News Archives - Page 3 of 40 - https://babynotincluded.co.uk

Christmas Gift Guides for Pre-School Children

22/11/202223/11/2022 Lisa

Christmas Gift Guide for Pre-School Children

I find buying for pre-school children quite tricky since they all have very different capabilities. There’s a sticky point between age 2 – 3 where they may have outgrown the ‘baby toys’ but aren’t quite ready for the 3+ range.

However, it goes without saying that I think a Tuff Tray is a fantastic investment for pre-schoolers as the play possibilities are endless. I think we paid around £75 with a stand when we bought ours for Freddie for his second birthday but it has been played with so many times that I would recommend them to parents without fail.

Kid Knex Zoo Friends Construction 30 Piece set

Kid K’Nex Zoo Friends – RRP £18.00

This cool set comes with 55 K’nex pieces that can be made into more than 30 zoo animals. The pieces are brightly coloured and great for small hands. We recently reviewed this Zoo Friends set and it was a huge hit!

Cocomelon Peg Board Puzzle – RRP £9.99

Great puzzles to keep little one’s entertained with their favourite characters.

Let’s Learn Trivia – RRP £12.99

This thought-provoking game is a great way to allow your kids to use their imagination through learning.

Colour Dinosaur Sorting Set – RRP £13.99

We got Freddie a Tuff Tray for his second birthday so sets like this are really great when you’re looking for a quick play idea that will keep them busy for a while.

Superwings Jett Supercharged Deluxe – RRP £17.99

Freddie absolutely loves any toy that transforms from one thing to another and this is a TV show as well. This one has lights and sounds which is doubly awesome!

Playdoh Cash Register – RRP £19.99

We have a lot of Playdoh cutters, rollers and other bits and bobs but this set is really fun. You can even make your own play money.

Scrambler Ducati Balance Bike – RRP £40.00

We bought this for Freddie for his second birthday and he loved it. It’s the perfect size for toddlers and is lightweight which makes it perfect when you inevitably have to carry it when they’ve had enough.

Tuff Tray and Stand – RRP £59.99

A Tuff Tray has endless possibilities. You can create play ideas both inside and outside and the stand makes it far easier for your child to stand and play. It can be as basic as filling with water and giving them a selection of cups and bottles, or you can set up amazing play scenes with themes such as sealife creatures or construction.

Owl Water Wheel – RRP £12.99

This is great for water play on the Tuff Tray. Fill the top with water, turn the tap and watch the water make it’s way down to the truck waiting at the bottom.

Jaques of London Animal Threading Bead Set – RRP £12.99

This set is great fun for little ones who need a quiet activity that will keep them busy for a while. Freddie is also really good at stacking them up as well as threading them.

Kitchen Sink Playset – RRP £23.99

Another huge hit for us was this water playset. You fill up the bottom and it has a working tap by pressing the button, and it empties back into the bottom so recycles the water time and again. The set also comes with accessories and fruit and vegetables that you can chop.

Play Tea Set – RRP £12.99

We’ve used this tea set so much. We’ve had tea parties, used it in the bath and have also put it in the paddling pool in the summer.

Happy Shopping x

*This post contains items I have been gifted as well as affiliate links which means I receive a small payment if you make a purchase following one of my links at no extra cost to you.

Christmas Gift Guides for Babies

21/11/202225/11/2022 Lisa

Christmas Gift Guides for Babies

When you have a baby the urge to buy them a shit-tonne of stuff is strong, but believe me the saying ‘less is more’ definitely applies. My biggest recommendation would be to get a Jumperoo or equivalent which are a huge lifesaver when you want to do a few jobs. They’re big, brightly coloured, and make a lot of noise but are definitely worth it!

We did sensory classes with our youngest two so we put together sensory baskets which included some bought items and the rest were things like ribbons, sponges, material, wooden spoons which they all love to play with.

Lamaze Freddie the Firefly Pram Toy – RRP £11.99

I love this range. I used to sell them back in the day when I had my online baby shop. There are loads of features including crinkles, teething rings, and squeakers.

Fisherprice Jumperoo – RRP £119

I said I wasn’t going to get one of these when I was pregnant with Freddie as they’re huge but I succumbed for the want of a hot cup of tea and five minutes of free arm time.

