Children's DVD Review: Arrietty

As a child I loved Mary Norton's book The Borrowers, about tiny people who lived under the floorboards and came up to borrow things that the human folk may not need, such as sugar lumps and tissues.  So hearing it had been made into a modern film was exciting news. Arrietty is an animated family feature film which runs for approximately 90 minutes.  Made by the Ghibli studio that produced Spirited Away and Ponyo, it is the tale of a young boy called Sho who is seriously ill and comes to stay in a mansion in the leafy outskirts of Tokyo whilst he awaits treatment.  During his time there Sho meets a tiny little girl called Arrietty who lives in the depths of the house in her own diddy house with her parents. Sadly once her parents realise that a human has seen her they need to move away to keep themselves safe but before this we get a delightful story of an unlikely friendship and a slightly kooky housekeeper!

This is a beautiful film, which was enjoyed by all the family from my 4 year old girls through to my husband and I. The animation is just lovely, I commented to dh that it is not at all garish like some children's films.  It is muted and very realistic and the story unfolds in a very touching and captivating way.  This film has provided a couple of happy afternoons viewing for us so far.

Arrietty will be available to buy from all good retailers from 9th January 2012.  I would happily recommend it as a good investment to add to your family films library.  You can pre-order on Amazon for £11.99 for a DVD at the moment.

Take a peek at the trailor -



Certificate : U
Run Time:  90 minutes
Language:  English or Japanese with English subtitles
Actors: Saoirse Ronan, Olivia Coleman, Mark Strong, Tom Holland
Directors: Hiromasa Yonebayashi

Disclaimer:  This is a  review post, I received the DVD free of charge. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Review: Scotch Pop-Up Tape

Now I have to be honest with you and say this is going to be a pretty concise post, let's be honest, how much can I say about sticky tape before you click away?

I have been using the Scotch pop-up tape strips for probably 2 or 3 years now.  They do work out to be a little more expensive than tape on a roll but I find the faff of finding lost ends on tape rolls a complete put off and that just never happens with these nifty little strips.

When you need to wrap about 20 shoe boxes in Christmas wrap for Operation Christmas Child you need something that actively helps you rather than hinders and Scotch pop-up tape does the job really well.  Look, I even modelled my little dispenser in action for you -

The dispenser filled with 75 strips in a pad retails for £2.49 and refill packs of 3 tape pads are available for an RRP of £2.69 but I have to be honest and say that I always buy mine when they are on discount or 2 for 3 type offers.  I do like a bargain and you can pick them up in most good stationers, supermarkets and general retailers. Thea re 2 for £3.00 at Tesco at the moment.

So will I be using tape strips this Christmas to do my wrapping, oh yes I will, in about 10 minutes in fact.  All the kids are now asleep so it is the perfect time to grab dh and get in a bit of wrapping action - it is all rock and roll here!


Disclosure:  I received a dispenser and some strips for the purposes of doing this review.  I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Recommended Children's Books for Christmas

Not too long until Christmas is upon us and if you are anything like me then some of your Christmas shopping will be done in bookshops.  I just love to browse through books, each year I take it upon myself to help the children I buy presents for improve their love for books.  I bought one of my nephews a book recently and he commented this would be his fourth book.  How sad is that?  My kids have dozens and dozens of books each and we visit charity shops and the library frequently so we can keep rotating and keep our reading fresh. I suppose my love of reading has translated into a love for them too - result!

I was recently sent 3 books to review and share with you.  Here is what we thought!

Magic Beans: A Handful of Fairytales from the Storybag. RRP £9.99 in hardback

This one suited my girls age group (they are 4) with me reading to them but equally JJ could easily have read it to himself at age 8. It is a wonderful book to read at bedtime and I was able to read to all 3 children with them  all equally being interested and engaged. The book contains fourteen wondrous stories and each one is described as a magic bean: written to capture a child's imagination. The collection of classic stories are retold in a modern manner by some of today's best children's story tellers including Jacqueline Wilson, Phillip Pullman, Michael Morpurgo, Anne Fine, and many more.

