We’re revamping the ‘recommend a friend’ scheme.  Currently if you tell a friend about Cheeky Wipes and they order the full kit, they will save £5 by quoting the code we give you, and as long as they provide your email address (at the time of order – this can’t be back-dated!) we’ll send you £5 also – but off anything on the site.

We’re thinking of improving the scheme to give new customers who have been recommended will save 20% off anything over £38, which means that customers who order mini kits can also benefit.  Do you think this is better / worse?  Any other suggestions?

We were going to keep your reward at £5 off anything on the site – but is there anything that you would prefer?  We have toyed with the idea of 20% off any further purchase, but actually £5 off anything is probably better for most people as it would buy them a bottle of oil?

We’re open to suggestions, so please leave a comment either here or on our facebook page….

I’m delighted to announce that our version 3 kits are now available to pre-order online for £35 including postage. (Will be £39.99, plus postage after 10th Feb).

Flat lids for easy stacking

Our new boxes (v3) combine the best bits of version 1 and version 2 boxes:

- flat lids for stacking
- air-tight seal
- one handed opening (but with a single robust clip rather than a pop-top)
- internal hooks on mucky box
- double hinge with stainless steel pin for strength
- water-fill levels

We’ve been testing the samples here at Cheeky Wipes HQ for a couple of weeks and we love them!

The containers can also be pre-ordered – if you’re an existing customer, keep an eye on your in-box next week as you can pre-order the new containers at a hefty discount until the end of December.

Both new boxes have double hinges with stainless steel pins for strength

The pictures show the kits actually in the factory, the container will ship to us shortly so we’re confident that we’ll have all pre-orders dispatched by 10th February.

Will update next week again when I have ‘proper’ photo’s to share….

We’ve finally just taken delivery of our lovely turquoise and bright pink Cheeky Wipes – woohoo!  These things always take longer to arrive than we expect, we ordered them back in August so it seems like we’ve been waiting FOREVER!

For all you people who like to have separate wipes for faces and bums, or hands and bums, this is what you’ve been looking for…

As you can hopefully see from the picture, we’ve gone back to our original manufacturer for this production run so the quality is fantastic, nice tight overlocking and fabulous quality cotton.

We’ve had to pay a bit more for the wipes, but we think it’s worthwhile as they’ll wash really well and have great longevity.  We’ve been using wipes in these colours since March and they’re fantastic, they don’t show food stains and wash really well.

We’ve got 5 packs of the new coloured wipes (worth £14 each) to give away.  To be in with a chance of winning you can either:

• pop over to our facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/CheekyWipes), and ’share’ this blog post on your wall (would be lovely if you could ‘like’ us while you’re there!
• leave us a comment below

We’ll randomly generate 5 winners at 11am next Tuesday (20th) to ensure that you should receive your new wipes by Christmas!

It’s that time of year again.  It’s only 8th November and I’ve already had to turn the kids heads away from fully bedecked christmas trees which seem to be popping up everywhere like prickly green warts.

I fully admit that I’m a christmas grump.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the chance to break the winter up with a holiday and an excuse to get together with family and friends.  That bit is great.  I can even put up with a christmas tree and decorations (after 13th December though, before that is WAY too early).

The bit I dislike is the rampant, random present buying. It makes me sad to receive pointless gifts which end up being regifted or going straight to a charity shop. I’d much prefer some home-made goodies (which is what I invariably make for in-laws etc) which have had some time, energy and love poured into them.

I also really dislike buying just for the sake of it.  Unfortunately, this leaves me with a bit of a problem when it comes to gifts for the kids, especially when it comes to presents for the younger girls.  Our house has got plenty of toys suitable for 3 year olds and babies.  We just don’t need any more lego / baby doll bits / cars / pens and paper. I don’t particularly want to buy more ’stuff’ just for the sake of it.  But on the other hand, Santa needs to buy the girls something, or the boys will get very suspicious!

Thankfully the power of facebook has come up with some great gift suggestions for J who is now 3, but I have no idea whatsoever what to do about the baby (9 months old).  Ideally we’d just get her a few small bits and pieces but the boys will notice that she isn’t getting as much as them – or will they?

