The following is a guest post is written by my good friend – and mother of two; Kate (6 months) and Toby (6 years) – Maria Green.

Today – September 16 – marks Working Parents Day; an annual event which recognises the great efforts of mums and dads everywhere that are in employment, despite having a little one (or two) to run around after.

Juggling a family and work can be difficult for anyone, but I would argue it is particularly hard for mothers who work from home. More often than not, male breadwinners work away from the home environment but many mummies – like me – operate home businesses in order to add to the household income, without being too far away from the baby, or the cooker and washing machine (ah, the curse of traditional gender roles!)

I have my own cake making business. I make good use of the internet to promote my services, and regularly use social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to find new clients. However, due to my housewife-commitments, I do not get to conduct as much offline promotion as I would like. Over the years though, I have adopted a number of leaflet-distribution methods for ensuring awareness of my business in the offline world.

If you are a home-business mum, the following tips might help you to promote your own business offline, without having to hire extra hands…

#1: Target OAP Community Centres

This might seem like an obvious tip but in my experience, these days many local business promoters forget about advertising within community centres. I never originally considered the older folk that spend much time at these establishments to be the primary target consumers for my business, but figured “Why not?” one day when I was passing one during a school-run. It turns out this demographic has much disposable income – not to mention and impressive number of cake-eating family members and grandchildren!

Leaving the house during the day can be difficult for me at times, since doing so can interfere with my 6 month-old daughter’s routine and cause her to incessantly howl as a result. However, once a month I do get in my car and visit nine local (and wider-local) community centres with Kate in tow. Making this effort to top up the pile of flyers in each centre and promote my latest discounts/offers has proved very fruitful. My driving route between these centres is planned carefully, so that I can visit all nine in less than two hours.

Even better; I have secured myself an excellent reputation for my cakes, as a result of volunteering to bake without charge for charitable events held at these centres. Leaving a handful of my business leaflets or cards on the table next to my cupcakes, Chelsea buns and Victoria sponges has seen me secure additional business, which I may have otherwise missed out on.

#2: Never Doubt the Power of School

Many would consider the task of dropping off and picking up my son Toby from primary school each day a chore, but I have long considered the task a business opportunity!

Toby’s best friend celebrated his 6^th birthday last year, and so I whipped up a batch of very attractive cupcakes in celebration. The school isn’t allowed to give its students sweets without the permission of parents, and I decided to use this to my advantage. I boxed each cake individually and every child was given one to take home with them at the end of the school day (if mum and/or dad said it was OK). Each box also contained one of my glossy business cards, so the parents would know exactly where the beautiful, edible-glitter decorated treat had come from. It was not long until I started receiving catering requests for the other kids’ birthday parties!

I have also baked a number of cakes free of charge for several money-raising events held by the school and this has helped to spread word about my culinary services and skills.

#3: Make Use of Flyering Friends

Not every home-business mum will have friends that deliver local newspapers or product catalogues locally, but if you do this can prove to be very useful for your own promotion.

When I heard that my sister’s son had secured himself a paper round, I asked him if he would mind dropping one of my leaflets through each letterbox when completing his round. He kindly agreed, as did my friend Sarah; an Avon representative.

You’d be surprised how many cake requests I get as people read the headlines or pick themselves out a new lipstick! I do limit this method to one day in each month only though – I don’t want to bombard people or receive any complaints!

#4: Always Have Promotional Materials to Hand

Again, this might seem like an obvious tip. However, I cannot count the number of times I have found myself in a situation which presents an opportunity to promote my services, only to have no leaflets or business cards on my person.

In these situations, I have recited the digits of my telephone number which have then been scrawled down or saved on the potential-customer’s mobile phone. I much prefer the professional image that handing over an expertly designed flyer or business card gives. As such, I try to make a habit of keeping some promotional materials in the glove box of my car – and in my handbag – at all times.

If you are seeking a professional flyer printing service to aid your business promotion, Maria Green – the author of this post – recommends you visit http://www.solopress.com/leaflet-printing/

Great for kids party food

I love making these little banoffee pies, they are so quick and super easy to make plus they look pretty impressive. They are great for buffets, dinner parties and also a good idea for kids parties too. I love mini food, it looks cute and plus I think you can get away with eating loads more. That’s my excuse anyway. They are great to make with your little ones, why not give them a try and let me know what you think.

What you’ll need to make these little beauties:

• 1 x block of ready made shortcrust pastry.
• 1 x can of ready made caramel.
• 1 x ripe banana.
• 1 x tub of cream for whipping.
• 1 x bar of chocolate for grating (Size optional – I go for large, so you can eat the left overs)

All the ingredients you need, unless you are a real domestic goddess and make your own pastry and caramel!

