Star Biscuits - Gift Ideas

I admit, I like cheating, whenever possible. If it saves me time, effort or mess, count me in. I've noticed cheating can also save you some pennies sometimes too. The recipe for these biscuits involved going to Asda (or wherever you choose to do your shopping!) and buying a packet of shortbread biscuit mix. Easy. Simply add butter and mix until a dough is formed. The kids followed these simple steps with ease and with no mess at all. Fantastic. I very kindly rolled out the dough for them, they then set to work with their pastry cutters. Obviously you can cut the biscuits to any shape you like but I quite like the star shape for presents, I dont know why but I think they look nicer. Once they'd been in the oven for about 30 minutes and cooled on the rack we then set about making them into lovely gifts. We made these for all the teaching staff where my children currently attend nursery / pre-school as a parting thank you gift. As there are 11 staff I decided to make up two packets of mix on the basis that I thought 4 biscuits each would be enough.

We decided we'd make up pretty little parcels with cellophane (which can be bought from most craft shops or florist suppliers). We cut a square of card a fraction larger than the stars and then piled them on top. Wrap in larger square of cellophane to make a tube and then secure the side and bottom to make a bag. Tie the top with a pretty bit of ribbon. If you've used a see through cellophane you can write a message on the back of each piece of card so it can be seen through the plastic.

 The leftover dough got made into more biscuits for a jar for Grandad's Birthday. Recycling at it's best - Jar (washed out coffee jar) Ribbon (those annoying bits of ribbon that are used to hang tops onto coathangers, when you snip them off don't throw them away - keep them for making gift tags!) Card Tag (an old birthday card that had a nice star design on the front so I chopped it out and kept it for such an occassion)

Another Visit to the 'Rainy Day' Cupboard

After a rather uninspiring visit to Ikea on Friday we have had to resort to the 'Rainy Day' cupboard again. This treasure trove is full of bits & bobs I've picked up on various shopping trips & then put away for when the children are particularly bored and dont want to play with anything else. Todays plug is for a fab item I found in Hawkins Bazaar but you can also get them here... http://www.npw.co.uk/

Animal & Monster Hand Tattoos - What a great idea! A little tricky to put on the first time but once you've got the hang of it (and as long as the children in question keep still long enough) they get easier with practice. It kept them amused for a suprising length of time I found. It's amazing what little stories they can make up with a transfer stuck to their hands and making their animal or monster talk by moving their fingers like crab pincers. Just the sort of thing you can shove in a day bag if you're going on a train journey or something. Dont forget to take a bottle of water, a flannel or something to mop any excess water and a little sponge. Sorry it's not a great photo but that's partly because I'm right handed and my right hand is in the picture.....well, I had to join in!

Mess Free Baking - Well, Nearly...

With two little darlings I find baking a bit of a nightmare, in that, which ever one I'm not watching that second will empty a bag of flour onto the floor or something similar. I discovered some wonderful Dr Oetker baking trays in Aldi the other day. You simply add water or milk to the mix (depending on the instructions obviously!) and stir it well & stick it in the oven - job done! Perfect for a quick, easy & virtually mess free baking session. I've seen various ones, bread & cake mixes, possibly not all Dr Oetker but all the ones we've tried have been good. Anything you can bake in a tray gets my vote as an easy one for the kids to tackle. We cooked a Dr Oetker lemon & poppy seed cake yesterday, which was gorgeous. The Mediteranean bread mix was also a hit. Just right for pulling out of the cupboard on a rainy day.

Alphabet scrapbook

I spent about an hour cutting out pictures last night from magazines and catalogues (anything that was in the recycling bag!) whilst I sat watching tv. The kids now have a lovely pile of pictures that they are going to stick in their 'alphabet book'. An inexpensive scrapbook was purchased and lettered with each letter of the alphabet and then the little ones take it in turns to stick a picture onto the appropriate letter's page (after saying what the picture name begins with ie; 'a' for apple etc). They've been doing the book for a few weeks now and it's quite full and they're both doing really well with their reading & recognising letters. They can also refer back to it when they want to see their work, which they enjoy almost as much as doing it.