Little Party Parcels*

When I think about my birthday parties as a child, I think of cake, fun games and party bags. Getting a party bag at the end of a party was probably the best part. It was always fun to see what was inside and swap and share little gifts with others. It can be expensive buying individual items for party bags so when I heard about Little Party Parcels I couldn’t wait to share with you the genius idea behind their brand. 

Little Party Parcels sell a large selection of party bags ranging from pre-filled to separate party bag goodies. All of their party bag toys are arranged per age group so you can pick the most suitable option for your child’s party. All of the fillers in the bag are sold as separate items so you can purchase as little or as many as you need without having anything go to waste. Over 99% of orders are dispatched within the next working day. Little Party Parcels very kindly sent me a range of their goody bags which I have shared with you below. I think it’s a great idea to take the pressure away from parents trying to source individual items and fill up party bags, let Little Party Parcels do that for you.

Smiley Pre-filled Party Bag – 70p 
The price range is amazing, there is something to suit all budgets and these bags cost just 70p each when filled. This bag contains some small modelling clay, a spinning top, a mini stunt glider, a jazzy blow out and a balloon. The value for money is great so even if you don’t want to spend much you can still get a decent bag to pass to the children attending your party.

Magic Pre-filled Party Bag - £1.35
This bag is great for those children interested in magic tricks. Slightly more expensive than the last this is still great value for money. The bag contains a magic set, finger flyer rocket, hair harry and a jazzy blow out.

Super Hero Pre-filled Party Bag – 90p
I loved this bag and the fact that even the party bag had a superhero theme to it. This bag contains a superhero mask, stickers, notebook, tattoo and some ultimate Spiderman candy sticks. Perfect for those children obsessed with superheros. This bag would work really well with a superhero themed party.

Colour & Create Pre-filled Party Bag - £1.80
This bag is really interesting and something I would have absolutely loved as a child. The bag contains some ironing beads, an owl notebook and eraser, a doodle pad, a colour swap crayon and a butterfly glider. This is the most expensive bag that I received but I really think it’s worth the money and at less than £2 you can’t fault it. There is no way that you’d be able to buy the individual items any cheaper than this.

Junior Pre-filled Party Bag – 95p
This bag is ideal for the younger party go-er and contains a mini tambourine, mini windmill, bubbles, animal stickers and a jet ball. Plenty of fun for all ages.

Party Sweet Bag – 95p
This bag is great for those with a sweet tooth and you could even combine it with another bag filled with toys for the ultimate party bag. This bag contains  a double dip, candy whistle, mini haribo, sherbet tub, fruity pop, refresher chew, 2x rainbow dust straws and 4 chocolate footballs. I taste tested the items and I must say, they were delicious!

You can also buy the items individually and they are great value for money. Some of the things you can buy include rabbit or car erasers – 20p, balloon head animal – 30p, bouncy putty – 35p, wooden pick up sticks – 90p and a faux fur pom-pom – 90p. You can mix and match items and create a range of bags suitable for the age range and taste preferences of your guests. I highly recommend checking Little Party Parcels out if you are hosting a party. These items are even great if you have children attending your wedding.

Do you think this is a great idea? Will you be getting your part supplies from Little Party Parcels?

*I received these items free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and I was not influenced in any way.

Lunch and Free Cake at John Lewis - Norwich

A few weeks ago, my boyfriend James and I popped for lunch at John Lewis... Twice! I have some free hot drink and cake vouchers so each time we shared a cake and then bought something savoury to go with it.

The first time we went, I had a tuna mayo and sweetcorn sub, it was delicious and really packed with filling.

We shared a slice of chocolate cake, which was very rich but really tasty. 

James had a prawn mayo sub which he said was really nice and filling.

The second time we visited we had two cake vouchers to use! So that meant one each. I went for the Carrot Cake and James had a cheese scone. I have another 2 vouchers to use for free cake so I can't wait to try something different next time.

What flavour cake would you go for?

Lunch at Jarrolds in Norwich

My mum recently treated me to lunch at Jarrolds in Norwich in The Pantry which can be found on the third floor. Jarrolds is an independent department store that is only in Norwich. They sell pretty much everything ranging from food to perfume to clothing items.

We had originally planned to go somewhere different for lunch but when that place was closed we popped to Jarrolds instead which wasn't too far to walk.

I admired the range of foods available in The Pantry. They serve carveries, jacket potatoes, fresh sandwiches, salads and delicious looking cakes. Me and my mum both decided to have a sandwich made in a large granary bap. There were a range of fillings available and we both chose chicken mayonnaise with salad. The baps were filled generously! We shared a bag of Kettle's crisps too.

I couldn't visit The Pantry without sampling one of the amazing cakes on offer. I chose to have the raspberry marble sponge. This was really nice and moist and the buttercream was sweet.

My mum chose to have a chocolate brownie. She ate the whole thing so I am sure she enjoyed it!