The most essential piece of equipment you’ll need is the mini muffin tin. I got mine from a Pampered Chef party, but you can pick them up pretty cheap at Amazon (see below). Plus, you’ll need the dobber too.

How to make these mini banoffee pies…..

Cut a third off the block of pastry and just use the remaining two thirds. Cut up the block of pastry into little squares, ready for rolling.

I only use two thirds of the pastry otherwise the pasty is too thick in the case

Roll each square into a little ball and pop into the mini muffin tin.
Use the dobber to push into the tin and then prick the bottom with a fork.

Use the dobber to mold the pastry cases

Don't forget to prick with a fork

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200c (180C for fan assisted ovens), Gas Mark  6 for 12 mins, or longer until the cases are cooked.

Take them out of the oven and add the caramel.

Let them cool off and then add the sliced banana.

Use a nozzle and bag to add the whipped cream.

And then finish off with your grated chocolate and you can also stick a Cadburys Button in each one.

Eat 3, to taste test.
Then tell everyone you made the caramel and pastry from scratch. Smug face. Yes sir.

Enjoy

Thanks for reading……….AML x

So I am off to a hair appointment and I am walking down a local parade of shops. As I zoom past a charity shop, this beautiful candelabra catches my eye. I stop, walk back and just look at it. I stand there thinking….. ‘Should I? I have always wanted one of those. Maybe it’s a sign. I think it’s calling me to buy it. I’ll just find out how much it costs’.

You never know what pre-loved things you can find in a charity shop

I walk in, take a closer look and it’s even better close up. It’s really heavy and just looks ‘grand’. I tell the lady working in the shop that I have always wanted a candelabra. After we have had a little chat about it, she tells me it’s £25.

As I am standing there, I think, £25…..urm. I don’t really need one, but it just looks lovely. Can I afford it? What shall I do? I suppose it is for charity after all.

She then tells me that Bob who works in the shop has spent hours and hours out the back cleaning it up – and that was it. I was sold. How could I turn down buying it after so much love and effort has gone into restoring it. So I bought it and I don’t regret it at all. Obviously it’s not the real mccoy at £25, but every time I look at it, I just love it.

I have never really shopped in charity shops before, but you never know what other pre-loved treasures you can find. So this is 100% most definitely My Star Buy Of The Week.

Thanks for reading….AML x

On a night out last week, I was travelling in a taxi to the restaurant and took a quick look in my compact mirror.  Not only did I have a streak of black eye liner down the side of my face (not the look I was going for) I also looked really rather shiny.

Although I usually manage to cram the make up essentials into my little clutch bag, I didn’t have any powder and nor did my fellow companions. I don’t normally wear powder anyway, just bronzer, as my skin is usually quite dry but I must have over moisturised and it looked like I had glossed my face as well as my lips!

But then my friend Rose, the make up saviour of the day, pulled this little envelope out of her bag which looked like a business card holder. This was then the moment I was introduced to these…..Kleenex Shine Absorbing Sheets.

They are really thin sheets that you use to dab/rub on your face to absorb any grease on your face to give you a mat finish. I was pretty sceptical at first that a soft little sheet could make such a difference, but it does. Bloody brilliant. So this is why they are My Star Buy Of the Week. These will definitely become one of my make up essentials.

Some more reasons why I liked these so much:

• There are 50 in the envelope and are only £2.99 for a pack
• They are small enough to fit in the smallest of handbags
• They don’t give you that white, ghostly look that powder can give you
• They are nothing like the paper powder sheets you used to be able to buy (if anyone remembers them – they were like tracing paper!)
• They are great for people who have a problem with greasy skin or anyone who ever looks a bit shiny.
• You can buy them in supermarkets as well as the usual places like Boots and Superdrug.

Don’t think they are just for women though. My husband has stolen a few of them too to keep the grease at bay. But please don’t tell him I told you.

Thanks for reading…AML x

I love Twitter and the digital age for many reasons, but one in particular, and this is why:

Do you ever watch TV and think, “Ooh, she looks nice in that”?

A few weeks ago, I did just that. I was watching the One Show, with the lovely Alex Jones who was wearing a really pretty top. I took to Twitter straight away to find out where it was from, as I guessed that other people may also be asking too. I did a search for Alex Jones, but before I needed to express my love for her top in 160 characters, Alex Jones’s stylist Tess Wright (@TESSWSTYLIST) had already Tweeted where it was from. Just brilliant.

It was from a company called Dahlia Fashion, who supply to Top Shop. However, I just went straight to the online shop of Dahlia Fashion, ordered the top straight away and two days later I was wearing it. I love it. And so this is the reason why I love Twitter. Simple as that.

