KidStyleFile

Today’s post written by Kat

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It goes without saying that the birth of your first child is a precious moment, and recording every single moment is one of the joys of being a new parent.

It also goes without saying that by the time you get to your second or third onwards, despite the best of intentions, the novelty of dutifully recording every event can start to wane, and finding the time is near impossible. My mum for example, as the third of 4 children, can only find one solitary picture of herself as a bub, and definitely no baby book. Which might explain a lot…but I digress!

Here is a rundown on baby books so beautiful that you’ll be clamouring to fill them with gorgeous memories of your growing brood. All your kids will thank you, except perhaps when you show that cute picture of your now-teenage daughter picking her nose to her cool new boyfriend…

The Binth Baby Journal at Tiny People

This is a gorgeous unisex option. Handcrafted with recycled white stock paper, cotton cloth cover and presented in a beautiful keepsake box. It’s not exactly a budget option but remember, even Mastercard can’t buy memories. Just a nice place to put them.

Generation Wonder have created their own Wonder Year Journal

A beautiful combination of scrapbook and journal, the Wonder Year Journal allows you to piece together a year in your little one’s life. Kids will adore looking back on themselves and as it has heaps of space for personalisation, as adults they will truly cherish their story. It comes in matt green with a cloth case cover, 128 pages of text and 12 insert cards for pictures – and it’s only $27.95!

I love the story behind Milestone Press’ A Book About Me:

“Annabel actually gave Fiona a Winnie-the-Pooh baby journal for her first born.  As they marvelled at Annabel’s momentary lapse in taste (because the book was free)  they dreamed up the perfect baby book.”

A Book About Me not only looks modern and sleek, it has been thoughtfully designed so that if you forget to record when your all little one’s teeth came through, you can just take the corresponding pages out, instead of leaving them embarrassingly blank. There’s room to add and subtract names and photos as you need, and possibly most imortantly, there is no branding on the cover, making it truly a book about your family!

I’ve mentioned the Laikonik Once A Year Book, from Mummy’s Favourite, before but I’m going to do it again because it’s such a beautiful idea!

Every year up to your child’s 18th birthday you add in just one photo of your child, and eventually the book unfolds concertina-style to reveal the story of your child growing and changing. Plus the book itself is completely gorgeous and will make a cherished heirloom!

For something a bit more traditional, the Baby Days Memory Book at Urban Baby is bright, colourful and full of nifty bit’n'bobs like stickers, envelopes and journal pages.

The pages are undated so you can record milestones when you want to, and the simple illustrations will delight your little one even beforen they realise the book is about them!

The very cute My Baby’s Journal, available soon at KidsGiftList

This is sweet enough to be age-appropriate but still stylish enough to be admired for years to come.

And finally, my personal favourite (yes, I found one with an elephant! I’m starting to sense a theme here): the Paper Eskimo Baby Journal.

Available at The Baby Shower Shop (a helluva comprehensive online store if there ever was one!) With simple and incredibly beautiful illustrations, it has heaps of room for photos, records birthday celebrations for up to five years, and comes in a gorgeous keepsake box  – despite being way too cute to keep stored away!

From top left in rows:

Binth Baby Journal $160
Generation Wonder The Wonder Year Journal $27.95
Milestone Press A Book About Me $44.95
Laikonik Once A Year Book $74.00
Baby Days Memory Book $24.95
My Baby’s Journal $44.95
Paper Eskimo Baby Journal $64.95

Please check individual sites for shipping details.

Today’s post written by Angela

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Need I say more?! There’s no-one else out there like Baobab – www.baobab.com.au – and I love them, I love them, I *love* them!

Belinda Blooman heads up ‘The Bab’, and she has such a fresh and unique vision in her designs, which she produces for children from newborn up to 6 years of age. The visual appeal of Baobab clothing is huge: bold and crisp colours with quirky prints, clever cuts and detailing combine with an X-factor that makes Baobab clothing so full of life, and just so perfect for kids to live and play with passion in.