Ewan the Dream Sheep – RRP £39.99

This is slightly different from the original Ewan as it has soothing lights and white noise sounds which is activated by babies movement

Baby Einstein Musical Activity Bar – RRP £21.99

This is great for tummy time or sitting up with three settings – Colours, Animals and Xylophone.

Wooden Bunny Pop-up Toy – RRP £12.99

This toy is really simple but such a lot of fun. Put the Bunny in the hole in the top and press it down – and it pops up.

Vtech Activity Cube – RRP £28.00

This cube has a different activity on each side. A word of warning is that the volume control is loud and louder but it’s definitely a thumbs up from Freddie as a baby.

Hide and Squeak Eggs – RRP £10.99

This is such a simple toy but so much fun. You take the eggs out and put them back in time and time again with a little squeak here and there.

Fisher Price Shape Sorter – RRP £14.99

All babies love a shape sorter and this one has ten shapes and a carry handle.

Wooden Teething Activity Toy – RRP £14.00

This toy is great for little hands to grip and seems to keep their attention with bright colours and the ability to stretch and squash it down.

Touch and Feel Activity Book – RRP £17.99

Babies love touch and feel different materials. These books are full of crinkles, squeaks and textures. My kids had something similar to these but I would definitely buy these for any new babies in the family.

Happy Shopping x

*This post contains items I have been gifted as well as affiliate links which means I receive a small payment if you make a purchase following one of my links at no extra cost to you.

Review: Lite Brite Oval

31/10/202205/11/2022 Lisa

Review: Lite Brite Oval

It feels like a lot of the toys that I had or wanted as a kid are making a huge come-back recently and one of these is this Lite Brite Oval which has obviously had a huge makeover since the basic one I coveted as a kid.

As well as the new shape, the Lite Brite over is now in high definition with 50% more holes and three times the pegs than the classic version.

The Lite Brite Oval is recommended for children aged 6+ and retails at £24.99 from Smyth’s Toys and other retailers.

What comes in the set?

The set comes with the oval base which has a stand so you can keep your designs and would look great on a bedroom shelf.
It does take three AA batteries which are not included.
Hundreds of little coloured pegs for creating your designs
8 template sheets.

Light Modes!

Once you’ve created your designs there are 5 different light modes

3 Colour changing patterns (fade, flash, white light) or 2 animations (slow, fast flash)

Sensory Play

The Lite Brite Oval can be used in a sensory play setting by creating patterns and selecting the different light options to help support developing visual senses which can be used to create a soothing environment which is great for self-regulation.

Setting up

There is very little set-up with the Lite Brite Oval. All you need to do is pop in some batteries and you’re good to go. The template sheets that come with the set just peg onto the board and you just follow the colour code on it which has the first letter for each colour as a guide. You then push the coloured pegs through the template into the board, and once finished choose your light setting to show off your designs.

Our Thoughts

Isabelle is twelve and was really pleased to give the Lite Brite Oval a go. She loved the templates that came with the set but, was also very keen to create her own designs as well.

She really liked that it had a stand so that she can put it next to her bed to use as cool lighting for her room.

I also really liked this set as it’s something that Belle can go off and do on her own which is what she likes to do these days. I know that Freddie is also going to want to give this set a go so I know it’s definitely going to get used between the two of them. It’s also a lot cooler than the Lite Brite of my day.

You can buy the Lite Brite Oval from Smyth’s Toys currently priced at £22.99

If you liked this post and the toys that we’ve reviewed then why not take a look at some of the other Review Posts.

*We were gifted the Lite-Brite Oval set for the purpose of this review. All opinions and photographs are our own.

Review: Kid K’Nex Zoo Friends

16/10/202216/10/2022 Lisa

Kid K’Nex Zoo Friends

We were so pleased to be given the opportunity to review the Kid K’Nex Zoo Friends set. We already have a box of K’Nex so we knew that we were going to have a lot of fun with this Zoo Friends set.

What are K’Nex?

Essentially they are a type of construction toy that comes with lots of different brightly coloured pieces that connect together almost like jigsaw pieces. These are great for smaller hands and the models can be made easily with a little bit of help from an adult. K’Nex help develop fine motor skills, dexterity, and hand-eye coordination. They’re pretty indestructible, we’ve yet to have a broken piece.

Kid K’Nex Zoo Friends

The Kid K’Nex Zoo Friends set comes with 55 pieces and the ability to make 30 models. Your kids can of course go rogue and create their own animals using the various eyes, tails, and feet pieces. This set retails at around £18 on Amazon and is suitable from age 3.

