extra dash of colour and splash at your street party.

On Monday I reviewed the tea towel and today the Diamond Jubilee commemorative mug and plate. The rather awesome Diamond Jubilee mug has an identical pattern to that on the tea towel but with the blue border running along the bottom and the lip of the mug. It is lovely, really sturdy and has just coped very well with a run through the dishwasher at the highest temperature setting.

The mug is also only £3 and I think that is fantastic value for something that you can keep for years as a memento of the celebration. It hasn’t faded and the pattern hasn’t cracked and I have used it every day and washed it every day.

Finally, there is the really cool commemorative plate. Now this comes in a gorgeous box that has the same pattern printed on it and the plate lies inside, neatly and securely wrapped in a layer of bubble wrap. I must say that it is not excessively packaged, a good point in its favour, but done in such a way that you can easily re-wrap the plate once you have finished using it.

The Diamond Jubilee commemorative plate from ASDA is great quality. My child picked it up, she loves the range as they are learning about this celebration at school, and immediately dropped it by accident. It did have a soft carpet to land on, but still I was impressed.

The Diamond Jubilee plate is also only £3 and there are lots of other lovely bits and pieces on sale there too, like the teapot and the Union Jack tea towel. It’s a lovely range that will make any street party or garden party look simply lovely!

Marks & Spencer Food To Go Promotional Code: £5 Off £30

by Lynley Oram in Deals on 17 May, 2012 at 8:00 pm

Marks & Spencer Food To Go Promotional Code: £5 Off £30Use this Marks & Spencer Food to Go promotional code to get £5 off your order when you spend £30 or more on food. The offer can only be used once per customer, and not in conjunction with any other offer that requires a code. I had discounted items in my shopping bag and it worked just fine.

Click here to use your M&S promotional code

  • Discount: £5
  • Minimum spend: £30
  • Applies to: food to go
  • Promotional code: SAVE5FTO
  • Expires: 31st July 2012

To use this code you need to go through checkout. There  are two opportunities to enter a promotional code before you confirm your order. Once entered it will appear automatically on your order if it is accepted.

It can be easy to do a big shop at Marks & Spencer. I like the quality of the food. In my shopping bag to test this code I selected a range of tasty treats from their Diamond Jubilee selection.

The whole lot came to £31.99, with delivery free as I was collecting instore. The offer took £5 off that, making it £26.99.

Thanks to aScottishBloke at HUKD!