Gifted Originals

1.
Q. What did one rock say to another rock?

A. Glad to meteor.

2.
Q. How does a yeti get down a hill?

A. By-icicle.

3.
Q. What do elves learn in school?

A. The elf-abet.

4.
Q. What’s a skeleton’s favourite instrument?

A. The tromBONE.

5.
Q. Why don’t cannibals eat clowns?

A. Because they taste funny.

6.
Q. What did the teddy bear say when the waiter asked if he wanted more food?

A. No thanks, I’m stuffed.

7.
Q. What does an orange say to another orange that he fancies?

A. You’re a-peeling.

8.
Q. What do you give a poorly bird?

A. Tweetment.

9.
Q. What did the mummy volcano say to the baby volcano?

A. I lava you.

10.
Q. Why was the broom late?

A. Because it over-swept.

So it’s party time again.  You’ve got the table cloth, the balloons and the candles, but what can you use to fill up those party bags?

Here are our top ten fun and low cost party bag fillers that will keep the kids entertained even when the fizzy pop has worn off.

1. Stretchable bendy men – pull and stretch these smiley chaps and watch them ping back into their original form
2. Party blowers – an essential for any party bag!
3. Set of four wax crayons – a mini red, blue, green and yellow crayon
4. Number sliders – slide the pieces into place so that the numbers are all in order from 1 to 15
5. Poly gliders – build your own foam flying machine – available in a plane or a fairy design
6. Fortune telling fish – just hold one in the palm of your hand and these magic fish tell you what mood you’re in
7. Mini water pistols – these are particularly great for summer parties!
8. Animal erasers – 4 designs available: lion, rhino, zebra, elephant
9. Bouncy ball – entertaining for any age with many designs available
10. Balloons – you’ll have a ton of them at the party, so why not tie one to each of the party bags and let the kids each take one home

Everyone loves a good party game, but which ones are the best? Here’s a list of 5 party games that I get excited just thinking about:

1. Musical Bumps.  There are various ‘musical’ game to compete with this one – musical statues, musical chairs, but this one is the winner in my book.  It’s hard to judge musical statues (and what if you’ve got a REALLY itchy nose?) and musical chairs is just about who’s strong enough to shove everyone else out the way, but musical bumps is HILARIOUS.  There is always an obvious winner, a lot of giggles, and a bunch of bruises to parade around the next day.
2. Flour Tower.  This is the game where you fill a bowl with flour and turn it upside down onto a plate to create a perfect tower, then you pop a sweet on the top.  The kids then have to take it in turns to cut a slice off the tower and whoever makes the sweet fall has to pick it up using only their teeth.  Guaranteed laughter (and mess).
3. The After Eights game.  Everyone is given an After Eight which they have to place (without the wrapper) onto their foreheads.  The challenge then is to get the chocolate into their mouths without using their hands.  If the children take it in turns then they get to have a good giggle at each other’s ridiculous facial contortions as they gradually get melted chocolate all over their faces.
4. The Chocolate Game.  Another game based on trying to shovel sweet treats into your mouth.  The children all sit in a circle with a bar of chocolate in the middle.  Alongside the bar of chocolate is a knife, a fork and various dressing up items.  The children take it in turns to roll a die and whoever rolls a six must run into the middle of the circle, put on all the dressing up items and then cut up the chocolate.  She can eat as much as she can, but ONLY ONE PIECE AT A TIME and her go is over as soon as the next child rolls a six.
5. Balloon burst.  This one is simultaneously hilarious and terrifying.  Everyone has a balloon tied to their foot on a length of string.  The aim of the game is to burst everyone else’s balloon without letting anyone pop yours.  I always found the best tactic was to go and hide in the toilets until there were only two other people left in.  Although, even then I never seemed to win!

Daffodil Easter egg cups

• Egg box
• Yellow card
• Yellow paint
• Scissors
• PVA glue

1. Ask an adult to help you cut out the 6 egg holders from the egg box
2. Paint all of them with the yellow paint and leave them to dry
3. Draw big flower shapes on the yellow card – try and fit 2 flowers on each piece. Then ask an adult to help you cut them out
4. When the egg holders are dry, put a little bit of glue on the bottom of each one and press them into the middle of the flowers
5. When the glue is dry you will have 6 beautiful daffodils that you can fill with real or chocolate eggs. Yummy!

Easter Refrigerator Cake

• 300 g milk chocolate
• 100 g softened salted butter
• 100 g digestive biscuits
• 100 g rich tea biscuits
• 100 g mini marshmallows
• 200 g chocolate mini eggs

1. Break the chocolate into pieces and melt in the microwave or in a bowl over simmering water
2. Add the butter and stir until it’s all mixed in
3. Break the biscuits into small pieces by putting them in a bag and bashing them with a rolling pin
4. Add the biscuits and marshmallows to the mixture and stir
5. Pour the mixture into a greased baking tin and top with the mini eggs
6. Put it in the fridge for about 2 hours then cut it up and serve!

1. Freeze orange segments and play them off as yummy sweeties.
2. Take your children shopping with you.  Tell them how many pieces of fruit and veg you need and let them choose – that way, when it comes to dinner time they’ll be more willing to give the greens a go.
3. Have a bowl of easy snacking fruit on the kitchen side (e.g. raisins, strawberries and grapes), so that idle hands in the kitchen will head for something healthy.
4. Add a yummy extra to make fruit more appealing.  For example peanut butter goes great with apples and chocolate spread makes bananas much more exciting.
5. Hide the veggies! Try adding carrot to mashed potato, pureeing mushrooms and adding them to a pasta sauce, or putting sweetcorn underneath the cheese on a homemade pizza.

