So here it is. The Easter Holidays. And the weather man keeps telling me it is going to snow around here by the end of the week. If you are as unprepared as I am for the prospect of cold and wet weather (I thought we'd be pretty much in the park all holidays) then this is the review for you.

Find Me A Gift are known in our house for their great gift ideas, but I'd never really thought of them for the kids before. My husband yes - he loves all that innovative stuff.

I received three items from the website. All of which will amuse and entertain children, even if only in a small sort of way. These are the National Trust Flower Pressing and Fragrance Kit, the Teeter-Totter Piggy Bank, and Deep Drink Diver bubble straws. Read on to find out more!

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We’re no strangers to Find Me A Gift here on PlayPennies. In fact, we’ve reviewed goodies from them at almost every key holiday or event over the past year and with good reason – generally, they have something for everyone.

At Christmas time this is no different – although you’ve got two hours to place your order today if you still want any of these before Christmas, as their next day delivery service cut-off is 3PM today.

We gave three gift ideas to PlayPennies mum Tanya to review for us, and she did a great job doing so.

The first item we sent her was a pair of touchscreen smart gloves. I just love the idea of these, if they work as they’re supposed to, because putting gloves on is the most surefire way to ensure either my face will itch, or my phone will beep.

It's here – Halloween! If you're partying it up this weekend, here are a few goodies you might want to add to your décor.

Draw attention to your food and drinks with these Screaming And Flashing Skull Drinking Straws. They are fabulous screaming skulls that light up and flash whenever you take a sip through them. Theyre easy to unwrap and some of the packaging is recyclable, which is always a bonus.

The Screaming Straws are not so loud as to drive you mad which is especially helpful in a room full of Screaming Straws, and you can turn them off by blowing into them.

We gave them to PlayPennies mum Tammy to see what she and her kids thought about these novelty items, and they found them pretty amusing – Tammy's five year old loved it and insisted on using it in every drink every day for a week. They all felt these were “pretty darn cool”, and would make a fab addition to a fun Halloween party.

The down sides are that they are novelty, and Tammy wasn't sure how long they'd last. “It's the kind of thing you can stick in your cupboard and use year after year if they last, but,” she said, “How long before they'd lose that novelty and just end up landfill.”

Additionally, at £3.49 a pop, you'd probably only have a few at a table because it'd work out pretty pricey to have one per guest.

For those who don't get a screaming straw, the party's not a total wash-out: How about some vampire teeth ice cubes?

Tammy actually laughed at these – and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. You get five slots in one vampire teeth mould. You can use food colouring or coloured juice to make bloody vampire teeth ice cubes, or normal ice cubes for your normal drinks. Or if it's a grown up party, nothing like some vodka jellies in your moulds.

Pencils, pens, notebooks, pencil case. All necessary stuff for the return to school but not so exciting. How about throwing in some items to perk their days up a bit? Or maybe your own - there's a few here that I'd definitely like to get hold of.

Find Me A Gift specialises in finding unique products that make fabulous presents. They offered us the chance to have a look at a few items that they thought would be fun for the kids when they go back to school. So of course we said yes. PlayPennies mum of one Theresa is our tester this week. Here's what she thought of these fun products.

Find Me a Gift has given PlayPennies readers a simply scrummy special and exclusive discount on their purchases. Using the code below, you can get £5 taken off any order over £30 as of today. The offer excludes postage and packaging and gift wrap, but still saves you a lovely £5.

• Click here to get your discount with Find Me A Gift

The site offers you a huge range of cool and funky ideas for gifts and back to school essentials. Fancy a chocolate scented calculator? This is the place you’ll find it. This is where you will uncover school supplies that will make your kids laugh and your friends laugh with them.

• Discount: £5 off £30 spend
• Valid on: First purchases only and once per customer
• Valid until: 10 August 2011
• Code: PLAYPENNIES

We’ve reviewed some stuff from the site over here at PlayPennies and have found the quality to be good and the range just as satisfying. The deal is well worth taking advantage of as that £5 can mean everything when buying the perfect pressie.  Enter your special code when you check out.

Ok, I’m sorry, but these HAVE to be the absolute cutest cupcake moulds in the world. How can anyone resist these? Adorable little robots with hilarious facial expressions designed to make you giggle as you nibble. They are down from £14.99 to only £8.99, saving you £6 off the usual price.

