Teacher By Day {Melissa - Paper Halo}

Hi everyone!
Today's teacher by day is an Adelaidian like me and I'm so pleased to have her here on the blog to share a bit about her biz. Meet Melissa from Paper Halo. She knows all about weddings, parties and events and creates gorgeous invitations and stationery. 

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And then she was FOUR

Well this post is a few weeks too late - but you know, life happens! (#bloggerlife #mumlife #teacherlife lol). 

Earlier this month Miss M turned four. Can you believe that? I started this blog when she was 9 months old... Just take a look back on how she's grown over her past birthdays...

One...

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Fabulous Gifts for FOUR Year Olds

Believe it or not Miss M is almost FOUR! I started this blog when she was 9 months old so if you've followed me for a while you would have seen her grow up before your eyes. She is such a little lady now with amazing language skills, so chatty and really interested in learning. Her confidence has bloomed and she has surprised me with all the new things she's tried and accomplished over recent months. It feels like we've only just had Christmas and Little Man's birthday - but now it's almost time to give Miss M a special celebration!

I always love sharing gift ideas with you - especially for specific ages. Friends with children of the same age are always asking for ideas, and I stalked my favourite internet stores to bring you some fantastic new ideas that you may not have seen before!

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2016 Christmas Gift Guide! {Educational Christmas Gift Ideas}

November means... Christmas gift guide time! I've got an epic collection of ideas here for you today that I have spent weeks gathering. Many of these products are on Miss M's wish list that she'll be asking Santa for this year. As ever the focus is on education and encouraging a child's development in all areas.

This year, more people than ever are shopping from their lounge rooms rather than hitting the shops - and why wouldn't you? (I saw a meme today - that said "Instagram is like the biggest store in the world"). So true!

Disclaimer: some (not all) of the products in this guide have been gifted to me, or I have had a previous collaboration with the brand. I received no payment for any brands to appear in this gift guide. All opinions are my own :)

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10 Ways to Use Your Honey and Co Club Canvas Bag

You may have already heard of Honey and Co Club subscription kits - I've featured them here on the blog and Instagram from time to time, and they've made a great gift to give some of my friend's kids this year. I love how every month is a different theme and all the little goodies come in the loveliest canvas bags which can be used over and over again for so many things (and every month is a different funky pattern too - we've got a collection of 4 already!).

Today's post is giving you TEN ways to reuse your Honey and Co Club canvas bag. They come in so handy as you'll see...

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Tailor Made Tales {Personalised Books for Kids}

There are so many nifty little products for kids out there these days, you just need to know where to FIND THEM! That's where I (and lots of other bloggers) come in. We love to discover unique and personalised items for your kids that you won't find in shops, try them out, and share them with you. We also love helping out small biz mums to get their awesome products seen by more eyes!

So today's product review is a pretty special one. It's a personalised story book, made by Kim from Tailor Made Tales. It's not just an ordinary photo book though, Kim will actually write a unique story especially for your child based on the photos you send her. I just love this idea, and I was so happy with what she came up with for Miss M (kindly gifted for the purpose of this review).

"The Big Adventures of a Big Sister"

I even love the title!

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Miss M is Three {Ben & Holly Themed 3rd Birthday Party}

I wonder...

When your two year old turns three do they graduate from a toddler to a preschooler?

Or should that be a threenager? (Read my previous post all about threenagers here!)

Miss M has graduated from Peppa Pig to Ben and Holly. Hence the theme for her mini 3rd birthday party. We kept it super small and low key this year because we have Little Man, but also a big party with all the fuss is not really for her. We had a lovely family get together for her first birthday, and a big party with friends at Amalie's Play Space for her second.

Here's a little snap shot of how we celebrated this year. We tried to make her feel really special over a few days; her family party, enjoyed dad's day off together just the four of us, and a play date with a couple of friends on her actual birthday.

(I still ordered her invitations even though there were like 12 of us there)...

Shop here

And no Miss M's name is not Maddison. This is just the example invitation...

Funny story about these invites... Turns out, out of all the Etsy stores world wide, I stumble upon Antionette who is also from Adelaide and recognised me from our years at the same dance school. Crazy!! Thanks for the lovely invites Anti xox

I added this cute little rhyme to our invites. Feel free to steal :)

WOW! M___ is turning 3!
Please come over to our place for morning tea.
Sunday 6th of March is the day
From 9:30 am for a play.

Big thanks to Miss M's amazing Auntie who is our regular family cake baker!

Earlier in the week Miss M and I had painted rocks to make these little 'Gaston' ladybugs. Everyone got to take one home :)

And we hired two of these awesome trucks from the Tea Tree Gully Toy Library to entertain Miss M and her cousin. (here's the link to their full range of party hire equipment).

Finally, later this month we're off to see Ben & Holly live on stage! Will report back...

And here she is in her Princess Holly Tshirt! Her little cousin was matching dressed as Ben Elf!

Happy birthday Miss M. You amaze us every day and you have come such a long way! You are such a beautiful girl.

Love Mum + Dad xox

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My ULTIMATE Gender Neutral Gift Guide for 1 - 5 Year Olds!

Friends in my online mothers group are always asking for gift ideas for their little ones, so I thought I'd put together a collection of gift ideas for one to five years olds - suitable for both boys and girls. I'm a firm believer that boys can play with dolls and girls can play with train sets... The days of 'toys for girls' and 'toys for boys' should be behind us as we encourage our little ones to just enjoy their PLAY! So I've kept that in mind with my recommendations in this post. {not sponsored}

Keep scrolling to the end for some gift ideas suitable for almost ANY age.