Putting K’Nex to the Test

Freddie loves construction toys and is particularly good at building and creating models. He was very pleased when I gave him this set and had his sights set on the giraffe as soon as we looked at the model sheet. There aren’t details instructions to build each model, but the brightly coloured pieces make it very easy to work out what pieces you need and how to put them together.

Freddie only needed a little bit of help to make each model and it wasn’t long before we’d made all of them.

Our Thoughts

Freddie – ‘I love it’ were his exact words. He was very excited that he would be able to mix it with his existing monster set to make some very unusual creatures. The K’Nex Zoo Friends set gets a huge ‘massive’ thumbs up from Freddie.

Mine – This set also gets a huge thumbs up from me. I bought our first set as a non-messy tuff tray option that would keep Freddie busy when he needed to be entertained and I needed to do something like make dinner. The pieces are a good size even for toddlers and are easy to put together and pull apart. I’ve bought K’Nex sets as presents for other children as I know they will be played with and are a good price.

If you enjoyed this review and are looking for some recommendations then please take a look at our other Toy Reviews.

* We were sent the K’Nex Zoo Friends for the purpose of our review. All thoughts and photographs are our own. This post contains affiliate links.

Review: Having Fun with Unicones

04/09/202204/09/2022 Lisa

Having Fun with Unicones

Unicones are the sweet ’n sparkly unicorns that come with a slime surprise! There are 12 Unicones characters to collect. Each comes in an ice cream cone with a variety of accessories to decorate the surprise unicorn. Will you discover a rare, super-rare or an ultra-rare character?

Each Unicone comes with more than ten suprises, including a tub of unicorn poop slime.

Kids can collect all 12 adorable Unicones characters in the range. Each comes hidden in a sweet ice cream cone, along with a variety of accessories and stickers to decorate the unicorn inside. Will you discover the rare, super rare and ultra-rare characters?

There are more than ten surprises to unwrap, with each Unicones cone. This includes one tub of unicorn poop slime; there are 12 mystery Unicones styles to find! The Unicones retail at £13.99 and are suitable for 3 years and above.

What’s inside a Unicone?

Each Unicone comes with its own set of accessories and slime dependent on which Unicone you get.

We opened up Party Rox which came with the following:

Silver Party Rox Unicorn
Gold Sunglasses
A SWAG Necklace
Earrings
A set of Wings
3 Tattoos
Clear pot of Slime
Silver fine Glitter for Slime
Stick-on Jewels

First of all you pop the ice cream off the top and this reveals the Unicorn and the set of wings. The wings slot onto the back of the Unicorn.

There are three tabs on the ice cream cone which reveal a further three pots, each containing accessories. Our accessories were sunglasses, a SWAG necklace, and Earrings.

Underneath the Unicorn is a pot of Unicorn Poop slime which can be mixed with fine glitter. Ours came with clear slime and silver glitter which became a super stretchy sparkly silver slime.

We used one of the pots to put water in to apply the tattoos to the Unicorn which went on surprisingly well.

The jewels were already set with glue, so Belle was able to easily apply these to the Unicorn with no problems.

You can watch the unboxing over on Instagram.

Our Thoughts

My first thought was that these are going to be very popular at Christmas. My daughter loves collectibles and finds the whole unboxing/surprise element to be just as exciting as the end product. As a parent, I think these are at a great price point and definitely get a thumbs up from me. The only thing I could fault was the wings, which come off quite easily but are also easy to pop back on.

More importantly, is Belle’s opinion. She loved the whole surprise element and the fact that it was an ice cream cone gave this extra points. Adding the slime in and this is a perfect collectible, and something she would definitely want more of.

You can buy your own Unicone over at Amazon.

*We were sent two Unicones for the purpose of this review. All opinions, thoughts and photographs are our own.

Sooty Land – A Magical Day Meeting Sooty at Crealy

16/06/202218/06/2022 Lisa

WSooty Land – A Magical Day Meeting Sooty at Crealy

We live a stone’s throw away from Crealy and it makes for a fun family day out. There are things for all ages to do including fast-paced rollercoasters right down to taking a stroll through the animal paddocks.

You can also make a holiday out of it and stay at Crealy Meadows with an option for Camping, Glamping, or one of their Lodges.

