Friday Favourites - Easter Holidays

With Easter weekend finally upon us, most of us excited for the celebrations ahead! However, for those who have left things a little late, or even those who just want to try something a bit different this year, there’s still time to go out and grab some more Easter treats! We here at The Amazing Blog have found some Easter-themed gifts to help you impress your friends and loved ones during this Spring holiday.Lush never fails to deliver quirky gift ideas for the holidays, and they certainly haven’t let us down this year with their creative selection of Easter cosmetics. This season, they are offering an array of ‘Egg-ceptional’ Easter themed handmade products, including bath melts and bubble bars in the shape of eggs and carrots! Made from fair trade and organic ingredients, Lush’s Easter cosmetics include a Golden Egg Bath Bomb, Bunny Bubble Bar, Carrot Soap, and Brightside Bubble Bar just to name a few. If, like us, you are struggling to choose from the wonderful selection of products on offer, Lush are also offering the Funny Bunny Rabitty Wrap – an organic cotton knot-wrap containing four of the most popular limited edition Easter cosmetics. Because the Easter Bunny is packaged by hand, the selection of goodies inside each wrap is different!  However, if a gift you are planning is one item short of complete, the holiday products are available to buy individually for very reasonable prices! Find the Egg-cellent collection here. To add some chocolate with a twist to your Easter celebration, Demijohn has created a Chocolate Orange Cream Liqueur.  This alcoholic chocolate is the adult version of a creamy dark Easter Egg, and the addition of Devonshire Cream, Apple Brandy and Orange Zest make this the perfect springtime tipple.  The thick and creamy liqueur would be a great option for those Easter family gatherings; something for adults to enjoy as the children tuck into their Easter treats.  Demijohn recommends serving the Chocolate Orange Cream Liqueur directly from the refrigerator and over ice for the best taste. Be the life of the party this Easter and present your family and friends with a 500ml bottle of Demijohn Chocolate Orange Cream Liqueur, available here for £24.60 (500ml). You may have noticed our attempt to stray from the typical Easter gift, but who are we to keep your loved ones from indulging in chocolate this Easter?  Charbonnel et Walker offer a new twist to the traditional chocolate egg with their Pink Marc de Champagne Truffle Easter Egg.  Combining their finest milk chocolate with their best selling Pink Marc de Champagne Truffles, this treat is so much more luxurious than your typical Easter Egg.  Housed in a pastel coloured window box with a pink ribbon tied around it, this delicious Easter Egg would make the perfect gift any loved one. It can be purchased here for £35, along with a selection of other delicious chocolate creations, including a Dark Chocolate and English Rose Easter Egg.

Feel like doing something different this Easter? Horniman Museum and Gardens, with their Easter Fair, could be the perfect option if you are looking for activities that are fun, yet educational. Take part in the Easter Egg Hunt, learn more about the rabbits that live in the Animal Walk and enjoy some live country music. If you fancy a bite, you can head towards the food stalls, where you will find a selection of tasty treats; whether you fancy pizza or some Austrian specialities, you will definitely find the perfect nibble to satisfy your taste buds. The Easter Fair takes place on Saturday and Sunday, from 10.30 am until 4.30 pm, and you can find the detailed program here . Finally, what would Easter be without an Easter Bunny? Demarquette offers beautifully hand painted Easter Rabbits in dark chocolate and milk chocolate to complete your traditional Easter gifts. The dark chocolate bunny is made from Demarquette’s award winning CacaoLux blend of chocolates from The Dominican Republic and Ecuador, while the milk chocolate bunny features chocolates from Venezuela and Madagascar. Each bunny is hand painted with bright spring colours, making it unique with it’s own colourful pattern. Demarquette Easter Rabbits are available here for only £5.50. Demarquette also has a lovely selection of chocolate bars and truffles if you are still craving sweets after the holiday is over!

Look what the Easter Bunny found!

With Easter fast approaching, I’m sure we are all looking for something to treat our friends and family to. We, here at The Amazing Blog, like to surprise our loved ones with little festive trinkets to help get them in the Easter spirit. Whether it’s a bag of decadent egg shaped chocolates or something to help make our home feel more festive, in this post there is sure to be something for you.

This little bunny is full of bath time fun. The Hoppy Easter Bunny from Lush is full of 7 baths worth of limited edition, Easter themed goodies. Inside the adorable bunny packaging you can find a bright pink Fluffy Egg and the re-usable Carrot bubble bar. Each Lush treat smells amazing and sure to make you, or anyone else, instantly think of Spring. You can purchase this Hoppy Easter Bunny from their website for £11.95.