Jack and Sophie have remained the most popular baby names in Scotland for the fourth year in a row.

Lewis was the second favourite boys’ name in 2011, according to the Registrar General for Scotland, while Lily climbed seven places from ninth to second for girls.

Between them, Jack and Lewis have been the top two boys’ names for the past 13 consecutive years.

However, spare a thought for Awesome, Boo-Tiger and Tea! Whilst most children love being given presents with their name on – here at Gifted Originals we think their parents might be hard pressed to find their little ones gifts personalised with their names.  But fear not, we’re proud to present  these hand-made chunky wooden names which  are made to order and can be  for any name – so there should be no more boo hoos for Boo-Tiger!

Just a thought Parents – treat your little ones well just in case they decide to stage a toy demonstration! You might come home to find your living room full of protesting toys! Sound a bit far fetched – well not according to one Russian Mayor.

A mayor in eastern Russia has banned a humorous demonstration in which toys would replace human activists demanding a clean presidential election.
The mayor of Barnaul in Siberia ruled that toys could not be participants in a demonstration.
Two such “nano-meetings” of toys sporting tiny placards were staged in a square in Barnaul earlier this month.
The Barnaul ban was reported by one of the Siberian activists, Sergei Andreyev, a member of the independent election watchdog Golos.
He wrote in his blog that his group wanted to deploy more than 200 toys in a rally on 18 February – little Lego men, toy soldiers, Kinder Surprise figurines and cuddly toys.
This toy’s banner reads: “I’m for clean elections!”
The idea was to get round a ban on unauthorised demonstrations, but Barnaul police had already alerted the mayor about “the use by political opposition forces of new techniques at public rallies – nano-meetings with toys”.

Here at Gifted Originals we think this is a great idea – and looking at the vast array of toys we stock we think the Kreecher Cushions would be great for a toy demonstration! Lined up with the Papo figures and perhaps flanked with a few of the Baby Stella dolls with placards in hand – what a great way to protest!

If Disney thought being the highest grossing, most critically acclaimed film of the year was something to be proud of, then Gifted Originals is sure its latest accolade will make the film makers burst with pride.

Toy Story 3 has won the Golden Tomato Award from the website Rotten Tomatoes. The achievement in film is bestowed upon the best-reviewed movie of the year, with the animated movie defeating several other popular choices from 2010.

Rotten Tomatoes just recently unveiled its “12th Annual Golden Tomato Awards,” although many movie goers may not have heard of these awards until now. According to ABC7.com, the movie “Toy Story 3″ received positive reviews from 99 percent of the critics. It edged out another popular film from 2010, “The Social Network,” which had 97 percent positive reviews. Both movies are up for Golden Globe Awards and likely will be up for Oscar Awards as well.

“Toy Story 3″ was considered the final film in the popular Disney-Pixar series which told the story of a young boy and his toys which came to life behind-the-scenes. Popular characters which emerged from the series included Buzz Lightyear and Woody, with celebrities Tim Allen and Tom Hanks lending their voices to the animated action figures. The final film in the series featured the owner of the toys, Andy, finally heading off to college, and his toys being accidentally sent to a daycare where they soon learned of an evil fate. The toys try to plot an escape from the daycare center so they can re-unite with Andy once again.

In addition to “Toy Story 3,” other movies which won Golden Tomato awards included “True Grit” in the action genre, “Inception” in the sci-fi genre, and “The Kids Are All Right” in the comedy genre. One of the more interesting winners was “The Runaways” starring Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart in the musical category. It achieved 68 percent positive reviews on the year. See the Rotten Tomatoes award winners here.

“Toy Story 3,” “The Social Network,” and “Inception” also rank highly on many year-end “Best Movies of 2010″ lists, so these choices aren’t too surprising to see at Rotten Tomatoes. All three films did rather well at the box office and are currently enjoying more success on DVD and Blu-Ray. The question now becomes if any of these three movies will win the ultimate award, Best Picture at the Oscars?

For Gifted Originals, children visiting our toy shop in Manchester is the essential part of the business. Their enjoyment from marvelling and playing with toys is something we value the most, and therefore take every measure to ensure the shop is a fun and safe place to be.

It seems not all toy shops take the necessary precautions.

A child in Ireland has been awarded €10,000 in damages after suffering post-traumatic stress when a bicyle fell 14 feet to land on the floor in front of her in a County Dublin toy shop.

Katie Campbell, now aged six, was two years old when the incident happened in October 2007 at the Smyths Toys at the Airside Retail Park, Swords, reports the website Breakingews.ie.

The toddler, visiting the store with her father John Campbell of County Meath, a social worker, narrowly avoided being injured in the incident, but barrister David Staunton told the Civil Circuit Court that afterwards she became anxious and also had nightmares.

He added that Katie’s GP had referred the youngster to a consultant child psychologist, Mr Andrew Conway, who diagnosed her with mild post-traumatic stress syndrome, based on symptoms including a hypersentive reaction to noises including thunder and the backfiring of cars, as well as the fact that she appeared unwilling to interact with other children.

As a result, he concluded that Katie’s emotional, social and behavioral development had suffered due to the incident.

Judge Matthew Deery, presiding over the court, approved an offer of €10,000 in settlement from Smyths Toys Ltd.