Wooden Utensils for fun occasions
Aren’t these wooden utensils so fun? They’re perfect for school lunches, birthdays, ice cream parties… you name it. There are loads of cute designs and themes to choose from, and you can even customise your own. There’s even ice cream paddles and chopsticks! All available from the Sucre & Spice Etsy shop.
x Courtney
Made from corn!
Ava is now 18 months old, and she’s quite a little character. She knows exactly what she wants and is incredibly clever in communicating it. One of the things she’s adamant about, is that she wants to eat her own food, and (attempt to) drink from her own cup. Preferred tableware: plastic. However, most plastics have a risk of leaching BPA and phthalates, and shouldn’t go in the dishwasher because of this. So I’m extremely pleased to discover zoë b’s newest product, the fantastic anti-plastic dishes: the world’s only dishwasher-safe dishes entirely made from corn! Safe for our kids (entirely BPA and phthalates free), safe for our environment (these dishes are completely compostable), and best of all: kind to the parents (who dislike washing up).
xxx Esther
Breton Bowls
I am a big fan of French beachside resorts and also of all the things that go with them. Sun (sometimes), sand, smurf-blue and bubble-gum pink ice-cream, crazy looking postcards and gift shops with a huge selection of tacky, cheap gifts in them, etc. In short, French beach resorts are heaven for kids.
In the gift shops you will almost certainly find these Breton bowls with first names written on the side, which have been ubiquitous with French seaside resorts, at least since I was a kid. I remember my grandmother coming back from a trip with one of these bowls for each grandchild. At that time, we still drank our milk out of a bowl in the morning, so it must have looked really cute having all of us sitting around the table draining our bowls.
Why were we draining our bowls? Because inside the bowl is the little iconic image of the Breton farmer and his wife and we needed to finish every bit of milk to make it appear! Last year, on a seaside holiday, I got a pair of these bowls for my girls. Partly for sentimental reasons and partly because I just think they are cute and very français!
Swoop Bags
Leave it to a mum to design something so simple, so durable, so innovative as these brilliant Swoop Bags! Aren’t they so clever? Each Swoop Bag is a playmat and toy bag in one, making tidying up toys quick and easy. As the name suggests, you can throw all the toys (legos, playmobile, blocks, cars, etc.) onto the playmat and then ’swoop’ them all up with an easy pull of the draw-string. And then, my favourite bit, you can just hang the bag up on a hook for easy toy storage. I’m thinking about buying several colours and then colour-coding the toys…. or am I going a bit too far now? Either way, I’m so happy to have discovered them!
x Courtney
Sweet summer bowls
We’re vacationing in France at the moment, and I came across these adorable bowls in a store yesterday. Of course I just couldn’t resist — thinking they would just be perfect for breakfast in the garden, or for serving summery dishes like blackberry cobbler! They are available online through the online store of Comptoir de Famille, or in the UK at Divertimenti.
xxx Esther
Cute bibs from NestPrep
Loving these chic bibs from New York-based company NestPrep. There are three designs, all in lovely, great quality fabrics and with a convenient terry liner to wipe clean you baby’s face or absorb the drool. They look really adorable on — you might want to leave them on all day. A lovely present for a newborn too.
xxx Esther
Dinosaur Cookies (fun boys activity)
My son Pim just started school (here in the Netherlands school starts at the age of four), and he’s still getting used to the whole ordeal. He’s really exhausted when he gets home in the afternoon, and I can see (and imagine!) that the whole thing is a big change for him. Getting used to the bigger boys, making new friends, learning to learn and behave…
Anyway, he needed a bit of special attention so he and I made fun dinosaur cookies when his big sister was away on a play date the other day. We got these cute dinosaur cookie shapes for him when we were in London last month, and we made and ate a whole batch of them. I used the sand-cookie recipe that I’ve written about earlier, and which is great because it’s easy and children can be very involved in the process. Similar cookie cutters are available on Amazon (UK
xxx Esther
Olive Loves Alfie — a new website and discount offer
Olive Loves Alfie is one of my favourite children’s boutiques in London. I always know I can pick up a unique birthday gift, a great new children’s book, or something cute for the home whenever I stop in. Ashlyn, the owner, has such a great eye for design… and every time I leave her shop I feel full of design inspiration!
