Bunch O Balloons - Splash to Win Packs #Review and #Giveaway

Bunch O Balloons - Splash to Win Packs

 Review and Giveaway

At last, the sunshine finally arrived in Brum this week. After weeks of rain and miserable weather, I was starting to think the sun would never return but I am so glad that it. It's been a glorious weekend so we've been having fun in the back garden and found the perfect way to cool down. Bunch O Balloons Splash to Win packs contain a whopping 100 water balloons that can be filled in just 60 seconds meaning water fights have never been so easy.

With these Bunch O Balloons Splash to Win 3 Packs you can fill and tie 100 water balloons in less than 60 seconds with these sensational self-tying water balloons - 3 times!

Simply follow 3 easy steps to forget the mess and stress of filling water balloons. Connect the attachment to a water source, fill the balloons resting in water to the correct size and see them self-seal to make 100 water balloons in 60 seconds. I can confirm, It really is that easy.

Alongside our Bunch O Balloons Splash to Win packs, we've been playing with the Bunch O Balloons Filler/Soaker which has been lots of fun. You can use it to fill up your balloons without a tap or main water source, we filled a bucket of water and used that with it and it worked fine. It's not just a balloon filler though, it's also a great water soaker. Fill up your Filler/Soaker and then have fun drenching your target from almost 30 ft away!

I love the fact that these Bunch O Balloons from Zuru Toys are biodegradable & recyclable so we're all doing our bit for the planet whilst having fun and cooling down at the same time and because they're self-tying water balloons, there's no more sore fingers or slow ballon filling action. They're perfect for impromptu Summer fun and family water fights.

My kids love having water fights, it's always their fave way to keep cool on sunny days and now they can do it all by themselves. With these easy to fill balloons that they don't need me to tie, water balloon fights have never been so easy. They love being able to do it all themselves too as it means water fights can be more spontaneous without needing Mummies help. Bunch O Balloons have sure brought lots of cool fun to our house.

WIN your Own Bunch O Balloons Splash to Win Packs and a Bunch O Balloon Water Filler/Soaker.

You can win 3 x Bunch O Balloons Splash to Win packs and a Bunch O Balloons Filler/Soaker for yourself this Summer. It's really easy to enter, just use the Rafflecopter Form below. You can do as many or as few of the entries as you like but remember, the more entries you do, the more chances you have to win. I will draw a lucky winner in a few weeks time on Sunday 28th July. Open to the UK only, I'm afraid - Good Luck x

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Gatecrasher Classical - Symphony Hall Birmingham #Review

Gatecrasher Classical - Symphony Hall Birmingham

Last night I treated my big brother to an amazing trip down memory lane as we went along to the one off event of Gatecrasher Classical at the iconic Symphony Hall Birmingham. 

It had promised all Gatecrasher Classical fans a mind-blowing experience with a host of Live Vocalists performing alongside the Gatecrasher Orchestra including Merle Forbes “Bullet in a Gun”, Jan Johnston “Skydive’ & surprise tracks performed by Marcella Woods.  

 Alongside the track list of 25 years of Gatecrasher, curated by Gatecrasher’s very own Scott Bond, the event will feature  tracks and remixes by  DJ Tiesto, Faithless, Ferry Corsten, Paul Oakenfold, Paul van Dyk, Robert Miles, Solarstone all immortalized by the 40 Piece Gatecrasher Orchestra. We were told to expect lots of hands in the air moments and one unforgettable experience and after attending last night, I am happy to say they didn't disappoint. We had an amazing night, dancing away with a room full of people all in one place, sharing their love of Trance music. It was definitely a place full of 'good vibes'.

The Lazers were awesome, filling the room with multi coloured lights throughout the show. From 9pm until 10.30pm we were treated to a wonderful 90 minutes of live music. The orchestra were so talented and played so well, I was in total awe throughout the night. Confetti canyons exploded several times throughout the night showering us in streams of pretty coloured foil strips. Being on the lower level was such a buzz, people were literally dancing in the isles. It's been a long time since I've been to a show like this, where everyone was just so fun, people were all dancing together, embracing each other and making new friends to share their new memories with. I witnesses all ages coming together last night for their love of music. It was definitely a show unlike I have ever been to before.

The Gatecrasher Classical was a one off event but the Symphony Hall Birmingham hosts all kind of events like this. It's always worth having a look at their site to see what's on soon.

Disclosure: I was gifted our tickets to the show but all opinions expressed are my own.

Exploring Birmingham's City Centre - See what I got up to.

Exploring Birmingham's City Centre
See what I got up to. 