Where it all began

We were invited to go along for the opening of Sooty Land at the weekend. I grew up with Sooty, Sweep, and Soo so it was such a treat and a trip down memory lane for me personally.

Richard Cadell, the Presenter, and Owner of the Sooty Show introduced us to Sooty with some background information about how Sooty came about. Sooty was discovered in a Blackpool Joke Shop in 1948 by Harry Corbett and was offered his own TV show after appearing on the BBC’s Talent Night.

Sooty has met many a famous face including the Queen and Prince Philip where he might have been a little bit naughty!

Sweep first appeared on the show in 1957 joined by Soo in 1964.

In 1976, both Sooty and Harry Corbett were awarded OBEs for charitable services.

Also in 1976, Harry Corbett’s son, Matthew took over as presenter of the Sooty Show.

In 1985 Richard Cadell joined the Sooty Show, and in 1998 Matthew Corbett retired leaving the show in the hands of Richard going forward.

Richard talked so passionately about his adventures with Sooty that it felt like a ‘Proud Dad Moment’ that Sooty now resides at Crealy.

Sooty will be celebrating his 70th Birthday next year which is pretty incredible since he doesn’t look a day over five!

Sooty Land

Sooty Land is a great addition to Crealy.

There are four new rides:

Sooty’s Magic Bus takes you up into the sky and gives your tummy a little flip when it comes back down.

Sweep’s Flying Circus is an aeroplane ride that goes round and round. You can make the planes go up and down yourself using the button.

Soo’s Sweet Balloon Ride where you sit in a hot air balloon and go round, like the teacup ride but in the sky.

Izzy Wizzy Let’s Get Dizzy is a fast car ride that spins around and makes you feel like you’re going to crash into the other cars.

The Pier Building is home to:

An interactive Strike Arena
Sooty’s Carnival Games
Sooty’s Magic Mirror Maze
An electronic interactive climbing wall
Spider climb duo slides
Jigsaw Tetris
Magi Bricks
Giant Twister
Dance studio

The Pier is also home to the Hall of Fame which was such a lovely trip down memory lane. It features many of the original props from the shows and is definitely worth checking out.

Grab something to eat

There are four additional places to eat:

Sooty’s Diner
Sweep’s Hot Dogs
Soo’s Cafe
Seaside Spuds

We went to Sooty’s Diner where both kids had chicken bites and chips and I had a Southern Fried Chicken burger and chips which was both reasonable in price and tasty.

The Sooty Show

Last, but definitely not least is the Sooty Show which you can watch in the big top. It was funny from beginning to end, even including a few jokes for the adults. It was interactive and held the attention of my usually fidgety four-year-old from beginning to end.

We ended the day with ice cream and a meet and greet with Sooty, Sweep, and Richard which was the actual Sooty used in the shows.

Our Thoughts

Visiting Sooty Land was a huge hit with my kids, and I really enjoyed it as well. The rides were all great alongside the rides throughout the rest of the park. The Sooty Show was my favourite bit. The kids had flashing wands and joined in with the magic spells and other interactive bits. We laughed all the way through. Isabelle nearly fell off her seat at one of the cheeky jokes that she’s told everybody she’s talked to since we went. There’s so much to keep the kids happy both inside and outside. There are lots for all ages which is always a bonus for a parent with big age gap kids. I would definitely add it to your Devon Bucket list.

You can find other recommendations for Great Family Days out in Devon here.

We were given complimentary tickets to attend the press event, but all thoughts are our own.

Easter Gift Ideas for Toddlers and Tweens

04/04/202222/01/2024 Lisa

Easter Gift Ideas for Toddlers and Tweens

If you’re a regular reader then you’ll know that I have rather large age gaps between my children. Most of the time it’s really difficult to get the balance right when planning day trips or activities that suit everybody. Obviously, the eldest at 22 is not included in this round-up, but will of course get his fair share of chocolate goodies. I find that crafts, baking and games seem to be things that interest both the three year old and the eleven year old, so we’ll go with this theme.

This round-up is a selection of Chocolate alternatives since both kids tend to get more than their body weight in chocolate from friends and family.

Ceramic Painting Sets – £1.00 each – Pound Shop

I found these lovely ceramic painting sets in the Pound Shop. They had a choice of an Easter Egg, a Chick and a Bunny. Each set came with a set of three paints and a mini paintbrush. The surrounding Easter Animals were also from the Pound Shop and were available in various themes including Easter Animals, Farmyard Animals and Jungle Animals.