Olive Loves Alfie has now launched a new, spruced-up website and it is gorgeous — just as inspiring as the shop itself! And to celebrate the launch of their new site, Olive Loves Alfie is now offering our readers a 10% discount. Just enter code: MOLIVELOVES at check-out (offer good until 31st of May). I have my eyes on that cool miffy light. What about you?
-Courtney
Meri Meri Cupcake Toppers
Dina has written about the Meri Meri cupcake kits before, but I had no idea that you could get them in France! (I picked mine up at my favourite kid’s book shop in Paris, Enfant Lyre). I also had no idea that such a thing as a cupcake topper existed — the cupcake revolution is still very young here in France.
For Violette’s 3rd birthday, I went cupcake crazy and it was a massive success. The little Frenchies went crazy for this Anglo invasion of sweet treats. I think there is a future here for them…. I cannot wait for the time we will find cupcakes neatly lining the bakery shelves, right along side croissants and pains au chocolat.
-Emilie
Win! A Smiling Planet Plate and Bowl set from E-Side!
I LOVE the Smiling Planet dishes! The whimsical designs are so, so sweet. Plus they’re made from 100% recycled BPA-free plastic, they’re dishwasher safe and scratch resistant. Perfect for your little ones!
E-Side, the new eco webshop, is now kindly offering this Wonderful World Plate and Bowl Gift Set to one lucky reader. How cute! Just leave a comment below by next Wednesday, April 13th, and we’ll pick one winner at random.
Good luck!
This give-away is now closed.
French Toast Stamp
This is possibly the most useless gadget in the world, but there is a firm belief in my family that toast that has been embossed with the Eiffel Tower tastes better than toast without any decoration. I have to admit — there is not scientific evidence that supports this claim, but, as we all know, belief is more important than fact. So if little Coco and Vivi believe that toast with an Eiffel tower on it tastes better, I am not one to judge!
I picked my stamp up at the Printemps department shop here in Paris, but here is the link to the list of shops that stock Fred’s Stamps.
-Emilie
Bodum Travel Press
One of my little pet peeves is drinking cold coffee — and at the moment my coffee gets cold very, very often! Between getting kids out of bed, dressed, to the breakfast table, into coats and out of the door, my sacred cup of coffee (strong, with a drop of milk, no sugar) gets put down on a shelf somewhere. By the time I find it again, it is stone cold.
I have recently invested in a Bodum Travel Press. So far it has been a success story. It is super easy to use and my coffee stays warm for at least 2 hours. It might be a small step for mankind, but it is certainly a big step for me!
-Emilie
ONE YEAR AGO WE WROTE ABOUT:
• Wrapped up well with Isabella Oliver• A possible saviour called Cupcake
Goodbyn lunch boxes from Toyella
My son is the proud owner of a new Goodbyn lunch box. And when I say ‘proud’ I mean it. You would have thought it was his birthday and Christmas all in one when I handed him the lunch box. He was that excited. And he immediately decorated it with the enclosed stickers, filled the water bottle with water, grabbed some snacks and took his lunch box up to his room for a picnic with his toys. Cute.
These Goodbyn lunch boxes are something else. They are so clever and tick all the boxes — they’re BPA-free, 100% recyclable, dishwasher safe, and made in the USA. The innovative design means you have 5 containers in one, eliminating the need for any wasteful plastic baggies. And not to mention, so cute and kid-friendly!
They’re available in many different colours from the fantastic new UK webshop, Toyella, which specialises in toys, games and gifts that offer something different.
-Courtney
Shape your pancakes
I’m laughing because I think we have made a bigger deal of Pancake Day than we have done for any other holiday! But… it’s like Emilie said, who doesn’t love pancakes?! I’m loving these cute silicone moulds to shape your pancakes into designs your kids will love. You can use them for fried eggs too! Available from the new UK webshop, Mum et Moi, where you can find loads of other cute kid-friendly cooking tools.
-Courtney
Dala Baking Tins from Ikea
I have visited Ikea quite a bit recently — something I both love & hate. I love that you can fill a trolley, spend a £100 and really feel like you’re getting your home in order. I hate that every time I go I lose someone (last time I lost my Mum for 45 minutes — imagine, if you will, a thirty-something woman approaching the info-desk with the words “I’ve lost my Mum!”).
Anyway, are they stepping up their bakeware or am I just slow on the uptake? I was really impressed with their baking accessories, cupcake papers and doilies. I couldn’t resist these Dala horse (Mama & Baby) bake tins – so cute! I baked Courtney’s famous carrot cake in them over the weekend, which has become a favourite recipe in our household. However, my only problem was getting the cake out in the end — does anyone have a great cake recipe that is meant to be baked in a tin like this and therefore slips out?
