My partner and I have always marked Valentine's Day. With our large family and a lack of local relatives I actually don't think we've been out together for Valentine's Day since 2008, but we have had some lovely candlelit meals alone in the kitchen. We swap cards and small gifts and that's been our limit until now...

This year I've been asked by several companies if I wanted to have a look at their products for Valentine's Day. I felt like spoiling myself and my partner, so I picked the ones I liked and said yes. I just hope he doesn't actually read this...

Snapfish asked if I wanted to look at their personalised gifts, so I made a card for my partner and a photo mug with a nice picture of me on it. My partner saw I was making him one and he made one for me too, proving he really is just as romantic as I suspected...

When I was offered the chance to review a brand new collectible children's toy that is sticky, horrible, and called Fungus Amungus, I just knew my 2 little boys would love it. We were sent our parcel covered in yellow and black striped 'CAUTION' tape, and inside was all the protective equipment necessary to open the parcel and examine the contents.

I'm pleased to say that this year we've been chosen by Wilko to be Wild Bird Bloggers. We're really lucky in that we have a quite large garden, and although we're in a town, we have countryside very nearby. We have a lot of birds who visit and live in our garden.


Wilko sent me a multi-purpose nesting box, a wooden bird table, a cage seed feeder and a bag of wild bird seed mix. When the boys came home from school they were genuinely excited and had a lot of questions about where we were going to put everything.

Cleaning isn't the most glamorous of jobs, and it gets in the way of the fun stuff, so anything that makes household jobs easier is brilliant in my book. Dr Beckmann have a long history of making cleaning easier and giving us back some of our precious time.


I've been sent a bundle of Dr Beckmann products to try out, including Stain Devils and Glowhite Ultra for my laundry - both of which have been in my cupboard now for the last 25 years and have been essential since I had children. I haven't tried the Colour & Dirt Collector yet, but as my eldest has recently started manual work and comes home looking like he's been down a pit all day it'll come in very useful for his overalls!

Cardooo make greeting cards that are far more than just a card. The cards include puzzles, colouring, stickers and stories and even games, and are a gift all by themselves - and yet they still only cost £3 each. 


I've been sent a few cards that I can use for birthdays this Spring and I'm really impressed. Considering you can easily pay £2 for any old birthday card, the added value is massive.

For over 25 years Goodlife Foods have been providing the UK with good wholesome dishes that make mealtime easy and are full of tasty flavours. They don't resort to massively processed ingredients and the protein comes mainly from beans and cheeses.This is not 'meat substitute', this is good food that happens to be vegetarian.

With a large family and a love of Volkswagens we've always been fond of camping holidays in the UK, and one of our favourite places to stay is the Isle Of Wight. surrounded by gorgeous and fascinating beaches, full of history and blessed by far better weather than Manchester, it is also a very affordable place to holiday with a family.

Last August we returned to the Isle Of Wight on our first proper holiday in 3 years. We took 5 of our children and young people down to the Isle Of Wight for 10 days, staying at an amazing short-season eco-campsite that belongs to some very good friends of ours - Camp Wight near Yarmouth on the Tennyson Trail.  

Fuse Chicken have sent me their Titan Charge Cable to review. Marketed as the toughest cable on Earth, it was even tested using a chain saw and won. A US company who launched their first product with a ridiculously successful Kickstarter campaign (that raised well over 20 times the proposed launch cost), the Founder and CEO of Fuse Chicken is so proud of his own products that he deals with customer service personally.


My household get through a lot of USB charging cables. There are 6 people aged 16+ here now plus the 2 little boys, which means 6 computers, 6 mobile phones, various tablets, MP4 players, strings of fairy lights and a multitude of other USB items. Micro USB is now a standard and that's great because 1 cable fits all - especially as we all have Android phones - but with all of the use and abuse any cable doesn't generally last long.

We like unusual things here. There's nothing better than finding that perfect present for someone who is difficult to buy for. Peach Perfect is a website which specialises in 'perfectly inspirational gifts'. Here you'll find the unusual and sometimes eccentric, there are some items that are generally quite hard to find dotted amongst a few more everyday and traditional gifts.

If you are tempted by a Bee Hotel, a Handmade Wooden Wand, a Gerbera Umbrella or Airplane Nightlight then you are probably in the right place!

The Epson Eco Tank ET-2500 Printer is pretty much everything you'd hope for in a home printer/copier. Equipped with wireless network access, it connects to your computer, phone or tablet via your household wi-fi network, and promises to save a small fortune on ink (average 70% cheaper). Easy to set up and use, I was printing within 25 minutes of opening the box.


Occasionally when you get an email about a review you do a little happy dance. I did a big happy dance when I was offered this household printer - it arrives with enough ink to last the average family over 2 years - 6,500 colour pages or 4,000 black & white pages worth!