There’s nothing like a good book and what a pleasure it is to be able to introduce your favourite childhood stories to little ones! Right now we have a Reading Corner event over at zulily so please do pop on over and have a look. We also asked some book-loving bloggers we know what their ideal reading corner would have in it.
Cerys from Rainy Day Mum @rainydaymum
My ideal reading corner would have book cover prints on the wall, a forward facing book case and a couple of basket to put books in. Large comfortable cushions and blankets for snuggling to read together or independently.
Laura from Max and Mummy @laurapixelheart
Getting children reading is one of my passions. Even when he was a baby we loved to read stories to Max knowing that he wouldn’t have the faintest idea what we were on about. But knowing that reading to him could hopefully spark that love of books that I hold so dear to my heart. There is nothing better that transporting your child into a place of mystery and wonder. A world where dinosaurs still exist and creatures unknown to the real world are as alive as you and me.
To instil this love of books we not only surround Max with as many titles as possible we also created a reading corner for him. My key points to an amazing reading corner for a child are:
- A comfy chair in which to curl up in, just right for a child. No big chairs as they aren’t special enough. Or a bean bag chair. Something that the child can sink into with a good book.
- If not a chair then a wigwam or tent. Somewhere that children can shut themselves off from the rest of the world for that small time. You need that right setting to transport you to a faraway land.
- Quiet. I know it sounds silly but how can you concentrate with all those distractions of the world around you. Turn off your TV and cuddle up as a family with some of your favourite tales. It’s not antisocial, it’s magical!
- Wall Decals/posters. We have a couple of book posters in Max’s room. From memorable characters to inspiring quotes.
- Finally books. Whether it’s 1 or 100 make sure that there are books in your reading corner. Otherwise it’s not really a reading corner is it?
“So please, oh PLEASE, we beg, we pray, Go throw your TV set away, And in its place you can install, A lovely bookshelf on the wall.”
— Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Emma from Mummy Mummy Mum @emvanstone
My ideal reading corner would be quite small but cosy, set by a window so it was well lit, and with a few bean bags so we could all snuggle up to read just before bedtime. I’d like a small bookshelf to the side of us for our favourite, very special books.
Some of zulily’s favourite picks for a reading corner:
We love this little chair - made to be snuggled on and perfect for a reading corner!
Who doesn’t like Peppa Pig? This colourful picture book is bound to be a favourite for any reading corner.
Any reading corner would be incomplete without this classic, The Very Hungry Caterpillar!
What would you have in your reading corner? Tweet us @zulily_UK with #ReadingCorner and let us know and feel free to tweet the bloggers too.
Warning: the following blog post contains photos of dangerous and not so dangerous animals! If you have a fear of mice, tigers and other such creatures, you should avert your eyes now!
Thanks to lifewithbelle, hayleylm84, dawnmcglade, stephbarx, rjc2007, lollyflashpants, croftygirl, shampayne0, tcameron983, xblessedwith4boysx for letting us use their gorgeous pictures.
If you’d like to enter a photo of your little cutie in fancy dress, we’d love to see! You could win a £100 zulily voucher, a Quax round cow toy and a Juicy Couture wallet for mum. Competition details are here.
Haven’t signed up to zulily yet? Come on over and take a peek!
We asked for “Cuties Playing Dress Up” photos for our May Instagram competition and since some of these pictures were so super, we thought we’d do a special round up of your little superheroes!
If you’d like to enter a photo of your children playing dress up, we’d love to see! You could win a £100 zulily voucher, a Quax round cow toy and a Juicy Couture wallet for mum. Competition details are here.
If you haven’t joined zulily yet, please do click through and take a peek!
Thanks to lollyflashpants, mims690, weezypops, missymousey for letting us use their gorgeous pictures.
It’s the start of May and it’s time for another cuties competition. We love seeing pictures of your little ones in creative costumes, so we decided the next theme for our Instagram competition should be “Cuties Play Dress Up”. We often have dress-up on zulily, so why not pop on over to zulily and take a look.
Our favourite photo wins a £100 zulily voucher to spend on zulily.co.uk, a Quax round cow toy and a Juicy Couture wallet for Mum.
How to enter:
- Upload an Instagram snap of your little cutie playing dress-up in May
- Make sure your profile is public, so that we can see your photo.
- You need to follow zulilyUK on Instagram (@zulilyUK) and tag your picture with three things:
- #zulilyUKMayCutiesCompetition
- @zulilyUK
- and either: #zulilynewbie (if you’re new to zulily) or #zulilian (if you’ve already joined zulily)
The competition closes on Sunday 31st of May. We’ll be shortlisting on Tuesday 4th of June and if you win we’ll contact you via Instagram comments. The winner will be announced on our blog no later than Friday 6th June. The Ts&Cs are here. If you haven’t already joined zulily, do come on over!