• Click here to get cupcakes from Find Me A Gift

The Yum Bots Robot silicone cupcake moulds come in a set of four and are shaped like, well, robots. You simply fill their heads with cake mix, cook them, and then decorate their heads with crazy icing. These are brilliant for birthday parties with a sci-fi theme – perhaps Doctor Who – or just to make everyone laugh.

And who said they are only for kids birthdays I ask you?

They come with a 30 day money back guarantee, are made from silicone that can withstand temperatures from -50 to 446 F, and each robot measures approximately 6x6cm in size. I love these and I’ve ordered some. How could anyone possibly resist I ask you?  

Find me a Gift have really delivered some amazing things to my door over the past few years, from customised labels to weird sparkly charms to shining bath creations. This time they sent me a simply awesome Father’s Day present – A Joker bathrobe for the inner maniac of your little Batman (I mean, husband).

You’d think that a bathrobe designed in the effervescent purple and green of the Joker’s colours would be a hideous exercise in eye-clenching drama. Well, you’d be wrong. While I definitely have  a bizarre sense of colour appreciation (pink and red, for me, have always worked) this bathrobe did not shock and dismay as I had expected it to.

When I first unfurled the Joker bathrobe I was first taken aback by the colours and how, when placed on my husband, they worked with his skin tone. Perhaps you need to ensure that your partner, or whoever you are buying Father’s Day gifts for, works well with Royal purple and green.

The second thing that got my attention was the texture. This bathrobe is Oh My Goodness I Want To Stroke You soft. So very, very, very soft. My husband has been wearing the same bathrobe for years. I don’t mind this, it is a part of who he is, but it was still nice to see that he was prepared to give the Joker a try the next morning.

And the next. And the next. And now the Joker bathrobe from Find me a Gift is the only bathrobe he will wear. I think it is the fact that it is utterly soft, dreamily soft. And so far that soft hasn’t washed out in the laundry, like such fabrics often do. And there are some nice, big pockets on there too.

Retailing for £39.99, this is not a cheap gift, but it is also a very nice one. If you don’t like the Joker, then why not nab Yoda or Obi Wan Kenobi?

When I think that it’s almost father’s day, my heart starts racing a little. I can hardly believe the year is almost halfway gone already. It’s all just going too fast for me – evidenced by the fact that a large box arrived for us with father’s day products to review.

Now, if I’m honest, my first thought was, “Great, a bunch of tat to clutter the house.” But, it didn’t take long for me to change my mind. In fact, when my hubby came in to see his very early father’s day gifts, there was already a bit of an ownership battle going on for the oversized coffee cup.

Paladone Products has been around since 1991 and is one of the UK’s leading gift development companies. You might not know their name, however, as they don’t have their own ‘shop’ as such, but sell their products in more than 30 of the UK’s biggest retailers. So whenever you’ve bought a little something from the ‘seasonal items’ isle, chances are it was from Paladone.

The first thing we looked at was the StressBerry. In our home, this is a pretty good all-rounder item – see, I’m a CrackBerry addict, which pretty much makes the hubby hate it. So for him, this foam rubber BlackBerry look-a-like is a wonderful alternative to a stress ball. I think he gets some rather frightening pleasure out of pummelling the poor thing. In fact, the look on his face when he squished it as small as he possibly could kind of confirmed that – especially when accompanied by the odd “arrrrghhhhh” sound.

I also thought it meant he’d pretty much destroyed it, but as it turns out the StressBerry is pretty hardy. Not only were there no cracks in the paint or foam, it actually sprang back to normal.  Since then, it’s become my daughter’s phone. I’m not sure what it’s made up of, but it doesn’t make annoying sounds, it isn’t anything into her brain when she holds it near her head and for the most part means she leaves my phone alone.

Also, at £2.99 from Amazon, the StressBerry is certainly not going to break the bank.

Next up was a Mr. Messy apron. While the hubby is actually a pretty great cook, it’s not something he gets to do too often, so the apron doesn’t see much use. Perhaps now that it’s summertime it’ll see the light of the barbeque a little more often, which would be great. It’s made from 100% cotton, so I also don’t have to worry about it melting near the stove or fire either, and is quick and easy to wash too. While he did take exception to being called messy, he liked it and has worn it since.  From a ‘typical woman’ point of view, it’s well made and neat and tidy in all the right places. It also doesn’t unravel in the wash as some cheaper craftsmanship does.

The Mr.Messy apron is available at Amazon for £9.99.

