19/12/201719/12/2017 by jo

Lego Star Wars Sustainable Advent Calendar 2017

It has become something of a tradition in this house every December that we buy H a Lego Advent Calendar. This year, however, things have changed for the better. Lego have launched a Lego Star Wars sustainable Advent Calendar!

The Lego Star Wars sustainable Advent Calendar looks exactly the same as previous years. Each container which holds your Lego surprise is made from 100% Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper which can be recycled along with the box.

Given previous Lego Advent Calendars have had a plastic tray, this is a big and good move forward as far as reducing waste goes. That will save over a million plastic trays going to landfill sites.

Of course, rather than just recycling the trays, there are several other uses for them.. I’m thinking of a way we could use ours at Brownie meetings – they would make great seed trays to grow something in the new year.

Checking this video, I’m tempted to have a go at a few Stormtroopers too.

Then again… my attempt looks a bit like an ageing Stormtrooper! Still, we have plenty of others to practice on! Have you tried to make any? Share your pictures if so, I’d love to see!

What I love the most about the Lego Star Wars Sustainable Advent Calendar is that it reduces landfill. This is such a good thing, and more companies should take this on board – it isn’t difficult to make little changes like this.

H’s Lego Star Wars advent calendar also has her current favourite in there, alas not due until Christmas Eve…

Maybe next year it will be a Lego Porg….

The paper pulp tray is starting to appear this year and is available in approximately 60% of advent calendars. The advent calendar paper trays are one of the product innovations to improve the sustainability of LEGO packaging. The LEGO Group is working on improved product labelling to promote correct recycling, and recycled or bio based plastic packaging, among other initiatives.

Since 2013, the average size of LEGO boxes has been reduced by 14%. Using smaller boxes has so far saved approximately 10.000 truckloads, over 20.000 tonnes of cardboard, and CO2 emissions by 35.000 tonnes.

We received a Lego Star Wars Sustainable Advent Calendar for the purpose of review, all opinions are our own.

05/02/201705/02/2017 by jo

The Lego Batman Movie – Our Review

Yesterday we went to a preview of the Lego Batman Movie. Most cinemas are offering a preview screening this weekend. It’s a film we’ve all wanted to see for a while now!

The Lego Batman Movie

The Lego Batman Movie comes from the same team who created The Lego Movie. As this is one of H’s favourite films it had potential to be a winner again. Generally if H likes a film she’s demanding we buy the DVD as we leave the theatre, and yet again she requested this.

So, what is it all about? Bruce Wayne is at a gala where the new mayor of Gotham is being unveiled, Barbara Gordon. Barbara declares that Gotham no longer needs Batman. He keeps saving the city, but the villains keep coming back, making it the most crime-ridden city ever. She suggests she takes over law enforcement as she is highly trained. Batman is sidelined, but eventually Barbara realises that Gotham needs Batman. She suggests they work as a team.

BUT.

Batman works alone. He does not work as part of a team. Even his newly adopted son Dick Grayson and Alfred Pennyworth are not a part of his team.

Which is the message in this film. The Lego Batman Movie is about how much you need friends to get things done and work together. Sometimes you might even need your enemies to be a part of that team…

Oh, and what brilliant enemies make an appearance too – I won’t spoil things.

Will Arnett voices Batman again, with voice appearances from Michael Cera as Robin, Ralph Fiennes as Alfred Pennyworth, Rosario Dawson as Barbara Gordon and Zach Galifianakis as The Joker.

We popped into The Entertainer on the way home as there are Lego Batman Movie characters available in their latest range (£3 each, you don’t know which one you’re getting). Harley Quinn on Lego rollerskates eludes us for now…

So, our final thoughts on the Lego Batman Movie. We loved it! As I said before, H has demanded we buy the DVD when it comes out. Shaun and I were laughing out loud at several bits of the movie – it’s the little background touches. Two Shades of Grey at the Lego Movie (well, there are in Lego aren’t there), and a proper laugh out loud at the number plate on Bruce Wayne’s automobile. There are many things like this which you have to be quick to spot.

It’s a fun, cheeky, daft, hilarious movie with a message and best of all, classed a U so suitable for all. It references many different Batman moments throughout the years too. Oh, and I have to say a fabulous eighties soundtrack and references too.

The Lego Batman Movie gets a big thumbs up from us.

With our Tastecard Plus tickets worked out at £5.75 for adults and child ticket £4.50. We saved around £15 in total which is a great saving.

The Lego Batman movie opens on February 10th 2017. There are advance screenings in most cinemas this weekend. For more info head here.

It’s going to be a brilliant Lego Batman Movie computer game too – can’t wait.

In the meantime why not have a go at the Lego Batman Selfie Builder?

13/09/201501/01/2019 by jo

Project 365 Week 37

Sunday 6th September. H’s late birthday party. They watched The Lego Movie then we played some party games afterwards. It was a surprisingly low-maintenance party, although exhausting – especially as I hadn’t really planned it well. H’s Lego cake was marvellous though. Look!

Monday 7th September. H went into school dressed as a knight for their topic this term. I made the costume from a t-shirt, cut the sleeves off and sewed up the sleeves a bit, added a purple emblem to the front and a purple ribbon around the waist. The final touch was a chain mail type hat we picked up from Pendennis Castle and her sparkly tights which made good chainmail leggings!

A photo posted by Jo Brooks (@mumfriendlyjo) on Sep 7, 2015 at 9:40am PDT

Tuesday 8th September. I think I forgot to take a photo today. Weird. Wednesday 9th September. The new Storytime magazine arrived today – can’t believe it’s Issue 13 already. My mum has bought H another year’s subscription for her birthday – and considering H got a copy of The Secret Garden and recognises it from Storytime, I know we need to keep going. This month’s issue has The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe inside, and I wish I still had my old copy.