Because there Is simply too much cuteness to keep to ourselves, during this competition we may post some of your entries:
While the weather wasn’t cooperating, April’s Cuties competition certainly put a little spring back into our days! With over 500 entries, we felt like we had a sunny little pick me up!
Judging the competition seems to be getting harder every month. However, this little early bird entry from leeters83 came out as the winning entry for the zulily April “Cuties Love Spring” competition. Isn’t she a sweetie?
Thank you to everyone who entered. We love to see both familiar and new faces in these competitions. If you didn’t win, you won’t need to hang on long for a new competition. Like sunny weather, there’s one just around the corner!
Do join us over at zulily for some great daily deals for mums, babies and kids.
When we launched our Cuties Love Spring Instagram Competition, we were a little bit worried that spring wasn’t going to arrive very promptly after all. Luckily, many of you kept calm and carried on, with cuties appearing in sensibly cosy duck, bunny and caterpillar outfits, or outside in wet weather gear petting lambs or gazing at windswept daffodils.
We’re so happy that it finally seems to be spring, that we just had to share a few snaps!
If you’d like to enter a photo of your little cutie enjoying the spring weather, we’d love to see! You could win a £100 zulily voucher, a Cow Pillow Pet and a Juicy Couture wallet for mum. Competition details are here.
If you haven’t joined zulily yet click through and take a peek!
Thanks to callypops,sarahlongford, roxkb, josiescarpato, 3201zoe, localnotail, luschkadoafc from Diary of a First Child pamwillis, vwelch30, j3nrah, thesunmaid, emmalhutchinson, eviesmummy, mims690, debbie_ys and leeters83 on Instagram for letting us feature their gorgeous pics!
Who doesn’t love a bedtime story? We do and we do like to feature picture books on zulily.co.uk. One of our lovely guest bloggers, Laura, has kindly written a post for us on one of her favourite authors, David Walliams.
Many of you will know of David Walliams. Mostly for his tv appearances in things such as Little Britain and all the charity work he has done. Well, he also writes some fantastic kids books! These books are hilarious and leave even me in stitches of laughter. Yet the tales are poignant and tell a serious story with a nice moral running throughout. His books remind me of the work of Roald Dahl, a genius in himself and hopefully you will or have enjoyed Walliams stories as much as I have!
Gangsta Granny
A tale of a boy who finds himself utterly bored when he stays at his granny’s house. But granny isn’t a normal granny. In fact she has been planning and plotting a theft so huge that she needs to enlist Ben to help her succeed. This book is full owishing that their granny was a bit different. But maybe not as different as Ben’s.
Mr Stink
Mr Stink is a smelly man, one that lives outside and never washes. No one wants to be friends with him until Chloe decides she wants to. Chloe decides to help Mr Stink by hiding him in her garden shed so he isn’t pushed out of town. But of course he will be found eventually and what happens after is something that no one expects! This touching story was turned into a short film over the Christmas period featuring Walliams himself, which you should definitely watch if you are a fan of the book!
Ratburger
Ratburger is the tale of a girl named Zoe. Zoe doesn’t have a good life and finds herself picked on at school and picking her step mums nose because she is so lazy! Soon she finds that someone else is after her too. Burt who owns the burger shop wants to have her rat for something. What happens is action packed and just as funny as the other stories.
You can find more of Laura’s work at Goodnight Book and Max and Mummy
If you haven’t joined zulily yet, why don’t you click through and take a peek!
It’s April and we’re pretty sure that spring is almost in the air. At zulily London HQ, we’re a pretty optimistic bunch, so we decided that to hurry spring along a bit the next theme for the Cuties Competition should be “Cuties Love Spring”.
We’d like to see spring themed photos of your little ones on Instagram. Whether they’re dressed up as spring creatures, enjoying the April sunshine (you need to believe) or appreciating daffodils, we’d like to see your snaps.
Our favourite photo wins a £100 zulily voucher to spend on www.zulily.co.uk, a Pillow Pet Cow toy and a Juicy Couture wallet for Mum.
How to enter:
- Upload a Spring-themed Instagram snap of your little cutie in April.
- Make sure your profile is public, so that we can see your photo.
- You need to follow zulilyUK on Instagram (@zulilyUK) and tag your picture with three things:
- #zulilyUKAprilCutiesCompetition
- @zulilyUK
- and either: #zulilynewbie (if you’re new to zulily) or #zulilian (if you’ve already joined zulily)
The competition closes on Tuesday 30th of April. We’ll be shortlisting on Wednesday 1st of May and if you win we’ll contact you via Instagram comments. The winner will be announced on our blog no later than Friday 3rd of May. The Ts&Cs are here. If you haven’t already joined zulily, do come on over! The more the merrier!
Because there Is simply too much cuteness to keep to ourselves, during this competition we may post some of your entries:
