Treads Boys Leather School Shoes – Review

Posted on May 8, 2018 by Fiona Martin

Treads are a brand that believe they have created the ultimate school shoe, one that is indestructible during playground play, where the stitching will not come undone and the soles will not wear out. In fact they stand by this claim and offer a 12 month guarantee by which if any part of the shoe does fall apart during normal wear then they will replace the shoe free of charge.

With a selection of 8 boys shoes available at them moment I think the styles cover all tastes and likes so there is something for everyone. There is also a line of girls shoes due to come out next year so keep you eye out for those – I certainly am!

We decided to try out the Madrid shoe from Treads, a very sturdy looking shoe with velcro fastening, just what my little boy prefers. I was particularly attracted to the extra strengthened toe area which looks like it will stand up to a lot of wear and avoid that dreadful scuffed toe look.

The shoes also have dual fit technology meaning that by simply removing the orange mid layer inside will make the shoe wider, giving a more comfortable fit for those with wider feet.

As you can see in the pictures below the shoes look very smart on my boy and I just love how incredibly sturdy and durable they look. They are comfortable and stylish for the school day, but also suitable for all those playground games, running around and football that take place at break times when we see the majority of damage occur to school shoes.

We are really happy and impressed with the Treads school shoes so far and are keen to see how well these will fare over the next few months. If we can get anywhere near 12 months from them before his feet grow I’ll be very happy to say the least, normally at the end of each term his shoes look wrecked, so I’m hoping these live up to their indestructible claims. All I can say so far is they certainly look incredibly durable, well built and tough so I have high hopes!

Head over to Treads now for a look at their school shoes range and let me know what you think?

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the product in order to write an honest review.

Back to school with Vosene

Posted on September 11, 2017 by Fiona Martin

Vosene is one of our favourite haircare ranges for the children with Pink Pomelo 2 in 1 being a top choice, although now we are back to school I have to think about the dreaded head lice. Although my boy with short hair has never suffered, unfortunately my daughter has been caught a number of times, most recently just before they broke up for the Summer holidays.

Vosene kids offer a 3 in 1 Shampoo with natural lice repellents containing tea tree oil and lemon eucalyptus oils. It has a really fresh lemon scent and easily lathers up to leave hair fresh and clean. Having an added lice repellent is a bonus and you know your child will be less likely to catch head lice having used this shampoo as opposed to a normal shampoo. One less product always helps as children really don’t like using multiple products on their hair.

Additionally the Conditioning Defence Spray is great to use and keeps hair soft and tangle free. Being just a leave in spray this can be used at any time of the day and I found it good to use in the mornings when getting hair ready for school. You then know that hair is boosted with lice repellents before the day ahead so I give the hair a good spray particularly around the ears and neckline as this is where we tend to find lice congregate!

Overall Vosene is a trusted brand that kids are happy to use and the feeling I have as a parent that hopefully my child’s hair will repel any lice that come it’s way helps me be more relaxed and in hope that we don’t have another dreaded head lice infestation any time soon!

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the product in order to write an honest review.

Back to School with BRITA Fill & Go Active Water Bottle

Posted on September 3, 2017 by Fiona Martin

Brita Fill & Go Active Bottle is a durable, practical everyday bottle that filters water on the go and is perfect for adults and kids alike. It’s a good size which is great for my children who drink a lot particularly in warm weather and ideal for them to take to school to keep them hydrated during the school day.

Holding 0.6 of a litre it’s easy to know roughly how much you are drinking in a day. The filter is simple to use and just a small disc you insert between the screw parts at the top. Reducing chlorine and other taste-impairing substances each disc will filter up to 150 litres of water or can be used for up to 4 weeks. The bottle can also be used without a filter should you so wish.

The whole bottle is made from a soft plastic making it durable and child friendly – if it drops on the floor, it’s unlikely to crack and break. With a handy carry handle and a removable lid, the children have absolutely taken to these and carried them round out and about on all our days out over the last couple of weeks. Having different coloured handles helps them differentiate between them (lime and pink are also available).

Overall I’m highly impressed with these Brita active bottles and they are just perfect for our family and lifestyle. They feature everything the children need and are perfect for taking to school when they return next week, just need to add their name on the bottom and they are ready to go. I know they will be well used and help them drink plenty of water during the day. If you are looking for a simple, unfussy design (which is what they need at school) that is durable in it’s build and also has the ability to filter water then this Brita Fill & Go active bottle is the one for you!

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the product in order to write an honest review.

