Spotlight

Harry Potter Book Week Costumes, 2019

| Kidding Around Australia
This post is sponsored by Spotlight Stores

Each year across Australia, the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) brings children and books together by celebrating Book Week. If you have been following for a while you will know that we LOVE to dress up and Book Week is one of our favourite annual events.

Book Week, 2016
Book Week, 2017
Book Week, 2018

Every year, we’ve headed into Spotlight to pick up supplies (yarn, pom poms, ready made costumes, face paint, ribbon – you name it, we’ve bought it!) and, no, they are not paying me to say this we are just happy customers*!

Spotlight is the exclusive costume partner of CBCA, so to get prepared we headed into our nearest Spotlight Store and there was no surprise that it was Harry Potter all the way for Alegría and Isaac!

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Harry Potter Costumes continue to dominate with the range expanding to various Hogwarts house items. This year the Invisibility Cloak is the big hitter, as well as new Quidditch team costume sets. We were also told by the team at Spotlight that “career” costumes such as Astronauts and Doctors were showing early signs of being popular due to this year’s theme of Reading is My Secret Power.

To get inspired for Book Week, head to your nearest Spotlight store to pick up your DIY or ready-to-wear CBCA Book Week costumes. There is something for everyone!

Book Week 2019 3

MORE INFORMATION

Website: www.spotlightstores.com

*We were sent a gift card from Spotlight to purchase the children’s costumes for Book Week this year. In previous years we have used our own money. Our opinions are our own and honest.

Please note all details quoted are correct at the time of publishing. All details are subject to change without notice and Kidding Around Australia takes no responsibility for information contained in this post. Please check the appropriate website to ensure that information is still correct and current.

ALL PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES ON THE KIDDING AROUND AUSTRALIA WEBSITE ARE THE EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY OF THE KIDDING AROUND AUSTRALIA AUTHORS. ALL IMAGES ARE SUBJECT TO COPYRIGHT AND CANNOT BE USED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM KIDDING AROUND AUSTRALIA.

Smash Back-To-School, 2019 is available at Spotlight Stores!

| Kidding Around Australia

Happy New Year!

We are happily enjoying the school holidays and whilst I am enjoying not making school lunches at the moment, I know my carefree days are numbered so I thought I’d get prepared!

We like to start the new year with a new lunch box, so we ordered a Smash Nude Food Movers set in Live Free and Boy Tech for Alegria and our little soon-to-be big school student Isaac from Spotlight!

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For our back-to-school packs we selected a Bento Switch Up, glow in the dark drink bottle, double snack tubes and a light lunch bag.

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The Bento Switch Up fits perfectly into the light lunch bag and the double snack tubes have a new flatter lid design to fit more into your lunch box!

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The kids love the new designs, and have already declared that the glow in the dark drink bottles are their “bedtime drink bottles” so it was lucky that I ordered a sports chiller as well for school! The glow in the dark drink bottles keep their glow all night – perfect for these hot nights.

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I’m so thankful that job number one for back-to-school is done and dusted, but if you will excuse me, I need to fire up the label maker … Oh, and any and all menu ideas are welcome!

MORE INFORMATION

The Smash Live Free and Boy Tech range is available at Spotlight from 1st January 2019, available only while stocks last.

BOY TECH – www.spotlightstores.com

LIVE FREE – www.spotlightstores.com

SMASH ENTERPRISES – www.smashenterprises.com.au

 

 

Spotlight Cosplay Costumes for Oz Comic-Con

| Kidding Around Australia
This post is sponsored by Spotlight Stores

If you follow us on Facebook or Instagram you will have seen that I am busy making my Rey costume for Oz Comic-Con.OCC2015-Logo (1) (1)

Oz Comic-Con celebrates all that is cool, awesome and nerdy where attendees can unleash their inner geek! There are celebrity guests, all of the latest merchandise, games in the gaming zone, cosplay costumes and heaps of fun for the kids!

As Cosplay newcomers, we decided to go with a Star Wars theme for our family and we were so happy that Payno was able to join us. Payno has the most amazing Chewbacca costume that he wore last Halloween (that’s Tim as the Shark!) and we wanted to match him for Oz Comic-Con!wookie halloween.jpg

Spotlight Stores were kind enough to support us in this endeavor and we have chosen three costume options that you could also try at home.Z01200_rounded

Firstly, for the children we purchased ready-made costumes. Alegría has chosen to go as Princess Leia and Isaac chose Kylo Ren. This option is by far the easiest, however, I did have to take Alegría’s dress up because it was too long.yaya and isaac comic con.jpg

For Tim’s costume, we modified existing clothing to make his Han Solo costume. I made some small changes to a top that I found at the op-shop and Tim will be wearing some awesome boots I found at the back of my dad’s wardrobe! I don’t think Tim was too thrilled about me adding “blood stripes” to the sides of his pants! Payno has made a utility belt and pistol that he is kindly lending to Tim and I got him a wig from Spotlight’s Sparty section! tim

My Rey costume was by far the most time consuming to make but it was also the most rewarding. Spotlight have a range of patterns, however, I made my own using newspaper. In hindsight, it would have been easier to buy the pattern! I am proud to say that I made the entire costume (except for my non-regulation Doc Martins … I know the die-hard Cosplayers won’t forgive me, but I wasn’t buying new boots for the day!).mumma.jpg

Spotlight will also be on hand at Oz Comic-Con in Melbourne to sell Cosplay fabrics and DIY costume supplies as well as offering tips, tricks and advice for getting your next costume started. They will also provide fans with a fix-it station to mend broken costumes and will be giving out store vouchers – hopefully I don’t have any wardrobe malfunctions!

