Category Archives: Fun Stuff

What We Bought in 2015 – According to Mary Portas

Beauty & Personal Care, Clothes and Fashion, Entertainment, Fun Stuff, Health, Home & Garden, Lifestyles, Shopping

The Big Trends of 2015So as one of the end of year TV programmes on Channel 4 in the UK, Mary Portas went on a mission to find the best selling things of 2015. Here is a summary of what she found that we bought the most of in 2015 and also details of where you can buy it all:

 

At the start of the year we all want to lose weight and the massive big seller of 2015 in terms of fitness DVDs was Charlotte’s 3 minute belly blitz.

Next on the list were 2 kitchen aids whose sales went a bit crazy in the first part of the year. One was the nutribullet and the other was the spiralizer. Both were designed to help you to eat more healthily and sales on both were massive.

On the back of the sale of the spiralizers came the bestselling book by vegan blogger Ella Woodward – Deliciously Ella.

In February came the film of the best selling book 50 Shades of Grey. As the DVD is now out, if you haven’t read the book or seen the film then you can watch the DVD.

In 2015, Mary Portas reports, the beard revolution was upon us. According to the program in some cities over 50% of men are now sporting beards. With celebrities endorsing the fashion came the trend for beard products which went a bit crazy, in particular beard oil.

There are a huge number of people selling beard oil on Amazon and jumping on the bandwagon so we have just chosen one option to show you on the right!

70s fashion was the next item on Mary Portas’ best selling list of 2015 but we will leave you to peruse the high street to choose your favourite 70s clothes options which could include flared trousers, A-line skirts and fake fur jackets!

Another massive bestseller which has been popular with friends of SpikyMouse was the adult colouring book. This trend suddenly hit our shelves in 2015 and was taken on by those needing a bit of relaxation in their lives from the craziness of everyday.

One of the best selling adult colouring books was the Animal Kingdom colouring book by Millie Marotta but there are numerous different books available and they are obviously not only available online but also in your local bookshop by the dozen.

Another trend that we have been promoting at SpikyMouse for a few years is coconut water. But sales of this also really took off in 2015 as well as other coconut based products like coconut oil to cook with.

Next in line is another fashion item that has been dubbed ‘athleisurewear’. Having seen the increase in leisure wear over the last decade or so, with whole shops dedicated to clothing that looks like you should be wearing it for playing sport but it really isn’t suitable, comes clothing that is suitable for both sports and leisure.

Quite a few brands of clothing have been sponsored by celebrities particularly in the music industry and many of the items are sold out online before you even have a chance to look at them.

One big seller in this area was leggings which had been elevated to a major fashion item with the addition of bright colours, patterns and stripes. Rita Ora was one person who had her own range of Adidas clothing which sold really well.

A fun trend which hit the shops and took off in major way was the pastel hair dye – another trend that was endorsed by quite a few young celebrities, including Pixie Lott who brought out her own range of pastel hair dyes.

There were some pastel hair dyes that were suitable for pre-lightened or very light blonde hair or there were chalk hair colours that just gave a temporary effect.

So at the end of the year came Star Wars which sent all fans into a major frenzy and thoughout the year Prosecco was our favourite drink.

How many of these trends did you embrace? And what is going to be the next big thing for 2016? We can only guess!

How Can You Tell a Facebook Competition is Fake?

Fun Stuff, Internet, Social Networks & Online Communities, Society,

There are so many fake facebook pages out there trying to get us to click the like and share buttons with competitions and giveaways. So many of these facebook competitions are actually fake sadly.

There are a number of reasons why someone would set up a fake facebook page and competition even though sometimes they seem a bit unfathomable! But mostly they want us to like and share stuff so that more people like their page and maybe they can get hold of all our details and that of our friends to spam us with stuff or do even worse. Continue reading How Can You Tell a Facebook Competition is Fake? →

How to Blow an Egg

Children, Fun Stuff, Recreation

Blowing eggs is a traditional thing to do at Easter to create painted eggs to use for gifts or just as decoration. It is a fun activity to do with your kids at Easter time so if you are looking for directions as to how to blow an egg then you have come to the right place!

How to blow an eggYou don’t need much in order to blow an egg but you might just need a steady pair of hands. Things you need when blowing an egg are essentially:

  • A pin or needle
  • A cocktail stick
  • A fresh egg!

It is best that the egg has been out of the fridge for a bit before you blow it but it is still fine to blow an egg that has come straight out of the fridge, it is just that the egg itself will be a little less viscous and hence it will make it a bit easier to get the contents out.

How to Blow an Egg

So, to blow an egg, the first thing you need to do is to put 2 holes into the egg. The holes can be anywhere in the egg but it is easier to blow it if the holes are at the bottom and the top of the egg. However, if you find flaws in the egg that may be easier to put a hole in then by all means use those.

One of the holes can be pretty small – you do not need a big hole to blow through. However, the other hole needs to be slightly larger so that the contents of the egg can come out. Start making the holes with a pin or needle as this will be the easiest way to make a small hole in the shell without breaking it.

DSCF2454The slightly harder part is to enlarge one of the holes without cracking the egg so be very careful when doing this (with the pin).

Once one of the holes is large enough to get a cocktail stick into, put the stick in and push it in and out so that it breaks the yolk. If you mush the egg up inside a bit then it makes it easier for the contents of the egg to come out.

When you have done this, you can start blowing out the contents of the egg. Put your lips to the smaller hole and blow until the egg starts coming out of the larger hole – if the egg does not start to come out then try and break it up a bit more with the cocktail stick.

Blow out the contents of the egg
Blow out the contents of the egg

Once you have blown out all of the contents of the egg put some water in the egg and swish it about to clean out the inside. Do this a couple of times to make sure that the egg is clean inside. When you have done this put the egg in the microwave for around 10-20 seconds to dry it out.

If everything you have used to blow the egg has been clean then you can always use the egg itself to make scrambled eggs or anything you want to – you don’t have to throw it away!

Once the egg is clean and dry you can proceed to paint it. Many types of paint are suitable for this including craft paint and acrylic paint – you can also use glass paint in small tubes to make lines on the painted egg.

 

Giant Advertising Inflatable

Business, Fun Stuff,


So my theory is that you can pretty much buy anything you want on Amazon and as I was searching the other day for a pool inflatable I came across this which really does seem to prove my theory!

If you are looking to buy a giant advertising inflatable then this is surely the place for you. In fact I was passing by a carpet shop the other day and I wouldn’t have noticed it that much except that it had a giant inflatable in front of it advertising a sale they had on. These things really do catch your eye so maybe they are worth the investment. They don’t come cheap – this King Kong giant inflatable has a $2,199 price tag (although prices can change quickly on Amazon but that is the price at going to print). But then if you think about any increase in revenue it might provide then it could well be a good investment. Ok it seems crazy to say that a giant inflatable can be a good investment but I know that I wouldn’t have looked twice at that carpet shop if it hadn’t had the inflatable monster in front of it.

Check out this inflatable on Amazon and you will see they also have a few other designs to offer. This one come with a custom banner so you can either have your own business name on it or maybe you could share it with another business and just have it advertising sale prices or something generic.

After all it may not effectively cost so much if it is a business investment that has some kind of tax write off!