My friend and fellow blogger Cristina from across the pond shared a very clever clothes storage idea. I thought the idea was so great that I had to share it here. It’s such a simple idea but then simple ideas are always the best! The idea – store your clothes horizontally instead of stacking them vertically (on top of each other).
Just the other week I did this with Anya’s sweaters and it’s not only helped us find things quicker but there is no after-mess to tidy up. When her sweaters were vertically stacked on top of each other I had to get the whole pile out and by the time I pulled out the one I wanted, the whole pile collapsed – you know how it is. And when Anya tried to get one out, well that meant chaos! Now that I’ve rolled them all up and lined them up – I pull out the one I want and the rest stay undisturbed. It’s also so much easier to see what you want. And the best part is that even when Anya pulls them out herself, there is no mess. With the lighter clothes like t-shirts, I don’t roll but fold and do the same – again so easy to see what’s what and pull out what you need.
Next, I’m going to be re-organising my wardrobe this way. What do you think of this clever clothes storage idea? Great, right? Got any other great tips to be more organised with your or your kids wardrobes?
We recently went through a huge house renovation project. Of all the rooms in the house, it’s turned out that our kitchen is where we spend all our time. We’ve barely used the living room so far, even when friends come over as everyone gravitates to the kitchen. As a result of practically living in the kitchen, we have been having friends over a lot more and that has encouraged me to try new recipes and experiment more so I’ve been sharing more recipes here too. Recently I made these mini apple pie stacks which were yummy so I thought I would share the recipe with you as they are perfect little party desserts. And who doesn’t love an apple pie?
Kids and grown-ups alike will love these mini apple pies so they’re great for any kind of gathering. And the best part is that nearly all the work can be done the day before. I’m loving these as a festive treat -they’re a nice alternative to mince pies especially as they look so snowy and Christmassy with all that icing sugar. Not only are these mini apple pies delicious and gorgeous to look at, but they’re also easy to make.
So here’s how to make mini apple pies:
MINI APPLE PIE STACKS Makes:10 mini pies
6-7 granny smith apples peeled and cored (mini ones) ½ a 370g pack of ready rolled unsweetened shortcrust pastry 2 tbsp soft brown sugar butter ½ tsp ground cinnamon mixed with 1 tsp soft brown sugar 3 tbsp icing sugar creme fraiche
Start by cutting out discs of your shortcrust pastry. I used a 5cm diameter cookie cutter so that the apple pie stacks were small enough to pick up with fingers. Bake the discs on baking parchment for 10-15 minutes at 175ºC (or 350ºF) for fan assisted ovens. Otherwise just follow the guidelines on the pastry pack. To make sure that the pastry discs stay flat, place another sheet of baking parchment and a baking tray on top while baking. Take out of the oven and leave to cool – removing the baking tray on top.
Next slice the apples really thinly in to rings – ideally use a mandolin if you have one. The apple rings should be roughly the size of your pastry discs. Heat a large frying pan and melt a generous knob of butter. Lightly brown the apple rings a few at a time. They just need a minute or so on each side. Take them out just as they start to soften – you don’t want them too soft as they will be very tricky to handle later. Once all the apple rings are done, add another knob of butter to the pan. Once melted, put all the apple rings back in the pan and sprinkle with 3 tbsp of brown sugar. Very gently turn the apple rings in the butter and sugar to caramalise them. Once caramalised, leave the apple rings to cool.
Line a baking tray with baking parchment and start building your apple pie stacks. Take around 3 apple rings and place on top of each other. Sprinkle the top ring with the cinnamon sugar and add 3 more apple rings on top. Continue doing this until you have 10 apple stacks. Place another sheet of baking parchment on top of the apple stacks and a heavyish baking try or similar on top to compress the stacks a bit. Put in the fridge and leave to cool. You can do up to this stage the day before – just remember to place your pastry discs in an airtight container.
When you’re ready to serve, heat up the apple stacks in the oven on a low-moderate heat for a few minutes. Then place the stacks on the pastry discs, sprinkle the tops with icing sugar and place under a hot grill to brown. This will take no more than a minute or two and they will come out looking all golden and slightly charred at the edges like in the pic above. Once out of the oven, dust with more icing sugar and serve as they are or with a dollop of creme fraiche on top.
I’m not a huge fan of desserts but even I can’t turn down these delicious mini apple pies. The last time I made these for friends they disappeared in seconds so I suggest making 2-3 per person!
I will definitely be making these as a festive party treat next month when I have a few Christmas do’s. And the best part is that with our kitchen being so welcoming and user friendly, our friends often help with the last minute serving up. With our renovations we went way over budget with our kitchen but now I know it was so worth! I’ve since learned that a good place to get affordable and quality kitchens is betta living so maybe next time we will check that out. Does your kitchen inspire you to cook and socialise more?
Yesterday it was all about the girls so my next Christmas gift guide, has got to be all about the boys. If you’re a regular reader you’ll know that I don’t do plastic toys, battery operated toys or anything like that. Instead I prefer toys that require imagination and encourage creative play. So you’ll find lots of fun wooden toys, games, crafts and more. Many of these gifts would work for girls as well, including things like the superhero dress up set – after all girls can be super heroes too, right?
Here are some of my favourite Christmas gift ideas for boys:
With Christmas fast approaching, I thought I would share my next gift list. This is a list of lots of gift ideas for girls aged mainly between 4 and 7 years. I’ve tried to mix up the suggestions as not all girls like girly things so I’ve included building toys and superhero stuff too. There are quite a few crafty things too as I always believe in giving gifts that encourage imagination and creativity. So here are my top Christmas gift ideas for girls:
Lately Anya has been asking a lot of questions about the human body and how it works. Her questions were becoming more and more involved and I didn’t have the answers. But she was really curious to know more so I did what I always do – I went looking for a book. I didn’t want a really serious book with anatomical diagrams which would be boring and too complex for a 6 year old but most of the books I came across were like this. So I continued looking and then I found The Amazing Human Body Detectives.
The Amazing Human Body Detectives is a fab little book packed with interesting facts about the body. The facts are shared in a fun and engaging way and the drawings are also playful and colourful. Each double page spread focuses on one part of the body so you have spreads on the brain, teeth and bone, muscles and many more. There are facts as well as myths which are all shown in bite-size chunks so it’s easy for kids to read by themselves. The book comes with a mini magnifying glass and then suggests ways in which a child can use it. There is also an interactive side where the book suggests experimenting with things like tasting food while holding your nose or looking inside your mouth and seeing what’s in there.
Ever since we’ve had the book, Anya picks it up and reads out lots of interesting facts to me like a ‘sneeze releases 100,000 germs in to the air’ and ‘only 2% of the world population has green eyes’. Lots of these facts have fascinated me too as I didn’t know them and so I’ve really enjoyed this book too. Even if your child hasn’t shown much interest in the human body, I think The Amazing Human Body Detectives is a great little book to have on your shelf. It’s perfect for 5-7 year olds as they can read it themselves and then come and tell you all that they’ve found out!
I don’t always have time to make party food from scratch especially when there are quite a few dishes to make. Sometimes I rely on shop bought things – I tend to do this more with sweet things and desserts as shop bought desserts can be really good and there is so much to choose from. But even when I buy readymade stuff, I always like to put my own spin on it. Just a simple twist that makes it personal and served with love.
When I have kids over for playdates, one my my go to treats is shop bought madeleines. Madeleines are small enough for little hands and are generally loved by all kids so they go down a treat. Recently I thought about serving these madeleines for a kids party too – but I wanted to dress them up and put my own fun touch on them as I think food should be fun, especially kids party food. Madeleines always remind me of boats – they are shaped like boats and so I decided to turn them in to actual boats.
These couldn’t be easier to put together. I simply attached a sail to each madeleine using a cocktail stick. The sails are cut out of some pretty wrapping paper I had and I’ve taped them on to the cocktail sticks. Next, I put little flags on with each child’s name so that these little madeleines could double-up as cute edible place holders for any kiddy gathering. And to finish, a little sprinkling of icing sugar.
If you’re looking for more kids party food ideas, take a look at my fun fish and chips.
Earlier today I shared some adorable Christmas gift ideas for baby boys. Now it’s the turn of the baby girls. I had such fun putting this list together because everything is so, so cute! While I’ve called this a baby girl gift list, there are lots of things here that would work just as well for a baby boy too.
I’ve picked a selection of toys, clothes and useful things all with gorgeous design and lots of cuteness for babies aged 0-2 years. So here are my favourite Christmas gift ideas for baby girls:
I can’t believe I’m talking Christmas already – where has this year gone?! But Christmas is coming and that means it’s time for me to share some gift ideas with you. Every year I ask you guys if you want gift lists and every year I get a big, huge yes! So once again I will be sharing lots and lots of gift ideas for kids of different ages and some ideas for mums too.
To kick of this years gift list, I’ve got a whole range of Christmas gift ideas for baby boys. Babies don’t need much but it’s always fun to spoil them especially at this time of the year. So I’ve gathered a range of fun toys, a few clothes and books most of which are suitable for babies from 0-2 years. I will be sharing a separate gift list for baby girls but as you’ll see there are many gifts on both lists that will be loved by baby boy or girl.