The Punk Washing Up Brush (on sale at Find Me A Gift for £3.49 at the moment) is the item we agreed is the most ‘average’. No matter what we said about it, it remains a washing up brush. But that’s possibly not entirely fair. It’s a fun item, it puts a smile or at least a raised eyebrow on people’s faces when they see it standing by the sink. The bristles are quite hard so it stands up to a good amount of cleaning. It can stand next to the sink – in other words the washing up brush balances well on those little punk feet. I found it a bit uncomfortable to hold, but with his bigger, manlier hands, my hubby didn’t complain about it.

While the Amazon description says “Now you can bring laughter and joy to this thankless task with this hilarious punk washing up brush,” I must admit it didn’t get the same response here. It was more “It’s a bit of fun, but still doesn’t make me want to get up and wash the dishes.” But in fairness, who wants to do the dishes?  But, for someone with a bit of an eclectic taste, or someone who likes trinkety things this would be a great gift. At least it’s functional and works well, so all’s not lost on me. So long as Mr.Messy does the dishes, I’m happy.

The final item we received was that coffee cup. The I’m The Daddy Mug makes Starbucks Venti cups look like shot glasses. Sort of. It has a 900ml capacity (just over 1.5 pints) and is actually ridiculously large, but while I might have my BlackBerry in one hand, I have a cup of coffee in the other, so the husband and I were fighting about who should have the cup. He is the daddy though, so he won out, but I’ll be borrowing it next time we have a teething night!

A reviewer on Amazon said that the print wasn’t as clear or well defined, but that wasn’t a problem we’ve experienced. Ours looks pretty much like the one pictured.  It’s definitely an ideal gift for new dads, or anyone wanting to mark their territory.

I must admit, I was dubious at first, but now as everything has a place in our cupboards, toy box and kitchen counter, it’s grown on me. If you’re looking for fun little presents for father’s day, you won’t be disappointed in these and you’ll definitely get good use out of each of them.

The good news is, if you're looking for a present for Mother's Day (this Sunday!) it isn't too late to order online. Find Me A Gift is one of the websites I use a lot to find presents, particularly when looking for something inexpensive and nice. It is hard to tell from a website page what an item is really like. You could just end up with something cheap and nasty instead.

So I have grabbed three likely contenders from the Find Me A Gift pages, and gave them to one of our PlayPennies mum's to review. Something for the bath and me-time, something for fun and something that's practical (but soothing).

Even if you're sorted for Mother's day there will be other occasions, so bookmark this page in case you find yourself stuck in a present dilemma.

Bath Lights Show

Mum of a five year old, Tracy, was very excited about the Bath Lights Show (£4.99). "I rather liked the idea of being able to lie back in a sparkly bath and read a good book in my very own private bubbly disco." The Bath Lighs Show is a device that floats on the top of the bath water emmitting a mixture of flashing and still lights. It has five different display combinations, made up of red, green and blue lights.  It's dome shaped so that, according to the website, "the light can reach out expansively to illuminate your pool or bath." According to Tracy, the light shows "vary from intense flashes that would not be good for epileptics to soft lighting that shifts between different colour grades as you lie there".

Unfortunately, Tracey was disappointed with this gift. It takes three AAA batteries, and these are not included. Which means you have to insert them yourself. Tracey found that this required a lot of unscrewing and rescewing. Which is understandable given that it is waterproof, but still it "was a bit tedious".

Tracy tried it out in a variety of settings. "The device works beautifully in a dimly lit room with both bubbles and plain water. If the room is brighter, then it still looks fantastic in a bath without bubbles, but doesn't do much if you've used bubble bath." .

She also had a problem with the weight that slips into a crevice at the Bath Light's base. The weight ensures that the lights stay facing the right way up. After only three baths the weight no longer clicked into position on the base of the device and Tracy found it just fell out. "You still get a light show but if you move then it just falls over and the lights flash at the ceiling instead of into the water. Repeated tries to get the weight to slot back into the device have failed and the instructions clearly say that you must not glue it in."

Swarovski Crystal Rainbow Maker

The Swarovski Crystal Rainbow Maker (£23.99) didn't exactly bowl Tracy over with delight when she opened the box. "My first impression was, what an unprepossessing little sight - this tiny little thing with cogs and wheels and all sorts."