Play-Doh Colour Burst Set – £4.99 – TK Maxx

I picked up this really cool Play-doh set which has four pots with sprinkles of different colours that you mix together. It looks really cool when you first get it out and the colours swirl into each other.

Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Bogey £6.99

I picked up a book for both Freddie and Belle at the school book fair. This was my choice for Freddie who finds anything that includes bums, farting, pooh, and bogies absolutely hilarious. This book is really funny and includes a few fairytale favourites including Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and Goldilocks. It also comes with three pingable bogies. It was a huge hit!

Uproar – £8.99 – McMiller

Uproar is a bit like snap, but you turn two cards over and find two matching words and sound out whatever the sound is including a hungry pig and slurping soup. This is aimed at 8 years and upwards but as long as you can read, you can play. It is absolutely hilarious, and in fact, my eldest will probably pinch this to play with his mates as part of their pre-drinks before going out.

The Smart Girls Guide to Life – £6.99 – Amazon

Isabelle has been struggling with anxiety recently and so we’ve been doing lots of work on feelings and emotions, and how to deal with them. This book has loads of stuff including the kind of quizzes that I used to do in teen magazines and an agony aunt type section.

Scratch Art Set – £6.99

Belle really enjoys these scratch art kits so this Easter-themed one will be a perfect gift.

A Personalised Easter Bunny Mug – £8.99

One of these mugs will be perfect for Freddie who likes to have a cup without a lid now. Even more perfect for hot chocolate.

Easter Craft Jar – £6.00 – Hobby Craft

A huge jar full of everything the kids need to keep them entertained during the Easter Holidays.

Acrylic Paint Pens – £10.18

These Acrylic Paint Pens are perfect for decorating Eggs in time for Easter. They can be used on lots of other stuff too including wood, pebbles, canvas, and glass.

Easter Toss Game – £8.99

This game can be played inside or outside and come with four beanbags. This would be suitable for both Freddie and Isabelle so a win win situation for me as a Mum.

Bath Bombs – £7.99

Again another gift that both ages will enjoy. Belle loves bath bombs and Freddie who loves to copy everything she does, now likes to have them in his bath as well.

Easter Stampers – £8.49

These stamps are great for little hands, and each one is inside an egg. This set of 12 eggs could be used as part of an Easter Egg Hunt.

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it was going to be to find Easter Gifts that would be suitable for both age groups.

Happy Easter!

If you are looking for something to keep the little ones entertained then Pom Pom Painting can be a lot of fun!

**This post contains some affiliate links and gifted items. Affiliate links mean that I receive a small payment when you click and make a purchase at no extra cost to you.*

Review: Playmobil City Life Rubbish Truck

28/02/202216/01/2024 Lisa 1 Comment

Playmobil City Life Rubbish Truck

Last week in the depth of our covid isolation we were very pleased to hear the knock at the door that signaled the arrival of the Playmobil City Life Rubbish Truck which we were kindly sent to review. Freddie has inherited all of Isabelle’s Playmobil recently and loves to set up little scenes and play with the various characters.

All three of my kids have been fans of a Rubbish Truck and like to watch the weekly bin collection out of the window (at 6.30 am I might add). They even get a wave some weeks when they spot Freddie’s face pressed against the window watching their every move.

If you’re a Playmobil fan then you will know that there is a little bit of set-up required for most of the Playmobil sets. I was quite pleased that the setup for the Rubbish Truck was minimal. The trickiest part being the stickers which I really wished were done for us, but it’s not much of a hardship.

I did, however, manage to put the wheel part on the wrong way round which meant that the wheels didn’t go round. This was easily fixed.

What you get with the Playmobil City Life Rubbish Truck

You get the Rubbish Truck of course
A big yellow wheely bin
A green wheely bin
A brown wheely bin
Two Dustbin Men
A fire extinguisher
Walkie Talkies
Some rubbish for your bins which includes a couple of fishbones

The Truck’s Features

This set comes with everything that you need to set up a great refuse collection service. The bits of rubbish to put in the bins is a great feature.