Lately (ok if I’m honest it’s ever since Anya started school) we were always in a mad rush to get out the door. No matter what, it always seemed that the last 10 minutes were a crazy panic to get to school on time. We usually ended up arriving at school about a minute late or at best, bang on time. It doesn’t matter if you have one child or four, I think so many of us have manic mornings. And that got me thinking – why can’t we be just that 2-3 minutes earlier so that we aren’t running like crazies. After 2 years plus of trying to beat the clock, I decided to make some changes to our morning routine. Some worked and some didn’t – so I thought I would share the tips for getting to school on time that worked for us and helped us have less stressy mornings (maybe not stress-free everyday but definitely less frantic):
1. Get up earlier than everyone else This has been a game changer for me – maybe you all know this secret but I didn’t. I started doing this at the start of this school year and I feel so much less stressed for it. I lose around an hour of sleep, but it’s so worth it – and yes I get up at least an hour earlier sometimes a bit more. Especially if you’re a working mum, that hour in the morning before everyone else is awake is a godsend. I check my emails, think and plan the day ahead both work day and any family chores/errands that need to be done and most of all just get my head ready for the day. Before, I got up with everyone else and tried to do this alongside everything else and it was mayhem. Now I really look forward to my hour of solitude in the morning – if I ever oversleep I feel cheated!
2. Make a morning routine chart We made a morning routine chart just over a month ago. It simply lays out the order of what has to be done when so it saves me shouting out instructions and nagging every two minutes. And I was doing a lot of shouting before this chart! Now Anya looks at the chart every so often each morning and she knows what she has to do when. I also built in ‘golden time’ which is a little play time in the morning if everything is done on time. This has turned out to be a good incentive – even though Anya hardly ever manages to get golden time, she tries which makes her more likely to stop daydreaming and start getting ready.
3. Sunday evening planning There’s always something happening in school – from mufti days to bringing in autumn leaves for craft projects and so much more. I have started spending just 5 minutes on Sunday evening reading school emails and putting reminders for the week in my phone. I always set two reminders – one for a couple of days ahead in case anything needs to be bought or organised that requires time and one for the morning of the day. In the past I have forgotten mufti day and the crestfallen look on Anya’s face when she was the only one in uniform at school taught me a lesson. So plan ahead and know what’s in store for you for the entire week.
4. Make a game of it! Kids love games and love winning. Anya gets dressed at the same time as Richard so I have made a game of this – I challenge her to be dressed before he is. She always wants to win so the speed at which she now gets her uniform on is amazing! Before, getting Anya to put on her uniform could take upwards of 10 minutes. Not any more. This kind of challenge or any game can really speed things up in the morning so think about where you can do something like this in your morning routine.
6. Check the weather Nothing is more frustrating than spending precious time in the morning madly hunting for things, while stress levels are climbing high because time is ticking. We live in London and that means we can have summer one day and winter the next so by checking the weather the night before I can get umbrellas’s, raincoats, wellie boots, scarves, hats etc ready and by the door instead of scrambling around in the morning.
7. Prepare your kids things the night before An obvious one but I thought I would include it anyway as we all know we should do this but do you do it? I didn’t because I would leave it till last thing at night by which time I was too tired so I always put it off till the morning. But then I started getting everything ready in the evening and this has made me much more inclined to do it. So by around 7-7:30pm I get book bags ready, any PE/swimming kits packed and uniform hung up outside the wardrobe so it’s ready to be grabbed and worn.
These 7 tips have helped us get to school on time and avoid last minute scrambles and they’ve also made me feel calmer in the mornings. Not every day – we still have those manic mornings but they are far less than they used to be. What do you do to in the mornings? Any tips – please share!
Have a wonderful weekend a hopefully a calm Monday morning!
Do you know Wild Boys & Girls? It’s a new label of purely unisex t-shirts and decor. There is no boys section or girls section but instead everything is for everyone. It’s so refreshing to see more unisex brands popping up – I am all for kids fashion that can be worn by both boys and girls and that’s why when I discovered Wild Boys & Girls, I had to collaborate with them.
I wonder what they were plotting!
Annie, the founder and designer, and I decided to organise a play date with our kids and mix and match up the clothes our kids wore – some from my shop and some from Annie’s collection. As you can see (in the top picture), Felix is wearing the black & white feather print trousers from my shop which are supposed to be for girls but doesn’t he look so cool? And Anya wears one of the Wild Boys & Girls tee’s with my tutu.
Sharing secrets.
It was clearly a good secret!
No more photos please!!
There is so much amazing choice out there for gender specific clothes but not so much for unisex clothes. So it’s great to see a new brand doing purely unisex kids clothes. In the past I have often shopped for Anya in the boys section but maybe it is easier for a girl to wear boys clothes? So I’m wondering, would you consider looking at the girls section for your little boys? Or do the clothes have to specifically be called unisex before you would consider them?
Ebabee Likes is a style guide for babies, kids, teens and their mamas. It’s all about inspiration, ideas and indulging yourself and your brood. It’s written by me ~ Nomita ~ a style loving girl from Mumbai who now live’s in London. Read More...
