Last Minute Gifts For Fathers Day #1

Say it with Sauce

Still stuck for that perfect gift for the Fathers in your life? Still struggling for inspiration for that special man's special day? Just remembered that it's Fathers Day this Sunday and you haven't got a clue what to get Dad? Well look no further - this is the Dad Etc three part guide to the perfect last minute gift for Daddy's Day.

Everybody knows that Dads love bacon sandwiches. And everybody knows that bacon sandwiches are distinctly boring without a splash of Houses of Parliament sauce (HP Sauce to you and I). The clever people at Heinz have realised that there is a glaring gap in the market - the personalised HP bottle gap.

If you want to get your hands on one of these collector items you need to go quickly. Visit HP's Facebook page by clicking here and enter to win a bottle of the brown stuff emblazoned with their name and a special message.

It's completely free and it will make his day.

So go on spoil your Dad - get him one!

Good luck!

Speak soon
JH 


Tomorrow - Say it with words - The DIY Word Portrait

In Praise Of The Children's Party Industry

The Weekend Picture No. 42

Can you guess how old E is?

E had her 8th birthday party today. Since she could speak she has been desperate to have a birthday party at our fabulous local leisure centre. The response has always been: "Not until you're 8". Well, now E has turned 8 we had run out of excuses so Daddy got onto the phone with his flexible friend and booked a Secret Agent party for 14 excited little girls for today.

We have never had birthday parties so easy as we did today.

We wrote the invitations.
We posted the invitations.
We paid the money. And that was about it. Because once we turned up this afternoon we mostly just stood and watched.

And then we came home.

The kids had a great time. Our house didn't get trashed and somebody else cut the crusts off the sandwiches.

It started getting a little hairy at 4.40 when the party had 10 minutes left to run and the food had all gone - but a quick game of Chinese Whispers averted any meltdowns and eased us home to parental pick up time.

We have always loved hosting children's parties but there is a lot to be said for chucking cash at it instead.

Speak soon
JH

It's Movie Night!

Including a Review of Sainsbury's New Flavoured Popcorn Range

It's DVD and Duvet night

One of our favourite family traditions was stolen from Rob Parsons of the brilliant charity "Care for the Family". The kids love this tradition. We choose a DVD, drag down our mattresses and duvets, munch on popcorn and snuggle down together for the night.

Although the fact that I wrote this entry at 2.25am because I couldn't sleep scrunched up on the sofa, surrounded by my nearest and dearest, may indicate that this is not a wholly practical idea - but the kids love it and I am unlikely to forget this night in a hurry - and that's what it is all about huh?!?

This week we were treated by Sainsbury's Bank Money Matters to a copy of Madagascar 3, the one in which Alex and his unlikely pals (a giraffe and a hippo getting it on!? Are you sure?), try to get back to New York by joining a circus and avoiding the evil French policewoman who is on their trail. We love the Madagascar movies (mostly because of the penguins), and although No.3 is not as good as it's older siblings there was enough good stuff in there to keep us all amused until lights out.

Sainsbury's were also good enough to provide us with some of their Smoked Paprika and Salt and Vinegar popcorn from their new range of flavoured popcorns to review (also available in Cheese and Chive and Apple and Cinnamon flavours). We are great lovers of popcorn - even when it gets into our bedding - but these new flavours were not for everyone. The Signs of Spring (aged 7 and 10) turned their noses up - too spicy for their delicate palates. The Dubmeister and my lovely wife loved the Salt and Vinegar version whereas I went potty for the Smoked Paprika - which is far too moreish!

The Sainsbury's Flavoured Popcorn range is on sale at £1.50 for a 75g bag.

Speak soon

JH

Imaginary Friends

Friendly Monster

When M was 2 the Dubmeister was mad about Star Wars. He was given a box set of movies 1-3 by his genius godmother and watched them until the discs were burnt through. Little M used to sit on the floor next to him taking it all in.

It was after watching the 3rd run of Star Wars 2 that she met Friendly Monster - her imaginary friend.

Friendly Monster went everywhere with us. He travelled in the petrol cap of the car, slept in a cot designed for Sylvanian Families and enjoyed eating peas. He was M's best friend. We even lost him once before finding him curled up in the spokes of one of the car's wheels.

Friendly Monster came from a long line of Imaginary Friends. When I was 2-3 I had two of them - Dada and Patish. Patish joined the army - I think he was last seen standing outside Buckingham Palace resplendent in red uniform and bearskin hat. I have no idea what happened to Dada - I guess we lost touch.

My lovely wife had a friend called Sarah who was a spider. She travelled everywhere with her in a bucket before, in a spooky premonition of that fright we had with Friendly Monster, getting lost on her drive way. Thankfully her parents found Sarah before she ran under an imaginary car to suffer an imaginary fate worse than an imaginary death.

Imaginary Friends are everywhere - my lovely wife tells me that during a game of I Spy in the Reception class she supports a little boy stumped the rest of the class when they couldn't spy "something beginning with an M" until his friend piped up "Do you mean your imaginary friend Magic?"

Of course he did!

I am all for imaginary friends. They are flexible, very friendly and always there for you. I also think they are a sign of an extremely creative imagination.

What is your position on imaginary friends? Are you a fan? Did you have one? Does your child have one? Or do you think that they are nothing but a bad influence?

