This morning we were one of the lucky families at the Odeon Cinema in Manchester for a preview screening of Hotel Transylvania 2 arranged by Mumsnet. I really liked Hotel Transylvania, as did my 2 young boys, and so we were hopeful the sequel would be good. There are no spoilers in my review.


The story focuses on a vampire, Count Dracula, and his daughter Mavis, her partner Johnny and their families and friends. They run the Hotel Transylvania, a hotel originally a haven for monsters which now also accepts human guests.

Project Mc2 started as a TV show on Netflix in which a group of girls become spies and use Science and Maths to solve problems. It aims to help show young girls that 'smart is the new cool' and Science can be fun that's relevant to them. The people behind Project Mc2 have now released a range of accompanying dolls, each with their own scientific experiment in the box with them.

Our latest review for Interplay is one I have had my eye on since I heard about it. Paracord Survival Bands are survival wristbands made from carefully woven cord which can be quickly unwoven and is strong enough to be used in an emergency situation. We might not be about to face a zombie apocalypse, but how many times do you find yourself thinking that a piece of string or rope would have been handy?


The Interplay Paracord Survival Bands are made from "military grade parachute lanyard rope" or 'Paracord'. They are strong, they actually can save you in an emergency and as this is 7 strand Paracord it should bear around 400lbs+ of weight - more than enough to lift, pull or rescue any person.

My two young boys liked Dora The Explorer when they were younger, but they are a little old for it now. Nickelodeon favourite Dora however is also aging it seems, and is moving on in the guise of Dora And Friends, featuring an 8 year old Dora and a new gang, as Dora has moved to a new house and school by the sea.


We've been sent a copy of the new Dora And Friends DVD to review and both of my boys really like it. It is a lot more 'mature' than little Dora, and suits junior school aged children. Dora and her friends still use occasional Spanish words throughout, teaching your child without them realising they're learning another language, and the essence of the DVD is friendship and celebrating what makes us different.

This is a guest post on behalf of Experian

University fees – how much?

As a family, we have always wanted our children to be happy first and foremost but we would also like to think that, one day, they will all go onto to study at university.

Obviously it’s not the end of the world if they choose to take a different path in life (which some of them already have), especially if the skills they need for their chosen career do not require a university level education. However I would love to see the kids be successful in well-paid jobs and graduate with a degree if that’s what it takes to get their dream job.

LEGO is great. You can make anything, right? Well actually, maybe you can. A friend of a friend has a son who uses a wheelchair, and he made it onto his local Wheelchair Football Team. As a surprise for him our friend enlisted our help to make a LEGO minifigure to celebrate his achievement.


You don't reinvent the wheel (or the wheelchair) if you don't have to, so to start us off we had a quick look around and there are lots of designs of wheelchairs that people have made using LEGO, and some of them are excellent, but we didn't see anything spot on for this young man's electric wheelchair.

We reviewed some of the Halloween Specialbuys from ALDI last year and they were ace, so I'm very happy to bring you a preview look at a few of this year's new products, which will be on sale from tomorrow Thursday 1st October - not least of which the utterly insane and fantastic Banjo Playing Skeleton!!

This is a guest post written by Michelle Ross

HOW TO MAKE TOYS MORE AFFORDABLE?

Toys not only make your kids time more precious, but they also let them learn new stuff. From improving their mechanic to social skills, appropriate toys can play an important role in child's development. But along with this advantage, comes a huge disadvantage – cost of toys. In fact, some toys which you would love to gift to your child need a lot of cash to purchase.

This Autumn Persil Washing Up Liquid have launched a new on-pack collector points campaign called 'Cook With The Kids'. Every bottle of Persil washing up liquid has a code which can be redeemed online for points. The points can then be exchanged for all kinds of Cook With The Kids goodies including aprons, silicone whisks and cupcake cases, and more.


You can also exchange points for money off Haven Holidays, and each time you redeem a code, you are entered into a draw to win a £250 supermarket voucher!

I love baking with my children and have many blog posts labelled 'cooking with kids'. My Food Page  lists the recipes I post and almost all are designed to be simple and serve as a collection for my own teenagers (should they decide they're bored of instant noodles). I believe that we all eat, so we should all have an idea of how to feed ourselves. I include my family in cooking as often as possible.

At some point in our lives we've all believed in fairies, and if you are lucky you still do. Strange, beautiful swirling and swooping creatures who dance around and leave a trail of glitter, much like your average 5 year old girl. The Magic Door Store lets you invite them into your home, but not just fairies, all magical friendly little people are welcome, including elves.