Back-to-School Essentials: Personalised Products from My-Picture.co.uk + A Giveaway!

**Collaborative Post**

As the summer holidays draw to a close, the excitement (and sometimes anxiety) of the new school year begins to build. Whether your child is heading back to primary school, starting secondary school, or even preparing for university, having the right essentials can make all the difference. That is why this year I have teamed up with My-Picture.co.uk to help you pick out some essentials beyond the usual pens, pencils and backpacks that might make the return to school a little more enjoyable and easy going. 

My-Picture.co.uk offers a range of customisable products that are both practical and sentimental, making them perfect for the back-to-school season. Plus if you keep reading you can enter our giveaway at the bottom of this post where you could win a £50 voucher to spend on My-Picture.co.uk. 

Here are some of our favourite items from My-Picture.co.uk that help make back to school a little easier. 

Cassie the Cat Trunki **REVIEW** and **GIVEAWAY**

Anyone who has travelled with children will know the sheer volume of luggage you need to take with you whenever you travel. Gone are the days of 1 suitcase, now 1 suitcase just about fits their toys and nic naks the kids insist on bringing. But the Trunki might just be the answer, with its generous space for all your kids items and doubling up as a ride on for tired legs the kids will be desperate to take their very own suitcase on holiday.

There are 2 new Trunki's on the scene now too, Rocco the racing car and Cassie the cat! We were very kindly offered one to try out, Evelyn chose Cassie and instantly fell in love when it arrived. The eye catching purple and cat details really stand out and give it the extra cuteness factor for sure.

Ecoegg win a Queens award! + a Ecoegg bundle Giveaway.

You may have recently seen our review of the EcoEgg here on the blog if not you can find it here! 

As you can tell from our review we loved the Ecoegg and are still using it at the moment as it lasts so long making it so cost effective! So I was delighted to hear that the fabulous people over at Ecoegg have won a prestigious Queens Award for Enterprise in Innovation 2016. 

(image from the Ecoegg website)

The Queen’s Awards are made annually by Her Majesty The Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister, who is assisted by an Advisory Committee that includes representatives of Government, industry and commerce


Rob Knight Founder and Managing director of Ecoegg said "We are thrilled to have been awarded a Queen's award in such a competitive category. We have worked very hard as a company to develope products that make a real positive impact on the lives of people that use them as well as to the environment."
"Innovation drives everything we do ay Ecoegg and the Laundry egg along with 18 other eco-friendly products, have each revolutionised the categories in which they compete. Providing a cost effective and natural alternative to products that have remained the same for decades, and changing the way wrethink about everyday tasks such as cleaning, is something we are very proud of."

There was also a lovely and well deserved piece about Ecoegg's prestigious award which featured in The Kent Messenger Newspaper. 

To celebrate Ecoegg receiving this fantastic award I have a great bundle of Ecoegg goodies available to giveaway to one lucky reader today! Entering is simple just fill out as many entries in the Rafflecopter form below as you wish and keep an eye out for a winner announcement! 

The bundle will contain a 210 wash Laundry Egg, Dryer Eggs, 1 pack of Detox Tabs, and a Stain Remover!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Save a Life, Learn to Swim with Swimshop!

I have always loved swimming, there was just something about being in the pool that made me feel happy and free. When I had children I knew that an important thing for me was getting them into the water, ensuring they felt safe and happy in the water and ensuring they learnt to swim as soon as possible. 

Not only is it important for children to learn to swim as soon as possible so that they can enjoy the pool but it is also a very important life skill. It is a skill that could very well save their life some day and whilst we all know you shouldn't leave children alone near water, we also all know how inquisitive they can be and just how easy it is to turn away for just a few seconds! Teaching your child to swim early really could be the difference between life and death in situations like these. 

Swimshop £25 giveaway!

Today I have a lovely giveaway for you to get you ready for the summer, a £25 voucher for Swimshop one of the leading swimming costume retailers in the UK. 

SwimShop have been in the swimwear business longer than any other UK swimming shop. They are headed up by an Olympic Finalist and are now the Swim Specialists at Sports Direct, the UK’s largest sports retailer. Their passion and product range begins with encouraging little tots to love learning to swim, to equipping the next generation's budding athletes with the correct swimwear and on to meeting the needs of the world's elite swimmers.

You may have noticed via several post's on the blog lately that we are big swimming fans! Both James and Evelyn attend regular lessons and we often swim together on a weekend. Its one of those activities that is not only fun for all but it can also save your life!

A part of swimming is finding decent swimwear to wear when you go. As an adult I often feel self conscious in a swimming costume so a good quality, pretty swimming costume does wonders for my confidence. James loves picking out his swimming shorts too and there are lots of bright, fun designs out there for kids now.

So I have this giveaway for you. You can enter below using the Rafflecopter form and 1 lucky winner will be chosen at random to win a £25 voucher to spend on anything from the Swimshop website. The giveaway is open to UK residents only and a winner will be chosen from all entries that have been completed successfully within 48 hours of the giveaway ending.

Enter here -

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway will run from 15/05/2015 - 05/06/2015 a winner will be chosen at random using the rafflecopter application. The giveaway is open to UK residents only. The prize will be supplied by Swimshop and once a winner is picked the winners details will be passed on to Swimshop to arrange your prize. 

Christmas Giveaway Number 1!!

So we are going to be running several giveaways from now throughout the run up to Christmas and here is the first one! 

For our first giveaway we are giving away a Chocolate mug brownie kit from the lovely people at BakedIn.  (You may have seen our previous review of the BakedIn cinnamon swirl kit but if you didnt you can find it HERE).

"Looking for chocolate heaven in an instant? You just found it.

Go from zero to brownie hero in just 60 seconds. Grab a mug and add a spoon of butter, a splash of water, and one of our mug brownie pots - then watch the mixture transform into a gooey brownie in the microwave in one minute! Each pack of mug brownies contains four individually sealed portions, so there's plenty to keep you going!

Made with great stuff like organic flour and Belgian chocolate - and no nasties. Ever.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A winner will be picked at random via rafflecopter. This giveaway is open to UK residents only and I will contact the winner via email within 48 hours of the giveaway ending. The winner will need to email me with a full name and address for me to send out their prize!