These candy coloured Nordic House Glass Easter Eggs look good enough to eat. These pretty baubles can be hung from a spring inspired twiggy display or piled high in a glass bowl as a center piece on your dining room table. These eggs are available in several different colours such as white, silver, grey, ochre, green, turquoise, purple and pink, and they can come in either a frost or shiny silvery finish. These eggs are sure to give your home the perfect amount of Easter cheer in the most sophisticated way. You can purchase a set of 3 fro £5.95 off of their website.

Can you think of a better way to serve an Easter Salad? These festive Rabbit Ears Salad Servers are the perfect compliment to any big Easter dinner. Using these salad servers will put you in the Easter mood and are sure to amuse your family and friends as well. You purchase these salad servers from their website for £5.95.

Treat your loved ones, or yourself, to these gorgeous Half Dozen Chocolate Harlequin Eggs by Demarquettes Chocolate. Each pink box contains 6 brightly hand painted Harlequin inspired chocolate eggs, 3 are milk chocolate and 3 are dark chocolate. The use only the finest British ingredients to create a unique and mouth watering chocolate so that each eggs tastes absoltely delicious.  You can purchase these eggs from their website for £12.50.

Looking for the perfect after Easter dinner dessert? Look no further than Farhi’s impressive one kilogram gift box of mini speckled candy-coated praline Easter eggs. These beautifully packaged and presented mini eggs are perfect for sharing and make for the ideal after dinner dessert. There will be enough for everyone, trust us. Go all out and purchase your own box from their website for £19.99.

Finally, we have something that the adults can enjoy. After work on Thursday, March 28th, follow the white rabbit down to Bart's Speakeasy for the Easter event Bart's Mad Hatter's Tea Party. There, you can take advantage of the specialty cocktails, champagne and of course, cupcakes. Then, at 6pm join them for their Easter egg hunt with a twist, the prizes are sharing cocktails as well as Veuve Cliquot. So grab your top hats and tea pots and enter the Wonderland that is Bart's Mad Hatter's Tea Party. You can RSVP at 020 7581 3355 or email them at ariana@barts-london.com.

Crafty Fox Easter Market

Every year as spring slowly rolls around again, I begin to let my inner creativity come out. As Easter quickly approaches, Crafty Fox Markets are hosting a special event this weekend. At The Amazing Blog we try to attend something that is going on in London every weekend, while we have free time to ourselves. Many of my friends have told me that Crafty Fox Market is unique and fabulous with something for everyone – I surely will not leave empty handed.

During March 23^rd and 24^th there will be around 100 designers set up with their handmade crafts and art work at The Dogster in Brixton. Each of these designers are hand picked to represent their crafts and go through a thorough selection process in order to gain a spot.

Each of these designers display their handmade and unique crafts for only one day, in order to allow other designers to showcase their crafts on the second day of the market. As you walk around the market you will notice a foxy theme. You cannot go wrong with this craft market as you can pick up cards, prints, jewellery and homeware.

Some designers showcased on Saturday include Yas-Ming Ceramics, Superfumi, Hope and Eden, and Lucie Ellen provide you with homeware, unique toys, ceramics, and stationary.

New designers that are showcased on Sunday include Jimbobart, Agata Duda, Kirstin Stride, and Georgia Bosson offer eclectic cushions, hand drawn jewellery, and expressive animal drawings.

This market is spread out across three floors of the Dogstar and if you are feeling inspired after shopping around, attend a screen-printing workshop for only £5 and let your inner creativity shine. Feeling a bit hungry or thirsty after a full day of shopping? Stop in Tea’s Knees pop-up shop and indulge with the best British cream teas, cake, and sandwiches.

Come out either Saturday or Sunday from 11am until 5pm to discover new and exciting artistic pieces of work at Dogster. View the different designers and stalls here to have an overview of exactly which people will be displaying what on Saturday and Sunday. Families are more than welcome to come with their children and spend the day browsing, eating, and drinking. I have no doubt in my mind that Crafty Fox Easter Market will surpass my expectations from the reviews I have received.