A photo posted by Jo Brooks (@mumfriendlyjo) on Sep 9, 2015 at 7:45am PDT

Thursday 10th September. Cheating to make Vol au Vents, as inspired by Flora from Bake Off. Chocolate vol au vents work in the same way crumpets and ice cream do – yum.

A photo posted by Jo Brooks (@mumfriendlyjo) on Sep 10, 2015 at 8:35am PDT

Friday 11th September. Making the aforementioned vol au vents.

A photo posted by Jo Brooks (@mumfriendlyjo) on Sep 11, 2015 at 9:19am PDT

Saturday 12th September. A good start to the day, H and her friends were approached about our local football club setting up an Under 8’s Girl’s Team, and would our girls be interested (yes! yes! yes!!!), followed by us getting home, changing football kits and heading out to a football party for the afternoon. My copy of the Bernard Sumner book arrived and so I’m looking forward to settling down to actually read it.

A photo posted by Jo Brooks (@mumfriendlyjo) on Sep 12, 2015 at 2:50am PDT

09/02/201426/03/2018 by jo

The Lego Movie

The Lego Movie is coming to the UK – released in cinemas on February 14th 2014, it’s becoming quite a hotly anticipated event. We went to a preview screening earlier today, and these are our thoughts.

The Lego Movie trailer has been one we’ve watched in awe, thinking the film was going to be amazing based on a minute of random footage. I happened to spot there were some preview screenings happening so booked us in for today – for a total of £30ish.

We went to Cineworld in Wandsworth and opted for the 3D version. So what’s to say about the film?

The Lego Movie plot is straightforward. Emmet is a normal kind of chap, the sort who tries to be friends with everyone, but as the film progresses is actually one of the people who seems to blend into the background. To everyone else he isn’t someone special – but to those who know about The Prophecy, he is the chosen one.

He lives in Bricksburg, “a humongous city built entirely out of LEGO bricks. Under the all-controlling leadership of President Business, everything in Bricksburg is done exactly by the instructions, from waking up and getting dressed in the morning to smashing old buildings and assembling new ones down at the construction site” from watching ‘Where’s My Pants’ on tv and listening to the horribly catchy ‘Everything is Awesome’ by Tegan and Sara which is played all day every day continuously to the residents (who love it).

He is declared a master builder; and it’s pretty apparent he’s not; by Vitrivius – and meets Wyldstyle who becomes his sidekick (and romantic interest), while escaping from Good Cop Bad Cop and the evil Lord Business and his dreaded Taco Tuesday. I’m saying no more so as not to spoil, but the final part The Lego Movie almost had me in tears – from craziness to one of those moments which really do make you come out of the cinema feeling that Everything Is Awesome. Oh yes. You don’t need to follow instructions, just open your mind.

Oh, and don’t expect to get ‘Everything is Awesome’ out of your head for at least a month or two. A special mention to Batman’s song too which made me smile.

The Lego Movie is one of those films which appeals to Lego fans young and old – with plenty of nods to the past and numbers from various Lego sets. It feels like there’s a lot of Lego love and attention to detail that has been put into the film with scope for several more films in the future. It’s heartwarming too.

I feel like I’ve probably missed so much, I could waffle on about it for a long time.

The Lego Movie is released in cinemas in the UK from the 14th February, is 100 minutes long and certified U. Of course Lego has many things available alongside it (as you’d expect). I spotted a pretty impressive sticker book in Waterstones today too and plenty of stationery sets – and let’s not visit the new kits that have just come out..

Official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/TheLegoMovieUK

Official Twitter page: https://www.twitter.com/TheLegoMovieUK

Legofy yourself over here

23/08/201320/04/2017 by jo

Lego Table Ideas – Ikea Hacks

It’s H’s birthday and one of the things she wants is a Lego table.

A Lego table does not come cheap, this we have found. I don’t want her to have the plastic ones as they’re already quite small for her. We wanted something which would suit a tall girl and grow with her. I spotted an absolutely gorgeous wooden one you can buy for £100 which is a bit too much.

So I googled around. There are plenty of Lego table options to make out there, but this one stood out – so we stole a few ideas then added some of our own.

After shopping around, the Lego boards we need to go on the top can be bought via Amazon for £5 each, so four were ordered. After that all you need is the table and containers which worked out really reasonable and cheap.

H decided she wanted a turquoise Lack table from Ikea. We spotted some Bygel plastic hanging containers which fit on a Bygel rail, coming in at a very reasonable £1.50 for the rail and 60p for each container. After that we went for the Grundtal magnetic knife holder at £11 (it’s really strong) and three Grundtal magnetic pots at £5 – which were slightly more expensive but will be a nice touch to the table.

After that it’s just a case of drilling them on – so it looks like this!

The final touch to the Lego table is the four lego boards. As said in the link above, you can’t place them close to each other so need to use lego to space them out properly. Something like on this picture (use Lego to make sure they’ll fit). Glue-wise we used ‘No More Nails’ and left it overnight – the night before H’s birthday in fact.

And that’s it. Rather than spend loads of money we spent a fraction of the cost. The Lack table has really good height on it and Ikea do a small chair which fits perfectly.

EDIT – this also works with Duplo. If your child isn’t quite ready for Lego but is likely to move up then this would be ideal! It doesn’t work with other brands we’ve tried like MegaBloks unfortunately!

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Tag / Lego