Summer dresses from Bali, by Coco and Ginger
Coco and Ginger is a brand that originates from the beautiful Indonesian island of Bali (did you read our latest weekend get-away? I SO want to go to Bali!), and the flowery and happy designs reflect the tropical beauty of the island where the collection is made. Delightfully summery and happy and with a flair that reminds me of my own youth photos of the seventies, the Coco and Ginger collections are simply what summer is about: sun, freedom, happiness, and joy. For stockists, check here.
xxx Esther
Personalised gifts and name labels from Stuck on You
Stuck on You is THE place to go for personalised name labels and clothing tags. We use their labels for the kids’ water bottles, clothing, shoes, and anything else that can go missing at school.
Stuck on You has recently launched a new collection of personalised gifts, including children’s bags, lunchboxes, puzzles and other goodies. We got our son, Easton, the personalised pencil case and school supplies for his birthday and he thought it was so cool to have his name on everything (even the pencils! even the scissors! even the pencil sharpener!). Quite handy for keeping everything organised, and keeping siblings from ’stealing’ them.
x Courtney
ONE YEAR AGO WE WROTE ABOUT:
• City Walks with Kids• WIN! Broer en Zus is giving aways five DUNS pieces!
• Cub Tees
Lovely bungalows on the beach, a camping holiday
Today I would like to share a lovely camping holiday destination on the coast of Tarragona: Camping Las Palmeras. I was there a couple of years ago and it is an amazing place to go with kids. Surrounded by the natural park of Punta Mora, and located right on the beach, it is really a special place. I am in love with the white bungalows just on the beachfront. You step out of the cottage onto the sand of the beach… how nice is that?!!!!.
Lots of activities, windsurfing even with their own windsurfing school, tennis courts, football fields… (more…)
ONE YEAR AGO WE WROTE ABOUT:
• City Walks with Kids• WIN! Broer en Zus is giving aways five DUNS pieces!
• Cub Tees
DIY: Bunny Rabbit Costume
School’s out for summer over here in Paris and how better to end a year of hard work and play, than by going to school dressed up in your favourite dress up clothes? Violette did me the honour of wearing a costume I made for her, a little bunny rabbit costume, which she is very proud of (and so secretly am I!).
It is actually really easy to make: I used a pattern by Citronille for a bumble bee costume and amended it slightly. I used some old fur fabric I had for the dress and lined it with red gingham. For the hat I just added in some bunny ears. It could not have been easier.
Next: a little brown bear, me thinks…
- Emilie
ONE YEAR AGO WE WROTE ABOUT:
• That’s How I See Things• Read, Subscribe, Tweet, Follow…
• Burt’s Bees Dusting Powder
Zoobug celebrates the London Olympics
There’s lots of excitement in town about the London Olympics! Even my kids are counting down the days… and we’re not even going to be here for the games. It’s still fun, however, to enjoy the buzz, and it’s a nice opportunity to celebrate London and team GB!
Zoobug, the specialists in children’s eyewear, have come out with a range of London Olympics inspired sunglasses. Whether you and your kids are staying (or coming!) to London for the games, these sunglasses are a fun way to celebrate the occasion.
x Courtney
ONE YEAR AGO WE WROTE ABOUT:
• That’s How I See Things• Read, Subscribe, Tweet, Follow…
• Burt’s Bees Dusting Powder
Stitch ‘n Kids: Knitting Spools
I think everyone must have had some experience with spool knitting as a child? I remember enjoying it for a period, and I also remember it could be quite tricky to do (I think I had a homemade knitting spool)! Nowadays, you can get this ‘Wonder Knitter‘ from Clover, and it makes the whole procedure so easy for little (and big!) hands. It lets you use your thumb to rotate a disk on which the pegs are mounted, and keeps the yarn to a certain stretch automatically. And because of the grooves in the pegs and the hooked needle that it comes with, the yarn doesn’t slip away when flipping it over the peg. I bought one for Pim (5) a while ago, and he loves using it — every now and then I find him comfortably snuggled up on the couch, with his spool knitter. Cute!
xxx Esther
Dinner with Josephine Murray from Rain Starts Play
Josephine Murray lives in Malvern (UK) with her husband Ken and their 2-year-old daughter Kirstie. Josephine has just launched the charming kids’ webshop, rain starts play, which sells British and European clothes, toys and nursery furnishings all made as locally and ethically as possible. Here is her dinnertime story:
During the week Kirstie and I eat by ourselves because my husband gets home from work too late to eat with us. We try to eat about 6pm, any later and Ken might arrive home when we’re still there at 7pm, so he can bring new energy to what can sometimes be a bit of a battle of wills! Kirstie will not touch some foods, like rice and carrots, others she will eat one day – but not another. Our staple dinners are cauliflower cheese or fishfingers with potatoes and vegetables, sphagetti bolognaise and tomato and red lentil dhal with naan breads – which Kirstie loves even though it’s really spicy. We don’t eat puddings very often –if we do it’s icecream – but if she’s still hungry (or won’t eat her dinner) she has blueberries or a banana. (more…)
Zolo-a-go-go
I’ve written before about the Bonz toys when we featured our Favourite Toys theme a couple years ago… and I believe the Zolo range is part of that same toy family, or at least both toys function in the same way. It is essentially a set of 48 funky, colourful pieces and kids get to connect them in fun ways to create silly, random characters. This is still one of my kids’ favourite toys, and I was reminded of them when I saw them in the Toyella webshop last week. I think they make a really perfect, can’t-go-wrong gift (for boys or girls)!
