December has kicked off with 2 advent calendars and a beautiful blog drop from Disney.
You can also view kiddies friendly content from Lexa and Lily with your kids on their brand new channel (that I’m busy setting up).
This has been the best year ever and we get to end it on a high note with Disney Channel Africa with this blog drop 🙂
Phew, I have to vent! When we had our youngest daughter’s party we only invited 5 kids. Most of the parents arrived within 15 minutes of the start time – except one. She arrived an hour late…
Not only did she arrive an hour late, she neglected to RSVP for her 2-year-old and a nanny!
When something like that happens once, you kind of understand, because with kids anything can happen.
Then, not even a month later we happen to all be invited to another party. The party had a scheduled start and end time on the invite. This woman once again arrived late. She arrived 15 minutes before the end of the party, brought the nanny and 2-year-old again. She didn’t waste time to get her kids on the slip-n-slide while the rest of us were busy packing up.
Ok, so that is twice…
Then we all got invited to a third party (all in a span of 5 weeks) and she arrives the last half an hour at a venue where you have to be out of that party area based on your booking – and that’s not even the worst part. She sent the nanny off to take the kids to the activity area and she grabbed a takeaway box and packed it to the brim. When the nanny got back, she instructed the nanny to pack a second takeaway box. Then she sat down and directly ate from the platter while there were plates right next to it. She even dipped a finger snack she had already bitten into, in the sauce!
I was mortified!
I will never invite her daughter to another party because of her mother’s tardiness and bad manners. You better believe that I am judging her because she doesn’t have the excuse of she has to do everything herself, or that she had a work emergency, or that she can’t afford to buy takeaways based on the cars they drive and a full-time nanny that goes everywhere and her not working… her behavior is just not OK.
Kids Party Etiquette for Parents
- If your child has an older/younger sibling, ask the parents if it is OK to bring the child with when you RSVP as they have to cater for an extra child and pack a party pack. Never bring an additional guest unannounced
- Take a gift on the day. Most parents don’t expect you to spend hundreds on a gift, they just want to spoil their kid with a party where all their closest friends are
- When you walk into the venue, greet the hosting parents and thank them for inviting you
- Find the birthday boy/girl and wish them a happy birthday and let your child hand over the birthday gift
- Arrive within a few minutes of the starting time and be mindful of the end time as shown on the invite as the venue may only have been booked for a specific timeslot
- If there is an open “bar” for drinks, be mindful of not going wild and ordering just because it is free
- Never pack a takeaway unless the hosts explicitly offers you a takeaway
- Don’t eat directly from a communal platter, pack some snacks into the provided plates or a napkin draped in your hand
- Never dip a handheld snack into a communal dipping sauce – especially if there is a tea spoon to let you scoop some out onto your plate
- If there are toothpicks or forks or thongs to use with the food, please do use it!
- When you are ready to leave, thank the parents for a great party and compliment them on the choice of venue, the cake or something
- Offer to help clean up
When your kid gets invited to a party, you (as a parent) are one of the background characters. Your job is to get them to the party on time with a gift in hand, take them to the bathroom, chat to the other parents so the hosts have time to take photos with their kid and make sure you are ready to leave at the designated time.
Your guide to advent calendars available in South Africa this year from beauty advent calendars to candle advent calendars, a Lego advent calendar and an advent calendar for dogs.
Yvonne Ellen Christmas Advent Calendar R550
Make someone’s Christmas merrier by treating them with the Yvonne Ellen Christmas Advent Calendar. The Whimsical Whippet has a limited number of these wonderful advent calendars available.
SOiL Aromatherapy Advent Calendar R299.95
L’Occitane Discovery Advent Calendar R1300 (on sale) or the Premium Advent calendar R2400 (on sale)
Clarins Advent Calendar R2100
Probono Advent Calendar for Dogs R75
Scroll to the bottom to win tickets…
Montecasino, the multi-award winning entertainment destination in Fourways Johannesburg, have teamed up with Kickstart Productions, the popular Durban based Theatre Company to present a fun filled family pantomime for the festive season, Sinbad The Sailor at the Teatro, Montecasino from 19 November to 23 December 2022.
It is a riotous romp over the Seven Seas, in the company of the famous sailor, Sinbad, and his madcap crew and family! With gloriously colourful sets and costumes that evoke the exotic mystery and magic of the Arabian Nights, and exciting music and dance, inspired by Bollywood, this is a unique, unforgettable pantomime experience for the entire family.
Kickstart Theatre Company is famous for their holiday pantomimes and this year is no different. The 16 strong cast features some of the cream of South Africa’s talent. Sinbad features newcomer Micah Stojakovic in the title role, Schoeman Smit as Dame Donna Kebab, Murray Todd as Long John Slither and Samantha Peo as Morgiana the Magnificent.