A Baobab sale is like a dream, a beauteous, thrilling dream….except it’s REAL, so we’d all better head on over there quick!!

Need more sugar to sustain you for the journey over? KSF readers get free shipping on all orders at Baobab between 16-20 January, 2009. Enter ‘shipfree’ in the coupon code section at checkout to redeem.

See my hot picks below, and take special note of the Specials and Sets section of the Baobab site: buy in bulk to save a bundle!

Picks for Boys

From top left in rows:

Giraffe Stud Tee $34.95 $28.00
Bird Tee $30.95 $24.75
Striped Baby Hoodie $45.95 $34.50
Baby Short $30.95 $24.75
Striped Summer Hoodie $46.95 $35.20 and Boardie Shorts $30.95 $24.75
Birds on a Wire Stud Tee $34.95 $28.00 and Boardie Shorts $30.95 $24.75
Retro Car Stud Tee $34.95 $28.00 and Boardie Shorts $30.95 $24.75

Picks for Girls

From top left in rows:
Cat Bodysuit $34.95 $28.00 and Baby Girl Pant $30.95 $24.75
Butterfly Envelope Tee $30.95 $24.75 and Baby Girl Pant $30.95 $24.75
Fish Bodysuit $34.95 $28.00
Unisex Striped Bodysuit $34.95 $28.00
Stargirl Tank Dress $41.95 $33.60 and Knee-length girl Pant $30.95 $24.75
Flower Tank Dress $41.95 $33.60
Raglan Sleeve Dress in Pink and Red $45.95 $34.50 and Knee-length girl Pant $30.95 $24.75

Pack Picks: Buy in Bulk and Save!

Baobab ship Australia-wide with cost dependent on weight; the average shipping cost per order is $7.50. Postage is FREE with code ‘shipfree’ between 16-20 January 2009.

Today’s post written by Angela

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For all of you who, like me, cannot get enough of LMNOP- www.lmnop.com.au - magazine, there’s now more to love: Jenny at LMNOP now has a gorgeous blog to tide us over between issues of the mag.

If you haven’t come across LMNOP before, here’s the deal: it’s an Australian-based online magazine celebrating the most beautiful childrens design products from near and far.

Jenny brings together everything that’s beautiful within stunningly designed pages that delight and inspire with vibrancy and warmth. I am utterly smitten!

LMNOP is released quarterly and is FREE to download (it’s in Adobe Acrobat PDF format).

What I like to do is open it, let it download (takes 5-10 mins depending on your connection), and then save it to my PC for easy repeat viewing. I recommend this, as I guarantee that you’ll find yourself wanting to browse it again and again!

Visit the LMNOP blog | Download the Latest Issue of LMNOP magazine

Today’s post written by Miki

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I have to say, when Cheryl at Pastel Pink – www.pastelpink.com.au – decides to throw a sale she doesn’t do it by halves!

Right now is one of those hard-to-beat times at Pastel Pink, with 15% to 35% off a huge range of the most popular brands!

Yes, that’s right: we’re talking Bebe by Minihaha, Baobab, Gaia, Cocoon Couture, Three Little Trees and Tkxi Swimwear, and that’s by no means the full list!

This sale definitely ends at midnight on Monday the 19 January, 2009, and you’ll kick yourself if you miss out!

Now whip out your copy of Cosmopolitan Pregnancy magazine or check the latest KidStyleFile Deals & Steals weekly newsletter (or sign-up: the newsletter comes out every Tuesday morning) for the special code – it’ll get you FREE SHIPPING (until 30 March 2009) from Pastel Pink!  Wheeeeee!!!

Prefer a 20% off discount ON TOP of the current sale prices? Grab My Child magazine for a code (valid until 19 February 2009), or again, check out the KSF newsletter for the details.

(Note that you can only use one code per order – but the choice is yours! Can’t ask for better than that!)

One of the fabulous brands on sale (this one is for us hardworking mums who so seldom get spoiled as we should) is Gingerlilly Pyjamas which are a whopping 35% off.  Now may I just remind you that it’s less than a month til Valentines Day, so a few not-so-subtle hints to your husband about how lovely and silky (and sexy!) these PJs are may be in order.  They also last a million times longer than flowers, and with the button front they’re ideal for breastfeeding mums!

The fantastic wooden toys from Eleganter are also discounted at 15% off, as are the divine Alimrose Designs range.  Do you know of an impending baby arrival or a birthday coming up?  You’re absolutely guaranteed to find something you can’t wait to give in one of these two ranges.

The Alimrose Designs toys are perfect baby shower and newborn presents, as well as presents for toddlers and preschoolers who are in to soft toys.  The Eleganter wooden toys are ideal for babies about 8 months + and active toddlers.  Hint: toddlers adore pull-along toys, and you’ll find some great ones here.

Lastly, if you’re buying gifts, never forget the amazingly gorgeous FREE gift wrapping service that Pastel Pink offer – yet another reason to ooh and ahh at Pastel Pink!

Prices shown are valid only until midnight on Monday 19th January.

1. Baobab Raglan Dress – Red, $45.95 $36.76
2. Gingerlilly Zoe Pyjamas, $79.95 $51.97
3. Little Chipipi Drive Time Stickers, $84.95 $72.21
4. Gaia Rosebud Dress – Pink, $35.95 $19.98
5. Alimrose Designs Jumpsuit Bear, $42.95 $36.51
6. Cocoon Couture Sleepy Owl Blue Kinder Bag, $29.95 $25.46
7. Spiegelburg Capt’n Sharkey Navy Tee, $59.95 $29.98
8. Bebe Poppy Dress with Bows, $43.95 $28.57
9. Huggalugs Hearts Huggers, $16.50 $13.20
10. Eleganter Clown Music Box, $16.45 $14.41

Pastel Pink stock Alimrose Designs, Alluring Linens, Bebe by Minihaha, Cold Coffee, David Fussenegger, Elk Accessories, Spiegelburg, Louenhide, Gingerlilly, Emotion & Kids, FlatOUT Bears, Gaia Organic Cotton, Gertie and Me, Hess-Spielzeug, Huggalugs, Keptin-Jr., kikki.K, Little Chipipi, McMillan, Mitsy Accessories, Nesti Dante, Oobi Bab, Skeanie, and Wee Gallery, Tkxi Surf and Three Little Trees.

View the Pastel Pink delivery information page for full details on shipping. Free shipping for orders over $150.00 and those using the Cosmo Pregnancy code.

Today I’d like to introduce you to Edwina, the newest member of the KidStyleFile team. Edwina is mum to 3 gorgeous boys, and she’s also one crafty and clever chicken (see her blog Little Snoring to get to know here better). Edwina’ is currently our foreign correspondent – she’s hanging out in Los Angeles gathering all kinds of wonderful info to bring back home to us. Watch this space!

Take it away Edwina…

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The other night, looking for inspiration, I dipped back into the 90′s cooking classic How to Eat: Pleasures and Principles of Good Food by the queen of the Mix Master, Nigella Lawson. In it she has a great chapter about feeding children. I love her writing and am enamoured by her no nonsense approach to providing nourishment for her little ones.

I was both amazed and strangely liberated by a recipe she feed to her 9 month old son, Bruno. It was a recipe for chicken liver with apricots and milk soaked breadcrumbs. It would never occur to me to feed my babies chicken liver (I dare say it would hardly occur to me to eat it myself!) but it is very high in iron and the way she prepared it seemed entirely convincing.

Ok, so perhaps chopped liver isn’t your thing. And, frankly who can blame you? Personally I am a cup cake and pudding kinda gal, but I do feel it is important to share the joy of eating and the pleasure of preparing food with my kids.

That said, we all have days when the strength to clean up after the little sous-chef has disappeared, and for those days I offer the following fabulous low-mess, low-calorie solutions. Play food that looks good enough to eat!