Answers on a postcard please…

The price has gone up slightly, but we think they’re worth paying a little more for and we’re promoting them at £17.50 for 25 wipes.

Check them out….Bamboo Baby Wipes and don’t forget to take a look at our lovely new Rose Geranium & Rose essential oil blend.

Perfect timing! Obviously my first point of call was Amazon, but the reviews of most of the ones on there said that they were a bit crinkly and noisy. Given that no2 son is a light sleeper anyway, I thought it best to avoid them. We had used ones from Ikea but they seem to have lost their waterproof -ness, meaning a wet mattress which obviously isn’t good. (Bicarbonate of soda takes out the smell, FYI…)

I always love to have a bit of a nosey around to see what’s new, this time, I was right around the corner from the lovely people at Brolly Sheet. Brolley sheets fit on top of the fitted sheet, and just tuck in underneath the mattress around the sides if you understand? They’re really nicely padded, with a quilted cotton top and breathable waterproof layer. Even better they can apparently hold 2 litres of water, so no more wet mattress.

They’ll be quick to change in the middle of the night because they don’t go under the fitted sheet and they come in a range of pretty colours – plus white of course. I was so impressed I bought 3 of them (two red and one pink for J) as they had a really good deal on at the Baby Show.

If you’ve got a little one who still isn’t quite dry at night, I’d really recommend these – and I’ll try to get in touch with Brolley sheets to see if they fancy doing some sort of a competition for us…

Attending trade fairs is always a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand it’s a great showcase for Cheeky Wipes, and a fantastic way to network and get new ideas / gossip. On the other hand it’s time-consuming and can be a bit boring, but you have to put up with it!

One of the things I like best about these shows are the ability to have a good nosey around and see what’s new from old competitors / friends or new to market. Of course, I always like to let you, my faithful readers share in what’s hot or what’s not – from my perspective anyway!

This time a couple of products have caught my eye. Firstly the lovely people from Naturally Cool Kids were nearby with their funky range of Hair & Body Wash / sunscreen, lip and cheek protector and my personal favourite, the Vapour Stick.

All their products are completely free from nasties, so brilliant for my sensitive, eczema prone skin. They also use my favourite lavender & mandarin essential oils (sound familiar?) in the hair and body wash, which comes in a handy pump bottle so you can operate it one-handed.

As I said though, it’s the Vapour Stick which is my personal favourite. Less messy than Vicks, less eye-watering than Olbas oil and just chock full of goodies, like sunflower seed oil, cocoa butter and beeswax which moisturise the skin, whilst helping you breathe more easily. Love it.

Naturally Cool kids products are available from major retailers including John Lewis, or online at www.naturallycoolkids.com, priced from £3.95 for the DEET free bugbands…

Obviously I had to bring gifts for my girls too. Jennie got a giant bottle of bubbles, with a really simple bubble wand that actually looks like it might last rather than snapping and ending up in tears – sorry can’t find details of the company to share them, but if I can find them will come back.

Aerin did really well though. She got some of these fabulous ‘Booby’ bottles from Mimijumi. These bottles are perfect if you want to combine breast and bottle feeding as I’ve never seen anything that looks as much like a real breast and nipple. In fact at one point I had to ask their deisgner Lukas to stop flicking the teat as it just looked a bit wrong! A lot of care and attention has gone into the design of these bottles. The teats are made from medical grade silicone and the texture of the silicone changes from the ‘nipple’ end to the breast end. They come in a funky red ‘milk carton’ too, which is quirky and funny.

But that wasn’t all…The lovely Norma at Itti Bitti gave me a gorgeous minkee blanket, nappy, wetbag and changing mat in this gorgeous Carnivale fabric. She also let me into a little secret…Itti Bitti are launching a new brand of washable nappies and they look brilliant! They’ll be a birth to potty nappy but whereby Itti Bitti are at the luxury end of the market with their fab minkee covers, the new brand ‘One’s and Two’s’ will feature plain covers (although in a range of colours) and pocket inserts. Really simple with velcro straps and poppers to adjust the sizing, I think they’ll fly off the shelves when they launch in December. Watch this space for more info.