Accprdomg the blurb on the website, "when sunlight hits the rotating Swarovski Crystal, colourful rainbows are projected across your walls". The problem here, as Tracy found, is that this is Britain. There's not necessarily a lot of sunlight around, and the device appears to only work with direct sunlight. "At first I stuck it on the lounge window but it did nothing for about three days. It is not sensitive enough to work on transferred or muted light which is what was happening outside - the sensors are only responsive to direct bright sunlight. However, the sticker cup with which you attach it is excellent. It sticks really well and removes easily."

She tried it around the house until it finally worked its magic in her daughter's bedroom. "It is truly lovely, really it is. I liked the fact that the cogs and wheels were shelved in see-through plastic as then I could see them spinning. I love the rainbows dancing about the room, as does my little one." 

 However, overall Tracy felt the price was high. "I would recommend this at about £15 as a lovely present." The site has had them on sale for £18 before, so it might be worth keeping an eye out for a lower price.

Hot Rocks Gift Set With Candle And Incense

The final item, the Hot Rocks Gift Set with candle and incense (£14.99) recieved the seal of approval from Tracy. She thought it was excellent value, and the product lived up to expectations.

"I put them on my husband who has a bad shoulder and he really enjoyed them. They take quite a bit of preparation but they are just lovely. And you get an incense holder, incense, candles and an instruction manual included. To be fair, the manual isn't very instructive so you do have to do a bit of guess work as to where to place the stones precisely." Tracy found it easier to Google the stone placements, for better accuracy. Both she and her husband enjoyed the experience.

And Finally ...

There's no set delivery charge. Prices for standard delivery of 2 to 4 days start from 95p. The estimated delivery charge for the Bath Lights Show, for example, was £2.95.

Ah Valentine's Day! Well if you're not already sorted, or are just now thinking you might need to look at suitable gifts, here's a couple of ideas. These come from Find Me A Gift, a website that I often to go to when I'm looking for something a little bit off beat, a little bit different or a little bit kitsch.

So we got two items in for review. Something that's lovely and something that's definitely off beat! A present for her, and a present for him. I gave them to our reviewer Caitlin to try out. With a pre-schooler, Caitlin and her husband have to work hard to get some time together for a bit of romance. What would they think of these gifts? Here's what Caitlin had to say.

The Love Slanket

The Love Slanket (£24.99) is just awesome. A stunning shade of red that hints at pink with gigantic big hearts splattered across the fabric it is a warm and toasty snuggle spot of joy. I whipped it out for work and TV snuggling and refuse to take it off during the day. I waft about the house like a mad prince with the blanket trailing behind me. My daughter has stolen it. But it is definitely not for boys - my husband shied away from it and hissed like a vampire would at the sunlight.

Positives: warm and toasty, easy to use, great armholes and the pocket at the front is ideal for pens while working or sweeties while watching TV. It is the ultimate relax and love yourself item. soft and scrummy

Negatives: I didn't like the smell when it first arrived and it was quite stiff so I washed it and used liberal amounts of fabric softener. After that it was perfect. It is pricey though; you are paying for the novelty value.

Overall: it is warm and toasty so does what it should and the cuteness and madness of it all is ultimately deserving of the price.

Secret message arrow

This is one sturdy arrow. The Secret Message Arrow comes in a cardboard box with gold foil twists to hold it in place, and when you open it the little pieces of paper for your messages fall all over the place.

The packaging got a definite down thumb for me, but the arrow itself is fantastic. Heavy and solid, great quality and just an ace idea. The concept is to take one of the provided pieces of paper (small and square and there are five of them) write a love message on it, roll it up and put it inside the arrow.

Let me tell you, rolling up that piece of paper until it was small enough to fit into the arrow head was a monumental excercise and very difficult. It took me four tries and by the time I had it small enough, it looked like it had been eaten by a bear. Also, make sure you put the note in arrow head or it will get pushed down inside the arrow and you will never see it again!

Other than rolling up the paper this was dead easy to do. The head screws off effortlessly and the arrow looks fantastic. I wasn't sure I would like this item but it completely won me over as an incredibly cute and unusual gift.

Positives: it is heavy and solid and beautiful and the messages can be anything you like. It is reusable; it is a good price point; and you can cut extra pieces of paper in different colours (use originals as size matches) and keep on giving each other special arrow messages. It is a gift that keeps on giving.

Negatives: rolling up that piece of awkward paper

Overall: brilliant Valentine gift at an excellent price point

And finally ...

These are just two ideas. The site has pages of gift ideas for Valentine's Day. If you fancy a bit more togetherness, you could try out the double Slanket!