Summer Holidays Must-Haves
I am just about to go away on holiday for the next few weeks. I read this article in the Guardian and had to laugh… a lot of it rang so true. I thought I was the only person in the whole world who got disproportionately annoyed by my fellow passengers resting their elbows on “my” armrest on a plane. Summer holidays are so much fun but I am not a big fan of the packing, preparation and traveling, especially with kids. This time I am going away by car which is bliss. I get to take so many more extras…
So my main must-have holiday items this year are: (more…)
Weekend Getaway: Barcelona
To introduce our new weekend getaway feature, here is our first post from Marta in Barcelona. Barcelona is one of my favourite Mediterranean cities. It has the perfect mixture of culture, beauty, beach life and beautiful weather. It always strikes me as such a relaxed city that is easy to explore and perfect to visit ‘en famille’.
Whilst searching for someone with inside info about visiting Barcelona with kids I remembered Marta. Marta lives with her husband and little son in the wonderful Gracia part of Barcelona. She is a professional translator and also a blogger. Her blog English in Barna, is about life in Barcelona, her blog A Bilingual Bébé gives tips to Spanish speaking parents on how to raise their child bilingually, and finally she also blogs for the international organisation Pocket Cultures. All in all Marta is the perfect person to start off our new feature. I do hope you enjoy discovering Barcelona through her post. And please do leave us any comments or recommendations you have about Barcelona. The more ideas the merrier… (more…)
The Golden Egg Book
The Golden Egg Book was only recently translated to Dutch and I picked it up from the bookshop the other day as a nice Easter present for my kids. It’s about a little bunny who finds an egg and wonders what’s inside…
Written by the famous Margareth Wise Brown with beautiful illustrations from the equally famous Leonard Wisegard, it’s a typical ‘Golden Book’. (Available at Amazon US or UK.)
I love Golden Books. I still have my own old copies — my favourite was ‘Katie the Kitten’ about a little cat who slept in a hat in the hallway. I think it’s out of print in English now, but in Dutch it’s still available.
Unfortunately most of my old Golden Books are falling apart — does anyone have a tip for how to repair them without using ugly duct tape?
And tell me — what was, or is, your favourite Golden Book?
xxx Esther
Bunny Finger Puppets
Aren’t these bunny finger puppets just darling? Cute for your kids’ Easter basket, or just for a bit of creative springtime play. And easy to make too… even for sewing novices like myself (no sewing machine required).
Molly at The Purl Bee gives a step-by-step tutorial on how to make these little felt bunnies, including a printable pdf of the bunny template. How easy is that?
I think I’m going to give it a go. Just have to pick up some cute felt…
-Courtney
p.s. Thanks to Sarah for the tip.
Decorating Easter Eggs
Last week I got inspired by the lovely hand-painted Easter eggs by Laikonik that I saw on the Famile Summerbelle website. I had visions of sitting around the kitchen table with my kids producing one egg gem after another and hanging them all over the flat… But turns out fantasy and reality could not have been any different — our egg painting experience was a complete bust!
Right from the start I came across some barriers: most eggs in France are not white but brown, so it is really hard to paint them and get a nice colour. It is also impossible to find those little tablets you dye eggs with over here! But I was not going to be deterred but such minor details, so I started looking up natural ways of dying eggs. I came across loads of different suggestions, including: onion peel, rose petals and spinach which, according to the internet, all give eggs wonderful, delicate colours. I got very excited and raided my vegetable box. (more…)
Egg Heads
Last Easter we decided to make some Egg Heads with the mustard & cress seeds we got in our lunchbox from Kew Gardens. Now I’m not in any way saying this was an innovative idea — most of you probably grew some of these little men/women yourself as children. But for some reason my childhood missed this particular activity… something I now plan to take up with my Mum and Dad as it is a reaallllllly cool thing to do!
I am not the slightest bit green-fingered and manage to kill all plants/greenery in my care (even cacti have a hard time living in our house and my husband doesn’t understand why I still buy herbs in pots as they always die within days), but mustard and cress are stubborn little plants and grow despite a lack of due care and attention. And they grow very quickly so you see results on a daily basis — appealing to my impatient nature.
So if you never made egg-creatures as a child then I urge you to take this eggcellent (terrible – I know!) holiday as an opportunity to redeem your deprived childhood just as I did. Your kids will love it too! Here’s how to make them: (more…)
Personalised Party Bags
Another birthday party — I am feeling quite the party planner at the moment. My two favourite parts of the planning process are the cake (I love baking and eating!) and the party bags. I always set myself a budget per bag and try to stretch it as far as possible. My current thing is to try and make the bags themselves part of the gift, something to reuse. I was really lucky that I could utilise the post-Christmas sales to find sweet little wicker baskets for my daughter’s birthday but my son’s birthday required a bit more imagination.