Today I set out on an exciting adventure to find the Best of Brum. Even though I live here in Birmingham, I often head into the city with my head down, hurrying past the unknown and just literally grabbing what I need and going home but today I decided to explore a little further and keep my head up high to see what I've been missing on all my latest visits.

People travel from all over to explore our beautiful city, I know that because of the pure amount of people I passed this morning with cameras on show around their necks. Everyone knows the usual reasons to visit Brum, the Concert Arenas, the lure of chocolate from Cadbury World, fun and games at our LegoLand and Sealife Centre and more. There's always an abundance of Hotels in Birmingham too so you're never far away from it all. 

Today I decided to enjoy the little pleasures in life so I headed up to Brum by train and walked around, popping into all the places that caught my eye and took my fancy.

My first stop had to be the Biggest Primark in the World of course. How could I not go in there, it's just so pretty. There's was two main reasons for my Primark visit this morning, the firstly was to get some breakfast of Mickey Mouse Waffles in their brand new Disney Cafe and secondly was to get myself a sparkly new customised T shirt from their Custom Lab.

Adults T shirts cost £8 and can be customised in so many ways. 

Mickey Mouse Waffles cost £2.50 and a Regular Hot Chocolate costs £2.50.

Up next was the Bullring of course, it's another place that everyone must visit. It's full of interesting shops and delicious food places. There's so many places to check out in there. One of my favourite shops is Hotel Chocolate which now sells ice creams and hot chocolates. Everything looks so good in there, it's really hard to control yourself and not want to buy it all. I was really good and just picked up some small treats for the kids.

A bit further along Link Street and into Grand Central, I spotted a brand new place called Slim Chickens which had only just opened yesterday so I had to go in there and check it out. I ordered their Spicy BBQ Double Sandwich Fried Meal and OMG was it delicious! The smell hit me as soon as it landed on my table, sticky, spicy BBQ goodness wrapped in a bun, topped with the most tasty onion rings I've had in awhile. They were so so good. This meal cost me £10.95 and was worth every penny. I'm so glad I went it and I'd defo go again.

I have to admit, I only ate half of my burger and was stuffed so I took the rest home in a take out box for later. The chicken breasts were really big so one would have been enough for me. Anyway, up next was my trip to another place that smells so good, LUSH. Lush can be found just outside the entrance to the Bullring on New Street. Again it's quite a new store so it's lovely to visit, everything looks so pretty and bright inside. It's one of my fave places to pop into when I'm in town, even when I'm not even buying anything, I can't resist the smells.

Today I treated myself to a bar of luxury sopa and the kids to some bath bombs and bubble makers. I can't wait to show them later, they're gonna be so happy, they love LUSH, like me.

Whilst walking around the upper level of Grand Central I spotted a new place which looked very eye catching, American Candy World. I'm a sucker for American Candy so I had to go in. Inside, it's wall to wall candy. It's absolutely everywhere and there's so much of it. I was in candy heaven and had to pick up a few American treats for us to try out later on. Yum!

It is quite pricey inside but seeing as this was a one off, a few treats couldn't hurt.

I've been such a busy bee this morning but I've had so much fun. I was 'almost' all shopped out when I spotted a Krispy Kreme shop inside New Street Station and had to go inside. I've not had a Krispy Kreme Doughnut in ages so I thought I'd treat myself to one, or three.

You can choose any 3 doughnuts for £5.25. I picked a Chocolate Sprinkles for Ryan, a Strawberries and Cream for Lily and a Salted Caramel Cheesecake for me - yummy!

There's so many places to see and visit when you come to Brum. Today I found lots of little pleasures and had myself a really nice day. I stayed in the in the centre of the city but if you go out a little further there's a whole host of other cool and exciting places for you to find.

 You could head to Digbeth or The Cube, Brindley Place or Millenium Point. Birmingham is full of fun just waiting. Whatever you get up to here in Birmingham , I hope you have fun! 

Disclosure. My spending money was gifted by Hotels.com, but all views are my own.

Challenge Academy - Baggeridge Park in Wolverhampton #Review

Challenge Academy

Baggeridge Park  in Wolverhampton 

This morning we set off on an adventure in the glorious sunshine and boy were we excited. We headed over to Wolverhampton to Baggeridge Park where the Challenge Academy challenged us to check out their brand new Nets Adventure along with their Ropes Adventure courses too. The kids love outdoors activities like these so were very excited.

It's been raining for weeks here in Birmingham so we were very lucky with the weather today, the sun shone down on us and it was beautiful. We'd never been to Baggeridge Park before but was surprised to see how lovely it was. Parking is just £3 for the whole day and a pretty little cafe and ice cream shop sits right alongside it. There's nature trails and a play area filled with all the usual swings, slides and a huge sandpit. The kids loved it, and that part was free so if you're over that way, it's definitely worth finding and paying a visit.