Back to School with Term School Shoes

Posted on July 7, 2017 by Fiona Martin

Term School Shoes are the latest edition to the Term range of shoes and if they are anything like their wellies then I know they are going to exceptionally high quality, durable and last well so I was keen to try them out with my little boy. We tried the Term Chivers style with a double velcro opening which I knew would be easy and simple to operate for my boy as he’s not yet comfortable with laces.

On first inspection I could tell that these shoes look really durable, like they’ll last hopefully as long as my child fits them. They have flexible thermo rubber soles and a comfortable insole featuring cushioning for day long comfort. Also a soft collar in the heel area protects against sores and rubs. I like the way the sole comes high up around the heel and front of the toe area to protect against scuffs and will withstand play and tumble in the playground and after school visits to the park. The uppers are made from high grain leather made to last and will protect through various weather and scuffing.

My boy has a wide fitting on his feet so we did go up to the next size to accommodate both this and a little longevity in the shoes life but I have to say these are generous in width and fit him really well. He has very sensitive skin and is fussy about fit on shoes, clothes and every little label has to be cut out but first these fitted his foot like a glove, no complaints, no worries and he wanted to wear them straightaway! (If you’d known how many pairs of non school shoes we’d tried on recently but he’s refused to let me buy!!!)

So our thoughts on the Term Chivers boys school shoes?

We love them! To be honest we can’t fault them so far. On the first feel and look you can tell they are a quality piece and so far they are lasting incredibly well. There are no signs of wear, they look strong and durable, the stitching is tight and I’m confident these shoes will outwear any previous brands that we’ve tried. Yes, these are expensive shoes but are inline to the couple of market leaders in school shoes so I think this is definitely a top competitor that you need to check out as personal experience with some of the other suggest that these could even be better!

Why not try them for yourself and see? They are a solid stable shoe that is appealing to look at, comfortable to wear and easy for a child to secure – what more could you ask for? If you are looking for school shoes for September than I highly recommend that you check Term out.

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the product in order to write an honest review.

Kids Lunchbox tips with #HartleysYourLunchbox

Posted on August 29, 2016 by Fiona Martin

With two children at school I’m always thinking about lunchtime ideas, particularly for school lunchboxes and days out. I aim to keep them healthy so that I know what they are eating and then can treat them at home when they are with me. Hartley’s is a familiar brand that we often have at home, jelly is something both of my two love and being a low fat dessert is ideal to use for the kids.

Hartley

My top 3 tips for packing a healthy kids lunchbox that children will eat are:

Keep it familiar – when children are away from home, if you give them the unexepected they are less likely to eat it, give them foods they eat at home and then you’ll know they’ll eat them when away from home.
Add colour and texture – Keep children interested with various colours and textures in their lunchbox, this is easily done by adding fruit, vegetables and Hartley’s Jelly which all brighten up and add colour to lunchboxes.
Keep it fun – try to make food look interesting, cut different shapes, add fun pots of salad, fruit etc to keep children intrigued as to what they will be tasting next.

Hartley 3

In supermarkets now, Hartley’s are offering the chance to collect 12 special edition green lids from across the No Added Sugar Jelly Pots (115g), to claim a free Hartley’s lunchbox and stickers. You can claim their exclusive lunchbox by heading to the Hartley’s website www.hartleysfruit.co.uk. Each one comes complete with a sticker sheet of Hartley’s much loved characters and a sticker alphabet for children to personalise their lunchbox.

As you can see 5yr old Mister B loved personalising his lunchbox and he is really excited to take it back to school in September. He has also asked for jelly to be included everyday as he thoroughly enjoyed devouring the Hartley’s jelly pot that we tried out!

This post is an entry for BritMums #HartleysYourLunchbox Linky Chalenge, sponsored by Hartley’s Jelly http://www.hartleysfruit.co.uk

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BRITA back to school hydration challenge – Results and Giveaway

Posted on September 24, 2015 by Fiona Martin

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Following on from my post last week about the Brita back to school hydration challenge, Miss M has now successfully used her Brita Fill & Go bottle for a whole week at school so I’m keen to share with you how she got on. #BetterWithBRITA

Some of the facts Brita found out about children and how much water they drink are:

Almost thee quarters of parents (73%) do not know how much their children drink whilst at school

Two thirds (66%) do not know the recommended daily intake of fluid for children

So 7yr old Miss M went to school armed with her new bottle, it can be used with or without the internal straw, but she prefered without and just liked to tip it up. Each day after school I asked her to show me how much water was left in the bottle and how many times she had filled it up.

