John Lewis has reduced the price on these cute little picnic chairs in a bag for both girls and boys. Originally retailing for £15, they are now down to £7.50 and you can arrange to collect yours instore to save on delivery charges.

• Click here to get a picnic at John Lewis

These cute and colourful picnic chairs come with cup holders and are made with robust, wipe-clean material. The chairs are collapsible and have a co-ordinating carry bag that makes travel and camping and festivals so much fun.

The chairs are suitable for ages three to eight, or up to 50kgs, and they come in two different colours. The girls have a pink “Make a wish” motif while the boys have robots and rivets. I personally think that the “boys” chair is perfect for both genders actually, it is extremely cute and not as sweetie pie as the pink girls one.

Thanks to lucerysmum at HUKD!

Make A Little Wish and Robots and Rivets  Lunch Bags in pink and blue are currently half price at John Lewis, reduced from £12 to £6.

• Have lunch on the go with Robots and Rivets
• Have lunch on the go with Little Wishes

It’s almost summer time, and I can’t wait for picnics and outings to the park, and this little set from John Lewis will make a great contribution to parties in the park.

The exterior is perfect for the UK summer – it’s showerproof, so at least your snacks will stay dry should it rain. The rucksack lunch bag is insulated to keep food cool and fresh, and it has an easy-care, wipe clean interior for fuss free use.

The lunch bag includes a polypropylene plate, beaker, knife, fork and spoon in pink for the Make A Little Wish bag and blue for the Robots and Rivets.

Thanks to lucerysmum at HUKD

There’s a whole range of Easter themed table settings and décor available at John Lewis at the moment, most of which is reduced to half price.

• Set the scene for next Easter

I wish I had the kind of house where I could have décor set aside for every holiday of the year, or a box in the attic (or even an attic, for that matter!) that could be brought down every year, but alas, that’s not where we’re at.

Included in this offer are serving dishes, bowls, and decorations, reduced from £6 to £3, £3 to £1.50 and £13 to £6.50 for a pack of 27 decorations.

There are nibble dishes, milk dispensers and tea cosies for a simple tea rather than a full scale lunch . For a spring theme, rather than a purely Easter one, there are decorative large flowers, reduced from £6 to £3 and wooden flowers down from £8 to £4.

Thanks to lucerysmum at HUKD

In the ‘reduced to clear’ isle of the John Lewis website today, you’ll find the Smash Love Skulls Case And Bottle Lunch Set that originally sold for £12 reduced to £8 and now to £5.  If you want it delivered you’ll have to add another £3 again, otherwise Click and Collect for free.

• Be bold and colourful with love and death

This is a kind of funky alternative to princesses and fairies if you have a girl in the house that prefers the Cure to Justin Bieber. The Smash Love Skulls Case and Bottle Lunch Set is reduced to clear, so I don’t suppose it’ll hang around forever,  but at the moment there’s ‘more than 10 in stock’.

The description is rather sparse, but the set contains a ‘generous sized children’s insulated lunch case with  a bold skull pattern and a handy 500ml water bottle included.’

The dimensions of H26 x W28 xD9cm I assume apply to the lunch box only, making it quite a nice size for a day’s packed lunch.

Thanks to Nicnicrees

John Lewis have reduced the Junior MasterChef Sweet and Savoury Cooking set from £35 to £17.50 and now to £10.

• Cook up a mini storm

Before Christmas I spent ages perusing different brand of kitchen tool toys for my daughter, and was quite surprised by the value – or lack there of – provided by some of them. This set from John Lewis looks like quite good value for money, actually, especially at just £10.

The Junior MasterChef Sweet and Savoury Cooking set consists of a mixing bowl, whisk, mixing spoon, grater, four ramekins and four mini pie dishes.

One of the reviewers left a pretty concise opinion on each item, so I’ll share that with you, spelling mistakes and all!

“I purchased this item in the JL clearance, so I got a very cheap deal. I actually wanted the ramkins and small black dishes, and it worked out cheaper to by this product. The dishes are adult size and not really junior. The bowl, spoon and grater are quite stirdy, albeit on the small side (I think that is where the junior bit comes in). The whisk is a bit floppy and could end up bending. Overall the quality is a lot better than what I expected. It would be ideal for mums and dads to buy for there budding young chefs in the house, especially if you don't want the kids damaging the more expensive cookware. I did only buy it for the ramkins, which I'm very, very happy with.”

One of the reviewers left a pretty concise opinion on each item, so I’ll share that with you, spelling mistakes and all!

Click and collect is free, or standard delivery is £3, so all in all, a pretty good price, I think!

Thanks to crystaleve at HUKD

The John Lewis pushchair in black has been reduced to clear from £275 to £135. This is a great price for a rather fancy looking pushchair that is both stylish and useful.