Speak soon
JH

A Tribute to the 27th & 28th December

As my family doze peacefully upstairs and I sit in my pyjamas enjoying the silence, my thoughts turn to the joys of the bridesmaid period of the Christmas period - the days between Christmas and New Year. These days are so often dismissed as unnecessary interruptions between the festive periods of Christmas and New Year when workers have to return to their offices, party goers nurse interminable hangovers and children break their precious new Christmas gifts.

This morning I want to buck that trend and present you with the 5 reasons why we must stand up for these neglected days (so neglected they haven't even been given a name - they are merely numbers!) and shout that we must treasure these days as the oasis that they represent.

1. There is nothing you have to do!

After weeks of preparation for Christmas - the buying of presents, the cooking, the wrapping up, the incessant hoovering and dusting and polishing, the decoration of trees, writing of Christmas cards etc etc - and months and months of work - isn't it great to have a couple of days when you don't actually have to do anything! How often does that happen in anybody's life? No deadlines to meet, major meals to cook or shopping lists to complete.

2. There is loads of delicious food left  AND YOU ARE NOT SICK OF IT YET!

We still have ham, turkey, Christmas pudding, mince pies, Chocolate log, DOUBLE CREAM, wine, beer, real coffee AND AT LEAST 3 BOXES OF UNOPENED CHOCOLATES. Turkey sandwiches still taste good and the Christmas cake is only 1/4 finished. With the threat of Use By Dates hanging over you - nibbling is positively encouraged.

Picture from Liverpool Daily Post

3. There is loads of great Telly left to watch - and you have time to watch it

And you still haven't seen the programmes you recorded because you didn't have time to see them on Christmas Day. "Call the Midwife!" anybody? "Doctor Who?"

4. The kids still love their presents

The "Signs of Spring" were given the Sylvanian Family school this year. They are rarely out of it. The Dubmeister is now the proud owner of an iPod Touch - it's his new best friend. Cue plenty of familial harmony and lots of time for Mum and Dad to do their own thing; like build that IKEA chest of drawers that has been waiting patiently since the 14th December.

5. The days between Christmas and New Year were invented for family days out

Cinderella at The Rose

With nothing to do what could be better than a family trip out. We were at the Rose Theatre in Kingston yesterday watching "Cinderella" (fantastic and witty - highly recommended), there is The Hobbit and The Life of Pi on at the cinema, walks in dripping wet woods and the Christmas Decoration House which we still haven't visited. With no deadlines to meet and new gloves and hats to try out - why not?

Speak soon
JH

PS - Many apologies to those of you who have to work on the 27th and 28th December - but even you must admit that going into work on those 2 days is better than using up 2 days of holiday which you can save for a long weekend in May.

PPS - If you are wondering why I have not included the 29th in this tribute post that is because by the 29th I am sick of all of the above and would rather eat rusty nails than another turkey sandwich washed down with Christmas Cake.

PPPS - Pictures above taken from www.truthseeker444.blogspot.com and www.caribbeanramblings.blogspot.com

Who's Your Secret Angel?

My lovely wife is a lady of many talents.

She is particularly talented at initiating new traditions. She started one such tradition last Christmas which we have decided to resurrect this year - The Secret Angel.

We run it like the draw for the third round of the FA Cup. We find a hat - this year it was one of M's bobble hats. We write our names on tiny slips of paper and then fold them up before placing them in the woolly receptacle.

We then take it in turns to solemnly draw a scrap of paper from the hat. The person we draw is the person for whom we are to be the Secret Angel in the days that remain of Advent. Our task is to run errands for that person in secret.

The big reveal is on Christmas morning.

Last year I got lucky. E drew my name from the hat. E was six last year and liked to express her love by leaving little notes for me like the one to the left. She cunningly disguised who she was by never signing her name. I loved finding her notes on my pillow, in my sock drawer and even in my briefcase and have kept a store of them in my bedroom.

I was the Dubmeister's secret angel. I was less successful than E - attempting to make his day by placing a chocolate bar in his blazer pocket only for him to wander around for a week without thinking to put his hand into his pocket. The chocolate bar melted.

So, the tension is mounting. Who is my Secret Angel? For whom will I be running secretive errands for this week?

Find out  more soon!

Speak soon

JH

The Magical Healing Powers of Paddington Bear

One of the Signs of Spring had a horrible urine infection last Friday evening. She was sick, had a temperature and generally felt uncomfortable and horrible. She wouldn't even eat the Lasagne I had made for her tea - she was seriously unwell.

She woke up in the middle of the night feeling bad enough for me to ring the out of hours doctor service at 2.30am. I was expecting a trip to a grimy doctors surgery with a feverish 9 year old dressed in a duvet and clutching her cuddly monkey. But that was reckoning without the magical healing powers of Paddington Bear.

Games for Long Car Journeys

We have just come back from a fabulous week away in a village called St Dogmaels on the coast of South West Wales. It was fabulous because it did not rain (AT ALL), we spent 4 days on beautiful local beaches - and WE SAW DOLPHINS!

Does life get any better than that?

The only thing that was not fabulous about the holiday was the journey there. 229 miles in more than 6 hours.

Now, I love my family very much BUT 6 hours in a glorified tin can on one of the hottest days of the year stretches things a little.

There are just so many rounds of Eye Spy that you can play and verses of Ten One Hundred Green Bottles that you can sing.

So, with that in mind, here is the Dad Etc Guide to Games for Long Car Journeys. This list is compiled by the Signs of Spring and the Dubmeister - and verified by me as non annoying for adults.