The bottle holds 600ml and it’s recommended that your child drinks two of these during the school day which I do think is a lot. I was surprised to hear that Miss M had filled her bottle two times every day last week and each day she only came back with about an inch of water in the bottle which I think is excellent – she must have been drinking at least a litre of water during the school day which even she said is much more than she usually does.

The stickers on the side of the bottle definitely helped and she was motivated by them and wanted to drink the amount of water as per the guide on the stickers. I think talking about it with her each day also helped as it kept her focused on how much she drunk and she was eager to show me her bottle at the end of each day.

I think the Brita Fill & Go with stickers has really motivated my daughter to think about how much she is drinking and also drink more than usual. It’s a great idea to get children motivated into keeping themselves hydrated.

For more information about the Brita Fill & Go check out their page HERE.

I have one Brita Fill & go bottle including stickers to give away to one lucky reader. Just fill in the Gleam form below:

Brita

We received a Brita Fill & Go bottle in order to join in with this challenge

Character products from Brantano – Review

Posted on September 24, 2015 by Fiona Martin

Both my children love having popular characters on their clothes, shoes and other items and Brantano have a great selection available. With characters such as Peppa Pig, Star Wars, Frozen, Minions, Barbie, Disney Princesses and many more there really is something for everyone and they are sure to have your children’s favourite.

With Mister B loving Spiderman right now, these Spiderman Light up trainers were sure to be a hit. He absolutely loves them and doesn’t want to take them off. At £24 they feel well made for character shoes, and have lots of thought about detail and easy to fasten velcro straps.

The exciting bit for Mister B is jumping around and watching his shoes light up at the heel with a bright red flash! They fit well and are comfortable, meaning he’s happy to wear them and they are great for walking about in for everyday wear, after school and at weekends.

As you can see he loves his shoes and I always think it’s a good thing if a child likes their shoes as it’s so much easier to get out of the house rather than battling with them to put things on they don’t like.

Miss M is back to packed lunches at school this year so needed a new lunch box and was thrilled to pick out this Frozen one. It’s a lunch bag style with a soft, padded carry handle and zips around to close. It has some pretty detail on the side and on the back it has a place to write your child’s name.

It’s a really good size so easily fits food for lunch, snack and a drink bottle inside. It has a grey wipe clean interior that is easy to clean with a quick wipe round and it’s ready to use again the next day. Miss M loves her Frozen themed lunchbox and it has daily use at school each week.

Why not take a look at the other character products at Brantano?

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the products in order to write the review.

Scholl Foot Products Review and Giveaway

Posted on August 25, 2015 by Fiona Martin

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I never used to pay too much attention to foot care when I was younger and easily managed to wear ridiculously high heels, strappy sandals etc, but now I notice the aches and pain more now along with dry skin on feet especially around the heels. A range that you can always rely on for great quality footcare is Scholl and I was please to try out some of their products below.

Scholl Fresh Step Spray is a simple to use spray that you use in your shoes to eliminate odour. You can use the spray before or after wear, just let the spray dry first before wearing and it should keep them odour free for 24 hours. I find this great to spray in shoes at the end of the day to freshen them up ready for the next time you wear them. I tend to use this more in trainers, especially after a trip to the gym!

Scholl Dry Skin Instant Recovery Cream is just what I need for my feet. It pushes moisture deep into the skin to really hydrate them and leave them soft and smoother. I find that although it’s rich it really sinks into the skin and used daily, you soon notice much softer skin all over. It also has a pleasant gentle fragrance which leaves the feet fresh.

Scholl Party Feet are a girls best friend for high heels. Even though I don’t wear high heels as often as I used to, I do have some heeled boots which these are perfect in as the balls of my feet tend to get a bit sore by the end of the day. I also find these usefull for weddings and functions where you can be standing around chatting. These are a new slimmer version but still do the job. I find it useful to have several pairs and keep them in the shoes you wear most often.

If you’d like to win a set of the three Scholl products above then just fill in the Gleam form below:

Scholl

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the items in order to write the review.

My Nametags School Uniform labels – Review

Posted on August 15, 2015 by Fiona Martin

A must for school uniform is name labels, there’s nothing worse than not knowing which school cardigan is your child’s, just because you forgot to name it. My Nametags have just the answer with these easy to use stick on labels.

