We had a big clearout of Belle’s room this month. If you have ever seen Belle’s room you will understand why this is a big deal.

Picture a bric-a-brac shop, run by one of the those people from the programme about obsessive compulsive hoarding. Then take a tray of old cups and place them at strategic intervals around the room. Now mix everything up, as though you are playing a game where you try to get people to remember what was there in the first place.

There you go, that’s it.

The tally of things we took out of her room in the end stands at:

  • Two items of furniture
  • One bin liner of clothes
  • Four bags of books
  • Two bin liners of rubbish and recycling
  • Six bags for the charity shop

You’d not imagine a child would have that much stuff in the first place, but even with all of that gone her room is still nicely full. View Post

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Today’s post is from my sister Annabel.

Time.

Remember it?

There used to be lots of it. Time to spend with friends, time to cook and eat a meal, time to shop without persuading a toddler that traipsing around a supermarket is definitely a Fun Activity. I was a student for a leisurely six years, so I was very familiar with the art of wasting time. Then a mere eight months after I’d handed in my last dissertation I was pregnant. Time disowned me.

These days with two young children if I have two minutes spare…oh no… no, that doesn’t happen.

So when I heard about Box Upon a Time I saw an opportunity to recoup lost minutes (and sanity). Box Upon a Time is a clever idea in which you receive hand-picked baby or toddler clothes tailored to your requirements each month. Box Upon a Time is joining the growing range of on-line subscription services where you sign up and receive a monthly parcel to your door; think organic veg box but with lovely clothes instead of carrots, potatoes and that random item that you’re not exactly sure about and have to Google.

Box Upon a Time

A super speedy, fun questionnaire to determine your ‘fashion profile’, (such as, what colours and patterns you prefer), on their easy to follow website and a few measurement details about your child and you’re done.

At present Box Upon a Time caters for the 0-3 years age range and aims to offer quality brands at a guaranteed minimum 40% discount; for the £49 monthly payment you receive a minimum of £82 worth of goods. Box Upon a Time currently work with 20 brand partners including Tartine & Chocolat, Diesel and Toffee Moon.

Splendid! No more hideous clothes shopping trips trying to persuade my children to adhere to basic social norms and not wipe their noses on shiny new garments or play hide and seek within the clothes rails. (My daughter also insists on individually greeting each mannequin with a cuddle).

If, like me, you tend to grab clothes for the children in the supermarket whilst you are grabbing everything else you need, at the same time as negotiating your child down from standing in the trolley seat, it may seem like quite a departure. When I considered it however, I potentially spent more on clothes grabbed for convenience but not really wanted than this would cost each month. The average parent spends £63 a month on clothing their children, plus the time and stress saved is priceless.

Profile complete, I sat back and awaited my parcel for my two year old daughter. I LOVE getting parcels delivered. The excitement of wondering what is inside and thinking that someone has bothered to consider what you might like takes me back to being a child at Christmas.

Box Upon A Time

Elegantly packaged, the much anticipated box arrived….I opened it slowly, trying to prolong the moment. Three lovely little items awaited us.

All well made and matching the fashion profile I had created, the clothes were a very pleasing addition to my daughter’s wardrobe. Any concern I may have had about whether I would like the items was gone. However, should there be any reason to exchange an item it is dealt with free of charge and there is also no commitment to subscribe for any set length of time.

Box Upon a TIme

A lovely selection, available from Box Upon A Time

Box Upon a Time is such a lovely idea, it saves you valuable minutes and brings you a little bit of Christmas excitement month after month.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post and Annabel was sent a sample from Box Upon a Time for the purposes of this post.

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I’m not great at buying clothes for Belle. She has what a fashion magazine would call a ‘capsule wardrobe’, and doesn’t really like to dress outside her slightly too small skinny jeans and favourite jumpers, worn over and over. When the people at www.miniwardrobe.com gave Belle the opportunity to try something from their LEGO Wear range then, I was hopeful of expanding her clothing horizons.

Now I’m sure you are thinking, ‘LEGO Wear? Clothes made out of LEGO? Clothes for the little LEGO Characters?’ View Post

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I’ve been going to The Baby Shows for work for a couple of years now, and can honestly say that Me&I is a brand that always catches my eye. They are a Swedish company, who produce clothes for both adults and children in a range of funky, eye-catching prints, and as someone whose dress sense has been described many times as ‘colourful’, Me&I have a real appeal.

They operate through a network of agents across the country, who host parties for you in your home. Nice parties though, not the kind where you feel you have to buy something because unless the hostess takes £27,000 of orders she doesn’t qualify for her ‘free’ hostess gift spoon.

When I asked Belle if she’d like a new dress, her first question was “Do I have to review it?”

Oh how cynical! And yet perceptive…

“Yes,” I said, “of course you do.”

She sighed.

“Ok then, if I have to.”

Honestly, you’d think I never bought her clothes the way she carries on.

She looked far less put upon though when her dress arrived. I chose the ‘Chubby Bird’ print because, well, because it was called ‘Chubby Bird’ obviously, and I thought it was cute. Always keen to add her personal touch to an outfit, Belle set about accessorising furiously. “Look!” she said when her outfit was complete, “I look like Nancy Drew!”

kids chubby bird print dress

Being quite small for her age, Belle’s dress was plenty long enough to wear on its own, but as she gets taller it could work well as more of a tunic with leggings underneath, as there was plenty of growing room width wise, and the fabric had a nice little stretch in it.

We went and found Bee in the kitchen. “Wow!” said Bee. “You look like Nancy Drew!”

We tried some more photographs, this time going for a ‘girl detective looking into the distance thinking about a recent crime’ feel, so as to avoid Belle having to look at the camera.

kids chubby bird print dressIn lieu of having a mystery to solve, we went instead for a walk to St Werburgh’s city farm where, after a quick look at the pigs, we settled into the cafe. With an outfit like that Belle was definitely a lady who lunched.

P.S. If you think Belle looks pretty cute, you might want to vote for us in the ‘style’ category in the Brilliance in Blogging awards.

I am a member of the Mumsnet Blogging Network, a group of parent bloggers picked by Mumsnet to review products, services, events and brands. I have not paid for the product or to attend an event. I have editorial control and retain full editorial integrity.

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