A mum on www.surreymummy.com/forum/44-gifts/991-how-much-should-you-spend-on-presents-for-parties.html recently posed the question – What is the right amount to spend on a birthday party present?

She felt quite surprised at the generosity & extravagance of other present givers at a recent party and subsequently felt ‘quite stingy’.  This is our response to her:

“Remember, it’s always the thought that counts and with a bit of planning ahead, a great gift can always be found for not too much money.  Most importantly don’t beat yourself up about it, it sounds as though you are making great, well thought-out choices, and I know my daughter would have been extremely happy to receive the gifts you describe.  Children are usually beyond the party age when they fully appreciate the monetary cost of a gift; they are delighted with something that will keep them occupied and engrossed, especially if their particular interests have been catered for.

Sorry about the self promotion, but it’s got to be done…..  Why not stock up on gifts when they are on offer, or in a sale.  Consider keeping a birthday party present drawer.  For example, we have a fantastic offer running at the moment for a half price Barbie; instead of £5.99, Barbie is £2.99 so you could even buy a set of Barbie clothes too for £2.99 and you have a great present for a 4 year old girl for only £5.98.  Another current offer is Hot Wheels Custom Motors 3 in 1 Power Set: original price £14.99, offer price £7.49 – a great sub £8 present for a boy.  Our best pre-school offer right now is buy 2 and get 1 free across a range of 10 different £9.99 WOW toys.  Equating to less than £6.70 a toy, you get a quality British-designed present at a great price that any pre-school child (and parent) would love.

Another way to save money is to chat to parents of other children invited to the party.  If there’s a particular present the party boy or girl would like, why not club together with other parents to get a more substantial gift.

Along these lines, a customer of ours recently asked if instead of a birthday present, would the guests mind buying a £5 Enchanted Wood Toys gift voucher so that the birthday boy could buy his ultimate, much dreamed of and very expensive Lego set.  This means that he got exactly what he wanted rather than be overwhelmed by 25 individual gifts, and the (thankful) parents of the invitees didn’t have to spend more than they could afford.  Let’s face it, party time is very expensive for poor Mum and Dad, especially around the reception class age group when very often the whole class is invited to each party! 

Wrapping paper and a birthday card always add to the cost and you can save a bit here too.  Instead of buying a fresh sheet of wrapping paper each time you buy a present, why not buy a 2.5m roll of brightly coloured generic Happy Birthday paper at a cost of £2.50.  You can use it to wrap a whole raft of presents, whether they are for a boy or a girl.  Ask us for some free matching curling ribbon while you’re about it.  Hey, we’ll even wrap and ribbon it for you!

Check out our offers on www.enchanted-wood.co.uk  Our spring sale starts in store on 25 May where there will be many great half price offers.”

Jane, Enchanted Wood Toys

A Gift for a Special One Year Old Boy

We were asked today by a customer for some inspirational ideas for a gift for a special one year old boy.  She wants to visit the store tomorrow but would like some information to come prepared with.

Here are Jurga, our Farnham Store Manager’s, suggestions.

Her favourite brand of all is WOW Toys: super cute, super tough toys for your little ones to love …and all with no batteries required!

WOW toys are great for role play from 1¹/₂ years with real life and fantasy themes to feed young children’s imaginations. They’ll love putting the figures and animals in and out of the vehicles and as they get older there are all sorts of exciting details to discover.

WOW toys are designed to work alone or combined together. Children can create fun imaginary worlds with WOW trailers that can be attached to many WOW toys and figures and animals that work with any WOW toy.

Look out for WOW buttons. Use the hand of one of your WOW figures (or just a finger) to press the button and open the door or hatch.

All WOW figures have their thumbs up and it isn’t just because they’re happy! It also means that they are not a choke hazard and are safe for children to play with from 18 months.

Our favourite at the moment is Fire Rescue Rory and is currently half price on our website or in store.  He has a magic magnetic function which lifts Jonny up and out of danger and just a simple turn of his search light drops him down to safety again. Rory’s trigger-pull motorised rotors power him up at top speed so he can get to any fire nice and quickly.

Fire Rescue Rory Was £19.99 Now £9.99                   Fire Buggy Bertie £9.99

Rory was £19.99, but now is only £9.99.  Why not buy a Fire Buggy Bertie at £9.99 to go with Rory for extra play value.

If wood is preferable to plastic, then we have a lovely selection of wooden toys in store – we are after all Enchanted Wood Toys!

Jurga suggests two items from BigJigs.  First up is the wooden name train.  Although suitable for 3 years up, it makes a super room decoration until a child is old enough to play with it.

The engine, letter carriages and guard’s van are £1.99 each.  Alternatively, you could buy the blue ABC engine and coal van for £6.99 and choose the letters to fit in the middle.

A really special wooden toy for a one year old is the BigJigs Cow Ride On; great if your toddler is a real “moooover”.

This wooden cow ride on toy is suitable for 12 months plus, and the green, yellow, orange and white flowers are particularly endearing. With its pastel coloured selection of blocks, he’ll have a great time playing with the shape sorting puzzle included. A great toy for both boys and girls, the BigJigs Cow Ride On is £34.99.

Don’t forget Jurga and her team (as with the other Enchanted Wood stores) are always happy to wrap and ribbon your gifts for you.

Today is Independents Day over at All About The Boys and we are taking part in this fantastic initiative for the first time.

