Spring into action! What to do and see this season

It's the season of new beginnings and the perfect opportunity for some adventure. So this Spring we have thrown together a couple of activities to keep the kids occupied during half term, and unmissable things to see in the great outdoors:

1) A Scavenger Hunt: Can you spot a squirrel, butterfly, or maybe just different colored leaves? With warmer weather and lighter evenings, all the signs of Spring have sprung and are ready to be found! While learning about the joys of nature, you and the kids will love hunting around to see how many weird and wonderful things you can find! 

If you need more than one scavenger hunt, each child could compete to find the biggest pine cone, or scariest spider! Alternatively you could encourage them to work together as a team.

2) Visit a fun farm: The Easter holidays are a perfect time to spend the day learning about baby animals, or maybe even see one being born! Wouldn't it be lovely to bottle feed a little lamb? Or have a pleasant pony ride through the fields? Many farms also include children's indoor and outdoor play areas for endless fun. Don't miss out on all the activities on offer at your nearest farm!

3) Relax with a hot chocolate: After all the fun and excitement of the day, there'll be nothing better than putting your feet up with a warm drink. Part of our enamel range is the blue trim mug, which is perfect for hot chocolate on a chilly evening. The kids can even decorate theirs with mini marshmallows or some sweet chocolate sauce. The whole enamel range, including a bowl, plate and tea can can be used indoors or for outdoor adventures this Sprin!

                                         

                                          

Which of these will you be getting up to this Spring?

                    www.ellieellie.co.uk

Happy Easter Sunday!

Happy Easter everybody! I hope everybody is having a lovely weekend! What have you been up too?

Our Easter recipe of Hot Cross Bun Muffins is a great way to end a sunday, take a look on our previous post to find the recipe (they are absolutely delicious so make sure you try them)!

(Don't they look scrumptious)

Our Sports day games have also been very popular, i hope families have been able to get out into the garden this Easter Holidays! Our badminton set, rounders set and potato sack race kit are the perfect way to spend time with the family. We also have a whistle, medals and a finishing line to make sure you are fully equipped!

Take a look at all our Sports Day Games at Ellie Ellie! 

Have a jolly bank holiday!

Scrumptious Hot Cross Bun Muffins!

As Easter weekend is approaching next weekend we thought we'd get in the kitchen and bake some yummy Easter treats for you to share with all the family this Easter! 

What reminds all of us of Easter is the absolutely delicious hot cross buns with lots of butter and some yummy Easter chocolate too!

We've got the best recipe for something a little different, hot cross bun muffins!

The ingredients you will need:

• 150g currants
• 375g self raising flour
• Half a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
• 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon
• Half a teaspoon of ground nutmeg
• 165ml sunflower oil
• 250ml buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 200g caster sugar
• 80g icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Recipe:

1. First, preheat the oven to 200c and grease a 12 hole muffin tray with paper cases (we used silicone cases instead of a muffin tray which still worked well)

2. Soak the fruit in just enough boiling water and cover for 10 minutes, pat dry with a paper towel and set aside

3. Sift the flour, soda and spices into a large mixing bowl

 4. In a separate bowl whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs and sugar until combined

5. Add this to the dry ingredients and stir to combine, gently stir in the fruit!

6. Divide the mixture among the cases and bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly browned

7. Meanwhile, place the extra 2 tablespoons of sugar in a pan and 2 tablespoons of water, simmer over a low heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved! Brush over to glaze the muffins!

8. Sift icing sugar into a bowl (We ended up using a bit more than 80g for our icing) add lemon juice and just enough hot water to make a thick pipable icing. Use a piping bag to draw a cross on each muffin!

And Voila....

We found this yummy recipe here!

We hope you enjoy these scrumptious treats and your Easter weekend! 

The Wonder of Wilderness Wood!

Wilderness Wood is a expanse of wonderful woodland in Hadlow Down in East Sussex! It has been family run since 1980 and is set within the beautiful surroundings of Sussex. Wilderness wood and the people who take care of it run a number of events throughout the year, and Spring time is the perfect time to get outside into the wilderness!

The people at Wilderness Wood are also passionate about a sustainable way of life and manage the woodland in an environmentally friendly way!

There are so many things to do at the wood including, woodland trails, parties and courses too!

Over the Easter period there are a number of different activities to choose from which make a fun day out for the kids, their Easter Bunnies events include tracking real rabbits and playing rabbity games! As well as an Easter Bunny Hunt, where you find wooden rabbits and collect prizes for your findings!

Find out more about the Wilderness Wood here! We'll sure be making our way there over Easter!

Easter Egg Charity Donation!

Ellie Ellie is supporting a very good cause that Heart Sussex and Surrey are doing which gives kids who may not get any chocolate eggs this Easter their very own Easter Egg! We have donated jars of our Easter Egg Mix to this great cause and picked some great charities based in Sussex to show our support!