The wheely bins attach onto the back of the truck and can be emptied by pulling the lever up just like in real life

You can remove the front window for easy access to put the characters in and out of the truck

The whole back end of the truck tips up when you reach the rubbish dump, just like the real thing

The flashing light is a great addition to make this a realistic role-play toy

A Bit of Info

You can buy the Playmobil City Life Rubbish Truck at most toy retailers.

This set is aimed at children aged 4 – 10 years as it has small parts.

It retails at £24.99

Our Thoughts

I thought that the actual Rubbish Truck would have had the biggest appeal, but Freddie was very impressed with the little wheely bins. The set comes with tins and fishbones and the wheely bins fix onto the back of the truck so that they can be emptied. That was until he spied the light on top of the truck which can be pressed for a proper dustbin lorry orange light. Not many of the Playmobil sets have lights or sounds so this was a huge thumbs up in terms of role-playing for real-life play.

From a Mum’s point of view, the Rubbish Truck gets a huge thumbs up from me. It’s a lovely addition to our existing sets which include a house and playpark. I also think that the price is really great for everything that comes with it.

You can have a look at some of our other reviews and recommendations here.

*We were sent the Playmobil City Life Rubbish Truck for the purpose of this review

Looking for Kid’s Subscription Boxes? Have a look at the Best 4

29/11/202129/11/2021 Lisa

Looking for Kid’s Subscription Boxes? Have a look at the Best 4

Since sub-box market has skyrocketed you can always find a subscription box for everything. At the request of our beloved audience, we did some research and came up with the list of the best 4 kids’ subscription boxes. So without further ado let’s get started!

Build-Ur-Bricks

We all know that LEGO sets are quite expensive these days and especially those sets which are inspired by blockbuster movies like Harry Potter and Star Wars. No doubt that they are fun and exciting to build but once build, you are more likely to lose their pieces or lock them in a storeroom somewhere, now this is the moment where Build-Ur-Bricks plays its role and offers you the best option. They offer you to get your children LEGO sets without even purchasing them, you just need to return the set once you’re done with it. The interesting thing is that all of the pieces are cleaned professionally before their next delivery and their user-friendly website makes it easier to order yours now.

Pop in a Box

Pop in a Box is a subscription service that offers you a vast range of Funko Pops collectible figures, exclusive releases, and a lot more at a very reasonable price. They offer you multiple options to take a start such as you can receive 1 pop a month and it will cost you £8.49 + P&P. You can also upgrade your subscription plan to 12 pops a month. They guarantee you that there are no secret handshakes and you can pause or cancel your subscription anytime. This is one of the best subscriptions for all those collectors out there. The thing which we love about Pop in a Box is that their customer service is so friendly and are always there to help you.

Brainboost

Brainboost is a bit different from the above-mentioned subscription boxes as they approach you with different creative and educational boxes. They offer you boxes for children of all ages from 2 to 12 years old. They assure you that with their subscription you will see a noticeable difference in your child’s development and there’s no commitment so you can pause or cancel your subscription anytime you want.

toucanBox

This is a subscription box that was developed by some educational experts and each month they deliver a box right at your doorsteps and allow your kid to learn something new with the play. They present every single box beautifully and it’s full of books and materials that will surely help your children to build and develop curious and critical thinking. toucanBox helps you to build a strong bond with your children with their new projects every month.

This was pretty much it for today as we’ve shared 4 of the best kids subscription boxes you can try out. You can also share your thoughts with us by dropping a comment section below.

*Collaborative Post

Are you set up for Working from Home?

15/11/202112/12/2022 Lisa 2 Comments

Are you set up for Working from Home?

Are you set up for Working from Home? Let’s rewind to pre-pandemic times and it was my dream to work from home. Ditching the 9 – 5 and all the office drama behind was my dream, and so I started plotting and planning my own new way of working. I’d already started my blog which had evolved naturally from an online retail shop as selling was not my strong point (probably not great for the retail industry). My blog was making me a small amount of income, but not enough to replace the income that my employed job brings me.

However, my background is in admin having worked in the NHS for nineteen years, and that combined with my blogging skills which I’ve picked up along the way made me think about what I could use them for. That’s when I first heard the term Virtual Assistant. It seemed to tick all the boxes in terms of describing the skills that I could offer to people and so my research began. I found myself some Facebook Groups and a course and started asking ALL the questions.