• Click here to push on over to John Lewis

The pushchair has everything you need to get travelling with your tot. The seat can be placed in a forward or rear facing position and has a three position adjustable calf support built in. The five-point safety harness has chest pads for extra comfort and baby safety.

The bumper bar is removable and the chassis is made from lightweight aluminium which makes it ideal for people who need to carry theirs regularly – either up and down stairs or in and out of the car. The pushchair is suitable from birth and also has a footmuff, raincover and shopping basket included.

Thanks to kitty4kits at HUKD!

Here we are, the second day of the new year. Perhaps you're thinking of working off all that food you ate over the holidays. Or maybe you're thinking of getting fit this year. I always think about that one. With emphasis on the word 'think'.

But it is also a time to take stock, now that the hustle and haste of the Christmas holiday is over. No more rushing about buying gifts or snapping up bargains to last you the year in the sales. My next door neighbour has bought all the presents she might need for birthdays and so forth already. Now there's a woman who's far more prepared than I am.

What if you impulse bought something you shouldn't have? Or you got an unwanted gift? Or maybe you bought or were given something that was faulty? What exactly are your rights? Read on to find out.

Click here to read more...

I found this exact toy on sale on Amazon just before Christmas and it had been reduced to £79 (or thereabouts) which was still very expensive in my books. Although, according to Amazon, it originally cost in the region of £179.99. This is far more reasonably priced at £44.75 for those of you still looking for a ride-on Doctor Who Dalek.

• Click here to zoom on over to John Lewis

The Doctor Who ride-on Dalek is 6V and will need to charge for hours and hours before kids can get about one hour of fun out of it each time. I think this is a massive downer, especially for kids, but perhaps for some is worth it?

The inflatable Dalek is powered by a 6V motor that lets kids take control and turn themselves into the Doctor’s nemesis. There are 10 sound effects and Dalek phrases and kids can steer it up to 3km per hour.

Thanks to Stercus Accidit at HUKD!

If you're popping in here to snag a bargain on Christmas day then good for you! While everyone else is still opening pressies you should have the internet all to yourself. John Lewis has a massive clearance sale on right now, with lots of items half price. Like this Celia Birtwell Stroller, marked down from £140 to £70.

• Click here for your Celia Birtwell Stroller at John Lewis

This stroller is available in two colours - pebble and shadow. It would be hard to choose - both have pros and cons. The pebble one looks great, but how soon would all the dirt start to show up? But, it is a light colour making it highly visible whereas the shadow version would easily blend into the background when it gets dark. Personally, I quite like the pebble.

The Celia Birtwell lightweight stroller has soft grip handles and a detachable, adjustable hood with viewing windows and a storage pocket. It has a detachable bumper bar, and a seat with multi-recline positions. Also includes a raincover.

The aluminium chassis has a safe finger folding mechanism to prevent any accidents, a carry handle for extra convenience when travelling, and single lockable swivel wheels as the front.

Thanks to JohnnyTwoToes at HUKD!

There's lots of toys on sale at the moment, and rest assured they'll all be full price in the week before Christmas. Or most of them anyway. This is a very pink toy, but if you've got a Hello Kitty fan in the house you'll be used to that. John Lewis has reduced the price of the Hello Kitty Roller Disco from £29.95 to £15.

• Click here for your Hello Kitty Roller Disco at John Lewis

With this playset, your little one can treat their Hello Kitty dolls to an amazing roller disco where they can dance the night away. The set comes with 4 Hello Kitty figurines, sweet machine and shop, skate hire shop, as well as tables and chairs where they can enjoy a milkshake.

If the dolls fancy going for a dance in their magnetic skates, the dance floor flashes and lights up, while the disco ball revolves to set a proper party scene.

This is also a handy toy for taking about with you, useful if you're doing any visiting or travelling over the Christmas break. The disco folds up into a handy carry case so you can take Hello Kitty with you wherever you go.

Thanks to mkb_1980 at HUKD!

I did a Santa box last year, instead of a stocking or Santa sack, but the principle is the same. This was a sturdy, silver covered present box that I'd bought at WH Smiths, I think. Inside it was filled with all his stocking filler presents, individually wrapped. The advantage of the box (and why I thought of it) was that all the little bits could be popped back in there to keep from getting lost in the unwrapping frenzy.

Last year on PlayPennies we talked about the amount of money we would spend on the stocking fillers. Most people seemed to have a budget of around £20, and felt they were good at sticking to this. The cannier spenders made the money go as far as possible by snapping up bargains.

So here's the top ten hottest toys for children, and by hottest I mean cheapest, that are still in stock. I trawled through the pages of bargains that are posted on our sister site HUKD to find these for you. Read on for cheap stocking filler ideas.

Click here to read more...

