Win! Madre Perla T-shirt and necklace
Remember Madre Perla — the fashionable Dutch children’s brand I wrote about last week? They’re the ones with the fun necklaces my kids love.
Well, here’s the exciting bit… we’re giving away one flowery T-shirt and necklace of choice (for girl), and one cowboy T-shirt and necklace of choice (for boy). Both very cool and sure to be a hit with your little one!
Just leave a comment below by Thursday, April 29th and we’ll randomly pick two winners. Don’t forget to tell us your preference for either the flowers or the cowboy… Good luck!
xxx Esther
P.S. Congrats to Sara from Chicago who won the three Jeff Friesen prints!
Megan Park
Ooh La la!! Megan Park is a Melbourne designer who makes the most exquisite beaded and embellished dresses — sumptuous vintage styling with a modern edge! I tried to choose a favorite but it is impossible… I was lucky enough to face this choosing dilemma recently when a ‘garden party’ themed wedding invitation called for a pretty summery concoction for my daughter.
Megan Park began her career in textiles (and a long working stint in the UK), followed by women’s clothing, girl’s dresses and a range of beautiful handmade cushions and throws which are to die-for (just look at these gorgeous cushions). Megan’s inspiration comes from far and abroad — from the street markets in Old Delhi and Hong Kong to the flea markets in Paris…
Megan Park is available worldwide.
-Sara
Date Weekend — Mayflower Inn and Spa
Since having my girls, my husband and I have only taken 3 short weekend trips away from home. Six nights. Four years. Exactly six times where I have slept past 7:30 in the morning. Now before you call me a loser… just wait… it gets even worse. Those six nights were all spent at the exact same place. A place which is less than a two-hour drive from our house!
But look — it’s not that we are afraid to leave our children with the grandparents for a few days – it’s just that we really love going here and honestly, when it comes right down to it… vacation for us at this juncture in our lives means sleeping past 7am, eating well, taking a bath without someone banging on the door, and long stretches of quiet. (more…)
Toothbeary
Here in the UK we get free dental care when we are pregnant and for a year after the baby is born. I knew when I was pregnant with my second child that there was something wrong with one of my teeth and I was right — I needed a root-canal. Scary! It had to happen after the baby was born and took 6 (yes that is S-I-X!) sessions to complete. Now I think the dentist did a good job but the experience was pretty shocking. The place was like a flashback to the dentists I went to as a child in the early eighties — the same furniture, the same smell, the same vinyl coated weird chair to sit on, the same bright lighting, the same ‘trying to be all smiley and friendly’ posters telling me to brush my teeth. I could not imagine taking my tiny children to a place like this to check their teeth; they would immediately know something was up — this is not a place where good things happen. Definitely not.
Luckily for my children, I had heard of Toothbeary, a dedicated children’s only dentist based in Richmond upon Thames. (more…)
Lego Love
We have a bit of a joke in my house that my husband enjoys playing with the Lego more than our child. He makes all sorts of weird and wonderful creations – from spinning tops to cars and temples. So we both had a good laugh when I found this cool book on Lego – I Lego NY. Lego must be cool again because recently we went to see an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney to see the work of Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson and we had a great time with Little C because not only was there a “mist room” but a table full of millions of pieces of white Lego. The creations were amazing: minarets, skyscrapers, skulls and all sorts of other futuristic buildings. It got me thinking how cool it would be to have an installation in a child’s room of only white Lego. We checked it out on eBay – you can buy people’s collections by the kilo, although didn’t come across any in just white… not yet!
-Natalie
Peekaboo Barn
My Iphone is my saviour — whenever I need a 5-minute distraction for my kids (think restaurant, meeting, waiting room) I hand them the device and they entertain themselves without interruption! Even my 3-year-old knows how to unlock the phone and start up his favourite applications in a time frame of about 2 seconds (can you believe we struggled with the computer 10 years ago?).
One of his favourite apps is Peekaboo Barn (and Peekaboo Jungle) which I’ve written about before. There are now 3 new animals to add for free via an update on the Itunes store, but if you still have to get the whole app all together, you can quickly email peekaboo@nightanddaystudios.com, mention the country you live in and that you’re a Babyccino Kids reader, and the first 20 readers to email will get a code for a free download.
xxx Esther
Sorry, the threshold of 20 has been reached!
Barbie Fashionette
I would like to start this post with a disclaimer: I am categorically not a Barbie fan, as I was brought up by a devout Barbie opposer. (I have already written a whole post on the subject.) However I could not resist writing a post about the new Barbie clothes collection.
