Put on a Panto

Robinsons have launched a website for the festive period called Put on a Panto, which aims to help children with the steps to putting on a panto of their own.

It is a really interactive site with a number of Panto's to chose from and covers everything from the script, poster, props required to practicing and performing your own panto.

There are a number of well known pantomimes to choose from including Peter Pan, Cinderella, Aladdin and Snow White

The concept behind the site if that it will encourage youngsters to give a pantomime a go, whilst allowing us grown ups a little bit of planning time.  Now that wasn't possible for me, as neither Maxi or MiniMad can read, so I had to go through the site with them and also they only had understanding of the movie Peter Pan.

My neice who is 7 on the other hand really loved the site and thinks that she will try it again with her friends during the holiday period.

There is a possibillity that I will receive a book on Crafting with Children for this post

Why a Seperate Site for Reviews

Well there has been a lot of traffic on reviews lately.  Who does them, why do them, are you selling your soul if you so them, are they honest or not.

So I wanted to set the record straight from my perspective and thought it was best to have an additional site to do any reviews.

I for one, value bloggers opinions on reviews.  I like the honesty, I need the honesty and I always check before I buy a product.  I am happy to so reviews, as long as the product or service is applicable to our family, will not be too time hungry and not downright wrong!!

About me

I am an honest, tough talking, tactless (although I am working on that and have been for the last 30 years)northern lass.  I have lived down south for over 11 years in the corporate world of Facility Management before relocated back to the North East with my family, in order to become a Stay at Home mum.

I underwent a double mastectomy in February 2009 and have just had additional surgery (November 2009).  I also had my ovaries and tubes removed in July 2008.

The Mad Family

Consists of MAdDad who is 43 and is an accountant who works Monday to Friday, plus overtime in order to keep the family mad afloat.  He is a wonderful man who loves gadgets, computer games, gardening, but most of all spending time with his family.

MaxiMad is 4 (5 in March 2010).  He is an energetic and full of life boy who is somewhat a bit of a mathematical geneus (not from my side of the family).  He loves swimming and playing football, reading, crafting and playing on the wii and Leapster 2.

MiniMad is the baby of the family he is 3 and will be 4 in June next year.  He is a lover of music and will make as much noise as possible as often as possible and is always ready to sing alone.  He is a dreamer and loves dressing up and imaginative play.  A real joy to be around.

Then there is Mr Smudge, our old (14), large and rather grumpy white cat.  He has to live through each day with the indignity of having two very lively young boys as companions.

We grow our own in rasied beds in our garden, love camping and try to live a modest life.

So that is us, en famille Mad.  Anyone interested in us doing a review for you, please contact me via the link at the bottom of the page.

She a model and she looking good

Well she could be.....

Next are currently running a competition to find the next generation of model on their Facebook page. It is call the Next Generation Childrens Competition and if you have a child age 4 to 7 who you think could be a model for Next then go their facebook page and upload a photograph. Voting will start tomorrow to find the winners. For more information and to upload any photo, please visit Nexts Facebook site.

Now if you child becoming a model isn't your thing and frankly it isn't mine, then in addition to the Next Generation Childrens Competition Next are also running an event for the Make a Wish foundation, in which the challenge is to design and make a unique and original t-shirt. This will be open to children from 0 to 16 and they will have to draw a picture of their wish and upload a photo of the picture to the Make a Wish event on the Facebook page.

A panel of judges at Next will choose the top fifty designs and the entrants responsible for the top designs will then be asked to submit their original drawings The final will be  at Woburn Abbey on 21st December, when an overall winner will be selected. This design will be manufactured by Next, with sales benefiting the Make-a-wish Foundation.

PS This is a sponsored post

Review PlayMais

We were sent a medium box of PlayMais to try and review, which is like coloured recycling chips, but is made from cornstarch and water and coloured with food colouring.

PlayMais can be reshaped, squeezed and cut.  If you damp the little chips they stick together, but they also stick to lots of different surfaces too ie paper, glass and card, which makes them a great item to keep in the craft cupboard, but at £7.99 for a medium box it is quite expensive considering once its gone its gone.

Normally we would test a product over at least a week (sometimes much longer) before I would review it, but since this has been played with since the moment the minimads came home from school and preschool on Friday, I thought I would get the review done.  Also I think that the pictures speak louder than the words in this case too.

What we liked.

I loved the fact that they are en eco friendly toy and help use the children's imagination.  They foster creative and individual play.

They appealed to both boys, including MaxiMads analytical side, he loved making patterns with them, counting them, using them for adding and taking away.  He even sorted them with chopsticks in to small pots.

I loved the fact that any pictures of models made could be added to paper or a greetings card as 3D art and reused.  This is a fantastic way of displaying the children's art and also of making birthday and Christmas cards using the things they have made, rather than just popping it in the recycling or compost bin (which you could do too).

I liked the fact that they are very light, so would make an excellent present for any child you have to post to.  You could also double up in their usage and include them in a box for family at Christmas as packaging chips.