Gone Digging

There have been many occassions in my life where I search around and wish that I could simply press pause and time would stop. Times when I have become so consumed by work and school that the days all seem to merge together. All of a sudden it feels like only a day has passed, when in actuality it's been a week. Recently this has been what my life has been like. A time when there doesn’t seem to be nearly enough hours in the day to get everything done. And with Easter just days away I hadn't had a chance to buy any gifts for friends or family. I barely had any time to figure out what to buy which is why I was eternally thankful when my colleagues at The Amazing Blog informed me about Gone Digging! Gone Digging specializes in personalised gifts and cater for people of all ages, occasions and budgets, many of which are perfect for Easter. I was able to purchase a beautiful bouquet of flowers for my mother; the arrangement contained colourful flowers such as chrysanthemums, roses, and a selection of germini and carnations. On the bouquet was a beautiful ribbon in which I could include a personal message. There was also the perfect gift for my sister: a bottle of wine and chocolate truffles. On the bottle I could include any message I wanted. I was even able to spoil my niece with gifts from Gone Digging - I purchased a picture frame and a stuffed animal bunny which were both personalized to her and which I am sure she will love. All of these gifts were very reasonably priced so my bank account did not have to suffer after shopping for gifts this year which is always an added bonus! Even though time seemed to have gotten away from me this Easter season, I was able to purchase all of my gifts in time for the weekend. If you are still in need of that perfect gift for someone special this Easter, look no further than Gone Digging - I guarantee these personalised gifts will be a hit with everyone.

An Easter-Egg Bonanza!

As Easter fast approaches, the mouths of the crew at The Amazing Blog are beginning to water. Ever since Ash Wednesday, a long and laborious six weeks ago, not a sniff of chocolate has passed our lips. And so, with less than a week to go and wanting to keep our readers up-to-date in terms of the crème de la crème of chocolate indulgences this Easter, we decided to break our fast early so we could try the chocolate we've been eyeing greedily for weeks. And if, like us, you’re planning a chocolate blow out on Easter Sunday, check out the most decadent of chocolate treats below… First up is the Indian-inspired Easter Egg from the wonderful peeps at Devnaa. With sumptuous purple wrapping and a decadent gold bow, it looks every bit as good as it tastes. The chocolate shell is infused with their signature chai blend - cinnamon, cardamom, clove and ginger; an unusual combination, but one that works oh-so-well. And as well as the aromatic egg is a selection of mouth-watering white-chocolate saffron caramels, coconut and cardamom dark chocolates and chai milk chocolates, thus it’s the perfect Easter Egg for anyone wanting an exotic fusion of flavours! The egg is handmade in London and you can buy it here.

And for those who follow The Amazing Blog, you'll already know that one of our favourite chocolatiers in London is the deliciously decadent Demarquette. This Easter they've created a Marine-inspired Easter collection that includes brightly coloured seashell-encrusted giant Easter eggs and chocolate egg-filled iridescent clams. With such a fab range on offer it was no mean feat choosing our fave, but the Oceanic Reef Egg certainly deserves a mention. The Super Chocolate Easter Egg is 20cm high and entirely edible. Made using the unique Demarquette Pure Blend of single origin smooth chocolate, a colonnade of six hand painted seahorses filled with sweet caramel supports the top half of the egg. A delicate coating of coral orange coloured white chocolate velvet adds a unique, luxurious texture making this the finest of all chocolate eggs. All of Demarquette's offerings are lovingly hand-made by founder Marc and his team in London with great tasting and ethically sourced pure chocolate. Available from their fabulous Fulham Road shop or online

For anyone after an Easter treat infused with some serious fun, Artisan du Chocolat have got the perfect egg. Inspired by the 70s song 'Daddy Cool' by Boney M and the childhood classic Mr Potatohead, their Bunny Cool Eggs add a bit of humour into the Easter spirit. Filled with Artisan du Chocolat's signature salted caramel honeycomb and with edible eyes nose and trainers, it's the ideal egg for anyone wanting to add some quirkiness to their Easter Day spread. The Bunny Cool egg, along with other yummy Easter treats are available both in-store and online.

Fortnum & Mason, Picadilly's brilliantly British department store have once again come up trumps with their Easter offering. Their Decorated Milk Chocolate Egg is a classic egg made by their in-house chocolatiers, who use expertly tempered milk chocolate to ensure a flawless shine. The decorations are made and applied by hand and the egg is filled with a selection of handmade chocolate shapes. Presented in a beautiful blue box with a contrasting grey ribbon, the Fortnum & Mason egg is as elegant as the shop, available both online and in-store.

Last, but by no means least, is Sussex-based Montezuma's fabulous Organic Free-Range Eco Egg. Founded in 2000 by ex-lawyers Helen and Simon Pattison, Montezuma is a family-run business who have rapidly built a reputation for producing some of the finest and most innovative chocolate in the UK. And as well as producing the most delicous of chocolates, Montezuma have also been singled out as a shining example of environmentally friendly eggs. It came top of the list of 11 eggs for the least amount of packaging and recyclability; so if you treat yourself to one of their eggs, you can be sure you're also doing your bit for the environment! Available in dark chocolate, milk chocolate and milk chocolate and butterscotch, they're available online and from selected independent stockists.

And so, with just six days left until Easter itself, whether you're after something special for a loved one, or simply spoiling yourself - enjoy some of the finest chocolate the UK has on offer and have a very happy Easter!