We were booked in for 10am but arrived 15 minutes before our allocated time slot to sign in, check out the rules and sign the consent forms. We then got told all about the courses and got kited out in our safety equipment, harnesses and helmets. It was all straight forward.

The standard public package is the Ropes Adventure which costs £17.50 per person and lets you choose 3 activities out of  5 when you get there: You can choose from: Climbing Wall, 3m Aerial Traverse, 9m Aerial Traverse, Powerfan Descender, and the Totem Pole. We were a little torn so we ended up splitting into two groups as Daddy and Ryan choose the Climbing Wall, the 9m Ariel Traverse and the Powerfan Descender whilst Lily and I choose the 3m Aerial Traverse, the 9m Ariel Traverse and the Powerfan Descender. 

Both Ryan and Lily zoomed around all the courses and absolutely loved it. They were in their elements up there in the trees, climbing and making their way through the courses. Daddy too had fun taking part, he too found it quite easy. Me on the other hand, I completed the 3m Aerial Traverse course and found it quite mentally tough and decided not to do the higher one afterwards. I'm not a huge fan of heights but I gave it a go, but yes, I wimped out!

I was so proud of my kiddies today, they were so brave up there, they really put me to shame. The Challenge Academy is such a fun place, my two loved it and want to go again.

We got to go round each course several times, it wasn't just once which is great as you really feel that you get your monies worth then. Lily found the lower course quite easy so she was allowed to do it blindfolded the next time which was great fun, challenging them isn't always easy but today I really do feel like they got to test themselves a little bit.

The two pictures above were on the lower 3m Aerial Traverse.

Minimum age for this level is 5 years and over.

The two pictures above here were on the lower 9m Aerial Traverse.

Minimum age for this level is 7 years and over.

All 3 of them loved the high ropes courses today but when asked what their favourite parts were, they all agreed that the Powerfan Descender was the highlight. They got to have 2 goes each and all made it look so easy. I know it wouldn't have been but they all loved it.

After all the excitement of the Ropes Adventure we were then allowed to have a go on their newest attraction, the Nets Adventure. Here you get 60 minutes of supervised fun in their brand new Nets Adventure Park where you can bounce, slide and tackle the obstacles along the course and explore the different treehouses. It's aimed at children aged 4 years and over and will cost you £10 each for the hour. It's much easier than the other courses.

After doing the bigger challenges, Lily and Ryan found this one a little too easy but they still had lots of fun doing all the challenges. The obstacles are quite similar to the Ropes Adventure ones but here you have netting all around you and underneath you so you do feel much safer and much more secure. For children who are too nervous or scared of doing the bigger one, this one's probable a good option for them. I think if we'd started with this adventure first, we could have then built up to the bigger ones, we did it backwards I guess.

Overall we were busy doing activities for over an hour and all had a good time. It was nice to get outside and do something different. It's a nice, high energy, challenging but fun activity. 

We all had a good time, it's definitely something we'd choose to do and our kind of day out. 

We would happily recommend the Challenge Academy - Baggeridge Park  if you're in the area or even if you're not. It was well worth the half hour drive it took us from Birmingham.

Disclosure: We were gifted our visit today in return for an honest review.

#WIN a Cadburys Thank You Chocolate Gift

WIN a Cadburys Thank You Chocolate Gift 

Hi there, I just wanted to say 'Thank You' for sticking with me and supporting me.

I found this rather yummy looking Cadburys Thank You Chocolate Gift box full of delicious treats which is the perfect way for me to show you, just how much you mean to me. 

 If you'd like to win this Cadburys Thank You Chocolate Gift - Simply use the Rafflecopter Form below to complete as many or as few of the entry options as you like. It's completely up to you how many you do but remember, the more entries you do, the more chances you have to win. 1 winner will be chosen at random on Sunday 21st July - Good Luck xox

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms and Conditions: One winner will be drawn at random using the Rafflecopter App. 

This Giveaway is only open to the UK. The giveaways ends on Friday July 21st x

Poopsie Slime Surprise Unicorn + Poopsie Slime Surprise Poop Pack #Review

Poopsie Slime Surprise  Unicorn +

 Poopsie Slime Surprise Poop Pack  

This week we've been combining three of our favourite things: Sparkles + Slime + Unicorns!

We've been playing with the Poopsie Slime Surprise Unicorn and Poopsie Slime Surprise Poop Pack, both of which have been welcomed into our homes. Lily and Ryan were so excited when they arrived last week. Lily loves Unicorns whilst Ryan loves everything Slime so these were perfect for us. They couldn't wait to get started, excitement levels were high.

