"Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, 'it will be happier'"...

This quote, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, will be in my thoughts as the clock strikes midnight tonight to usher in the beginning of a new year. I hope that 2021 has been a wonderful year for all Glamumous readers, but those of us who have suffered loss, sadness or disappointment during 2021 may well be glad that this year is coming to an end. 

At midnight, our family will raise a glass of good cheer to those who are no longer with us, and to all of you, I wish good health, happiness and many occasions to smile in the year ahead. 

Photo credit: PxHere

Santa/Father Christmas

Santa’s Grotto

Reindeerland

XM4 5HQ

More children than ever are turning their attention to digital literature than regular books. High street bookstores are on the decline, and while many of us may still be attached to our regular reading material, it makes sense to embrace our children's interests by seeking out eBooks to pique their interest in the written word.

There are many, many sites from which we can download children's eBooks, but as any parent understands certain books are just better than others. The quality of language, illustration and storytelling set some books apart from their competitors... and of course it's even better if those books can be found for free!

Here is a list of sites which provide eBooks for children of all ages which you can access for free on a tablet or PC. Many provide downloads (in PDF, ePub or MOBI format) while others must be accessed online. Wherever possible, I've tried to include links to "tablet-friendly" eBooks, though in some cases you may find it easier to download materials to your PC and transfer them to your preferred reading device.

With summer just around the corner, many of us are considering whether our children have a basic functioning wardrobe for the warmer months, or perhaps for a holiday in the sun.

This year, I've found myself having to buy a complete capsule wardrobe for two of my children as they've outgrown all of their previously purchased summer clothes! In an effort to ensure they can be adequately dressed on a minimal budget, I set about writing down the essential items they would need for the summer, which we can always add to later as necessity or finance see fit.

Here are my suggestions for capsule summer wardrobe items for both girls and boys, which should be suitable for children aged 2-12.

Snuggling up on the sofa to watch a DVD together is a wonderful experience, but there's only so many times a parent can watch Disney Princess films with their daughter!

Luckily Princess shares my love of film, and has learned to trust my judgement when I suggest we watch movies she may not have chosen for herself. The ideal recipe seems to include romance, drama, and of course a happy ending - preferably with a female lead and a touch of morality thrown in for good measure.

Here are our top ten favourite films for parents to watch with their daughters, all of which feature storylines and characters for you both to enjoy.

Preparing for the arrival of a new baby is a very exciting time, whether this is your first child or your fifth! Chances are you'll be bombarded with choices for baby products, clothes and toiletries, and can be left wondering what exactly you really need to be prepared for when your little one is born.

As many mothers will attest, it is way too easy to buy more than you need, and if you're working to a tight budget you'll probably want to stick with the essentials rather than spend on niceties you may never get around to using.

Here then is a list of the most essential items you will need to be prepared for the arrival of a new baby, with a few suggestions for additional items you might want. I've also created a printable PDF version of this list as a handy reference guide.

Having spent so long cooped up indoors through the winter months, what better time to explore the great outdoors and enjoy a range of family-friendly activities?

Here are ten interesting and entertaining activities to enjoy with your children this spring, most of which won't cost even a penny, and all of which are guaranteed to make the most of the great outdoors.

Family outings to the cinema can be very expensive affairs! The cost of tickets alone can mount to around £30 for a family of four, possibly even more if you're watching a movie in 3d!

Having grown up reading Hans Christian Anderson while discovering the allure of Disney, I'm quite the fan of the fairytale genre. I particularly love watching modern fairy-tale films with my children and (thus far) have not experienced a poor reception of the movies I suggest we watch together.

Here are 25 of our favourite modern day fairy tales to share with your family in which I hope to suggest a few movies you may have yet to enjoy.

Babies and young children love their parents to sing to them. Nursery rhymes are a wonderful means of helping our little ones learn through play, while lullabies soothe them off to sleep at night.

Most of us know the songs for Twinkle Star and Hush a Bye Baby, though in this age of media and technology it seems many traditional rhymes are being phased out in favour of pop songs or the lyrics to children's television programmes.

It seems such a shame to allow these classic rhymes to fade into extinction, so with the aid of modern technology (namely YouTube videos!) I've collected some of our favourite nursery songs for you and your children to enjoy.

As children we're all taught not to run with scissors and look both ways before crossing the road. Like these examples, most of what we learn about safety and accident prevention seems like common sense.

Since becoming a parent, learning about accident prevention and teaching my children to stay safe has become even more important. There is no single resource covering every aspect of safety we may encounter, and a great many tips which we may not immediately consider.

In this post I've collected 85 useful tips which may not immediately spring to mind in a situation which demands them. I hope you will find this resource useful, and perhaps learn something new which could one day help save a life.

I'm a firm believer that investing time and energy into a considered gift produces far more pleasure in the recipient than anything shop-bought! This holds true for Mother's Day in particular: I love to receive the handmade cards and gifts bestowed by my own children, and as an adult I like to create something special with my own hands to gift for Mum.

Since there's a good chance Mum reads my blog, I don't want to spoil the surprise of what I'm making this week, but instead will share a selection of beautiful and thoughtful gift ideas you and your children could create as gifts for Mothering Sunday.

In the past couple of years, attachment parenting has attracted quite some coverage in the press. Most notably, Time Magazine asked "are you mom enough?" on the front cover of its May edition which featured a shot of Jamie Lynn Grumet nursing her three year old son. The debate which followed was fierce, with critics claiming extended breastfeeding is unnatural while attachment parents defended their right to nurture and bond with their children.