-Mo. x
BPA-Free Snackpots from VUP baby
How cute are these little TumTum Snack Pots from VUPbaby, each with a little bug on the lid? They’re made from BPA-free plastic, are dishwasher safe and fit one inside the other for easy storage. Cute for inside lunch boxes or for storing after school snacks. Or… you can do what I just did and give them to your 2-year-old and ask her to stack and sort them. Mine sat there for nearly 20 minutes completely entertained!
-Courtney
Solids?
With the third baby, you sort of consider yourself an experienced mum. You think you get it, know how it’s done best, and it truly makes parenting a lot easier because you’re a lot less bothered. (Most third babies I know are very easygoing — must have something to do with the parents being more relaxed!)
However, when it’s regarding eating solids, Ava is in no way like her siblings, and I honestly am at a loss here. The thing is this: where Sara and Pim at six months would eagerly open their mouths for their first bite of solids (baby rice), baby Ava was not very keen to try at all, and the little bite that I managed to get into her mouth was not met with a lot of enthusiasm (if you want to see photos of me feeding Ava her first bites you can have a look here, the look on her face is classic). From that moment onwards, Ava has kept her mouth shut and turns her face away as soon as she sees a spoon coming her way. And don’t think I haven’t tried it all: home-cooked, not home-cooked, mix with breast-milk, have other people try, same taste for a few days, different tastes, etc. etc. She’s now 8 months old and not much has changed! The only thing that sort of works is to give her a plate, set her down for dinner with us and give her chunks of food (like broccoli, carrot, fish, or bread). She will suck on these (and analyse them, play with them, and throw them on the ground together with the plate). I wonder if this means we’re skipping the pureed food stage all together? It surely means we have a very stubborn little lady on our hands here!
xxx Esther
PS – the cute over-sized bib is from Coq-en-Pâte and made of 100% organic cotton and non-toxic ink.
The Lunchbox
Unlike the UK and France, where I’ve been told kids get a warm and nutritious lunch at school, here in the Netherlands we send our children to school with the traditional lunchbox. Every morning I find myself in the kitchen preparing sandwiches for Pim and Sara, with some cold sides like fruit, cheese or vegetables (or whatever I find in the fridge). We don’t traditionally eat warm lunches here, and anyway there’s no means to warm up food in the school.
Because I’m quite often stuck in the morning for original ideas to fill the boxes, I’m thinking of creating a (printable) list of ‘ideas for the lunchbox’. Now I only have 10 minutes for this in the morning, so creating fresh sushi or sandwiches in the shape of an octopus is not for me (yes I know, my poor children). Do you have tips for me? Whether food items, easy recipes, good lunch boxes or shopping tips, I’m interested to hear. To be continued.
xxx Esther
PS Unbreakable stainless steel Eco Lunchbox from GreenJump.nl
Hello Hanna Placemat Sets
My kids are loving these Hello Hanna Placemat Sets at the moment. How fun to decorate a new robot every day with little one-of-a-kind stickers! Plus, it’s a fun way to teach them how to set the table, as each placemat has a marker for the cutlery, plate, and cup. Great for travel or dinners out — or even just pre-dinner fun at the table.
Hello Hanna is a small design company based in San Francisco, and their products are available directly from their website, or from Peanut and Pip in the UK.
-Courtney
Dabbawalla Bags & Packs
I first discovered these awesome Dabbawalla bags while my kids and I were visiting a friend over the summer. My son got the opportunity to go to his buddy’s camp for a couple days, but he needed a lunchbox, so we borrowed his friend’s Dabbawalla and I was instantly hooked. See, I have this issue with lunchboxes. I hate almost all of them. I buy them very frequently though, in hopes that the next will be “the one”. Alas, junk sticks in the corners even after rinsing, the metal ones rust, the cute soft lunchboxes get thrashed, and the worst are those that test positive for lead(!!). I’ve tried them all. The reason I so loved this Dabbawalla one was because it’s totally machine-washable, it has no corners for crumbs, it’s light enough for kids to tote around, and the design is simple and clean. And they’re made from an eco-friendly neoprene-like fabric that carries a certification which tests for over a hundred harmful substances. Perfect!
(Available in the UK from Peanut & Pip.)
-Kaela