My girls particularly liked the tale of Rapunzel told by Jacqueline Wilson and I was super pleased to see Aesop's Fables included.  I have such fond memories of being read these simple but brilliant tales by my Mum when I was young. I would happily recommend this book for both boys and girls.



History Keepers: The Storm Begins by Damien Dibben. RRP £12.99 in hardback

JJ who is 8 read this but let me tell you a secret....  so did I and I am considerably older than 8! lol I am assuming this book is aimed at pre-teens/ teenagers but at a mature 8 JJ was fine reading it and really got into the fast-moving story.  In this book (the first of many I hope) young hero Jake Djones travels through time to save his parents – and history itself.  The way that true life historical events are woven into the story is extremely clever. I felt like I was being taken on a  rollercoaster ride through this book and it kept me turning the pages avidly. I believe this book will appeal to both boys and girls and should feature on every older child's Christmas list.  It is superb and I can't wait for the next book in the series...

Sapphire Battersea by Jacqueline Wilson.  RRP £12.99 in hardback

This is the second book in a trilogy, with the acclaimed Hetty Feather being the first. As JJ is a real boys boy I passed this book to my friends 10 year old daughter, H and asked for her comments. 'I loved it' was the first thing she said to me when I saw her the other day.  She told me that she read it in 2 days over a weekend as it was fantastic.  She had not read Hetty Feather prior to this book but she said it did not matter as she was able to understand everything in the book and she would, be using her pocket money next week to buy Hatty Feather. 

Her mum tells me that Sapphire Battersea is well written and very pre-teen/ early teenage years friendly. There is a sad part when a key character dies (I won't spoil it and say who) so you need to be aware that it is not really aimed at younger children. Also your child needs to be aware that there will be a third book out in a year or so which will reveal the ending to the story.....  so they need to be patient and wait for it!

Another recommendation, I am now reliably informed that JJ would have loved it too and whilst my assumption was that it is a girls book, apparently that is not so.

All three books are available at good booksellers such as Waterstones and WH Smiths and can also be purchased online from Random House.


Disclosure:  I received these books free of charge to review.  I was not instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Review: Marley and Me, The Puppy Years

This afternoon I spent a couple of hours ironing, something which is OK but not the most interesting thing I can think of doing.  To make it more bearable I normally watch something good on TV, so when my kids asked if we could put Marley and Me, The Puppy Years DVD on I happily said yes.  A nice family, easy viewing movie was just what I needed.

The film did not dissapoint.  I had enjoyed the original Marley and Me movie and whilst this film did not actually fit in with the story line from the original film it was in the same vein and had the same beautiful labradors. We are a family with a penchant for Labs and I think this certainly helped us to enjoy this film. it is what it is, very easy viewing, a lot of fun and nothing too taxing. Marley talks this time and you get an insight into what the animals are thinking, just a bit of fun.

This storyline sees Marley as a young puppy in Vancover, looked after by his dogsitter Bodi Grogan, played by Travis Turner (Supernatural, Fairly Legal), who is staying with his grandfather Fred.   Bodi has always wanted a dog of his own and during the summer, to prove to his mum that he is ready for the responsibility, he enters Marley in the "Ultimate Puppy Championship," along with the neighbour’s Labrador puppies Fuchsia and Moose.  

After weeks of mayhem, training and hard work, Marley and his team the “Ragga Rascals” are ready for the competition. They come up against strong competitors when they face the other puppy teams; a group of pugs, a gang of Australian cattle dogs and the intimidating trio of miniature Doberman pinschers. I'll let you watch the movie to find out the ending but needless to say as a family certificate U it is  good one! Here is a quick clip to give you a taster.

Marley and Me, the Puppy Years was relaeased on 14th November 2011 and I believe it will make a great Christmas gift. The RRP for the DVD is £14.99 but it is available on Amazon right now from £9.00. It is also available as a Blu-ray for RRP £19.99. Both DVD an Blu-ray have additional features.