One Year Olds

• Musical Instruments e.g. bells and rattles that can be shaken. Xylophones are great for this age too {pictured above is the Melody Mix available from Finlee and Me}
• Dolls/teddies - my little girl still adores special dolls and teddies she was given at this age.
• Bouncy balls to encourage throwing and catching both indoors and outdoors.

Two Year Olds

• Toys to encourage imaginative and dramatic play eg, play kitchen + accessories such as wooden food, tea set, etc.
• Building blocks - so much fun to knock over a tower of blocks when you're two! Invest in a quality wooden set that will last {pictured are Rainbow Blocks from Finlee and Me}
• "Little People" range from Fisher Price - ideal for two year olds. There's so many in the range to choose from.

Three Year Olds

• Kinetic Sand - the most magical sensory experience ever! Perfect for three year olds as they play, mould and sculpt.
• Duplo. In recent months Miss M just got the hang of connecting duplo bricks together, and there are so many in the Duplo range to choose from these days.
• Play dough will keep most three year olds busy for ages. Grab a couple of tubs with some cookie cutters or a play dough activity set and they'll be sorted.

Four Year Olds

• Train set - little kiddies have hours of fun with these. Get extra accessories like trees, signs, cars etc to create entire cities!
• Art supplies / Activity Sticker books - you can always have more of these and they're a great cheap option.
• Bike! This is actually Miss M's 3rd birthday present, but idea for 4 year olds as well.

Five Year Olds

• Special stationery (you can't go past Smiggle)
• Back pack, lunch box, drink bottle for school (now that they're BIG kids!)
• Find out the latest movie or the child's favourite TV show of the moment - and see if the stores have toys and merchandise. Currently The Good Dinosaur I believe :)

Any Age

• Subscription boxes e.g. my friends at 
• Clever DIY, 
• Little Lettie Boxes, 
• Honey + Co Club

• Clothes (don't forget to consider size and season)
• Books books and more books! You can never have too many books! Go for board books for under 2s and regular page turners for over 2s. Here are my 10 Favourite Alphabet Books and my 10 Favourite Number Books if you're looking for something educational. 
• Puzzles - do think about the age of the child and level of difficulty of the puzzle when making your selection.

I hope you found some useful ideas in this list!

Lauren :)

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An Under the Sea First Birthday

Remember this Baby Shower Post? Well that baby boy (my darling nephew) has recently turned one! My sister in law (and loyal teacher types follower) did such a fabulous job planning and throwing him a Fishy/Under the Sea party that I couldn't help but share some pics on the blog.

Invitations - click here to visit the Etsy shop

Fishy Cake - made by my sister in law herself :)

(It was a humming bird cake)

Another one of the cake - and in the background a hand made sign made by Nanna :)

A onsie in every size - my how he's grown!

Some of the lovely decorations. I loved the colour theme (the plates, cutlery, tablecloths & serviettes matched of course). 

And finally a gorgeous little display of footprints - one for each month.

It was such a fantastic party. What party themes have you had before?

Lauren x

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The big ONE | First Birthday Party Ideas

I can't believe it, my little girl is ONE! We celebrated by having a small, casual, relaxed BBQ with close family, and were so lucky that her actual birthday fell on the Saturday of our recent long weekend. Lots of special milestones closely followed - her first real paddle at the beach, a ride in her Papa's boat at the river, her second tooth! And we're almost at the stage where 'stepping' turns into 'walking'.

First birthday parties can vary these days from casual to elaborate - but of course all are very special in their own way. Here are some of the ideas I used, and I'll include some helpful links as well if you're looking for more inspiration. Already had your little one's 1st birthday? Some of the ideas below could be applied to a 2nd, 3rd of 4th birthday - I think that's the beauty of it! There is always another birthday party just 365 days away (or sooner of course if you have more than one child!)

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Once again Vistaprint was my first stop for invitations, but I did a bit of browsing on Etsy as well before I made my final choice of this cute little number with adorable bunting...

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I love banners and the 'clothesline' look for photos & cards. We hung the "Happy 1st Birthday" banner between two posts (click here to visit the Etsy shop I got it from) and did the same with her birthday cards inside. We also showed off her 'monthly photos' (here's a separate post I wrote all about Photo a Month).

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I am a lover of photos and photography. A photo display definitely adds something special to a child's party. But it's also important to think about capturing the day! I found this link useful when considering and planning photos to take of the day. Think about "A day in the life of..." your little one. Photograph them when they wake up, open presents, having meals, eating cake of course, playing with their new toys, photos with various family members and friends, bath, bed etc... We did the typical presents before and after shot!

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Our little girl was very spoilt with many special gifts on her first birthday. I'm quite often asked for gift ideas and this is regularly a popular topic amongst my Facebook mother's group. So here's a little list of my top 8 gift suggestions for a one year old (or toddler).

1. Stacking rings

2. Clothes in the next size or pyjamas 

(the outfit pictured is by Sooki baby - one of my favourite brands)

3. Nesting cups

4. Puzzles

5. Wooden blocks

6. Balls in a variety of sizes, sounds and textures

7. Musical instruments

8. Books books and more books!

Here's my ULTIMATE 'gender neutral' gift guide for children aged 1-5...

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For my little one's party I had composed my own video compilation of her first year (using iMovie on the mac) - our family loved watching it and it'll be something special to show our daughter in years to come. I found iMovie really easy to use!

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Finally - the cake! It was very simple and made with love by me! Found the idea on...you guessed it - Pinterest.

This is not the actual cake I made, just my inspiration from Pinterest - this photograph is much better.
Original source no longer available

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Well that's it! Her first year flew by and now her birthday celebrations are done and dusted! I'm really looking forward to planning 'kids' parties for her in years to come!

Thanks for reading this very special post,

Lauren :)

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