x Courtney
Summer Paints
My daughter’s first request when she walks in from her days at pre-school are invariably “May I have a popsicle?” or “May I paint in the backyard?”
I can easily distract her first request with a plum or some other lovely summer fruit, but I can rarely stave off her desire to paint (some days I just want to read books or do a puzzle with her, call me lazy!) Lately, she has been perfectly content putting on her bikini bottoms and painting her hands and feet, making the sweetest little prints for us.
Last year I invested in a wooden caddy with six glass jars and some watercolor paints and much prefer it to the messy little pans of paint we would run through. Plus, it just looks so much nicer. I’ll warn you now, the Nova Natural website is a little addictive, especially their dress-up and crafting sections!
-Elizabeth
Minti, fashion with a fun twist
Australian brand Minti puts the funk back in children’s fashion! Pieces are cool and edgy, with quirky and clever prints. Typically the kind of garments your kids will fall completely in love with (like Pim did), and who blames them? These pieces are so cool! I would wear the stripy jumper with the smiley face myself, which proves the success of the company’s etos: would I wear that if I was small?
xxx Esther
Kids Birthday Cake book
I think it’s safe to say most kids in New Zealand grew up with a copy of the Australian Woman’s Weekly Kids Birthday Cakes recipe book. My sister and I would read it over and over deciding on what cake we would have at our next birthday party, and now my kids love reading it. My friend told me recently that her kids take it to bed to read!
Kees chose the pirate cake for his birthday. It was super easy to make although I had an icing disaster when I emptied a whole bottle of black food colouring into the mix!!! The kids ended up with black mouths and tongues which kind of added to the pirate theme I guess!
You can buy it on Amazon.
Stephxo
Sweet finds at Niddle Noddle
I visited the Niddle Noddle pop-up shop last week and walked away with so many adorable little pieces, many of which are from designers completely unknown to me. I think that’s what the girls at Niddle Noddle do so well — they source the sweetest pieces from independent designers around the world. I picked up these boy’s cotton trousers which are so great with the big black pocket detail on the back. I also fell in love with this blouse, this little skirt and these simple cotton shorts. And don’t even get me started on their great collection of toys!! The Niddle Noddle sale has now started, so the prices are exceptionally appealing.
-Courtney
Potty training, some tips
If you ask me, potty training is one of the most frustrating parts of raising children. Every time, I promise myself to keep my spirits up, but every single time, by the third day, my patience is at a minimum and I seriously want to put the nappy back on and forget about the whole thing completely. But miraculously, sticking to it seems to be the trick. After the third and fourth day things improve, and after the first week things really get a whole lot better. Generally, after 2 weeks, the child is potty trained, which means almost all of the wees and poos go in the potty, exception taken for the occasional accident of course. I just went through potty training with Ava, and I thought I would give you my tips and tricks now that I’m fresh off the battle field.
- I’ve been told that around the time of the 2nd birthday, it’s generally a perfect time to start potty training. The child is open to learning new things, and doesn’t ‘think’ about the whole thing too much yet. I believe that the danger of waiting too long is that the whole thing gets much more difficult and frustrating. So we’ve always started potty training fairly early, I would say between 2 and 2½ depending on the child.
- We went cold turkey. On the day we decided to start potty training, we took off the nappy in the morning and didn’t put it back on until the child went down for his/her nap. (We keep the nappy on for naps in the beginning — when we notice the nappy to be consistently dry when the child wakes up we start leaving it off in bed as well). No pull up nappies, no training intervals without nappies — we really believe this too be confusing for the child. We take the nappy off, and don’t ever put it back on (except for in the bed) — even though I’ve been tempted!
- I think Friday or Saturday is a good day to start potty training, as you will be able to do it together over the weekend. We definitely didn’t plan anything on this first weekend!
- We made sure to have a few potties around the house (you will need one close to the child at all times in the beginning, so it’s handy to have one in different parts of the house). I discovered this portable potty to be super practical for on the go — we always take it with us when we’re out and about. It comes with plastic liners that you can tie and trash.
- I find it essential to have plenty of little underwear ready (at least 10 pairs) and plenty of easy pull up (jogging) pants (or pyjama pants).
- We kept two buckets ready, one with washing liquid to soak dirty underwear and clothes, one with soap and wipes to clean the floor.