What we didn't like

They are pretty expensive for what they are £7.99 for the medium box.

The box says they come with all you  need, but there was nothing included for cutting them and we had to use scissors and they are quite difficult for small hands to cut.

We also found the box to be quite flimsy and not suitable to store the mais in, so we transferred it to a container we already had.

It can be quite hard to replicated the models on the box and in the booklet provided, which just upset MaxiMad - he was a little frustrated. 

Overview

A super product, we all liked with many uses and I am sure we will get hours of use out of.  A must for any arty/crafty children.  A fantastic unisex product, I am sure my niece will adore playing with this and the minimads next time she visits too.  They are suitable for a wide range of ages and abilities and there is no right or wrong things to do with them.  So a big thumbs up from TheMadHouse

Ecover Reivew

I hate cleaning, I am not a natural cleaner, so I use the Fly system.  So when the people at Ecover were looking for people to test their new range of hard surface cleaners, you would think that I wouldn't be keen, well you would be wrong, as here in TheMadHouse, we try very hard to be green, so thought it would be a good idea to test our options.

Now before we start, I was given some products to do this review and a green trug,fair trade rubber gloves (I hate rubber groves, so didn't use them) and a pack of vileda cloths.

Right let start with the science bit......

Ecover have brought out a revolutionary new ecological cleaning range, which features Eco-surfactants.  Now I don't have a huge understanding of this, but it is to do with yeast and bees and you can find out lots more information on the Ecover website.

Now I don't have any before and after pictures, but I did religiously test all of them over a number of weeks, which is why I haven't blogged about it before now.

Initially I tried Ecovers Power Cleaner , which is powerful degrease for ovens, hobs, pots, pans and BBQ's  I really liked this product, it has an unassuming smell, worked really well on my oven door, far better than I imagined a green cleaner would (this is the one area that I still use a chemical cleaner usually) and I will definitely buy again in the future.  MadDad also tried this on the BBQ as he was cleaning it before putting it away for winter and he too was pretty impressed, he is much more of a green sceptic than me, so this was a major achievement considering his lack of enthusiasm for the product.  I really liked that this product foamed, so stayed on the surface longer.

We had to compare it to Cilit BANG Power Degreaser, which the minimads loved saying, but I hated spraying.  I found the spell really off putting and also the thought of all those chemicals in my home on my oven, near my food especially as this was the second product we tested.  I was not very impressed, it left marks on my hob and I needed to leave it on quite a long time to get any results, needless to say this has been given to the mother in law, who firmly believes the more chemicals the better cleaning power.

Secondly we tested the Multi-Surface Cleaner.  Again this was a winner for us, kind on my hands, as good as our Method naked cleaner that we use.  It has a really nice mild lemon scent and its cleaner powers were put to the test over a week in TheMadHouse.  It was used for spills on laminate floors, as a general kitchen cleaner and also as a cleaner in the bathrooms.  This is fantastic and will be replacing our normal products as soon as I run out.

We tested this against Flash one for all, which was a good cleaner too, in fact the only faults I could find were the overpowering artificial lemon scent and the fact that it made my hands very dry.  So in my opinion if faced with the choice I would choice the green option every time.

Then we tested  the all purpose lemon cleaner, which I diluted as instructed on the package.  I used this to clean all the wood work and skirting in the house (don't tell anyone the amount of grime I got off).  The water in the bucket was a very nasty colour by the end.  Again I liked this product, although found the water needed to be a reasonable temperature to do a good job, but all in all a good alternative cleaner for people who like to have a bucket and cloth clean (which is not something I normally do very often). 

The alternative product for this was the flash one for all, which again can be diluted in a bucket and does a good job on grime and muck even when cold, but has that very artificial overpowering lemon scent again and left me with very dry hands.

Finally we tested the Window and Glass Cleaner, which any mum with children can tell you is a highly used cleaner in any house with patio or french doors.  Now we have 2 sets of French doors, in addition to a wall of retro mirrored wardrobe sliding doors, which are forever covered in hand prints.  We use microfiber cloths which do make a difference when cleaning windows, but it is still sometimes hard to get a streak free shine.  Not with this, it was a breeze, so easy to use, in fact I gave MiniMad the bottle and got him to clean some mucky finger prints he had left on the dinning room doors, which I would never do with a chemical product.

The Mr Muscle Window and Glass Cleaner that we were testing against did a great job too, in fact there was no discernible difference apart from the big one this was much more environmentally friendly.

Overview

So overall we loved the Ecover stuff, but I do have one very large gripe with them.  Why oh why do they not have closers on the bottles to stop children spraying them.  The doorbell went when I was cleaning the kitchen and I popped the multi surface cleaner on the top, when I got back I found MaxiMad had gone a little overboard with the spraying.  I liked that the tops were colour co-ordinated, so you know which bottle you have in your cupboard. 

I didn't use either the rubber gloves of the vileda all purpose cloths (they are made from renewable resources), but I prefer to use micro fibre cloths around the house, as I can pop them in the washing machine and re-use them.  It is even greener to use old clothes as clothes, which we do for the car.