So the thing is: IF I did like Barbies and IF my kids had Barbies, then I would definitely get them some of these threads. I think they are seriously cute. Almost so cute that I am almost swaying in my conviction… almost.
- Emilie
Adorable Beci Orpin coin purses
These coin purses by talented Melbourne designer Beci Orpin are too cute for words! A little bit quirky but classic enough so that I don’t feel like I have just raided my daughter’s accessory box. They are made of soft leather with stitch, appliqué and rivet detailing and they are fully lined. My only quandary now is deciding whether to invest in the fox, the bear, the owl or the lion. (more…)
Rhubarb coffee cake
Rhubarb is just coming into season and my grocery store was recently offering two-for-one deals on it, so I bought a load of it this weekend and made my very favourite rhubarb dish — rhubarb coffee cake. I love coffee cake (I mean, who doesn’t?!), and the rhubarb adds a tangy dimension to it that is seriously so good. I love to make it when we have guests staying with us because it fills the house with that sweet cinnamon smell. Plus, it is dead easy to make — it’s another one of those ‘throw all ingredients into a bowl and stir’ type of recipes.
This recipe comes from one of my very favourite cookbooks, Alice Bay
Crayola Twistables — a long overdue product
I have shoe-boxes filled with crayons at home – the bulk of which are sad and lonely broken nubs, without labels. As a kid, I remember there was nothing quite as exciting as a shiny new box of crayolas. I always promised myself that I would handle each of them with care and put them back in the box….but I never ever did… and neither do my kids… thus the crayon graveyard in the shoebox.
Recently, I went to stock up on travel friendly art supplies when I found these twistables in a random pharmacy, tucked away like some dark dirty secret. I bought 5 packs immediately feeling like I must have been privy to some mix-up at the plant. What a super genius idea! Why did it take so long?!?
They last a long time and they remain intact! They also come in fun colors schemes like rainbow and glitter.
-Dina
Fun fashion from Madre Perla
Last week my colleague and I were enjoying the nice spring weather (oh, finally!) with a walk through the center of Amsterdam. We sat down in a café to have some traditional Dutch apple pie (I’m pregnant after all) , and I suddenly noticed a lovely young lady sitting across from us carrying one of the fun bags from Madre Perla. It happened to be Marieke — the designer herself!
Mother of a little girl (named Parel, Dutch for pearl, hence the name Madre Perla), she started designing kids clothes not long ago and immediately established herself in the kid’s fashion market. Her designs are fun and original. I wrote about the necklaces not long ago, which are still a big hit with my children, and the little dress pictured is going to be perfect on my daughter for summer. It has 9 push buttons on it, with a total of 5 fun brooches attached. They can be re-positioned over and over again — my little girl is loving it!
I’m also partial to the jeans jump-suit — I think it’s so cool, and has the same button system. Way to go, Marieke!
xxx Esther
Metrotwin
I was recently approached by Metrotwin to do a guest-list for them of my favourite places in London with kids. I said “hey! I can do one better than that — I can ask our fabulous Babyccino NY contributor (Dina to you and me) to do a NY list too”. They were very excited.
You see Metrotwin is a site powered by British Airways to offer reviews of all the best things to do in the London and NYC. It is a fabulous resource if you happen to be travelling to or even if you live in either of the cities.
You can check out the Babyccino Kids London Address Book here and the NY address book here.
Enjoy! Mo.x
Stella McCartney for GAP Kids
I am only 1 m 56 centimetres tall and have often whined about how small I am –often trying to elevate myself to the eye level of my friends by wearing ridiculously high shoes. But today I was happy to be short. Why? Because I went into GAP kids to pick up some socks for my girls and I walked out with some great little tops for me designed by Stella McCartney for GAP Kids.
The clothes are fabulous, and size 13 years fits me perfectly. I had been talking to some girls at work about how we never buy clothes for ourselves anymore, but only for our kids, so I was able to rectify that problem very swiftly.
Do check out the collection — if not for you, then for your kids. It is a great mix between GAP practicality and Stella McCartney design genius.
- Emilie
Goki wooden puzzles
My 5-year-old is really into jigsaw puzzles at the moment, but he’s at the point where most children’s puzzles are too easy and yet grown-up puzzles are too complex. So I needed to find something in between…
In my search I discovered the large 96-piece wooden puzzles by Goki which are perfect because they’re challenging but still do-able. Plus, they’re cute — Goki is a German brand that makes really lovely wooden toys and games for kids.