The Poopsie Slime Surprise Unicorn magically poops slime when you feed her and sit her on her glitter potty. The packaging is very attractive and makes a great 'unboxing' toy. Each pack includes one surprise unicorn and one glitter potty, 4 Unicorn Food slime packets, 4 Unicorn Magic packets and 1 packet of Unicorn Sparkle. There's also an exclusive bottle, a unicorn shirt & napp, a spoon, a hair brush, a cleaning tool and a measuring cup. Lily loved how this toy needed to be unwrapped, letting you find all the accessories as you went along. Each piece is hidden in a pretty packet so you get to open it making it's contents a surprise.

Lily was so excited opening it all, even at the age of 12, she still loves a good surprise.

There's enough product to make 4 lots of slime giving you four times the amount of fun. Lily has made all four of her slimes and loves them all. She also loves her new Rainbow Unicorn friend who's such a cute doll. She has removable clothing and long brushable hair for continuous play. She's a great toy you can still play with even when she's run out of slime to poop out although that was the funnest part according to Lily. She thought it was so funny.

The Poopsie Unicorn Slime Surprise will cost you a costly £49.99 but Lily loved her so I think I would have paid that for her. Not as an everyday treat but as a Christmas present.

The Poopsie Slime Surprise Poop Packs let you make magical unicorn poop (slime) without the Poopsie Slime Surprise Unicorn. With a little unicorn magic and a whole lot of sparkle, you can customize your unicorn poop and transform it multiple times. There are 10 magical surprises included inside each toy and once you've made your poop slime, there's an adorable Poopsie keychain to keep it in. There's 18 different ones to to collect in Drop 1.

Each is sold separately and will cost you £9.99 which is a really good price.

Just like the Poopsie Slime Surprise Unicorn, you get to open each bit separately making the surprises so much fun. Ryan loved opening them one by one to see what was inside.

The 10 surprises include: Unicorn Food and Unicorn Magic, a collectible bottle and poop character keychain. A Mystery scent dropper, unicorn spoon and a collector's sheet. 

Both the Poopsie Slime Surprise Unicorn + Poopsie Slime Surprise Poop Packs were lots of fun. Price wise, I think the Unicorn is more of a Birthday gift or Christmas present whereas the Slime Surprise Poop Packs are great pocket money toys or school rewards.

Lily and Ryan loved both of the toys and now want to collect the Poopsie Slime Surprise so that they can continue their fun. Having to make your own slime does get quite messy which I'm not a huge fan off but it was nothing we couldn't clean up with a damp cloth so I didn't mind. A little mess was worth it for the pure joy and entertainment it brought them both.

Disclosure: We received our Poopsie Slime Surprise toys in return for an honest review.

A Roar-Some Time at Monster Jam - The Ricoh Arena - Coventry #Review

A Roar-Some Time at Monster Jam

The Ricoh Arena - Coventry 

What an awesome weekend, we've just had. On Saturday we headed to Coventry's Ricoh Arena for the Monster Jam event which was a first for us. We'd never been to this kind of event before so we wasn't quite sure what to expect really. We arrived early for the Pit Party where we got to see all the trucks up close and personal to see how huge they really are.

Both Lily, Ryan and Daddy loved having their pictures taken with all the trucks before the show, even if it was raining all morning. Rain wasn't going to stop us from making the most of our family day out. We were there to have a good time, and that's exactly what we did.

The 2019 Lineup included: Grave Digger (Morgan Kane), Max-D (Neil Elliott), Wonder Woman (Haley Gauley), Monster Energy (Todd LeDuc), El Toro Loco (Mark List), Zombie (Alx Danielsson), Megalodon (Alex Blackwell) and EarthShaker (Peter Nyman).

We had amazing seats and absolutely loved the show.  It was very LOUD, much louder than I'd expected but we loved it. The crowds were all cheering and screaming, it was so good.

From the very first moment they entered the arena, we were all hooked.

I managed to capture a short video of their entrance for you.

We watched several rounds of racing, doughnuts and freestyling. All of which were fantastic. Ryan cheered along his favourite 'Grave Digger' whilst Lily screamed at hers 'Megalodon'.

Daddy and I cheered for them all and voted fairly on our phones as a family at the end of each round. It was so much fun, I mean, who knew watching Monster Trucks could be so exciting? The show was so thrilling to watch, the skillful driving, the visual effects and the absolute ROAR of the engines, made it all such a great show. I wanna do it all over again!