I did bring one more item back from Cologne which I’ll share with you soon – very ‘interesting’ for most of you I think…

In fact we’ve just got back from 5 days in Cologne exhibiting at Kind & Jugend which is one of the biggest trade shows for baby and nursery. It covers 5 massive halls and runs for 4 hectic days but is well worth attending. I was delighted with our stand position and we picked up quite a few new potential distributors, in places as far ranging as Austria to the Ukraine!

Aside from the chance to showcase your products, these type of shows also allow you a chance to see what your competitors and colleagues in the baby and nursery trade are up to. I love this aspect, it stimulates my creativity around ‘what’s next’ for Cheeky Wipes but also usually means I end up bringing home more ’stuff’ than I took with me.

I thought I’d spend a bit of blogtime showcasing my favourites, the fabulous pressies I brought home for the kids to make upo for my Mummy guilt over leaving them for 5 days.

First off, I got one of the fabulous Sugar Booger ‘Zippee’ lunch boxes from Ore Originals. I was keen to talk to these guys as I’d just spent an hour the previous weekend looking for a lunchbox for no2 son which didn’t feature Ben 10, Spongebob or similar! They have a great range of funky, non-character lunch boxes, which are great quality and well priced as they should range from £10 – £17. They’re going to be available in the UK from the New Year, so make sure and look out for them.

No2 son was also really easy to sort out.  The stand opposite us was Hevea Baby Products, a Danish baby designer who started making dummies, teethers and bath toys from natural rubber which is sustainable and better for your baby and the environment!

I spotted their ‘Alfie’ duck immediately as no2 son LOVES rubber ducks, even the plastic ones. I’m much less keen as I find that all bath toys have holes in them (for squeaks??) which are just a nightmare as they eventually end up filled with black, yucky, water. Aside from being a decent size (16cm x 19cm means he’s a Daddy ducky!), Alfie has no holes and is great to play with in the bath – or chew on as no2 daughter has discovered!

That wasn’t all I brought back from K&J, but will drop an update out next week to fill you in on the rest of my goodies, including an ‘interesting’ one for me….

Baby Bjorn

With no 1 son, we bought a baby bjorn which is more of a structured carrier than a sling.  H used it more when no1 son was little as I couldn’t get to grips with it – looking back now, that was definitely more my fault than anything to do with the carrier though because I used it easily with no2 son.

It’s a great choice if your man is going to be wearing bubs as it’s pretty butch but still comfortable.  H carried no1 son all the way over the seven sisters to Eastbourne in it one day and it worked really well.

When no1 daughter arrived I decided I needed something more comfortable to wear indoors.  She was a bit of a screamer you see, and didn’t like being set down, probably because she was hungry…  So I ordered two ‘hotslings’ as I thought they looked quite groovy.  Which they did to be fair but my LO absolutely hated being in it and screamed her head off,  so they were not for us.  I see since then than hotslings have made them adjustable now, so maybe that would have worked better for us.  Hey ho.

I did a bit more research and found my ‘hands-free kit’ aka my Kari me Sling which I still LOVE and have blogged about it before way back in April 2009. It’s perfect at home, especially when Aerin tends to be a little bit unsettled in the early evening (coinciding with tea-time for everyone else, I think she just wants to join in). She can snuggle in close and have a cuddly snooze which is just lovely for us both.

So, given that I love my Kari-Me, why have I got myself another sling?

Well I wore my Kari-Me at the NEC baby show on Friday and found that the stretchy fabric wasn’t quite so good when I needed to be a bit more active. As I was bending over and lifting boxes etc, Aerin had a tendency to move about a little.

I popped along to the lovely Ladies on the Close Parent stand and borrowed one of their award winning close parent carriers. What a difference! Whilst the fabric still has a bit of ‘give’ in it, it’s heavier fabric and holds the baby more firmly in place which is reassuring. Having the fabric come together on the back means that the straps stay widely apart, spreading the weight of the baby evenly and making it super-comfortable to wear. I literally had Aerin in the carrier all day on Saturday and Sunday and didn’t have any back ache from wearing it at all. And even though the fabric is heavier, it felt cooler to wear as it doesn’t wrap around in the same way. You can even breast feed in it – I haven’t tried this yet but will certainly give it a go.

I almost wouldn’t have believed you if you’d told me there was a better sling than the kari-me, but just goes to prove that I’m wrong occasionally….