I also came across these cute 20-piece animal puzzles
-Courtney
Vikings and things from Sandra Monat
LOVE these melamine plates from Sandra Monat! Never knew that Vikings could actually be CUTE!
Sandra Monat lives in Germany and is a full time artist. She uses fabric, paper and thread for her collage-like creations. Her adorable, pillow-like puppets are one-of-a-kind, but she also produces some of her designs in small editions, like the plates, some correspondence cards and prints. All of them are equally adorable and equally tempting to get your hands on them before they’re sold out…
Cool Dutch online store Zilu has a good collection of Sandra Monat products in stock — including the tents print (that I love).
xxx Esther
For the little budding gardener
Considering how gardening helps children learn about the cycle of life and about time, patience, nature, and cause and effect… I can’t think of a better gift for a child than this mini greenhouse by HaPe. Not to mention the cool design — it is made of birch plywood and bamboo and cleverly designed to allow gardeners to open the rooftop for planting and watering. Two sliding doors offer a second access to four double-walled, fully functional plastic trays that can be filled with earth and seeds. It is pretty fantastic! I have ordered one for my daughter for her birthday — a real step up from the pint milk containers and fast-to-sprout seeds she has been tending to. A little garden of her own to love and nurture!
Incidentally, HaPe International is the maker of a great line of all natural bamboo games that were developed by designers, teachers, and technicians from over 15 different nations. It is the world’s first collection of bamboo toys. (more…)
I see London…I see France…
My girls have something like two hundred and fifty thousand pairs of underwear. At least that’s how it feels every time I do the laundry. Their massive collection includes the full array of all things Ariel, Princess and Hello Kitty and is the direct result of my complete lack of judgment when it comes to impulse shopping at Target.
In my quest to de-clutter all of our closets, I recently decided to invest in some high-quality “Knickers” and purge ourselves of the cheap junky ones as they grow out of them. I have always been a HUGE HUGE fan of the clothing at Mini Boden. I love their pajama sets for boys and girls and I think the quality of the cotton that they use is excellent. The website also happens to be incredibly user friendly and I love that I can shop from the convenience of my home at 10pm with a glass of wine in hand. Recently, I ordered this adorable 7-pack of underwear. They come in a cute cotton bag with a weeks worth of colorful fun. And what is most important is that the girls love ‘em and they look so so cute on a tiny bottom. There is simply no comparison between the cheap-o Target ones and these.
-Dina
Nina, a little pupetta born from pieces of cloth…
“Her body is made of natural hemp fabric, her cloak of red wool & her face sown in black cotton. Almost invisible to many, she’s sometimes filled with sweet melancholy without knowing why, other times she’s exuberant, or plays lazily with her precious little pearls, or dances the “Twist” with reels of cotton. Nina moves around, exploring Inside and Out, observing and reflecting. She asks questions bigger than herself (she’s only biscuit size…), questions forgotten somewhere. Nina exists only if you see her, and not everyone can.”
She’s created by Eloise Morandi, and shows up in different places, but the easiest way to catch her is by way of the little rag books, all hand-made and unique, and dreamily wonderful. The level of detail is amazing.
Curious? Check out the blog ‘Nina and other little things’…
xxx Esther
Bouton Kids
As you might have noticed by now, I am obsessed with the tunic/leggings combo for my girls. It has become a school uniform for them, which is great as none of us has the patience nor the brains to think about what we should wear in the morning.
In my quest to find even more lovely little tunics I found Bouton Kids, a great little company which was founded only 2 year ago. They produce limited edition kids clothes at affordable prices, which are designed in London and made in Bombay.
My daughter slipped on her purple tunic the other day and said: “I need to go to school now and show my pretty dress to my friends… hurry up, mummy!” It was a great role reversal that I will never complain about!
Bouton clothes are only available on their own website, Bouton Kids…
-Emilie
New spring colours from BearFeet Shoes
Spring is here in London! (Well, we had one nice day and then it was gone… but it was still nice to get a glimpse.) I’m loving the new spring-like colours of these Beary Janes at BearFeet Shoes. They’re so fun. And I like the simple, sweet design.
The Beary Janes are designed for infants (non walkers) and are made with high quality leather and organic cotton. They come in sizes 1-4 (from newborn to around one year). Like all the BearFeet shoes, they are artisan made in America and designed to be soft and non-constricting.
They also come in less adventurous colours, like black and brown. And they offer worldwide shipping for only $9, and free shipping on purchases over $125.
-Courtney