Magic Sketchers are currently a very low £1.25 at John Lewis, which is a great price if you can pick them up, or add them to an order of over £30 to qualify for free delivery – if you can’t, you might want to try Amazon, where they’re £1.99 including delivery.

• Draw with the Magic Sketcher

I don’t know who came up with the first ever of these drawing pads, but they are simply genius.  Sketch pads that involve no paper are such a god-send on car journeys and flights, or even just in your handbag when you’re waiting at the doctor’s rooms or similar queuing experiences.

This Magic Sketcher is decorated with dinosaurs and is 18.5cm in size. You can choose fairies, space or pets if you prefer those to dinosaurs, and there’s a large pull tab for easy cleaning to start again.

The Magic Sketcher comes with a stylus for endless drawing fun.

This item is recommended for children aged 3 and over.

Thanks to sunnykeer at HUKD

The sonic screwdriver from the 11th Doctor Who is down to £7.50 at John Lewis and looks pretty fancy and fun for fans of the show. This would make a lovely Christmas gift or stocking filler for any kid who loves Doctor Who.

Click here to get sonic with John Lewis

I don’t normally equate John Lewis with value for money if I am honest. I find them very expensive and often overpriced, needless to say this Doctor Who sonic screwdriver is a good price for what you get and cool enough to make me want one.

This faithful copy of the Doctor’s trust sonic device has a spring loaded extending action. Pressing the button on the side of the handle activates the LED and sound effects which operate in closed mode. Flip open the cap at the end of the sonic screwdriver to reveal an additional button that activates the light and sound effects when it is in full extension open mode.

Awesome Doctor Who Sonic Screwdriver at a decent price.

Thanks to pmw at HUKD!

There’s a 2-pack of baby bibs on offer at John Lewis at the moment, for £1.50, down from £5.00

• Clean up the drool in style

Before my daughter was born, everyone was always on about having enough bibs. I really thought babies just came out as these major drooling machines and I actually don’t know how many bibs we ended up buying, but there were  certainly more  than twenty, and most of them where exceedingly cute.

Comes along the baby, and she wasn’t drooly at all, save for a  couple of days when her back teeth came out, so the majority of those bibs never saw the light of day.  I’ve heard that we were ‘lucky’ though, and even now I’m pregnant, I’ve had a few people ask how many bibs we have again! I don’t understand it, but anyway…. If you need to build up your stock, here are some cheapies that should be pretty nice quality, being from John Lewis and all.

The front of these is 100% cotton, the reverse is 80% cotton and 20% polyester, and they are apparently suitable from 3 months of age.  And they’re machine washable, which, quite frankly, would be a shocker if they weren’t!

Thanks to j8ulia at HUKD

Now I don't claim to get all children's toys, and this is definitely one of the elusive ones. What exactly is the attraction of Zhu Zhu hamsters? Still the little girl across the road who is the same age as my son loves these critters and has whole sets of tunnels and tubes for them to climb through. The Zhu Zhu Prince Hamster has been reduced by John Lewis from £9.95 to £4.95.

• Click here for your Zhu Zhu Prince Hamster at John Lewis

Standard delivery costs £3, however there is an option to collect instore the day following your order for free. This applies to 57 John Lewis and Waitrose stores, so check to see if there's one handy for you.

This hamster actually has a name. It isn't just Prince, it is Prince Dashington. I kid you not. He is a very cute purple colour and has a sweet little pink nose. At this price it would make a fabulous stocking filler, but I would really consider it for the present drawer. Not something I can make use of as my son only has one girl that's a friend!

One feature that will gladden the heart of any parent is that the hamster comes with two AA batteries. It is recommended from age 4 upwards, and the website emphasises again that this toy is not suitable for under 3 year olds.

Thanks to wazzygib at HUKD!

This brought back memories! To mark the 50th anniversary of the Play-Doh Fun Factory, they have brought out the Play-Doh 50th Birthday Fun Factory Play Set. John Lewis has it on special offer for £3.95. You can collect for free in store, or it is £3 for standard delivery. The next cheapest this can be found for is £3.99 at Sainsburys but there weren't any in stock at the time of checking, so a good buy if you can collect instore.

• Click here for your Play Doh Fun Factory @ John Lewis

I never actually had one of these. My baby sister did though. And I well remember the joy of sliding that little strip thing across, and pushing out all those different shapes.

That's all we did though. Or at least I did. Long spaghetti's of various shapes. The star one was my favourite. I think you were meant to use the to make models with but I never quite got that.

The Play-Doh Fun Factory Play Set includes:

• Fun shapes
• A longer handle for the extruder
• Plastic knife
• Two 2-Oz cans of Play-Doh
• Storage in base

You can top up the Play-Doh supplies with the four tub set for £2.95. Plus you can pick up Play-Doh Favourite Brand Play sets for £3.30. These are £5.99 at Sainsburys. Brilliant additions for the birthday present drawer!