The delightful heroine of the piece is Princess Marina (Kiruna-Lind Devar) and the magical larger-than-life Genie of the Seven Seas is played by Yamikani Phiri with Lelo Ramasimong as the no-nonsense Ameena; Sandi Dlangalala as the deliciously vague Silly Billy Souvlaki; and Mthokozisi Zulu as the trusty pirate side-kick, Mustapha Kitkat. The ensemble is made up of Marang Khwene, Kutloano Rankoe, Hannah Rudnicki, Kyra Teague, Joshua Groenveld, Thokozani Jiyane, Lwazi Pinyana and Sabelo Radebe.
Written and directed by Steven Stead; designed by Greg King, with choreography by Evashnee Pillay, lighting by Denis Hutchinson,
Sinbad the Sailor is perfect year-end holiday entertainment for the entire family.
The Durban critics raved:
“Sinbad The Sailor is a rollicking, delicious romp which has the audience in stitches or gasping in amazement.” – Caroline Smart
“Gloriously over the top fun…. Sinbad is Panto-tastic!” – Estelle Sinkins, The Witness
“For a whale of a time… Dive in” – Billy Suter
WIN TICKETS
Do you want to go see the show this Saturday (19 November 2022). I have 2 sets of 2 tickets to give away. Let me know on this blog post who you will take to see the Sinbad the Sailor at Montecasino. Winner announced 10am on 18 November 2022 by random draw. T&Cs apply.
My kids are 4 and 6 this year – and they’ve seen their very first professional ballet already! I am so proud of myself that I am continuing the traditions my mom and I started since I moved to Joburg more than 2 decades ago.
We went to see Joburg Ballet’s Cinderella and we sat in the front row! My kids were so excited and posed for many selfies in front of the stage while we waited for the performance to start…
I did spend a bundle on snacks (lesson learnt). I bought 2 mini Pringles, 4 (skinny) Cokes, 1 big Astro and 1 big Smartie pack for a cool R245.
Lexa was mesmerised by the graceful dancers gliding across the stage. Kitty was ‘wow-ing’ and clapping hands. They appreciated the story and the art… The step sisters definitely stole the show with their manly features and movements stood in stark contras to the petite Cinderella.
The second half little miss Kitty wanted to go home. She was crawling over my lap, trying to find a spot to sleep, whispering “pssspsspss home’ in my ear. The minute the lights came on and the curtain fell for the last time she was out of that theatre before 95%. We got into the elevator to take us down to level 10 (the lowest) parking area and drove out without having to wait in a queue.
The annual fragrance sale is back from 2 to 6 November 2022 at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit.
The first day they will be open from 11am – 6pm, then 8am – 6pm Thursday to Saturday, and 8am-1pm on Sunday.
The sale is on selected fragrances, makeup, bath and body products. These are all authentic and original products.
Phone: 011 809 4000
PS. There is no mention of an online sale.
Should website owners be held accountable for what is listed by third party resellers when it comes to counterfeit products?
The simple answer is yes. When you provide a platform without the necessary safeguards to filter and block sellers of counterfeit goods, and the goods are sold via your website and you take a percentage of the sale… you should be liable. This will force website owners to put more checks in place to protects buyers.
How this all started for me
I have been lusting after 2 specific luxury bags in a specific print for months and decided to start looking at where I could purchase it in the secondhand market – because buying it new, is not going to happen.
… and before that, I watched hours of YouTube videos on how to spot a counterfeit, which bags have the most issues after a period of time, how to get it professionally authenticated and rather importantly, where I could take it to have professionally cleaned near me.
I felt prepared to weed out the counterfeits and to ask for the right pictures to get a proper authentication.
However, I wasn’t prepared for the oodles of fake bags being sold openly on Social Media and preloved goods websites. While I understand that to a degree sites like these rely on shoppers to spot and report counterfeit goods, not enough is being done to curb this very illegal practice. Action is also not taken fast enough after an item was reported.
While I really want this specific luxury bag and have a small budget, I am not willing to settle for a fake luxury bag. (And no judgement if you do have a fake luxury bag either, I get it.) I do have a problem with sellers trying to pass off knockoffs as the real deal.
A listing caught my eye, but I felt that niggling feeling of “it just can’t be real” – and I was right.
I then asked her for more images to authenticate the bag and she sent me pictures of a completely different bag.
I reported a listing to Yaga around 20 hours ago as I am writing this post, and the item is still active. I reported 3 further products in the last 13 hours, and they are also still active.
I also checked the Brand Habit Instagram page and they listed everything from Goyard to Louis Vuitton for max R3,000.
Not all counterfeit products are equal
Some fakes you’ll spot right away whilst others are far harder to identify. Some sellers will claim they bought it secondhand but lost dust bags and certificates of authentication. They’ll try convince you that you are mad for not jumping on the opportunity of owning a luxury bag at a bargain price…
My advice
My advice is to insist on pictures of the item with a list of shots and angles – especially when buying on a preloved website. Then submit those picture to an online authentication service for peace of mind.
Don’t buy because you think it is authentic because of higher price than you could get it from a hawker or china mall (there, I said it).
If however your budget can be stretched, consider buying from one of the reputable preloved websites that pre-authenticate and supply the certificate.
- www.selten.co.za
- www.theluxportal.com
- www.luxity.co.za