 Thank you for reading…

This week I offered a little of my spare time to take care of a friends little girl. Since this was my first time sitting for her, I thought it might be wise to go armed with a few creative activities to keep her entertained!

After browsing some creative kits, I decided to buy a ‘make your own jewellery’ set from the Early Learning Centre.  I’d heard from Maya’s mum that her little one often begged to sleep in her ‘dressing up’ jewellery, so I thought this one could be a winner. (And I’ll admit, I quite fancied a little jewellery making myself.)

As soon as I arrived and gave Maya her gift, she spotted the pictures of wooden ladybirds on the box and wanted to get started. The pack contained:

• An array of wooden beads including ladybirds and flowers
• A coloured elasticated wooden bracelet
• Glue
• Elastic cord
• EVA foam and templates for cutting shapes.
• Plus instructions

The pack had enough to make 2 wooden bracelets, a ponytail clip and a necklace.

Like most three year olds, Maya wasn’t mad keen on working to instructions! She began by picking her favourite beads and together we began to glue them onto the pre-strung cuff bracelet. After a couple of demonstrations, she was away and happily glued the rest of the beads herself.

This is what we made. Maya loved it!

Next, she wanted to make another bracelet. I cut a length of cord for her and she chose other beads and threaded them onto the cord herself, naming the colours as she went. She was really focussed on this and seemed to really enjoy it. The results were very cute.

I then suggested we made the hair clip together, which involved tracing stencils onto UVA foam and cutting them out. Maya seemed less interested in this part (this may have been because we had already been playing for one hour or perhaps because she was unable to do this part independently). The stencils were quite small and fiddly to draw around and the foam needed sharp scissors to cut.

It was at this point she got a little bored and suggested that perhaps we have a princess tea party instead – I was happy to oblige! I do hear from her mummy that she has requested to sleep in the bracelets! So all in all, I’d consider the jewellery making kit a hit! A great present for a three to five year old girl.

Thank you for reading…AML x

Perfect Royal Jubilee Party Food

Stuffed Strawberries

I love a Royal party! I had never really seen myself as a Royalist until the Royal wedding last year of Wills and Kate. We had a big garden party with all our friends and it was great fun. We hung out the bunting, opened up the Pimms and everyone turned up with a dish for the table. Good memories. So now we have another planned for the Royal Diamond Jubilee in June 2012. Any excuse for a good old knees up! 

These little beauties are a great idea for party food, not only are they very patriotic for a royal party, they are ideal for busy mums on the run, as they are super quick to whip up, really tasty, relatively good for you because they are mostly fruit (urmm?) and they look pretty impressive too. Plus kids love them! It’s a win win solution for a quick and easy party dish.

The ingredients

The ones I’ve made are literally:

• Strawberries
• Whipped cream with icing sugar to make it a bit sweeter & a drop of vanilla essence
• Blueberries

But other ideas for fillings are:

• Cheesecake mixture – cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla essence
• Chocolate mousse
• Crème fraîche

And other ideas for toppings could be:

• Crumbled biscuit
• Chocolate – melted, crumbled or buttons
• Crumbled meringue

How to make stuffed strawberries

Cut off the tops and bottoms of the strawberries and hollow out the tops.

Use a mini muffin tin to help store the strawberries

Pipe in your choice of filling with a piping bag and nozzle, or you can just use a sandwich bag with the corner cut off. Then top with your chosen topping.

Also brilliant for dinner parties

If you’ve tried these, I’d love to hear your suggestions, recommendations or what you thought.

Some great little Jubilee party food ideas…

Thanks for reading….AML x

…Sunflowers

I am not the best gardener in the world, but I love the idea of planting and growing a vegetable patch. It’s definitely in my plan and something I will do soon with the Little Man. I love Barbara from The Good Life – but that’s probably a bit ambitious. I could see myself as a hybrid of Barbara and SJP! Anyway, baby steps……after planting some sunflower seeds on our kitchen window sill, we made the most of the sunny weather and got outside to plant our little beauty.

I was inspired by a post I read from Mrs P, another mummy blogger. Her blog is called All Things PP and I absolutely love it for ideas for things to do with the Little Man. So thank you Mrs P, we had lots of fun planting and growing ours!

We made use of the Little Man’s gardening kit he received for Christmas, he loved it, especially the little watering can and it will no doubt come in handy when we start to plant the rest of our little garden together.

It was getting pretty big on the window sill so time to get outside and start planting!

This was probably the best bit for the Little Man, getting pretty dirty!

Unfortunately only one sunflower made it to the pot, after they were handled a little bit roughly when planting!