The Favourite Brand Play Sets available are Mr Potato Head, Hungry Hippo and Elefun.

Thanks to lucerysmum at HUKD!

John Lewis has marked down selected Le Creuset items by 25 percent making this a very nice deal for anyone with a taste for this scrummy brand and in need of updating their kitchen. Le Creuset can be quite costly so this is a good place to nab some items at a discount.

• Click here to get Le Creuset from John Lewis

Items included in the Le Creuset sale are the range in Coastal Blue that include the  petite round casserole dish, the frypanthe Oval Casseroles, the Round Casseroles,  square grill, shallow casserole, rectangle grill, and the omelette pan. Note that the prices here are before the 25% has come off.

You will find casserole dishes also available in Midnight Blue, Cassis, Blue and Volcanic. The Le Creuset fry pans are also in a variety of colours, as are the Le Creuset rectangle grills and square grills.

I utterly love the Volcanic colour, that orangey red literally explodes onto your retinas. If you wake up feeling miserable and blue and whip out the Le Creuset frypan in that colour you will definitely cheer up. I am positive of that.

Thanks to cheerful10 at HUKD!

I love this bargain. John Lewis has reduced the Disney Princess Cinderella Doll to £9, from £25. This is a really lovely doll, which we reviewed just earlier this week. You can read all about it here.

• Click here for the Disney Princess Cinderella Doll at John Lewis

The Disney Princess Cinderella Doll is a 34cm fully bendable doll with a typical Disney Princess look and outfit with high quality nylon hair. It is recommended for ages 3 years and up.

Delivery is £3, however you can also opt to click and reserve for collection in store for free.

There are two things I really like, a lot, about this doll. First, it isn't pink. Second, it is age appropriate. There's nothing grown up or worldly wise about this doll.

The head is plastic, but the body is soft. The shoes do have a tendency to fall off, according to our reviewer. Which could be a pain if your child likes to carry it around with her.

Our reviewer loved that the toy was robust, and that the clothes are removable. This extends the amount of play the child has with the toy, as they can take off, and put back on, the clothes. But also, it makes the doll easy to clean.

Thanks to cherish138 at HUKD!

Even with the £3 delivery charge, this is the cheapest I've been able to find the VTech Red Playtime Bus. John Lewis is selling it for £11.45. Plus you can collect for free in store. This is a perfect toy for a baby who's about to become a toddler. If you've a one year old, or are looking for a present for a one year old, then it is just the thing. My son had one of these and I heartily recommend it.

• Click here for your VTech Red Playtime Bus at John Lewis

Although the age range is 1 to 3 years old, I have only just managed to sneak it out of his room in the last toy clearout. Just before his sixth birthday.  So far he hasn't noticed. Fingers crossed it won't be missed, and this is a toy I can at last pass on to another baby!

It is one of three baby toys he has been very reluctant to part with, and has still managed to get some occasional playtime out of it. So would I say it was value for money? You betcha.

The VTech Red Playtime Bus is an interactive talking bus that teaches phonics, letter names and numbers. There are chunky buttons on top of the bus that call our shapes, and the smiley passengers on the bus say funny phrases when pressed. There's other music and sound effects, including horn, brake and accelerator. It requires two AA batteries, and these are included.

Thanks to cherish138 at HUKD!

Don't ask me why I was reading the Daily HateMail the other day, I just was ok!

In doing so, I came across THIS article about the latest Bugaboo, named the 'Donkey' - whoever came up with that name should be fired in my opinion, whatever happened to interesting and exotic sounding Bugaboo names like the 'Cameleon'...?

I remember the fuss and hoo-hah surrounding the Bugaboo pushchairs when I was pregnant with my youngest; I didn't get it then and I don't get it now.

Apparently the Bugaboo Donkey is selling out across the country despite having a £1,200 price tag!

Are people insane?

It was launched last week and according to the article in the Mail, John Lewis were selling them at the rate of one an hour; madness.

I've always viewed pushchairs and strollers as a necessary evil and have never paid more than £50 for one - the last one, a Mamas and Papas three-wheeler travel system came from eBay for about forty five quid.

SO...am I missing the point here?

What IS the big deal with pushchairs that require a small mortgage for the average Joe to be able to afford?  Mariah Carey is supposed to be the proud owner of a Bugaboo Donkey.

Just think of all the other things you could do with the best part of a thousand pounds if you were tight-fisted like me, when it comes to pushchairs, and only spent £50 on on!

I want to know, would YOU spend this much money on a pushchair?! Or maybe you already have; sorry for calling you 'insane' but you could go on a pretty decent holiday for that sort of money.

Of course, if this is the pushchair of your dreams then it's available from John Lewis for £1,200.