In my search for inspiration I stumbled upon the Carrier Bag Shop and found these cotton shopping bags, which were less then 50p each (when buying 25). An idea was formed. Having fixed my printer the day before (it was broken for over a year and I finally found a small toy had been inserted deep into the feed tray – grrrrr!) I remembered some HP Iron-on Transfer printer paper I had bought ages ago and never tried out. I just chose a fun font (Rosewood std for any Mac users) and bright colours and typed the name of each child as big as I could so it would stretch across the length of the page. Then I flipped the image (it is important to do this so when it is transferred it reads the right way round) and printed. Then all that had to be done was to iron it on — as simple as that.
I was really pleased with the results and each child got their own personalised bag for under a £1.
p.s. Love these stripy bags from Carrier bag Shop — so chirpy to make up little treat bags!
Mo. x
House swapping
Over the summer break I spent a bit of time decorating my home. (No, the pic above is not of my place — but somewhere I might now be able to stay.) One of the reasons was that I wanted to take some photos so I could list it on a house swap website.
We featured an article on house swapping a couple of years ago in the magazine where I work. It seemed like a great idea. But I always wondered — is it too good to be true?
Well, I believe that you should “give it a go” — as Aussies like to say. So I took the plunge and listed with two sites. Creative Caravan tags itself as “Craiglist for Creatives” — the idea being that you can swap with like-minded people.
The other website is Homelink. I did a bit of research and was attracted to this one because there is strong membership within Australia so if I want to take a trip to Byron Bay or Tasmania then I can swap with people who live there… as well as people in Italy. And within a week of listing I got a message from someone wanting to swap in Martinique!
- Natalie
Happy Valentines Day!
Love, the girls from Babyccino Kids
Some old Valentine favourites
Courtney gave us her recipe for sugar cookies a while ago, and it’s truly great. What else to make for Valentines Day than these beautiful, yummy, pink and red hearts? I’m surely making a batch today so the glazing will be perfectly dry tomorrow.
If you’re in the mood for a laugh, let me remind you of the ‘romantic evening‘ my husband and I hoped for two years ago. If you’re planning something similar for tomorrow, make sure you won’t be disturbed!
And do you remember the heart-shaped paper clips that we used to make as children and Michela wrote about last year? I think my daughter would love to make some to decorate her drawings…
xxx Esther
Easy and Sweet Valentines Decoration
If you have a sewing machine, this Valentines decoration is easily made, and my kids really liked the project!
Just potato-stamp hearts on paper; I used recycled paper but you can use any sort really, even newspaper. No need to be perfect here, my 2-year-old had quite some production going. Let the paint dry and cut the hearts out. Again, slightly outside the outline of the stamp is fine, my 4-year-old girl was perfectly capable of doing it all herself! How typical for this age…
My machine had black thread in it and I didn’t bother changing it. I think it actually looks quite nice like this. Make sure to leave some thread at the ends for attaching!
My daughter’s bed looked lovely instantaneously! (The wallpaper bird is from Inke, more about that later.)
xxx Esther
P.S. Inspiration for this project came from Maya*Made
A quick Valentine’s treat
Seriously — so so so quick. Done in 15 minutes before dashing out of the house to kindergarten. The classic chocolate-crispy-cake but Valentined-up with mini marshmallows and the most adorable heart sprinkles from Etsy-shop Hey Yo-Yo (which I love for all things cake & kitsch). We dolloped our mixture into pretty pink paisley cases for our playdate in the afternoon, and then into mini-cases to fit inside this very pink heart tin from Paperchase (pictured) as a Valentine’s present for my son’s beau. Yes, my son is in love! His name is Elias and he has aptly fallen in in love with a girl called Grace — anyone who knows the store in Primrose Hill will appreciate his brand loyalty.
To make you need: 100g milk chocolate and 60g golden syrup (or 3 Mars bars work nicely), 75g unsalted butter, between 75 to 100g rice-crispies cereal, a handful or so of mini-marshmallows and some heart decorations. If you can’t get sprinkles then any heart sweets could work, or even love-hearts (I love their messages).
Melt the chocolate, syrup and butter over boiling water. When melted stir until smooth and remove from the heat. Add rice-crispies and stir, then add the marshmallows and stir again. Spoon into cases and decorate with hearts. Leave for a couple of hours to cool and set or put into the fridge to speed up the setting process. Yum!
-Mo. x
A Hearty Breakfast for Valentine’s Day!
