Half Term Entertainment on a Shoestring & Can Chewing Gum Make You More Clever? COMPETITION!

I'm writing this 2 days into half term with my gang of four. I love time off with my family, but must admit I'm always a little worried about the expense of entertaining them. When I was a child (gosh I sound about 80, still at least I didn't say "in the good old days"!) I was left to entertain myself, if I was really lucky we'd head off to a zoo or a theme park once over the whole 6 week long summer holiday but the rest of the time was spent playing with friends, mostly in our back garden.

How can it be that children today have so much 'stuff' to entertain them, yet they are always so bored? In fact I think that's the answer - they have too much 'stuff', I didn't have 'stuff' and I wasn't bored...I wonder what the next generation of children will do during school holidays? Will our children be telling their own "I didn't have half the amount of stuff you had as a child and I didn't complain?".

Our school holiday plans tend to revolve strongly around nature, the local national trust forest, the beach and the local botanical garden and the fantastic free museums in Cambridge (the zoology one gets a big thumbs up from us).


So, ever conscious of finances, when the chaps at Chewits asked me if we'd be interested in posting their half term graphic I thought it sounded interesting, I'm all up for new ideas, especially if they save money and the kids were convinced when the offer also came with some free chewie gum to review too.

Now, I may be old fashioned but I've really put off letting my kids have chewing gum, I don't know why, mostly paranoia over them swallowing it accidentally and concern that I would find it stuck all over the house, but they have been begging me to try some for ages. Oddly I found THIS article which claims that chewing gum is good for the brain (it is in the Daily Fail though!). Anyway, I relented and Chewits kindly sent the kids some of their new Chewie gum to review, the gum comes in 3 flavours - lemon, tropical and strawberry and banana. The kids loved the tropical, weren't at all keen on the lemon and were 50/50 split on the strawberry and banana, but all agreed that it would have been better if it were just strawberry flavoured. They seemed to have great fun and importantly nobody swallowed any! Another plus is that I have yet to find any stuck to the walls/under tables or headboard, I'm not quite sure where they have put it though, it's rare that they put anything in the bin so I'm still more than a little concerned........

Anyway, chewie gum gets a thumbs up in our house, but the kids would much prefer a plain strawberry flavour please chewits!

WIN

The lovely people at Chewits have given me a Hamper worth £30, bursting with Chewits goodies to give away to you! 

To enter please leave your name in reply and I'll randomly pick a winner on the 8th of June. Please note entry implies that you agree with the terms and conditions below:

1. All entrants must be over 18 years of age
2. Entry to the competition is restricted to one entry per person, multiple entries will be disqualified as will automated entries, bulk or third party entries.
3. Competitions are open to UK and ROI residents only and the prize can only be sent to a valid UK or ROI address.
4. Only entries received by the closing date of Sunday June 9th will be submitted to the competition.
5. The winner will be chosen at random from all valid entries.
6. The winner will be contacted via email and their name will be posted here on Monday 10th June.
7. There is no cash alternative.
8. In compliance with the data protection act. Gluten Free Child will not pass on your details to any third party without your prior consent.

Gluten Free Pizza - Big Thumbs Up to Dominos, Pizza Express and Pizza Hut!

Gluten free food is like buses it seems....

.....we wait for years for a tasty, readily available and well priced gluten free alternative to our favourite foods and then 3 turn up at once.

2013 has proven to be an amazing year for gluten free pizza. How how we missed our pizza, Seb particularly when his friends would hold birthday parties at their local pizza huts.

I am SO delighted then that the mainstream restaurants are listening to the needs of their customers.

I have yet to sample Pizza Express' new gluten free pizza (they have offered to top your own base for ages, but this wasn't practical if you were out for the day or wanted to dine spontaneously!) but I'm told they now offer not only a gluten free pizza but also a gluten free brownie - woohoo!

We have however tried Pizza Hut and Domino's gluten free offerings - here's a quick review of both:

Pizza Hut Gluten Free Pizza

I think you can see the delight in Seb's face in the picture above! We could eat most of the toppings and the base was pretty good, it is square and only available in thin crust. It was a bit dry towards the end when it cooled, but not bad - we've been back twice since for more!
Verdict? 3 out of 5 for Pizza Hut Gluten Free Pizza

Dominos Gluten Free Pizza

This is our favourite! It *almost* tastes like the pizza I remember before our gluten free days, soooo good, my only gripes are that it's only available in one size, which is pretty small and like the pizza hut alternative it got a bit dry and chewy when it cooled, but it's much nicer than the Pizza Hut version.

Verdict? 4 out of 5 for Dominos Gluten Free Pizza

Preparing to Start 'Big School'....Part 1 - The Practicalities: Uniform & Finances

I can't believe I'm writing this, it seems like only yesterday that Seb was about to start 'big school', by 'big school' I of course mean infant school. My little curly haired toddler had reached the age of four in the blink of an eye and no sooner had he started preschool he was off to infant school. He settled into infant school well (certainly much easier than I settled into my new role of being a mother to a school aged child!) and quickly made lots of friends.

Surely it was only yesterday that I dropped him off for his first day of school? Wearing his too big jumper and shiny black shoes? How can it possible be that he is starting REAL 'big school' soon? How can my baby be ready for secondary school? How can my little toddler be ready for high school? I'm certainly not ready!

In my trauma of how quickly the last (almost) eleven years have gone I've been busying myself with the practicalities of preparing for 'big school'. I was truly horrified to learn how much it would cost to kit him out in the appropriate uniform and sports kit (and this is just a regular state school!), so as finances are tight I've planned to spend £50 per month every month until September and start putting bits away so that it doesn't dent out budget too much in August.

This month I have been shopping around for uniform basics. Although the school require him to wear a standard embroidered tie and blazer we can choose where we buy his (plain black) jumper, (long sleeved collared) white shirts and (plain black) trousers from - thank goodness! In the past I have bought most of my kids' (aged 10, 9, 8 and 5) school uniform in either Marks and Spencer, Tesco or Asda in the '3 for 2' weeks, lately though I've been noticing how it hasn't been lasting, our last lot of Tesco trousers are having to be replaced only 5 months into the current academic year as they have been ripping and hems coming down and our last lot of M&S polo shirts have shrunk significantly and are now a horrible grey colour (this may be my washing skills!), so I've been hunting down alternatives. Certainly I thought that my kids were hard on clothes when they were toddlers and expected their clothes to take less of a bashing when they were older, but I couldn't have been more wrong! We definitely need some seriously hard wearing uniform for secondary school!

I was very lucky to be offered the chance to test some school uniform from Trutex whose uniform is available online from their own site Trutex Direct and other online selected retailers (see HERE ) and from selected high street retailers (see HERE) and naturally jumped at the chance. I had already heard of Trutex, but after comparing their prices with the high street own brands considered them too expensive, now though I have begun to think it is worth paying a bit extra for better quality.

We road tested the following:

1. Twin pack non-iron (vitally important for a household of 6!!) white shirts HERE
2. Black flat front trousers HERE
3. Black cotton v-neck jumper HERE

Seb loved the way that they fitted and the difference in quality was obvious, I honestly can say I think that the Trutex school uniform will last us for the whole of the academic year and (hopefully) be in a good enough condition to pass down to my younger boys. I'm convinced, no more false economy high street uniforms for us, I'm going to be budgeting to buy the rest of Seb's uniform from Trutex. If you're fed up with your child's uniform falling to bits I'd really recommend Trutex school uniform.

Now, if I only I could get Seb to look as smart as the boy in the picture above!