Last Minute Treats for Christmas

Christmas Day is fast approaching. By now most people have their decorations up, have been to, or are still trying to find costume items for nativity plays, have put Christmas cards in the school postbox and often are still trying to remember where they put the leftover wrapping paper last year. Sound familiar?

Christmas is wonderful however sometimes the preparation during such a busy time, especially when you have children, can make for very tired grown-ups.

Here at Dotty Hippo, we try to make Christmas shopping as easy as possible for you. No trudging down a crowded high street while trying to remember what you need for who, while keeping an eye on the clock so that you're home in time to see the reindeer at the local garden centre.

You may still order Christmas gifts from us, up until 12pm Monday 18th December. 

We have some fantastic toys and games for you to choose from, including (but not limited to!):

Wooden Toys and Games

We have a wide range of quality, fun and educational toys and games that will delight all ages. See everything we have on offer in our wooden range here.

John Crane Tildo Cutting Vegetable Set

Play Houses

Perfect for tea parties, pirate adventures, as reading nooks, for quiet space and for fun with friends, our Playhouses are amongst our best sellers, and it's clear to see why. See the full range of playhouses here.

Kiddiewinkles Rose Cottage and Tea Shop

Puzzles and Construction

Our Puzzles and Construction range offers hours of fun for all ages and features some truly fantastic brands. See more here.

Fiesta Crafts Wooden Cannon Construction Set

These are just a few of our popular ranges. See more on the website. Don't forget that if you are looking for inspiration our gift finder filter tool might be of use.

Remember to check out before 12pm on Monday!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Dotty Hippo Christmas Gift Guide

Try as you might to ignore how fast the diary pages are turning, there's no denying that Christmas is coming and it's coming fast! For those of you who haven't started your shopping yet or haven't finished we've put together a Christmas gift guide to offer up some inspiration.

Ethical and Educational Toys from Lanka Kade

We are very proud to be stockists of the Lanka Kade range. Lanka Kade helps to support over 200 families in Sri Lanka through the skillful making and selling of these gorgeous wooden toys. All of the toys Lanka Kade produce offer educational benefits as well as enjoyment ones, from literacy and numeracy skills, building, shape recognition and more. See the full range here, with the smallest items starting at just £4.95.

The Enchanted Forest Pop Up Play Tent (with Play Mat)

A perfect place to play, nap, read and more, this very affordable easy to erect and pack away pop up tent makes a great choice of gift. Suitable for use indoors and out the Enchanted Forest Pop Up Play Tent which sports a useful roll up and down door cover may be used all year round.

There are other designs in the range including a farm, fire station and a pirate themed version all priced at £23.50. See all four and read more about their size and specifications here.

Bead Box from Bead Bazaar
The Nature Friend Bead Box is packed with fun for little ones who enjoy jewellery making and arts and crafts. Great to use alone or share with siblings and friends this lovely variety of shaped and coloured beads make great patterns. Priced at just £10.45 it also makes for a budget-friendly buy, always great at Christmas when you might have a number of children to buy for as well as your own.

Janod Magnetic Rocket

Here at Dotty Hippo we are huge fans of the Janod range which is why you'll find we offer a large number of their different toys and games. We turn to Janod because of their high quality craftmanship, bright colours, fun and educational benefits. We also stock them because we like playing with them ourselves from time to time (for professional research obviously!).

This Janod Magnetic Rocket is one of our most popular items and for true fans comes in a large size and a giant size. Visit the website to see the full Janod collection as well as the brightly coloured magnetic rocket ship.

To see more pop along to the website where you will find a wider range of toys, games, decorative items and more with something for all ages and all budgets.

Happy shopping!

Marking Milestones

When pregannt the one thing that everyone warns us about that we don't really understand until we have had children is how utterly and heartbreakingly quickly they grow up. Each and every stage is a delight as you watch your little ones learn, explore and develop.

What is most important is capturing those all-important milestones so that you (and they) may enjoy looking back at them in years to come. Be creative and enjoying recording your special memories,

Photographs and Videos

Taking quick snaps on the go and videos that catch children doing something funny or special couldn't be easier these days with the majority of parents having a mobile phone in their pocket. If you are recording memories this way make sure that you back up photos and videos regularly, using whatever system your phone provider / manufacturer recommends or something you are happy with. A lost or damaged phone could mean losing pictures that can't be replaced so don't take the chance!
Dropbox and Onedrive both offer fantastic cloud back-up options.

If you are a photo taker by all means enjoy sharing these online with friends and family. Make sure that you also print some of them off too. You can print from home fairly easy these days, in stores such as Boots or using an online developer, many of which will run regular special offers and freebies on prints and will help you convert your pictures into keyrings, canvas wall art, mugs and more if you want to.