I would also like to ask the manufacturers or flash and Mr Muscle why do they insist on the powerful smells and also the very vivid liquid colours.

Going green is not hard to do when the products are as good as Ecovers new ones, let hope that supermarkets price them in the same bracket as the chemical ones, which in my humble opinion is a major stumbling block to ecological purchases, especially in these more frugal times.

Tesco are getting on the Green Bandwagon...

Tesco has just launched a Greener Living website, which is aimed at  assisting the "environmentally aware shopper make the right decisions"

The Green in me thinks that Tesco should concentrate on trying to make the ordinary shopper more environmentally aware.  It should offer incentives for people to purchase green.  Many of the suggestions include a link to a purchase from Tesco or Tesco direct and it comes across as somewhat of a marketing ploy aimed at making shoppers feel greener for shopping at Tesco.

I try to balance being environmentally friendly with cost, especially in today's climate, being frugal is a must.  It allows me to spend time at home with my children.  I have been known to shop at Tesco and I am not knocking them in particular, but supermarkets as a whole need to take a more hands on role in my humble opinion.

There are a few common sense, easy things we can do to be more green, which don't cost the earth (if you pardon the pun).

• Turn down your thermostat by 1 degree
• Use draught excluders at your back and front door - we also have a curtain at our front door too
• Fit a in line draft exclude to the door from your integral garage (if you have one)
• Share baths or take a shower
• Teach your children to turn off the lights
• Switch to energy saving bulbs
• Leave large packaging at the supermarket - not only does this mean you don't have to recycle it, hopefully it will encourage the supermarket to think again on packaging
• Buy second hand - thrifting is becoming hugely popular, charity shops are in vogue
• Try and make a commitment to walk to school if possible or use public transport one day a week.  The MiniMads love going on the bus or train and see it as a real treat!
• Don't flush the loo every time or pop a brick in your cistern if it is an older toilet (this will reduce the amount of water it uses).  In TheMadHouse the boys cant reach the flush anyway!!
• Get a water butt, now is the time to buy one, as they are often less expensive as they are out of season.  we got one at the beginning of the year and it has watered all our veggies (bar once) for the whole of the growing season.
• Menu Plan again not only does this mean you only buy what you need, but you can also reduce waste and have a head start in the kitchen and I have found that the Mini's love the routine this affords.
• Recycle, recycle, recycle, please don't take the attitude that if I don't use my green bins, then I force the council into a weekly rather than fortnightly collection.
• Use reusable shopping bags
• Use throws and blankets, it is lovely to snuggle under them as the cooler nights come in.
• Get back to using a hot-water bottle in bed.  I love this one from Etsy

Now we had to do a lot of these things last Autumn anyway, as TheMadHouse had major issues with its boiler and heating, so we purchased thermals to wear under our PJ's, hot water bottles, lovely throws, draught excluders and all went to bed earlier and snuggled and read books to the children of a night.  Well the boys remember and out have come the hot water bottles, hot chocolate and bedtime stories in mummy daddy's bed and it is great.

So take a look at the Tesco Website, they have a trolley dash game on the site with the possibility to win a new washing machine.  At least they are trying, even if it is just a money making scheme (after all that is what the shareholders want).    Also come back to me with any great green tips that you have too.

Oh and just so you know I may or may not get a copy of Sarah Beeny's book "Green Your Home: The Complete Guide to Green Renovation and Repairs for blogging about this. 

Haliborange Fruit Softies Review

We were recently given the opportunity to try out Haliborange's new Kids Multivitamin fruit softies.

Both the mini's are given brain and body tablets each evening (or Omega3 and Multivitamins to give them their correct names), so we welcomed the chance to try an alternative brand.

Firstly the science bit.......

From 3 years onwards, Haliborange Multivitamin Fruit Softies taste delicious and contain 8 essential vitamins, which may help promote healthy growth and development.

Haliborange Kids Multivitamin Fruit Softies contain –

Vitamin A for healthy eyes

Vitamin B contributing to release of energy from food

Vitamin C helps support the immune system

Vitamin D helps the body’s absorption of calcium, promoting strong bones and teeth

Vitamin E Provides antioxidant protection of body tissues to promote general good health

RRP of £3.99 for 30

Both the boys loved the taste and texture of the softies and they are just like jelly sweets, so no problem getting them to take them, in fact the often asked for another.

I know that it is not necessary to give children multi-vitamins, but I would rather err on the side of caution, especially with MaxiMad starting school and MiniMad going to start nursery even though neither of them are fussy eaters.

My only issues with these are that they have "Kids" on the label.  I would much prefer it to say children, but then that is just me.  The other issue I have is they are not suitable for vegetarians and they don't say this on the packaging.  Neither of my children are vegetarians, but surely a multi vitamin should be aimed at all children.  You have to go on to the website or read the full list of ingredients to find this information out.

So these are definitely worth trying if you have a child that needs a multivitamin