This initiative is all about spreading the word about exciting and fresh independent businesses.  We believe firmly in supporting small, independent and local businesses, not least because they are run by people with an expertise in their field and a passion for customer service.  We will always go to an independent over a national any and every day of the week!

First up is Act One Parties run by Joanne McGowan in Surrey. www.actoneparties.co.uk and www.actoneadventures.co.uk 

A fully qualified drama, dance and fitness instructor, Joanne provides creative and active themed parties for 2 to 11 year olds across Surrey, and parts of Hampshire and Berkshire.  A mum herself, Joanne’s sense of fun combined with her experience means that all Act One Events are both energetic and imaginative, but most of all great fun!

Joanne also runs pre-school activity sessions on Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursdays at www.mummasandbeans.co.uk  in Godalming.  We are really excited to be welcoming her to our stores, Enchanted Wood Toys, for free pre-school fun from 1.30-2.30 on Tuesday 29 May in Haslemere (GU27 2HR) and from 10-11 on Thursday 31 May in Farnham  (GU9 7SX).  These sessions will be a mixture of story/drama/craft on a Jubilee theme.  For some Father’s Day fun, Joanne will be also be coming to Haslemere on Tuesday 12 June at 1.30-2.30 and to Farnham on Thurdsay 14 June at 10-11.

Our second independent business is Cakehole at the Orangery. 

This business is run by Lara, who currently sells her yummies at farmers’ markets/market stalls and on-line at www.cakeholelondon.com   I haven’t had the pleasure of trying Lara’s cakes yet, but am really glad she is opening her new store tomorrow (30 April 2012) round the corner from us on Castle Street in Farnham, GU9 7LP.  Her handmade treats are baked in small batches using local, organic and fairtrade ingredients. We’ll be round for tea soon!   

Feeling hungry………..

Our third independent business is Barista Coffee in Haslemere. www.baristahaslemere.co.uk

Barista, founded in 2006, is the only independent Fair Trade coffee house in Haslemere. Barista do things differently from the corporate high street branded coffee houses; they provide the best coffee house experience by offering an espresso based coffee in a relaxing atmosphere together with in-house handmade freshly prepared food products.  Just as important is the Barista conscience and ethos of using Fair Trade coffee, whereby a fair price is paid to coffee farmers and farmers communities to maintain standards in which coffee is grown.

Equally important to us mums and dads is that Barista is family friendly.  It hosts NCT coffee afternoons every 2nd Tuesday of the month from 2:30pm-4:30pm.

Encouraging outdoor play and exercise, sand play will let your children’s creativity run wild, digging, building and making shapes in the sand!

Now that the sun is out and the good weather is finally with us, don’t make the mistake of using any old sand from the DIY store for your little ones’ sand pits.

Play sand must be non-toxic and tested in accordance with BS EN71 parts 1, 2 & 3.

The shape and size of the grains of sand are important factors in making a good quality play sand.  The grain size plays a critical part in the moulding characteristics of sand, essential for its qualities as a play material.  The specially shaped, sub-rounded grains found in children’s play sand also help minimise abrasion; this is extremely important if sand gets in your child’s eye as it can be easily washed out.

Make sure you buy non-staining sand.  Children’s play sand is specially formulated to minimise staining so no worries about keeping clothes clean – at least not from the sand!

Check out our range of sand pits in store or on-line www.enchanted-wood.co.uk/outdoors-sand-and-water-play.irc

Buying Nerf ammo can be a confusing process for the uninitiated (that means Mum and Dad!)  Don’t worry, Enchanted Wood is here to help.

Here is a Nerf ammo buying guide you can use to make sure you always buy the right type of ammo for your Nerf gun.

 Choose Nerf Whistler Darts for:

• Nerf Nite Finder EX-3
• Nerf Maverick
• Nerf Barricade RV-10
• Nerf Havok Fire EBF-25

Whistler Darts can be used in all Nerf guns, except for the guns that use the clip system. 

Nerf Clip System Darts fit:      

• Nerf Longshot CS-6
• Nerf Recon CS-6
• Nerf Deploy CS-6
• Nerf Raider CS-35
• Nerf Stampede ECS

They will still work in other Nerf guns as well, but you’d be better off buying other darts if your gun doesn’t use a clip.

Nerf Dart Tag Darts are designed for:

• Dart Tag Strike Fire
• Dart Tag Fury Fire

The Latest Nerf Vortex guns take the Vortex Discs: 

• Nerf Vortex Proton
• Nerf Vortex Vigilon
• Nerf Vortex Praxis
• Nerf Vortex Nitron

Remember, it’s Nerf or nothin’ !

We love the new phone app ‘Make Time 2 Play’. 

Launched last month to help parents stuck for play ideas, the ‘Make Time 2 Play’ app provides a bank of play ideas for each day of the year, designed to make parents’ lives easier when it comes to playtime.

The app is free to download and contains versatile suggestions for playing outside, inside, or even on the move. Parents can choose to tailor ideas to their children’s ages, the number of kids playing, and whether they will be inside or outside. What’s more, if the first idea that pops up isn’t the best option, then parents just need to shake their mobile until it lands on a play idea that is right for their family.

We think this app will inspire parents, especially those who are often looking after more than one child, to think up fun and inventive games all year-round.

The app, aimed at parents with children aged one year old and over, is available to download from the Android and Apple stores.

Happy playing!

Being new to the blogging game, we thought it would be interesting to see what you think  of our new website

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