Height Charts

One of the scary things about children is how they go from tiny tots to strapping tweenagers in what seems to be a blink of the eye. Height charts are a great way to keep tabs on how quickly they are shooting up as well as looking fabulous in any playroom or bedroom.

A Journal or Scrapbooking

With so many memories to keep track of why not keep a journal or a scrap book? This may be a great way to record such things in a fun and personal way. Some prefer baby books or record books while others go all out with papercraft, photos, buttons, stickers and more. Either way produces something great to look back on and older children will no doubt enjoy help you putting these memory books together.

How do you remember and record special memories from your children's early years (and beyond?). Marking milestones needn't be a chore and there are so many fun ways to do it. Check Pinterest for inspiration if you are looking for something a little more quirky.

Gifts for Older Children

Looking for inspiration when it comes to buying presents for older children isn't always the easiest of tasks, especially if you are buying for someone else's children. Your own are usually quite happy to tell you what they'd like and what they are currently into and yet still finding something as a suprise or something a bit different may require some extra help.

Buying for young children is fairly easy as toys and games are the order of the day and we have plenty of these to choose from. When buying for older children try some of these gift suggestions out for size....

Educational Fun
Children starting school or already enjoying the experience often benefit from more educational gifts, as long as these are fun and not boring. Help them learn and practice the fundementals of maths and literacy with magnetic fun from Fiesta Crafts perhaps?

Cool Accessories

When it comes to being out and about you have to look cool (this awareness of coolness seems to start at around 4 years old!). Choose brightly coloured accessories such as water bottles, lunch bags and backpack which will be useful as well as being fun. Our Stephen Joseph and Skip Hop ranges have proven extremely popular with children from tiny tot age upwards.

Bedroom Decor

Older children love to personalise their own space and how better than with decorative items such as shaped mirrors, wall stickers and more? With a wide range of themes to choose from, from alphabets to fire trucks or fairies, as well as some seriously cute Babyface gingham bedding in a range of colours there are plenty of gift ideas here. 

Many gift buyers struggle to find something new or different when buying on the high street which is why we put together ranges full of fun and quality items all in one place for you to choose from. This makes buying presents much easier when you are trying to find something cool or useful and yet don't want to  try and work out what the latest "thing" or trend is.

Do you have any ideas or advice for buying for older children? If so please do share! 

Keeping Precious Memories Safe

Our little ones grow up so incredibly fast. One minute we are waving scan pictures around in excited anticipation and the next we are waving them into school for their first day, while desperately trying to hold back the tears. One thing that many parents are told when expecting a little one is that their early years especially seem to go so very fast, and they really do!  

From the moment they are born we start collecting mementoes and special items. Some babies are photographed mere seconds after they were born and these snaps are tucked safely away, hospital ID bracelets and even first curls are kept safe. How do you keep special memories safe? 

A Baby  / Memory Box There are some fabulous memory boxes or baby boxes which either come decorated or allow you to add pictures and more, personalising them. These offer a safe place to store mementoes such as baby's birth weight / ID cards if you opted for a hospital birth, scan pictures, first curls, letters to Santa and more. 

A Safe Box Perhaps not as pretty as a dedicated memory box or indeed any type of sealable storage box a safe box, or fireproof box is something that some householders choose to use to store very important papers and keepsakes so that they are safe in the case of a fire etc. While not the cutest way to keep your special keepsakes together it is certainly an option. 

Journals and Scrap Books Many parents like the idea of a memory book or memory file to share those special times, a mixture of photographs, keepsakes, quotes, text, dates; anything you want to include all in one place. This option offers a perfect opportunity for putting everything together ready to hand over to your children when these tiny tots are all grown up and ready to have their own family. 

 Whether you choose a special memory book or prefer to put your scrapbooking skills to good use is up to you. 

In Frames There are some special items that should most definitely be out on display. Baby handprints framed and on the wall in the nursery for example, or that first piece of artwork from school or nursery that just needs to be admired. These types of special pieces also make fabulous gifts for grandparents! 

Laminating some drawings and paintings will protect them however be careful what you try and laminate as not all materials react well with the heat, becoming damaged. Scan pictures for example have been known to be damaged this way. 

How do you keep first curls, scan pictures, school certificates and more safe? Do you store them away in a box or perhaps display them in a book or a frame? We'd love to hear your creative ways of preserving irreplaceable items such as these. 

*Top tip: Little ones bring home so many wonderful pieces of artwork, junk models and stories as they progress through nursery and school. Keeping them all would be impossible however no-one wants to upset a little one by binning their favourite cereal box and toilet roll robot. A great way to get around all of this is to take a digital picture of everything you want to recycle, keeping it forever (because it's so wonderful).