- We made a reward sheet and bought stickers to reward the child for using the potty.
- Before we started potty training, we got our child used to the potty for a few weeks. We kept it in the bathroom and let the child sit on it before his/her bath. We discussed the potty as a cool and positive thing, read books about potty training. And we spoke about ‘big boy/girl underwear’ as a very cool thing too. (more…)
Misha and Puff
We are in the middle of a heat wave here in Montreal and I’m thinking to myself “why am I writing about knits, again?” Well, let me tell you a little about Misha and Puff: first I instantly fell in love with the lookbook when it first appeared online a couple of months ago — the photos, the color combinations and of course the styles caught my eye, and as I read up on them I became even more in awe! Misha and Puff is hand knitted in the US, more precisely in New England, furthermore all of their wool is dyed there too, giving life to beautiful, unique and custom colors. They use the highest quality of merino wool which is machine washable, soft and never itchy. How perfect?
Their first collection comprises of staple pieces that can be handed down for generations, I just love the one-piece and that skirt, too cute! Since everything is handmade as well as custom made it take 3-4 weeks to produce (plus shipping)… and to think of it, fall isn’t that far ahead! Now that is why I’m talking about knits today!!! I can’t wait to see what they have planned for next summer already, maybe this is a good enough reason to have that third baby already…
-Celina
Snow White
In light of the recent movies, Snow White is the fairy tale of the season, at least in my house. Have you ever seen this beautifully illustrated pop-up version
- Emilie
DIY: paint with bubbles
I have always wanted to do bubble art, since I saw it here. It is a perfect DIY for this time of the year, it could even be a lot of fun to do outside. We tried last week and it turned out to be such a nice and simple project.
With really easy to find materials: we just need some bubble solution, food colouring and empty jars. And paper, of course.
Let’s the fun begin, and mix the colors with the bubble solution. Nico really enjoyed watching the water stained.
And now blow and blow bubbles. They splash onto the paper and make nice colours.
With some card board and washi tape, we made the frames. After they were done Nico thought he might add something else, and he made this drawing. I loved it. Kids always seem to have more imagination than us…!!!!
Hope you try — it is fun and easy!
-Maria
Limited Edition Art Prints from Minted
I’m loving the new collection of limited edition art prints at Minted. Such a sweet and fresh and happy collection. And I love that you can order each print in so many different sizes… from small (5″ x 7″) to enormous (44″ x 60″). There are also prints you can customise by adding your child’s initials, names or birth dates. And a whole non-kiddie selection too! I like this pretty Highway Wildflowers print, and I would love to stare at this Rooftops of Paris print all day and pretend it was really the view out my window!
x Courtney
Pretty, feel-good maternity wear from Koka Mama
Last week I made a quick one-day visit to London, for the opening of the Koka Mama pop-up shop in the Hop Like a Bunny store near Holland Park. I felt quite like a business woman, traveling from Amsterdam to London like that, and despite the stress of nearly missing my flight both ways (guess I’m not so much of a business woman after all), I had a really fun day. Hop Like a Bunny is a darling little shop with the best selection of some of our favourite brands, and I’m glad Maria (the owner) partnered with Tamara from Koka Mama because the beautiful children’s clothes and maternity fashion truly complements each other.
Koka Mama is a new maternity brand, with wonderful, easy-to-wear pieces that can be dressed up or down, and will also make extremely flattering additions to your wardrobe after your pregnancy. (In other words — these are gorgeous, timeless items that every woman will love, cut in a way so you can also look beautiful in them if you happen to be pregnant.) Courtney and I are so happy that we invested in a few key pieces from the Koka Mama collection — already getting a lot of use out of each piece. In the photo, Courtney is wearing the gorgeous Dress with Tie, and I’m wearing the silk chiffon Full Length Dress which I love.
The Koka Mama pop-up shop will be at Hop Like a Bunny until the 15th of July, and there will be a great discount on all the wonderful fashion. If you’re not in London, Koka Mama is also offering an exclusive 20% off to all Babyccino Kids readers (check here for details).
xxx Esther
Little Esop
So happy to have discovered this overly cute brand from America, called Little Esop. I’m loving the sweet designs and fun prints — look at this cute yellow dress with fun giraffe print, and what about this adorable romper with crossed ties on the back, these darling little shorts, these sweet overalls… Really, the whole collection is just darling and perfect for babies and toddlers up to 3 years of age.
xxx Esther
Fjallraven backpacks
I am sure you have seen these Fjallraven backpacks, and I know Mo has already blogged about them here, but I could not resist writing about them again.
I have been a big fan from way back in the ’80s when my dad had one of these, which he had picked up in Sweden — I tried to appropriate it several times. I thought it was the business because of one ingenious feature: the zip goes all around the front of the backpack — perfect to access your stuff from all sides… so simple and so clever! My dad’s pack was a boring grey functional colour, but I love the super cool bright colours these bags come in now. Very cheerful!
- Emilie