Then the pandemic hit and I was just on the cusp of officially opening the doors of my new business. The world went slightly crazy and I put everything on hold. I didn’t know what to do for a few weeks, before realising that it still was my time to launch – a lot of people and businesses were adapting and much help was needed. So I took the plunge and announced it and the inquiries started to come through slowly. I also went from working part-time at the hospital to being given a laptop to continue my work from home, which I was really excited about. I’ve since started a 50/50 split between home and the office, but I enjoy being at home far more than at the office.

What do you need to Work from Home?

Well, how long is a piece of string? This is entirely dependent on what work you do. As a Virtual Assistant or even a Blogger, you can set up with pretty much a laptop and an internet connection. No specialist equipment is needed but there are other things that can make your life easier and much more proactive.

A Dedicated Work Space

This might seem like a no-brainer, but having your station set up with everything you need to do your work means less distraction and creates a working mindset. Even better if you have an office that you can go to during your usual office hours, so it still feels like ‘going to work’.

Stationery

Make you have all the things you would usually have to complete your work in your dedicated workspace. So I have pens, notebook, pad, diary, and highlighters, and usually a cup of tea on the go at any given time.

A Laptop or Desktop computer

I have my beloved MacBook Pro and was given a laptop for my NHS work with all the relevant programmes that I would need to use. In the office I was used to using two screens so I had to adapt to working from just one screen which was a lot smaller.

Internet Connection

You’re going to need an internet connection for remote working. Ours has its moments of being completely pants, but generally, we have a good connection and thankfully haven’t had any problems during the pandemic. Shopping around is a good idea, but there are a lot of good plans to compare such as xfinity vs cox, so do your research and find what is best for you.

Work Pattern

Working remotely can give you so much flexibility, but you do need to have core working hours whether these are your original office hours or new hours created to fit around family duties. My office hours for the NHS are 8 am – 4 pm and I get up and ready exactly how I would for a day in the office and start work as I would usually. I tend to take my breaks as I would at work as I’m in ‘Work Mode’ and this works for me. Don’t be tempted to work more hours that you’re being paid for, espcially those of us who maybe live alone.

Taking Breaks

This might seem like a no-brainer, but it’s easy to go through the day without having a break. Take regular breaks to top up your water bottle and stop to have lunch. Move away from where you’re working to eat so that you get a bit of a break. In an office environment, you’re likely to have colleagues to sit and have a chat with or people that you bump into on your way to and from the kitchen which you won’t at home.

Access to Plug Sockets

Wherever you set up your dedicated workspace, make sure that you have access to plug sockets to make sure you can charge your laptop and phone within reach. I’ve been using the Anker Nano II Fast Charger which will charge your phone, laptop, or tablet up to three times quicker than your usual charger.

Health and Safety

As you would in the office, it’s important that your setup supports you in terms of health and safety. If you’re working for an employer, they should provide you with the necessary equipment needed to complete your job. Obviously, as we were thrown into the pandemic, a lot of this was overlooked, but going forward if you continue to work from home this should be re-assessed.

Lighting

A window seat in the office is usually the top spot for most people, but having good lighting at home is also important. Not just for the view or grabbing a bit of natural light, but also for the all-important zoom calls that you may have to do as part of your job. I do Teams meetings for my employed work and Zoom Calls for my Virtual Assistant business (networking and client calls) and it’s important that you present yourself as you would in person and that the recipients can see you. A nice light room just makes the experience much better.

Networking or Socialising

So we lost our social lives when the pandemic hit, and homeworking meant the loss of the coffee room chat and the presence of work colleagues. We all threw ourselves into zoom meetings both for work and to chat with family and friends. We’ve all done the huddling around laptops and phones whilst straining to join in family chats and quizzes. We’ve since been using the Anker Ultra Clear Portable Conference Speaker. It has amazing sound quality, enabling it to be used by a group of up to 8 people whilst blocking out additional background noise. You can hook it up to your laptop, tablet, or phone via Bluetooth or a USB cable. Its portable and lightweight and so easy to use, making your group chat or zoom experiences much better. You can also play music and podcasts through it so it’s my new best toy!

Headphones

Not everybody is fortunate to have a home office so earphones have been a lifesaver for many. Whether these are wireless or corded, they can stop the distractions of homelife that may be going on in the background.

Are you set up for working from home? Are you going back to office? I’m hoping not as it fits in so much better with my family life.

*This is a collaborate post with Anker and items were gifted to me for the purpose of this post.