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With Easter eggs so plentiful and cheap to buy and kids getting so many, you’d be forgiven for looking for an alternative to the chocolate egg gift. This year in particular, with everyone continuing to work together to reduce the spread of Covid-19, many of us will be sending Easter gifts by post rather than in person.
For very young children lots of chocolate isn’t always suitable and a toy gift may be preferable. With all these reasons in mind, here are some suggestions for alternative Easter gifts to the traditional chocolate egg.
A Soft Toy
For little ones at Easter, a cuddly soft toy is a great gift and local newsagents typically stock Easter bunnies and chicks at this time of year, from as little as €5.00. If you are looking for something extra special however, take a look at these two bunnies. The Melissa & Doug Jumbo Burrow Bunny is an adorably plush soft toy that you can’t help but cuddle. At 21 inches in height it understandably retails for €49.99. (Click HERE).
Equally adorable is “Flora” the interactive bunny by GUND. Retailing at €36.99, it’s now available to buy in Ireland. (Click HERE).
The Blue Bunny Hopper.
This simple toy has been enjoyed for generations and helps children to develop their coordination skills. The Blue Bunny Hopper retails at €6.99 and is available to buy online. (Click HERE).
Slime Eggs.
Kids love slime and these inexpensive toys come in options that appeal to boys and girls. For boys “Treasure X Alien Eggs” retail at €5.99 and combine goo with alien surprises (Click HERE).
For girls check out the “Compound Kings Mix and Mash Mystery Egg Surprise”. Retailing at €14.99 the set contains 30 eggs, 30 slimes and surprise charms (Click HERE).
Board Games.
Encourage some Easter family fun with “Lucky Ducks”. Children as young as three will love this game of memory match as they watch little ducks swim around the pond. “Lucky Ducks” costs €7.99. (Click HERE).
Hatchimal CollEGGtibles.
Another egg shaped toy that packs lots of surprises is the Hatchimal CollEGGtibles range with CollEGGtible toys from as little as €5.99. (Click HERE and HERE).
A Book or Book Token.
(Click HERE)
Do remember to shop local when you can.
For more chocolate gift alternatives, visit HERE to order your toys and gifts from Stakelum Office Supplies, located at Parnell St. and Rossa St. Thurles, Co. Tipperary. [Tel: (0504) 21888].
Here at Thurles.info we’re in no doubt that Thurles homes are among the cleanest in the County, given the positive email response to our recent Spring Cleaning Tips and Hacks article.
For all our readers aiming to have their homes shining by the end of the season, here are four miracle products which help greatly with your spring clean.
Vinegar
Anyone who lives in Thurles has had to deal with the problem of limescale built up on showers, taps and basins. It’s like scrubbing rock!
One of the most effective limescale removers, thankfully, is the everyday ordinary white vinegar sitting in your kitchen cupboard.
Spray or soak the area covered in limescale with vinegar, leave it for about 20 minutes and the limescale should more easily scrub away. Beware however, Vinegar isn’t safe to use on all surfaces because of its acidity, so be careful to check that it doesn’t damage certain surfaces.
Another great cleaning hack with Vinegar is the dreaded black burnt pot. Yes, it happens to everyone. You get distracted from your cooking and suddenly where once stood a delicious pot of food now lurks a burnt smell and a black pot end.
It can take hours and cycles of scrubbing and soaking to fix the problem. Indeed many a pot has found itself on the scrap heap after burnt on food.
Next time this happens don’t throw out your pot or spend hours scrubbing. Pour on some vinegar and leave it overnight. In the morning the vinegar will have descaled the pot and the black burnt-on mess will simply wipe away.
The Pink Stuff.
Next time you see this little tub on the shelves of your local supermarket pick it up. Using 99% natural ingredients, it’s advertised as a miracle cleaning paste and it really is. Great for cleaning the oven, hobs and pretty much anything you put it to work on.
The Magic Eraser
One other item you should pop into your shopping trolley next time you are in the supermarket, is the Magic Eraser. Every cleaning press should stock a few Magic Erasers. They are sure to solve some of your tougher cleaning problems. Magic erasers are great for removing biro off walls, restoring grubby trainers to white, cleaning car rims and removing scuffs and dirt from skirting boards and plastic.
Happy Spring Cleaning, but remember, before using any cleaning product, do wear protective gloves and be sure the product is safe to use on your various surfaces. Store all cleaning products out of reach of children.
When we’re all at home during lockdown, many of us are taking this opportunity to finally tackle those household spaces that are in desperate need of tidying up. When it comes to spring cleaning, projects typically involve a bit of washing, decluttering and reorganizing.
To this end, here are some top tips and links for spring cleaning that are sure to help you save space and freshen up areas in your home.
Tips for a Full Household Spring Clean
If you are determined to scrub the house from top to toe as part of a lockdown spring clean, then check out the YouTube video above for great cleaning life hacks featuring Mrs Hinch and Lynsey Queen of Clean. They’ll show you how to freshen up grubby doors with fabric softener, refresh a smelly mattresses with bicarbonate of soda and keep your toothbrush free from toilet germs. For more household cleaning hacks from Mrs Lynch visit her YouTube and Instagram account or Click HERE.
