For the last 2 years our highlight of Halloween has been going on the Halloween Ghost Train at East Lancs Railway in Bury. It's been so good that this year I bought our tickets as soon as they became available.

We went last night and for the first time took two of our bigger children as well as the little ones. We couldn't find the little boys, so we took the Grim Reaper and a Skeleton with us...


















We had an excellent time, I love the ghost train. The volunteers do a fantastic job and make it a really exciting experience for everyone. It's a terrific laugh and very well worth the money.

At times the Guards switch off all of the lights, there is a lot of noise and the costumes are brilliant. If your children are easily frightened then it may not be the thing for you, but if they get a thrill from being a little bit scared then it's perfect.

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We bought and paid for our tickets. The East Lancs Railway is a charity staffed in the main by volunteers. It relies on visitors and donations and has a massive programme of events throughout the year for children and adults including Thomas The Tank Engine days, Footplate Experiences, Real Ale Trails and Murder Mystery Evenings - Click this link to find out more.

Halloween and Bonfire Night may not yet be behind us, but who isn't already thinking about Christmas? We've been sent The Little Reindeer DVD to review and it stars a reindeer, a young boy and Santa.

The film tells the tale of a reindeer born into the stable of Santa who then accidentally gets wrapped up and delivered to a young boy. He loves him and they spend a delightful year together before Christmas comes around again and Santa returns and takes the reindeer back to his true home.


I can't really go any further without pointing out that this DVD really massively reminded me of The Snowman. It is almost entirely wordless with music and a handful of sound effects. It even has a flying scene with appropriately gentle and calming music, only this time it's the reindeer who takes a little boy off with him. The boy and the reindeer become great friends and have fantastic adventures together and then one morning, the friend has gone and the boy is very sad and cries.

The animation is in a similar style to The Snowman with the lightly pressed pencils and rounded figures, beautifully soft backgrounds and falling snow. The foreground characters though are more deeply inked so although it's similar it isn't a copy.

I actually love The Snowman and have done since it was first released (when I was still young enough to be completely captivated by it), so I'm not really that bothered that this film is so reminiscent because it's a lovely feelgood Christmas story that is suitable for children of any age and with virtually any level of vocabulary and communication.

My little boys liked this film, they have watched it about 47 times a day since it arrived, at least it seems to be on constantly whenever the TV is on. My 3 year old especially loves this DVD and has absolutely no trouble following the storyline.

The Reindeer is from the book by Michael Foreman and has a running time of approximately 26 minutes. It is suitable for viewers of any age and makes good standard festive viewing in the run up to Christmas. It will be released by Abbey Home Media on 28th October 2013 and they have kindly offered 3 copies to giveaway to my readers. The competition is on this page...

When TinyMe gave me the opportunity to review something they asked what I wanted. I had a browse around the website and frankly I wanted pretty much everything, so I had to let them choose for me.

They came back with a selection of gorgeous wall stickers and after wavering over a wall full of racing cars my youngest son chose 'Trucks And Diggers'.




Included was a nice little sheet of paper with instructions - including how to remove your stickers as they are repositionable and shouldn't damage your decor. They're also made from fabric rather than vinyl, so they don't stretch and warp. The blurb says that they'll stick to almost any surface including brick and glass, although we only tried them on our painted wall.






TinyMe is originally an Australian company which was formed by 3 Dads (with an impressive 14 children between them) who wanted to put together Geek and Cute and put together a range of affordable personalised products for kids. I think they've managed it very well.


My wall stickers would have cost me £20 and I think that's great value for money. My son has a really personal display that is 4 feet long and should last for years. It's really attractive to look at and we should be able to move it if we decide to move the boys bedroom around. It makes a great gift for any child who is tricky to buy for.

TinyMe sell all sorts of personalised children's goodies from name labels and backpacks to calendars and jigsaw puzzles and we will definitely be buying from them in the future because the quality and illustrations are second to none.

It's only October, but we need to be organised if Santa is going to have time to arrange presents for 7 children and associated friends and relatives, so we asked everyone to write us a list. We weren't really thinking of the little ones, more the teenagers, but our 5 year old sat himself down with the Smyths catalogue and the Argos Book Of Dreams, and a bare minimum of help from his 13 year old sister and wrote this....