They have a good choice of designs, there is something for everyone, and they also have a fabulous new range of Hello Kitty designs

We received a couple of the Hello Kitty designs to try and a pirate design for Mister B. These stickers are really strong and can be stuck to lots of things such as lunchboxes, pencil cases, books, rulers and most importantly labels in clothing! This is really useful as it means they are so simple to apply, it literally takes a few minutes and you can have the entire set of school uniform labelled. Being versatile is good too, meaning you just need one set of stickers for everything.

One thing I think these will be great for are the insides of shoes, in particular plimsolls – I hate trying to write a childs name in biro inside, so these will be brilliant so each child can identify their own shoes. The labels, although being stickers do feel and look really strong and durable. They can be washed up to 60 degrees provided they have been stuck to the label and not the clothing itself. I found these really easy to use and Miss M even enjoyed helping me label her items. With 56 labels in each set there is plenty to personalise all your school items so why not give My Nametags a try?

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the labels in order to write the review.

Back to school with F&F school uniform

Posted on August 14, 2015 by Fiona Martin

Anyone with children will know that the summer holidays means purchasing school uniform ready for the start of the new school year in September. With two children in primary school this September, a girl and a boy means I require two sets of uniform, therefore I want it to be good value to buy and also items that will last. I also like something a bit different especially for girls rather than completely plain, and I have to say I’ve been very impressed with what F&F have to offer this year.

As you can see above both my children were very excited to try their uniform on and big sister Miss M was so proud of her little brother and thought he looked very smart! F&F really do cover everything you need to get back to school from the basic uniform, to P.E. kit, shoes, bags and accessories. We received a selection from both the girls and boys ranges to see what we thought.

First off is Mister B who is due to start school in September, he was very excited and I think he looks super smart in his new uniform. The red jumper is v neck and 100% cotton and looks great over the shirt. I’ve given it a quick wash which has performed well and I’m sure this will last well when worn at school. The grey trousers are what I expected but with the added bonus of a reinforced knee – this sounds like a godsend knowing we went through 4 pairs of general trousers through the knees over the last few months at home!

The white shirts he tried are of excellent quality (excuse the pale blue tint – I must purchase some white vests for him before September!), they feel well made with strong seams and what really impressed me was the collar button. The button is sewn onto the outside to make it look real, but actually inside there is velcro to do the top of the shirt up, making it super easy for little fingers to do.

The school shoes are coated leather with a chunky sole to withstand wear and I think they look really smart. They are also very easy to get on and off, with just one large velcro strap that Mister B really got to grips with. The plimsolls are of a high quality to ones I’ve brought for my daughter previously and having a velcro tab across makes them easy to put on and you can adjust accordingly for a tight fit. Mister B loved these and asked if he could wear them everyday!! Unfortunately not, they are just for P.E.!! I chose some patterned grey socks which were a bit nicer than the plain school selection and I have to say these don’t disappoint. They are all really soft, making them very comfortable on the foot and something Mister B loved wearing.

Miss M was thrilled with her new blouse, it has pretty flower buttons and and lovely embroidery on the pocket making it stand out a bit from other plainer blouses out there. I like the curved collar and shaped sleeves. There’s also flower buttons on the cardigan and a bow design on the pockets. Miss M loves the pockets and finds them useful for things like a tissue, we often find a lot of cardigans don’t have pockets, so this one is perfect.

I also like how the cardigan pocket bow detail matches the pocket on the white P.E. tops. The P.E. tops also had a nice scallop around the sleeves and a slit up the sides making them look really stylish rather than your bog standard polo shirt. The black girls P.E. shorts also proved really comfortable as Miss M has worn them to her gymnastics crash course this week and can’t wait to take them to school for P.E., one of her favourite lessons!

Everyone needs a school bag and Miss M likes a backpack that she can put everything in, such as her cardigan, waterproof mac, lunch, pencil case and homework. This Hello Kitty bag has been a big hit with her and she has used it everyday already on our day’s out or visiting friends etc. The bag has lovely padded sides and is a nice quality. There is a pocket on the front and two handy carry handles on the top to use if it’s not on your back. The only thing I’d like to have seen to improve it would be a drinks bottle pocket on one side as this would have been very useful.

Overall I am very pleased with both the quality and style of the school uniform range from F&F, and it is definitely a brand I’d go back to again. The children are happy and feel comfortable in their pieces and I can’t wait for them to start wearing it all daily in September. Have you got all your kids school uniform for September yet? Be sure to check out F&F, some great value pieces!

All reviews are my own and my family’s opinions and we received the uniform in order to write the review.