"Attachment" connotes codependency, clinging, smothering, and that is a big turnoff for many people.

So what exactly does attachment parenting entail, and why do some families choose to parent their children this way?

Many families consider their mobile phones to be their lifelines. The ability to get in touch with each other at any time of day is invaluable. In fact, we often wonder how we ever coped without them!

The increased popularity of smart-phones offers even more functionality. We can load maps to help us find the best route home; send an email to say we'll be home late; tweet traffic news...

But what better way to put our smart-phones to good use than maintaining the personal safety of ourselves and our loved ones?

In this post, I present five excellent smartphone applications which can help keep you and your family safe. All of these offer a free basic version, and are compatible with both iPhone and Android devices.

When browsing the shelves of Toys-R-Us, it's easy to be distracted by the latest craze and "must-haves". While there are a great many modern toys on the market which offer good play value, there are some essential toy types which every well-stocked toy box should include.

You'll find these in nurseries and playgroups across the country: the types of toys which are brought out again and again, and which are rarely relegated to the bottom of the toy box. What's more, these toys offer good educational value, and are relatively inexpensive.

If you're stuck for ideas for what to buy your child for their next birthday, or are looking for gift ideas, check out this cheat sheet of play room essentials and find toys which will stand the test of time.



This cheat sheet is A4 size for easy printing!

I originally wrote this post and eBook back in 2009. Since then our food bills have become even more expensive, but the advice offered remains as useful. 

So I've decided to re-publish this post and (hopefully) rekindle a little interest for Glamumous readers who may find it useful in 2013.

As I'm sure we're all aware, the cost of our family food bills has skyrocketed these past few months! According to the price comparison site, MySupermarket, the average weekly spend for a family of four has increased by as much as 25%.
Shocking, isn't it?

While we have little control over the rising cost of fuel, housing and other household bills, we can control just how much of our hard-earned cash we part with to feed the family. Switching over to supermarket own brands is not the only solution: there are many more ways we can choose to save money yet feed our families healthy and satisfying meals.

I've always considered myself a frugal mum. Compared to my friends and family, our food shopping bills are positively miniscule, and yet we always have food on the table, in the cupboards, stored in the freezer... In short, we are never hungry and I often feel smug in my knowledge of thrifty ways which are helping us survive this credit crunch.

So in response to encouragement from my friends (and all the articles in magazines which seem to teach us nothing new about saving on food bills), I decided to write my own ebook: Fabulous Frugal Food Bills.

This ebook offers useful tips, tricks and a scattering of family-friendly recipes to help you save money on your family food bills. From learning how to organize your food stores for maximum efficiency to saving money at the supermarket and even growing your own, I hope you will find something useful to lessen the burden of your weekly shopping trips.

I love my Kindle. Admittedly with the rush of work lately I haven't had much time to enjoy it, but come next week I'll be taking time off to spend making this Christmas magical for the kids.

While browsing Amazon's list of free Kindle books to download, I discovered some real treasures which the younger ones will be sure to enjoy. Perhaps you will enjoy reading these festive Kindle freebies too!

The Christmas Angel by Abbie Farwell Brown

Having chanced upon a fly poster outside Tesco the other day, my daughter and I made a last-minute dash to The Baby Friendly Show at the Sheffield Park Hotel.

Despite already having two children, I hadn't yet had the opportunity to experience a show dedicated to babies, and had almost no idea of what to expect. At first, DD and I felt a little out of place in the glossy clean hotel entrance - where were the screaming hoardes of toddlers and their flustered parents? A quick word to the receptionist pointed us in the right direction where we found the show began in the entrance to the hotel's event section and a cheery greeting from one of the organizers.

We'd arrived a little late in the day, at around 1pm when the show had been in full swing since 9am. I guessed at this time that we'd probably missed most of the fun planned for the show, though my daughter was still very excited at being able to participate in the treasure hunt which led us from stand to stand in the main exhibition hall.

Despite our late arrival, there we still many families there, most of whom sported prams and babes in arms (or a growing bump like mine!). It was such a pleasant surprise to see many dads there who didn't seem bored to death, making me wish I'd had the foresight to encourage my partner to come along with us!

The Treasure Hunt for the children was a genius idea - we needed to find the fruit or vegetable hidden on each exhibitor's stand, helping me to discover many local services which I may have otherwise overlooked. Being pregnant, I was particularly interested in maternity events and services; though I was a little too shy to join in, I enjoyed watching the Daisy Birthing taster session and was very pleased to find information about financial help available to pregnant workers on the NCT stand!

My favourite part had to be rummaging through the "nearly new" sale where we found loads of wonderful bargains. For £12, I bought a pair of gorgeous smart maternity trousers, two tees, a long white shirt, a dress for DD and a pair of training roller skates, all great quality and decent labels too! If I'd had more cash on me, I would have also bought one of the lovely travel-systems too, though we didn't notice the hotel had a cash machine until we were on the way out!

Next month, the BFG is hosting The Kids Show at the same hotel which we're also looking forward to attending. If you live in or near Sheffield, we look forward to seeing you there!

Celebrate Free Comic Book Day!

Although I'm now probably too old to be hanging around comic book shops, I sometimes use my son as an excuse to indulge in my inner child-geek =]

So when I heard about Free Comic Book Day, I was thrilled - free comics just for turning up?