With Valentine’s Day approaching soon, I couldn’t resist purchasing this amazingly cool heart shaped frying pan. I’m not yet sure whether I’ll serve the pancakes or the eggs, or maybe both… But I’m positive my family will love them (and me)!
I got mine from this shop here in the Netherlands, but it’s — among other places — also available from this UK website.
xxx Esther
Love Poems
I have to confess that I don’t usually do anything on Valentine’s Day. Many Australians cynically call it “Hallmark Day” — it’s pretty much seen as a commercial exercise. However, I am a romantic. So I thought I’d share a story about one of the best “gifts” I ever received…
One day I was sitting in a cafe waiting for my boyfriend to arrive. All of a sudden a man sat in the chair opposite and started talking to me. I was a little confused about what was happening. Perhaps he had mistaken me for someone else. Or maybe he was a little mad. But little by little I started to recognise the words he was speaking. They were from one of my favourite poems by American poet Frank O’ Hara. Now this was really weird. And then I realised. My boyfriend had been up to this mini performance. I started looking around for him. Sure enough: at the end of the poem he came into view. Smiling a big gummy grin. And I couldn’t stop laughing. All this, for me?
Yes, love can be grand. And has nothing to do with money – he asked an actor friend to recite the poem to me! I hope this inspires you… or your loved ones.
- Natalie
Happy Holidays from Babyccino Kids!
Have a very cozy Christmas! And cheers to a happy 2010!
P.S. Thanks to freelance illustrator, Clémence Monot, for designing our holiday card. (Check out her website for other works.)
Christmas tree ornaments by Maileg
I am so in love with all the lovely ornaments by Maileg this year! They could not be any cuter. Last year I picked up some of the little soldiers, which I loved because they look so British, and this year I discovered the darling birds and mushrooms!
They’re the perfect ornaments for a house full of kids because they won’t break if they fall off the tree — plus they just look so playful and fun.
Maileg is a young Danish company which also makes lovely toys and decorative objects. You can find Maileg pieces in London at Elias & Grace and Petit Aimé, or buy online at Nordinary.
Merry Christmas!
xoxo Courtney
The Night Before Christmas
We have a few different versions of this Christmas poem, but Gyo Fujikawa’s The Night Before Christmas is our favourite! Her illustrations are so beautiful and in a way that appeals to adults and kids alike. Fujikawa, also known for her version of Mother Goose, creates the most lovely, vintage-like illustrations. We especially love the cheery little Santa… and the sugar-plums!
We’ve been reading the story every night before bed and my kids now know the entire poem by heart. We are so excited for Santa to come!
The book is available from our Bookshop (UK and US) along with many other great holiday books.
-Courtney
Hand-knit wool stockings
Because we always do Christmas with our family in the states, I still haven’t bought my kids their own Christmas stockings! And while I LOVE going home for the holidays, I can totally see the appeal of staying put and celebrating together as a family in our own little home. Maybe one day (I’ve heard London is really cozy and quiet at Christmas time).
Anyway, I’m on the look-out for the perfect Christmas stockings and I just discovered these darling hand-knit wool stockings from Sundance. I love the homemade look of them, and the mix of all the different colors and sizes.
I also love the wool stockings at Sweet William. I think it would be a cute idea to buy them and then embroider your kids’ names on the top white cuff. So cute!
Oh, and it would probably be a good idea to buy the Christmas sacks Mo wrote about earlier… in case Santa were to bring too many gifts to fit inside!
-Courtney
Re-usable holiday wrapping
If you’re looking for an original AND environmentally friendly way to wrap your Christmas presents, and you’re moderately handy on a sewing machine, maybe these home sewn gift-bags are something for you! I made them for my Godson and his big brother for Hanukkah, filled them with their presents and sent them off to London. They’re really quite simple to make, and I like the fact that they can be re-used as pyjama-bags, toy-bags, sports-bags or the like. I made mine approximately 25 x 35 cm finished (about 10″x14″), and used Bondaweb to iron the letters (remember to cut out mirrored letters!).
xxx Esther
Clothespin Reindeer
My kids and I are with my family in Seattle for the holidays and we’re busy preparing everything for Christmas (my boys insisted that my parents wait for them to decorate the Christmas tree)! While going through all the old ornaments, we discovered these darling clothespin reindeer ornaments that my siblings and I made when we were little. I think they’re so cute — both on the tree (you just clip them onto a tree branch), and also as a present-topper to add a little bit of festive cheer to gifts.
We decided to make a new ‘generation’ of clothespin reindeer, and it turned out to be a pretty easy project once we got all the necessary craft pieces. (Can I just say that American craft stores are so impressive. I was like a kid in a candy shop in our local Michaels!)
Here’s what you need to make your own reindeer: (more…)
