The Only Girl in the House

Star Wars At John Lewis | Boy Gift List

Star Wars At John Lewis | Boy Gift List

There are certain things, as a mum of boys, that I had little interest in/didn’t have a clue about just over 10 years ago – oh, how my world has changed. I now have a wealth of knowledge on the latest football boots, how to acquire FIFA points and the epic saga that is – Star Wars. There seems to be an intrinsic link between Star Wars and boys – as though the love of lightsabers, the dark side and Jedi aspirations are woven into their DNA*. But there’s varying degrees of the force – some kiddos prefer to watch, admire and perhaps don a Darth Vader costume come Halloween, whilst others go all-out and opt for a full-on Millennium Falcon bedroom theme.

*This is a mama proven theory, not yet scientifically researched/published.

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Monday Must-Haves: Smellies for A Christmas Stocking

Monday Must-Haves: Smellies for A Christmas Stocking

I’ll keep it short and sweet today, as not only is it a Monday morning and caffeine is calling – but we’ve all got Christmas shopping, ahem, I mean work to do, so I’ll get to the point…

There was a time, circa 1995, that getting “smellies” for birthday and Christmas presents was about as crap as it could get – it usually meant a satsuma scented, animal shaped BodyShop soap stuffed basket, topped up with a lot of straw to make it look even more full of shit than it really was. Oh how times have changed (as long as there’s no Sanctuary gift box in sight) if someone were to present me with any of the following “smellies” at anytime of year I’d be bloody chuffed; if they could also throw in a voucher offering 2-3 hours of child free time to indulge in the loveliness, then even better – but that’d just be asking a bit much methinks!

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Ba-humbug to Baby’s First Christmas: Gift List

Ba-humbug to Baby’s First Christmas: Gift List

At the risk of coming across like the Grinch pissing on Santa’s parade, I’m going to admit I’m not a huge fan of going overboard for a little one’s first Christmas (each to their own though!). This has good and bad points for Casper: on the plus side – he will not be sporting a green and red, elf onsie, neither will he be found supping on Grandma’s xmas roast given the mini-blender treatment; on the downside, my poor little Tiny Tim will not be inundated with so presents he doesn’t know which one to bang/throw/dribble on first. Maybe I’m just incredibly cynical after a couple of 1st xmases, but new parents, I hate to put your cinnamon and clove scented candle out but your bubs will undoubtedly give a glassy eyed clueless look for a large portion of the day and, although a cliche – they WILL genuinely enjoy the box and packaging so much more!

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