The charities we have chosen to support for this great cause is Rockinghorse, which is based in Brighton, Baby Buddy based in Worthing and Chestnut Tree House in Arundel. All of these charities do amazing work with children to support families, improve the lives of sick children and care for children with life shortening conditions!

As well as being a great way to give kids a yummy chocolate treat this Easter it is a super way to show support to these absolutely brilliant charities. Who work hard and dedicate their time helping kids.

If you are in the supermarket any time soon, or shopping in your local town in Sussex, you can pop an extra chocolate treat in your shopping basket and drop it into any of the bins in the supermarkets around Sussex! Here is a list of the supermarkets you will find the bins!

It would be super to get as many people as possible to support and donate to this great cause this Easter. A small little treat will make a huge amount of difference to the kids of Sussex and Surrey!

We hope you have a brilliant Easter, and if you can, remember to drop a little treat in the bins at your nearest supermarket by the 17th of April!

Easter Puzzle Prize

Easter weekend is fast approaching and there is nothing better than taking part in a big family egg hunt this Spring. What is needed for an egg hunt? Yummy chocolate eggs! Ellie Ellie's new Easter Chocolate Egg Jar is perfect for the little ones (and big kids) this Easter. Full of scrumptious chocolate eggs that are perfect for an egg hunt!

As well as being full of scrumptious chocolate eggs, our Easter chocolate egg jar can be personalised too for an added personal touch this Easter! 

We are offering a free personalisation when you order a Easter Chocolate Egg Jar this Easter with our fun Easter puzzle, simply print out the game below or have a go at our wordsearch online and find the word that can't be found in the word search. Type this offer code into the checkout at www.ellieellie.co.uk to get your free personalisation with your chocolate jar order! 

We hope you enjoy a lovely Easter weekend will all the family and we're hoping for sunshine! 

Enjoy your Easter egg hunt! 

Get involved in the Bunny Run!

The Bunny Run is a fun and exciting course that brings people together to celebrate Easter in a hopping mad fashion!

Taking place on Sunday 13th of April, you can go along to Victoria Park in Haywards Heath to raise money for St Catherine's Hospice and have fun too.

Whether you walk, run or hop the course, there is Easter activities and entertainment to enjoy! Whether you are a spectator or completing the course, you are definitely in for some Easter fun with all the family!

For more information take a look at the website!

Make room for some Easter activities!

Easter is a great time of the year, with a bit of luck Spring will be starting to show it’s face and families will be home together for a day of egg hunts and chocolate eating competitions.

We’ve found a little game that is huge fun for all the family.. Pin the tail on the bunny!

To play is simple – just print out our bunny picture (right click and save the image to your computer, then you can pull it up as an image and print as big as you fancy!) gather some cotton wool and glue it onto a small circle of card (roughly 5cm round) and wait for it to dry. Pop some double sided sticky tape on the back of the tail, grab yourself a vintage scarf to act as blindfold and you are all set to play!

If you fancy going the whole hog, why not get the kids to get their creative juices flowing? Everyone loves a bit of colouring in!

Pin your bunny masterpiece up on the wall, blindfold your first player and give them a spin around! Watch in hysterics as they try and find the bunny and pin on the tail!

Great game for an Easter party, whether you’re a big or little kid! Enjoy!

Easter Cake Recipe- Sweet, cheap, easy and guaranteed to slap a few smiles on a few faces.

Easter eggs?! Esshhhh, Cliché.

I think we can do a little bit better then a mass produced Easter egg this year guys! We’d like to share with you an age old recipe...maybe one of the best recipes of all time.  The humble Chocolate Cornflake Cake, Easter style!

So easy to make they’d be a great afternoon activity with the kids, or if you’re feeling particularly charitable why not make them for your partner in crime? Definitely win you some brownie points (pun alert).

Our recipe allows for 12 little cakes- they’ll take you about 30 minutes to make (2 minutes to eat) and don’t even require any baking! Brilliant!

Ingredients

    225g plain chocolate, broken into pieces
    2 tbsp golden syrup
    50g  butter
    75g cornflakes

    36 mini chocolate eggs (or a few packets, to you and me!)

Grab yourself a cupcake tray and pop in your cake cases. The chocolate then needs to be melted in a bowl, along with the golden syrup and butter over a pan of gently simmering water, (do not let the base of the bowl touch the water otherwise all hell will break lose). Stir the mixture until silky smooth. Take off the heat and then begin to softly fold in your cornflakes until all the cereal is nicely coated in the mixture!

 Divide the mixture evenly between the paper cases and then add about 3 chocolate eggs into the centre of each. Pop in the fridge for about an hour until they are completely set and VOILA! The yummiest scrummiest (if not easiest) little treats around!

 Great idea if you're purse is a bit light but you still fancy spreading some Easter love.  Share them with friends, family or even office pals (chocolate smells suspiciously like a ticket to your boss's good book to us!)