In case you need translation -
Orchard Toys Shopping Game
Sweets
Transformer

I think this is the first time any of them have presented us with a list that we're more than happy to send straight on to Santa....and the cutest thing is, possibly because it took him 10 minutes to write that (he's only been at school for a month), he said it was a very long list and he might not get everything....

I think as long as he behaves himself he might stand a good chance ;o)

What's even better about the Ruckjack is that your child can personalise it themselves online, and if they are enthusiastic about their clothes they're far more likely to look after them. My son chose a Moshi Monsters lining for his coat, so when it's a bag it's a Moshi Monsters bag - he's the talk of the playground!

Miioon have just announced a limited edition Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Ruckjack which is also included in the options you will be able to pick from, as well as Moshi Monsters and Animaru, and your jacket will come with up to 3 Oonits (Zip Pulls) of your choice.


This giveaway has now ended.

It's just over a week until Halloween, so I've put together some of my Halloween posts, and some of my favourite posts I've seen from other blogs...

 Decorations and accessories...

Obviously pumpkins are important, and it's possible you might find some inspiration from my lot, or else you'll find some 'what not to do when working with kids' help at least! If you don't fancy pumpkins then you could try some different spooky fruit ideas here or here.


For decorating the house and table, Hobbycraft have a great range of Halloween goodies or why not try making this egg box Ghost And Bat Bunting or some Giant Sparkly Spiders.

If you're not certain where you're going to keep your Halloween booty, how about a personalised Trick Or Treat bag or these brilliant Lego Storage Heads? Available from loads of stockists - the best price I can find at the moment is around £15 each - but they do last forever...or at least until the zombie apocalypse...

Costumes

Why not make your own costumes? This paper mask is simple and quick and it's got glitter and glue, perfect.
If you don't feel crafty or you're running out of time then this Emergency Costumes In A Box might just be the thing!

 

Food

I have a Halloween giveaway to win 3 bags of Swizzels Matlow sweets in time for Halloween, but if sweets aren't your thing then a great alternative for Trick Or Treaters is Halloween Pom Bears. There's a great Pom Bear Party Pack giveaway here too!


How about some baking? We made Revolting Rotten Cupcakes at the weekend...they look horrible but taste delicious and your young people can practically make them by themselves...


You and your children can also work together making these no-cook Witches Hats or a whole Gathering Of Ghosts...

If your artistic and baking talents extend beyond standard, you can always have a go at this amazing Spooky Halloween Cave Cake shown below....

 Entertainment

If you have Plus Plus 2D and 3D building blocks then there is a Halloween themed giveaway over on The Toadstool, and Orchard Toys are giving away a copy of one of our favourite games on their Facebook page ~ Spooky Steps!


There are loads of great books around for children with a Halloween theme. A couple of the best are covered here or maybe your children prefer activity books.

I don't know quite how helpful the animated Scooby Doo or the puppet Scooby Doo would really be if you see a ghost this Halloween, but I'm doubting Tom and Jerry would be any better. If you fancy your stories a little more gruesome we have Grizzly Tales For Gruesome Kids DVD which is another giveaway with 3 copies up for grabs!

Finally, something for the grown ups....when the little ones are in bed and you settle down for the night to watch a DVD......please don't forget How To Survive A Horror Movie....


Thank you to the following Bloggers for the links in this post ~ Over 40 And A Mum To One, In The Playroom, Blue Bear Wood, The Soup Dragon Says, ET Speaks From Home, Life Of Spicers, Mummy's Little Stars, Red Rose Mummy, Mummy Of Two and Zing Zing Tree.

We've been challenged by Family Investments to make an impressive Halloween pumpkin. Unfortunately the artistic adult in the family was busy working and they only had me to inspire them, so I decided they were better off left to it. I was there for Health & Safety, photography and to laugh when it went wrong (in that helpful way parents do)...

The teenagers went shopping and returned with 3 smashing pumpkins, carefully chosen and in various sizes, and then, armed with implements that aren't as sharp as they look in the photos, they set to work....

After selecting your pumpkin you need to decide your design. You can do this in reverse order which obviously makes it easier if you're after something specifically tall or wide for example. We suggest you draw your design on paper before you even start cutting...