I am putting together a DIY tutorial so you can make your own Rey costume soon – watch out for that next week!

So tell us, are you going to Oz Comic-Con? Are you going in costume? Please come up and say “Hi” if you see us!

More Information

www.spotlightstores.com.au

www.ozcomiccon.com

Please note all details quoted are correct at the time of publishing. All details are subject to change without notice and Kidding Around Australia takes no responsibility for information contained in this post. Please check the appropriate website to ensure that information is still correct and current.

ALL PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES ON THE KIDDING AROUND AUSTRALIA WEBSITE ARE THE EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY OF THE KIDDING AROUND AUSTRALIA AUTHORS. ALL IMAGES ARE SUBJECT TO COPYRIGHT AND CANNOT BE USED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM KIDDING AROUND AUSTRALIA.

 

Spotlight National Craft Month VIP Event

| Kidding Around Australia

For as long as I can remember, I have been crafty! My Nanna was crafty, my Mum is crafty and now my kids are crafty!

You will have seen on Instagram some of my projects (I am especially proud of the Alegría and Isaac’s Santa sacks)! It is my aim to start sharing tutorials with you so that you can do simple (and not so simple) creative projects with your children at home and on the road.

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Spotlight and Kids Business invited us to a VIP event specifically for bloggers recently to introduce us to some exciting crafting trends as well as to celebrate Spotlight National Craft Month which is happening throughout the entire month of April 2016.

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Spotlight is an amazing place to unleash your creativity! They provide their customers with do-it-yourself supplies and know-how to learn new skills and techniques in sewing, baking, craft and dressmaking.

During the event, we enjoyed new product previews, live demonstrations and interactive workshops hosted by some amazing presenters.

The guest speaker was Pip Lincolne from Meet Me at Mikes who spoke about her new book “Craft for the Soul- How to get the most of your creative life” and the benefits of crafting for wellbeing. I loved Pip’s analogy of families crafting together from an excerpt from “Little House on the Prairie” , I fondly remember my childhood connection to craft.25644944060_ef606758a5_o.jpg

It was fantastic to go around the room, from table to table, meeting the presenters and doing hands-on activities. The creative buzz within the room was palpable!

Trixi Symonds (www.colouredbuttons.com) demonstrated easy sewing projects for kids – and I loved it! I made a felt toy and the kids have already put in their orders for a giraffe, elephant and tiger … best I get the felt and buttons out now!spotlight 4

Zorrato Designs demonstrated Wilton Colour Right, Colour Swirl and Treatology systems and I fell in love! I love cake decorating and now I know how to do the perfect triple swirl on top of a cupcake!spotlight 5

Carla Hackett (www.carlahackett.com) showcased hand lettering techniques and the new Heidi Swapp Mini Mic Machine. So pretty!spotlight 1.jpg

Rachel Burke (www.imakeyouwearit.com) demonstrated pom-pom making techniques using a horse-shoe shaped cutout as opposed to the traditional “donut” cutout we all learned as children! Rachel’s “Apomogies”- the art of saying you’re sorry with a pom-pom are fantastic!spotlight2

Alyce Keegan (www.kitandclowder.com) – Alyce is the Australian Craft Educator of the Year and 2015 Australian Small Business of the Year finalist and teaches over 9,000 people her colouring techniques for skin, hair and clothing and paper crafting. She is very talented – me, well … I have some practice to do!spotlight 3.jpg

If you would like to get involved, there will be two key in-store events taking place at all Spotlight stores:

Saturday 2 April 2016

Saturday 23 April 2016

Each in-store event will showcase hands-on DIY demos, free project sheets, awesome giveaways & prizes, plus amazing weekend-only specials. (Click on the photo above of the event you are interested for more information!)

Check out some fun projects on the Spotlight Stores project database and in their Get Creative magazine.

Join me in getting crafty this month and don’t forget the hashtags #spotlightncm and #imadethis to show of your creations!25644900090_1e954e1c03_k.jpg

Thank you to Spotlight and Kids Business for inviting me to this amazing event – I had a wonderful time!

Please note all details quoted are correct at the time of publishing. All details are subject to change without notice and Kidding Around Australia takes no responsibility for information contained in this post. Please check the appropriate website to ensure that information is still correct and current.

ALL PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES ON THE KIDDING AROUND AUSTRALIA WEBSITE ARE THE EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY OF THE KIDDING AROUND AUSTRALIA AUTHORS. ALL IMAGES ARE SUBJECT TO COPYRIGHT AND CANNOT BE USED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM KIDDING AROUND AUSTRALIA.