A couple of weeks ago I got the most amazing invitation my boys have ever seen, my 9 year old was especially jealous. It was an invitation as a guest of Paladone to a very special Harry Potter Games Night at Dive NQ in Manchester. On offer were thousands of pounds of prizes and a fantastic evening playing every Harry Potter game you could ever think of....


I arrived early and was second person to be sorted into a house team - Team Ron, I may have coerced the Sorting Hat a bit - I always like to support #teamginger Apologies for the quality of the photos, we were in a bar. Imagine it's the 1920's and world of sepia.

I'm not your average Disney person, but I'm a big fan of Pixar and I love Star Wars. I thoroughly enjoy Disney On Ice and should I ever get married then the dress of my dreams was always Cinderella's....so I gladly accepted the invite to a Disney Quiz Night at the Zombie Shack as a guest of Paladone - the gift people.


If you've never been to Manchester's Zombie Shack (it's up the spiral staircase) then it can be a bit hard to spot. GPS takes you round the corner, but happily I bumped into a couple of other lost North West bloggers and we wandered aimlessly together.


I have no idea why we didn't spot the 20 foot tall Paladone flag at the side of the stairs...you can't say they didn't try.

There are tons of awesome goodies out there for fans of the Harry Potter series, and the release of Fantastic Beasts has only added to the merchandise available. We've been sent a host of goodies to take a look at - Christmas came a little bit early...


Our children have all grown up with the Harry Potter books and movies, the older ones introduced the 2 youngest to Hogwarts long before they could read. Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them may be a little darker than Harry Potter (and the youngest 2 might have to wait a while before I let them watch it), but J.K.Rowling's world of Wizards and Muggles is a fantastic shared interest for all of our children from 6 to 22...


The Harry Potter Hogwart's Crest Light from Paladone runs on either USB or 3 x AA battery power and has 6 LED's which shine through the slot-in crest, giving an awesome glow. The supplied USB cable is an impressive 5ft (1.5m) long.