Disclosure:  I was provided with this DVD for the purposes of this review.  I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Review: Bonusprint Personalised Photo Gifts

You may know by now that I adore photos and whilst it is fine to look at them on the PC, there is nothing quite like having photos in an album which can be happily flicked through at any time and with minimum fuss. As well as albums I am an avid fan of framed photos in my home and more recently I have started to enjoy some photo gifts too.

I find that photo gifts are something you can make for minimal cost but they are super little thank-yous or token gifts for God-parents. Perfect with Christmas just around the corner.

When Bonusprint asked me if I would like to review some of their photo gifts, 'why not' said I! Bonusprint is a company I used to use back in the old days when the only way to see your photos was to send your film off and get it processed, so I knew the name and I used to be happy with their product so I thought I would give them a whirl again. 

First things first, take a look around their site and see what I might like to create.  I spent a happy couple of hours browsing, uploading my photos and making my gifts online. I found the site easy to use and the instructions were clear.  Uploading the photos was easy and quick, unlike some sites I have tried to use before.  I had the option to crop or leave my images so they would look right on the gifts I chose. Once I had made up one gift it was then very easy to use the same image on another different gift. Checkout was easy and secure and I was able to pay by any of the widely recognised debit/ credit cards and also use paypal if I wished.

I ordered 4 different types of gifts as well as a couple of photos which I'll be framing as gifts. Delivery times are clearly stated on the site but I was surprised that my order came out in parts.  The photos arrived just 24 hours after ordering and then I received 3 more parcels, all arrived within 7 days of placing my order.  I was extremely happy with the time frame and the way the items were packaged but to be honest I would have preferred just one box with the full order as numerous trips to the post office to collect as the packs were too big for my letterbox was a bit of a pain. I did like getting email notifications though, keeping me up to date of the status of my order and letting me know when things had been dispatched.

Let me share with you what I made, these are just a small selection of the photo gifts that are available -

Torch Keyring - £4.99
 

When I saw this online I mistakenly thought it was a metal keyring but actually just the loop is metal the case is silver coloured plastic.  It does feel fairly sturdy but is still just plastic. The torch operates by the black button on the back, it is easy to depress and operate and provides a good light for seeing your lock in the dark. The photos look very good under the plastic cover and I'll be happy to give these out as small Christmas gifts.

Durable Glass Chopping Board - £18.99

Bit of a different one this but I am super pleased with it. My Mum has had glass chopping boards for years but they always have old fashioned and garish pictures on them.  Now my little ladies can make me smile as I prepare our dinner! The size is 30cm x 40cm.  Very tough glass, it has even been dropped so far and is surviving!

Kids T-Shirts - From £5.99

I am pretty sure my kids will be thrilled to find these in their Christmas stockings.  I have such a vain bunch that the idea of walking around with a picture of themselves on their front will be right up their street!  I love the idea, the size of the t-shirts are good, as are the printed images but I was a bit let down to find that one of the t-shirts is 100% polyester and the smaller two have a high polyester content too. I would not normally buy polyester tops for my kids. I should have read the description better, it is not as if they hid the fact. However, a good point about it being polyester is that they guarantee the image quality for a year.

Personalised Note Cards - From £2.50 per pack of 8

Getting ahead this year I ordered 3 packs of personalised note cards.  There are loads of standard designs you can choose from or you can tailor them to your need. I created Christmas thank you cards and was able to print a message inside every card to ensure that the after Christmas send out will be super easy this year.  I will most definitely buy these again.  They are pretty small at A7 size but they do the job very nicely indeed.

Conclusion

Quality of gifts 4.5/ 5

Delivery time and packaging 5/5

Ease of use of website 4/5

Value for money 4/5

All in all I have been very happy with my Bonusprint experience and I will happily use this company again. Especially when I see special offers, such as that I spotted earlier.  Spend £30, save 10%, spend £45, save 20% and finally spend £60 and save 25%. 

Disclosure:  I received the items free of charge for the purposes of this review. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.