We saw the Trucks spin, jump and even fly at times. The competition was close at times but when Max-D (Neil Elliott) flipped upside completely crushing his car's decorations, we all thought it was over for him but seeing the crowds reaction as he walked away from his car, was amazing. His car was taken away for a while and I have to admit, not knowing if he'd be able to compete in the final event to protect his lead was quite exciting. The crowd went wild when he did come back, even if his car was literally just a shell left after all the damage. He managed an amazing final freestyling run and went on to be crowned the overall winner!

If you ever get the chance to go see a Monster Jam event, I would go. It's awesome!

The show has now left the UK and moved on to Sweden but if it ever comes back, I'm there.

Monster Jam is not our usual kind of show that we'd choose to attend but after the fantastic time we all had this weekend, we're now all happily covered fans of Monster Trucks. Yes!

If you're looking for a thrilling, high adrenaline, noisy day out - this one's for you.

Disclosure: We were gifted out tickets in return for a honest review.

Franco Manca - Check it out Before it Opens on Bennetts Hill, Birmingham this Week #Review

Franco Manca - Check it out Before it Opens on

Bennetts Hill, Birmingham this Week.

Despite the rain, today I headed into the city centre to check out Birmingham's newest Pizzeria, Franco Manca, which is soon to open on Bennetts Hill later this week (Thursday 6th June). With the promise of bringing Neapolitan pizza to the city of Birmingham, the much loved pizzeria has also pledged to help local communities by donating to local homeless shelters and food banks, one pizza for every pizza enjoyed by customers at their newly opened Birmingham home for the first two weeks post launch date. Plus for the first two weeks of opening, all pizzas will be just £5. How awesome is that! Great prices pizza and helping the people of our city too. It all sounded so great so I had to go and check it all out.

Customers are able to order one of the daily specials from the Specials Board on the wall or choose from seven regular meat, veg and vegan pizza options on the Main Menu. Prices after the first two weeks will range from the cheapest at £5, to the most expensive at £9 which is still a great price for a pizza in the middle of the city centre. A good pizza at that!

Today, I took a friend of mine for a sneak peek, lunch time treat to check out how good their pizza's actually where after hearing such great comments beforehand. The place is looking great, it's so clean and airy and very modern with it's classic wooden tables and chairs dotted around the room. The staff were super friendly and couldn't do enough for us.

We hadn't seen each other for a while so we celebrated our catch up with a glass of Prosecco and tucked into our starters, the Baked spicy lamb sausage with potatoes

and mozzarella (£4.35) for Kirsty (my friend) and the Platter of cured meat (£7.95) for me.

For Starters, the portion sizes were pretty big and very filling but both were delicious.

Choosing our pizza's was a tough job but eventually we went for the No.4 for Kirsty, Cornish cured ham  mozzarella, buffalo ricotta & wild mushrooms and the Alfonso's No.7 for me, Spicy lamb sausage, tomatoes from Gragnano, roasted aubergine, mozzarella & wild garlic pesto [no tomato base]. Great sized pizzas cooked just the way I like them, soft squishy crusts with a crispy base covered in yummy cheese and sauces. Nom Nom.

Kirsty went for a tomato base whilst I went for a pesto for a change, I'd never had a pizza without a tomato base before but both tasted great and I'd happily order both of them again.

The spicy lamb sausage was nice and spicy which is always good to know as there's nothing worse than tucking into a spicy sausage only to realise that it's bland and not spicy at all. I was very pleased with my pizza, with it's delicious mix of spicy sausage and pesto. The flavours all worked really well together and made for a fantastic taste experience.

 The slow-rising sourdough, unique to Franco Manca dates back to the late 18th century. First procured by the pizzeria’s founder, Giuseppe Mascoli, near the city of Naples, the recipe still honours the ingredients and methods that make the age-old style of Neapolitan pizza unique, delicious and worldrenound. Valentino Orestano, Franco Manca’s Birmingham Head Pizzaiolo, said: “We’re so excited to share our delicious Neapolitan sourdough pizzas with the residents of Birmingham, while supporting local homeless shelters and food banks by donating one pizza for every pizza bought during our opening period. Stocked with quality products from local craft brewers, natural Italian wine and offering sourdough pizzas for the great value of £5.00, our Birmingham launch is one you won’t want to miss!”

We had a lovely lunch at Franco Manca Birmingham today and would definitely go back.

During the opening week all pizzas on the menu and the daily changing specials will be available for £5.00 from Thursday 6th June 2019 to Thursday 20th June 2019 - at Franco Manca Birmingham only. Not valid in with any other offer. Available for dine in only.

Disclosure: I was invited to Franco Manca Birmingham in return for an honest review.