For more cleaning tips from Lynsey Queen of Clean visit her blog by clicking HERE.
Organise Your Fridge and Freezer
We all agree that it’s important to keep our fridge and freezer clean to avoid bad smells and maintain good food hygiene. It’s also important however, to keep your fridge and freezer organised. Why? A well organised fridge and freezer is important because it actually saves you money. How many of us end up throwing out food and wasting money because we forgot about an item we couldn’t see tucked behind the milk and cheese?
For top tips on keeping a clean, organised and economical fridge and freezer, follow these links and watch organization guru Justine Pattinson advise on containers, hygiene and space.
Click HERE and HERE
Organise Your Clothes
When it comes to organizing drawers and wardrobes of clothes, it’s all about folding and the folding guru is Marie Kondo, a professional organizer from Japan who has revolutionized the way millions of people declutter and organise their homes all over the world through her website (konmari.com), books and a series on Netflix.
To master the Marie Kondo method of folding clothes to save space, Click HERE.
Where did the idea of Mother’s Day come from?
Mother’s Day is Sunday March 14th next, (forget it at your peril).
Here in Ireland and the UK, Mother’s Day always falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent, owing to its initial Christian origins. Mother’s Day, as we know it currently here in Ireland, certainly is now-a-days more commercial ; evolving as it once did from “Mothering Sunday”.
Centuries ago, people who worked away from home, often as domestic staff, would return home to their Mother Church, once a year, on Mothering Sunday. As well as visiting their Mother Church, people would visit their home and their mothers.
Over time, the practice of bringing a gift of flowers to one’s mother became tradition. Eventually, Mothering Sunday developed into Mother’s Day and quite rightly the celebration of Mothers as we know it today.
DIY Gifts for Mother’s Day.
Lockdown has placed limits on the gifts many of us typically purchase for Mother’s Day. With shops closed and movements restricted, many of us are turning to DIY gifts for Mother’s Day.
Hereunder are 5 DIY gift ideas to help acknowledge and celebrate our wonderful Mums, demonstrating our appreciation for everything they do for us.
(1) Create a Mother’s Day Chocolate Bar Poem.
This is a thrifty, but thoughtful, gift that costs no more than the price of a few chocolate bars. Follow this link HERE for examples and ideas for your own Chocolate Bar Poems.
(2) A Homemade Bouquet of Flowers.
Spring is here and with it has arrived some of our most cherished flowers. Of the many flower varieties on view in our gardens at present, the daffodil and tulip are great choices for a homemade bouquet or flower arrangement. Alternatively pick up some flowers in your local supermarket and combine them into a homemade arrangement.
Visit YouTube for lots of tips on homemade bouquets and flower arranging. Click HERE to find a video specifically dealing with the arranging of daffodils and tulips.
(3) Bake Something Sweet.
There’s nothing quite like home baking and many of us are baking more during lockdown. Why not treat Mum to a delicious cake, some cupcakes or some cookies for Mother’s Day? If you are looking for great baking recipes check out Cupcake Gemma on YouTube HERE.
(4) Cook Mum A Special Meal.
There’s nothing like getting served up a delicious meal. In many houses Mums do a lot of the cooking so why not give them a day off from cooking meals on Mother’s Day? You could treat your mum to breakfast in bed, a brunch or a delicious dinner. If you’re looking for recipe ideas, check the YouTube Channel of Wexford born Gemma Stafford. Now living in the USA, Gemma’s Cooking channel is one of the most successful on YouTube with 2.55 million subscribers. View HERE.
(5) A Homemade Mother’s Day Card.
Any mum will tell you that a Mother’s Day card with a heartfelt message is always treasured. Check out this great YouTube video with 24 ideas for incredible and easy to make Mother’s Day cards using everyday materials. Check this out by clicking HERE
During lockdown many of us are discovering the joys of baking as a pastime, not to mention the self-sufficiency and satisfaction gleaned from making something from scratch.
One item we’d surely all like to master is the art of bread making. There’s nothing like the taste and smell of freshly made bread in your own home. What’s more; during lockdown, being able to make your own bread saves an almost daily visit to your local food store – helping us to keep that bit safer.
Many of us, however, avoid making bread thinking it’s too difficult, but we at Thurles.info are here to help. We have tracked down and tested what is arguably one of the easiest recipes for making bread you could find.
You don’t even need a weighing scales to measure ingredients, just a pint glass!
Ingredients to make an easy and delicious Irish soda bread:
1 pint glass of coarse flour.
1 pint glass of white flour.
3/4 pint of buttermilk.
Enough salt to coat the bottom of a pint glass.
Enough bread soda to coat the bottom of a pint glass.
Enough butter to coat the bottom of a pint glass, (or about 4 teaspoons).
This recipe was devised by a Tipperary man, Mr. Peter Ward of Country Choice, Nenagh Co. Tipperary.
View his YouTube video shown above to watch how easy it is to make this nutritious soda bread and enjoy!
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