Secured it nicely with a stick and some cable ties

Giving it a 'little' water!! (we had to hide the watering can in the end!)

Now we'll watch our sunflower grow!

Thanks for reading…..AML! x

I am a self-confessed shopaholic – it’s dreadful. It really is. I can’t go anywhere without buying something, anything! And it really can be anything. I just convince myself that I ‘need’ it and make the purchase, getting a little rush of shopaholic-style adrenaline. I work in a town centre, which is lethal for me. I can easily take a trip to Boots…..£50 quid gone…..just like that.

We went to a market the other week, it was an awful market, full of stalls for dog food and toys, DIY stalls, awful market clothes – you get the picture. Being the shopaholic I am, I bought myself some ‘garden shoes’. Garden shoes!! Honestly, what was I thinking?

1. I am not over 60.

2. I have PLENTY of shoes that I could wear out in the garden.

3. Who really wears garden shoes anyway.

They are basically a really cheap pair of crocs. And at £5 I needed them, as urm…..garden shoes. When I got them home, I did have a little chuckle to myself and made myself walk around the garden in them, just to say I’d worn them.

Anyway, the reason for my post was to showcase my purchase of the week. This week I ventured into town in my lunch hour and made my way to H&M to stock up on some new clothes for my Little Man.

So my *Star Buy Of The Week** is…..

Red Skinny Chinos – £5.99 from H&M – Size 2-3 years

Bargin….and also SUPER cute. The Little Man is so rocking the look.

Thanks for reading…….AML! x

Travelling with babies and toddlers on a plane isn't as bad as you may think!

We have taken the Little Man on a couple of long haul holidays in his short little life, so I think I’m pretty qualified to give some tips on travelling with a baby/toddler on a plane. Were we mad? Not really! It’s not as bad as you may think. But you need to be prepared – and then some! For us, it was so much easier when he was a baby, rather than a toddler. As soon as he was walking we had our work cut out a bit more. We nickname him our Pocket Rocket, as he’s got way too much energy and is pretty fast on his feet, so having to sit on a 12 hour flight was always going to be tough for him, but I think we all did pretty well. I did feel really nervous beforehand though. A couple of glasses of wine after take off helped a bit too!

The best thing you can do it be prepared and have lots of tricks up your sleeve to keep the entertainment going, more so for toddlers!

Travelling with a baby

The first holiday was to Boston, USA. It was a 7-8 hour flight and he was 12 months old. Here are my tips…

1. If possible try and get the bulkhead seats, so there is room for your little one to crawl around or just sit and play.
2. Get an isle seat, so you can easily get up and down without having to keep pushing past people.
3. Get them changed into a clean nappy, vest and baby grow just before you get on the flight, so they are super comfortable. Layers are good!
4. Give them a milk feed at take off.
5. Walk around with them as much as possible during the flight – that will be good for you and them!
6. A few of their favourite toys, we had the magnetic cars from ELC.
7. Favourite books, puppet books and some new books.
8. Lots of changes of clothes and plenty of wipes.
9. Disposable bibs (The Pound Shop do these as a pack of 10)
10. We took the Ella’s Kitchen pouches of food incase he didn’t eat anything on the plane. They are resealable do are ideal.
11. Snacks – bread sticks, rice cakes.

Don't under estimate being prepared!

Travelling with a toddler

The second holiday was to California. The flight was 11 hours and the Little Man was 21 months.

Here are some ideas to take on the plane…

1. A couple of new toys wrapped up, so when the boredom starts to kick in, then to open something new will keep them occupied and interested for a while longer!
2. Flash cards and books.
3. DVD player – although there are cartoons and films, if they like anything in particular then this can help. Toy Story was our saving grace!
4. Ice cubes in a cup from the flight attendants.
5. Masking tape and a pen – it’s ideal to draw on and just stick!!
6. Stickers and sticker books.
7. Crayons and colouring books.
8. iPad/tablet, or iPhone with flashcards. The Elias range of apps for babies are brilliant – they are a interactive flash cards.
9. Lots of snacks.
10. Disposable bibs (The Pound Shop do these as a pack of 10)
11. Straws.
12. Favourite blanket/soft toy,
13. Really comfy clothes, layers are best. Take a  few changes of clothes on board with you along with plenty of wipes.

Masking tape - not an obvious choice but a saviour all the same!

Another essentials that we found really useful on holiday:

1. Travel seat (we use this now at home instead of a high chair, so a great investment).

2. Lightweight Silvercross Pushchair with travel bag.

3. Blackout UV pushchair shade – was ideal when the Littleman needed to sleep out and about and we didn’t have to worry about him being in the sun.

If you have any other tips, I’d love to hear them – Good luck with your travels!
Thanks for reading….AML x