Overally I really enjoyed my lunch at The Pantry in Jarrolds. It was very busy when we visited at 12:15pm but we easily got a seat and the queues were kept to a minimum.

Do you have a local favourite?

Happy Birthday Christie's Lifestyle - Marshmallow Cupcake Recipe

I can't believe it's been a whole year since I started this little blog with my First Date's post. I have really enjoyed getting back into blogging and I think this is the longest I have kept blogging up for!

I've really got back into using my camera and it's been great to work with a number of brands in the past year. To celebrate, I decided to bake some marshmallow middle cupcakes, they turned out really yummy and are really easy to make so keep reading for the recipe!

    

Visit my tutorial to see how I ice my cupcakes.

Method
Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth.
Add the eggs one at a time and mix thoroughly.
Slowly add the flour and cocoa powder and mix until smooth.

Add batter to cake cases and  pop a marshmallow into the middle of each case.

Bake in the oven at 180 Degrees for 15-20 Minutes or until risen. When these come out of the oven you will find the marshmallow has melted, but you should have a nice dip in the cupcake. Press a fresh marshmallow into this hole whilst the cake is still warm and it should fill the gap nicely.

When the cakes have cooled down, mix your icing sugar, butter and cocoa powder then pipe onto the cakes. Top with mini marshmallows for decoration.

Thank you to everyone who has read/followed/shared and liked my blog posts. I really appreciate it and I hope to continue for years to come!

Day out in Holt

Recently me and my boyfriend James decided to visit Holt one Sunday afternoon for something to do. Holt is a small market town in Norfolk and is about a half an hour drive from where I live. Little did we know, most of the shops in Holt are closed on a Sunday, as well as the fact that Cromer Carnival was on nearby, Holt was totally dead. We still had a nice time though.

Whenever I visit Holt, I HAVE to go to Byfords. Byfords is thought to be the oldest building in Holt, with their cellar dating back to the 15th century. It used to be a hardware shop back in the early 1900's and is now a café and B&B. The one thing that brings me there is the cake. Their cake is amazing, I try and have something different every time, and I am yet to find a cake that I don't like! Their Fridge cake is THE BEST. As it was lunch time, I also decided to have some chips as well as a slice of coffee sponge and a teapot full of green tea. They were all delicious.

After lunch, we decided to walk to Holt Country Park, as many of the shops were closed. This area is abundant with nature, we even saw some cows grazing in the distance! After getting lost, we finally found our way and went on a nice 5 mile walk along a few of the routes. There are quite a few routes to choose from and you can pick up a trail map in the visitor centre.

I had a lovely day in Holt, and think it will be nice to go back on a Saturday or during the week and have a look around all the lovely shops that they have in the area, and of course, stop off for another piece of cake!

Pop! goes the cake ball.

I have well and truly caught the baking bug! I’ve seen cake pops everywhere at the moment and couldn’t wait to try them out. I saw recently that Pound Land had cake pop moulds in stock, which is brilliant when other shops are selling them from £7-£10, but  when I went to pick some up, I thought they looked a bit small, so I picked up my cake pop set and recipe book from The Works (here) and got my sticks from Poundland.

These couldn't be simpler to make, and the recipe was exactly the same as if I was baking cupcakes, and I followed the below method. I wanted my cake balls to look like mini watermelons!

 Ingredients

2 x Eggs

120g Flour

120g Sugar

120g Butter
Few Drops of Vanilla Essence
Pink Food Colouring
Chocolate Chips

For the Outside

100g White Chocolate (Melted)
Green Food Colouring

Recipe:

Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth.

Add the eggs one at a time and mix thoroughly.

Slowly add the flour and mix until smooth.

Add Vanilla Essence to taste (for Vanilla Cupcakes of course!)
Stir in choc chips & food colouring!

Add to mould and bake in the oven at 180 Degrees for 15-20 Minutes or until Golden

 

It really is that simple! Or so I thought..

I mixed up my ingredients and placed the cake batter into the first mould. I then put the second mould on top and stuck these in the oven. I was a bit dubious that they wouldn’t work, especially as I wasn’t able to check on them or see how they were rising.

After about 20 minutes, I took them out and let them cool. I removed the mould and to my wonder, I was left with cake balls! They didn't actually look TOO bad.

When the cake balls had cooled off I prepared my coating. For this, I melted white chocolate and added green food colouring as I wanted them to look like mini watermelon balls. I then stuck my cake balls onto the sticks, and dipped them into the chocolate. This is where it all when horribly wrong. The sponge just fell off the sticks. I was left with a big gloopy lumpy mess. It was all going so well too!

Perhaps I should have chilled my balls before I coated them? Perhaps the chocolate didn't melt enough? All I know is that my lovely cake balls were ruined. They look horrible. I wouldn't feed them to my dog (although I can confirm they didn't taste too bad). 
 
These are on the same scale as the time I tried to make a peppa pig cake for my sister's birthday. That also went horribly wrong, but that's a story for another day.

 I will learn from my mistakes, and try again another time! Any tips are welcome!