Archive for July, 2009

Attention witches, wizards and Quidditch lovers!

July 28th, 2009

Play and Stay Quidditch Picnic Challenge

By Flickr user Easternbot

By Flickr user Easternbot

At Play and Stay we have a great love of the magical world of Hogwarts and picnics.  It saddens us greatly, therefore, that Quidditch isn’t really a big sport at picnics. We realised of course that may be because a lot of Quidditch players haven’t got very nice picnic bags that they could carry their stuff in.

That’s why we are offering Quidditch players the chance to own their very own Play and Stay picnic bag (food not included) to bring the magic back to their picnics.

It’s simple, the best footage of you playing Quidditch or a quidditch-esque sport wins!

How to Enter:
1. Make a video of you playing Quidditch
2. Post your Quidditch video to YouTube.
3. Attach a link to your video using the comment box providing us with your name and email address.

Terms and Conditions
1.  Harry Potter cast members are not eligible.
2.  We will not accept footage from the Harry Potter movies- that’s cheating.
3.  Quidditch footage must last at least 30 seconds
4.  Muggle quidditch is 100% acceptable.
5.  All balls need not be in play during the video.
6.  You need not dress in robes during the video.
7.  Play and Stay reserves the right to use your name and footage in promotional materials.
8.  All entries must be received by 5pm on Friday 21 August 2009.
9.  Persons under the age of 18 must have parental consent to apply.
10. Play and Stay and its affiliates does not accept responsibility for any injuries sustained by competition entrants.

Prize winner will be announced on Friday 28 August 2009.

World Traveller’s Guide to Packing for Family Holidays

July 22nd, 2009

Ever driven all the way to Chessington World of Adventures from Cornwall and forgotten your tickets? Well I have and it wasn’t fun.

A little organisation goes a long way and as a result I’ve tapped out this helpful guide to make sure that your family trips are vastly improved this summer.pas-blog

Clothing
Two things should be accounted for when packing clothing; the weather and emergencies.

As the weather is ever-changing in these days of global warming, my advice is to take an assortment of weather-protecting gear including: raincoats, jumpers, shorts etc.

With regards to handling emergencies extra underwear is the key. Pants, socks, tights… bring extra of everything. After all, you never know.

Essentials
It is more often than not the simplest yet most essential of possessions that are left at home, subsequently causing massive hassle. I’m arming you with an essentials check list to ensure that you don’t end up dragging yourself all around the world on a mad hunt for a toothbrush, which eventually ends up costing £300 and tasting mildly of badgers.

The List:
Tickets, discount vouchers, toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, toilet paper, medications, sun block, clothes, identification, entertainment box, snacks, bottled water.

Security
Packing for security is the same thing as packing for emergencies – ensure that everyone has their own little emergency pack that they carry with them at all times. A bumbag or backpack should do the trick nicely and should contain:
1) Communication device.  It doesn’t matter which, either a mobile phone or walkie talkie should do the trick nicely.
2) Emergency cash stash.
3) Identification – I’m not suggesting you hand your kid their passport and then allow them to roam free but I do recommend a youth ID card or simply a self-made photocard with information such as your name, their name, address etc just in case they should become separated from you.

I once read an amazing story where this lady lost her child at Disneyland, but was able to find him quickly because they had a system. He wore an id bracelet with his name on one side and her name and contact information on the other side and he was able to go to a store and have the shop assistant contact his mother promptly. Proof that these systems help and work.

Entertainment
I mentioned this in the essentials list simply because trips aren’t really interesting if you are not driving. Fact: There are only so many times “Are we there yet?” can be asked before your sanity reaches breaking point. And scenery doesn’t change often enough as a general rule to make trips more interesting.

That being said I suggest making up a portable entertainment centre complete with toys, games and books that are appropriate for car, train and plane journeys.

LEGO Bling

July 21st, 2009

Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to make a bold and sweeping statement.

99.9% of the time “bling” looks ridiculous.

We’ve all seen the greasy youths hanging around shopping centres dripping in cubic zirconium. Their ghastly medallions sparkling like broken glass, not diamond, and their ears drooping from the weight of the glittery pebbles they’ve ill-advisedly attached.

These poor lost souls lurk in packs in dark corners, lording it over their urine-scented urban kingdoms. Their Lizzie Duke bling marking them out as overlords of  the doorway of the abandoned Woolies.

Somewhere, hidden from public view, a brave 0.1% are doing bling properly.  They are “blinging” the LEGO way.

There’s plenty of LEGO jewellery out there (just have a look on etsy.com) but LEGO bling, that’s a different matter. Full-on bling should have diamonds or gold or lashings of silver at the very least. Those materials are generally not included in your standard LEGO box so some clever folks have done some very outside the box thinking. BEHOLD!

1) The Golden Memory Stick of LEGO Goodnesslegousb

Apparently when LEGO celebrated 50 years of interlocking plastic brick madness they released special gold coloured bricks. Creative folk leapt upon these shiny blocks and made all manner of wonderful LEGO creations, the best of these being the LEGO memory stick.

As a rule, you can NEVER have enough memory sticks. I have them littered all over my house, a few on my desk, one in the car and one in my man-bag, just in case. These days you never know when you’ll need to shift photos or music or work around the place to it pays to have lots of portable storage and if said storage can be made of golden LEGO then well, everybody wins.

Surprisingly for something so shiny, this LEGO techno-bling only costs around £19.

2) Jacqueline Sanchez’s Hinge Braceletlegobracelet

Jacqueline Sanchez is BRILLIANT. She makes proper LEGO bling, she even adds the occasional diamond. The only downside is that her creations cost a fair amount, this particular bracelet (that I totally want, just so you know) costs $750.

There’s not much else I can say about this particular little gem, the price is something of a sticking point but I guess that class costs $750.

3) Mario LEGO Mega Blinglegochain

Mario is cool. LEGO is cool. Which means that when you combine the two you can be pretty sure that the result is going to be pretty sweet and lo, it is.

This stylin’ gentleman has taken the Flava Flav look and run with it. I have no idea if he made this beautiful creation or if he just bought it but either way, double thumbs up! Note the coordinated necklace, earring and sweater, now THAT’S attention to detail!