Oliver's Kitchen sell cookware that is elegant and simple, easy to clean and use, and which will hopefully encourage the whole family to cook and enjoy food together. They have sent me a bundle to review - and I am genuinely incredibly happy with them, so I'm delighted to say I'll be giving the same away to my readers too! 

Oliver's Kitchen are a family business, and family cooking is their thing. The first thing that struck me was how elegantly attractive their products are, with shiny metal surfaces, black rubber trim and classic style - and all very well designed. 

Blinded By The Light is a UK movie brought to us by writer/director/producer Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham). Released by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, based on the book Greetings from Bury Park: Race, Religion and Rock N’ Roll, and inspired by the real life of author Javed Manzoor.

There is a superb cast, with credits including Bend It Like Beckham, Game Of Thrones and Gavin And Stacey, and a soundtrack featuring a host of late 1980's hits, as well as Bruce Springsteen's back catalogue.


The movie starts in 1980, with young Javed talking about his life and setting the scene. This is when he decides to start keeping a journal, and his story begins.

We skip to 1987 and Javed's now a young adult (played by Viveik Kalra), living in industrialised Luton, going to college and dreaming of something more exciting. His friend Matt has also grown up, but he goes on fancy holidays abroad and is in a politically active band. Javed needs more.

The soundtrack is brilliant. Cutting Crew, Pet Shop Boys and a host of others play along as the 1980's kids jiggle, lip synch and push a car to get it started in the morning, in a much more realistic version of 1987 than most.

The Good Toy Guide is brought to us by Fundamentally Children, who I'm working with again this year to promote the 2019 Christmas Good Toy Guide. They promote toys that teach your child the skills they'll need as they grow. Toys which make your child think, explore, problem-solve and develop motor skills like hand-strength or dexterity. The sort of toys I really like.

The special edition Christmas Good Toy Guide 2019 is out now and is free for anyone to read online,  plus 65000 paper copies are also being distributed around the UK.


Fundamentally Children and the Good Toy Guide don't sell toys, so included in the guide are over 50 toys which have been tested and specially chosen to be included based entirely on merit. Each toy is clearly rated for Fun, Skills Development and Ease of Use.

Toy Story is a long-standing favourite here. My oldest son was a huge fan when the first movie was new, and it made it's return perfectly in time for my younger boys to be able to appreciate the antics of Woody, Buzz, Bo and all of the other animated toys.

Toy Story 4 is now available on Digital Download & Keep, DVD, Blu-ray and other formats for you to watch at home, and I have a DVD copy to give away to one of my readers. We were sent a copy for review and it's a great return to form...


The story features a cast of long-standing Toy Story characters, as well as a few new additions, and starts with a 10 minute segment looking back over what has happened to our animated friends over the past 23 years. It brought a definite lump to my throat...


The toys are now in the care of Bonnie, who has just started kindergarten. She makes herself a toy using junk modelling, and Forky (who is really a spork) comes to life. Forky is excited to be here, but obviously very immature, and Woody takes him under his wing.

We recently reviewed the So MAGIC DIY Wonder Magic Garden for Canal Toys and now they've sent us the So Slime DIY Slimelicious Station for review. Suitable for age 6+, this is a scented-slime making kit with enough ingredients and decorations to make 16 little pots of imitation ice cream slime...


Everything is housed in a sturdy box, which can easily be used for storage if you don't make all of your slimes at once. It's an exciting parcel to open.


Included in the kit are a lot of parts, which are easy to distinguish:
Slime Station
4 Mini shakers
Scented Slime powder
2 Tools
Stickers
3 Tubes of colour
Instructions
6 bags of decorations
3 decorative straws

Tiger Livy is a book for younger children which is written by Erin Garcia and Betsy Miller, with illustrations by Ivreese Tong. The main character Livy is a little girl with a serious chronic illness and is inspired by Erin's niece, who was diagnosed with Juvenile Dermatomyositis aged 5. We've been sent a copy for review and the authors have also kindly offered a copy each for two of my readers.


Livy struggles at first to cope with being ill. She is sad and confused and getting better feels like it will take forever. With help from her wise Grandfather she begins to look at everything differently. She sees the scars on her legs as tiger stripes, reminding her that she is as brave as a tiger. She sees her vegetables as tasty prey that will make her strong.

I'm not getting anything in return for doing this giveaway, but it looks such a great event and the price is very fair, so I'm more than happy to promote it! Set in the centre of Liverpool at St Luke’s “Bombed-Out” Church at the top of Bold Street (one of Liverpool's most iconic Heritage sites), Winter Wonderland is a 4 week long spectacular which should create a Christmas Grotto visit to remember forever.

Set against a beautiful and atmospheric festive backdropsand with lots to explore, families will be escorted by an elf and immersed into their very own Christmas spectacular full of festive characters, workshops and fun activities,


Fondly known as the ‘Bombed-Out’ Church, St Luke’s is one of Liverpool’s best loved heritage sites and the inside will be transformed into a Winter Wonderland. Families will take part in a whole host of festive activities, including meeting the big man himself. Tickets are booked in advance for a 2 hour timeslot and there is plenty included to keep anyone busy.