1. Haba Petit Fours, $29.95 at Send-a-Toy
2. Le Toy Van Honeybake Baking Set, $94.95 at Little Possums Toys
3. Haba German Bratwurst Toy Sausages, $12.90 at Send-a-Toy
4. Voila Toys Roast Chicken, $28.95 at Send-a-Toy
5. Plan Toys Shopping Trolley. cool enough to help with the grown up shopping. $99.00 at Send-a-Toy
6. How to Eat: Pleasures and Principles of Good Food, by Nigella Lawson – highly recommended. $53.42 at Fishpond Bookstore. Ships free.
7. Lark Designs Doughnut Rattle $14.95 at Baby’s Got Style
8. Lark Designs Ice-cream Cone, $14.95 at Baby’s Got Style
9. Ravioli – Feeling Crafty? This is a very easy project to make yourself and a great way to add some pasta to the menu!

Please check individual sites for postage costs and delivery information.

Today’s post written by Angela

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The gloves are well and truly off now: Zlata at Buckets & Spades – www.bucketsandspades.com.au – has trumped her up to 50% off sale on Fred Bare, Trelise Cooper Kids, BIG and Fiona, by Fiona Scanlan, Diesel, Guess, Little Horn, Eeni Meeni Miini Moh, Tommy Rocket and Two Belles.

What could be better than up to 50% off on these creme-de-la-creme brands, you say?

How about REDUCED TO CLEAR?

Speaking of clear, you’ll need to clear your schedule, and your credit card for this one as there are -  wait for it!!! – *691* items of clothing on sale in the ‘Specials>Summer’ section, *247* fashion pieces on sale in the ‘Specials>Winter’ section, and *69* pair of fab designer shoes from Garvalin, Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, Bimbi, Fred Bare, Kickers and more waiting to find fine new homes on your kids feet!!

That is over 1,000 products from top local and European designers to choose from, and no bones about it: these prices are cheap as chips for these covetable brands.

To access sale items go to the Buckets & Spades homepage and go to the ‘Specials’ menu, navigating to your area of interest from there.

My knees are weak at this point. Make your move now, or miss out!

Please note that prices are as marked, and free postage for orders over $200.00 does not apply during this sale, which lasts only as long as stocks do. Please also note Buckets & Spades’ ordering process, explained below the images.

Above: products on sale via Buckets & Spades ‘Specials>Summer’ menus. Browse to page 54 of the specials.

Above: products on sale via Buckets & Spades ‘Specials>Summer’ menus. Browse to page 42 of the specials.

Above: products on sale via Buckets & Spades ‘Specials>Shoes’ menus. Browse to page 5 of the specials.

Buckets & Spades stock Eeeni Meeni Miini Moh, Fred Bare, GumBoots, Piccolina, Guess For Kids, Petit Bateau, Gant, Kaloo, Alex and Charli, Trelise Cooper Kids, BIG and ‘Fiona’ by Fiona Scanlan, Tommy Rocket, Two Belles and the very finest footwear brands including Diesel, Giocattoli, Garvalin, Agatha Ruiz De La Prada, Lelli Kelly, and Bimbi.

Buckets and Spades run two impressive bricks and mortar stores as well as the online store, so there is a special process for placing orders.

1. Collect all the items you love into the shopping cart
2. Submit your order to Buckets and Spades - Note that no payment is required at this stage
5. After Zlata and her team receive your order they will check stock, and then phone you to arrange payment over the phone.

PS It’s a wise move to also register with the Buckets and Spades VIP club: select the ‘VIP’ menu option, follow instructions, complete and submit, and you’ll get 10% off all full-priced purchases in every order. Jump over to Buckets and Spades now.

Buckets and Spades send via Express Post only Australia wide. The charges are: up to 500 g $7.00, and up to 3 k $10.00 for postage. International orders are warmly welcomed; contact Zlata for a quote via the ‘Contact us’ menu option. Check out the Buckets and Spades blog to enjoy more of the Buckets and Spades vibe.