Advertorial feature
We were recently sent Nadiya’s Bake me a celebration story to review. This is the third book written by Nadiya Hussain, a winner of The Great British bake off. It is a collection of stories, recipes and crafts themed for various holidays following the seasons. I think it is a great idea for a book. As you know, I love following the seasons with the activities I do with my girls and this book has lots of inspiration for us.
Please note that while I was sent this book in exchange for this review, I was not paid and this post is my honest opinion of this book. This post contains affiliate links, if you purchase through the links, I make a small commission but this does not affect the price you pay.
The book is a mixture of short stories, recipes, crafts and other activities. There are over 30 activities included in the book covering celebrations like Chinese New Year, Valentine’s day, Eid, Thanksgiving and Halloween. It even includes some lesser known celebrations such as Basant kite festival and Holi. Each celebration starts with a short story and is followed by 2-3 activities themed around the celebration and story.
All 15 of the short stories are all beautifully illustrated. We’ve read a few of the stories and have really enjoyed them. They are lovely short stories for children. We most recently read the Halloween story and I loved that the story featured some biscuits that are then included as a recipe in the book.
We tried one of the Halloween activities a couple of weeks back. I chose the edible slime recipe to try as it seemed like one that would work for both my daughters (2 and 5 years old). This is such a simple to make slime and is completely edible which is always a bonus with toddlers. The recipe is really quick to make, less than 5 minutes and uses marshmallows and icing sugar as the main ingredients. I omitted the edible glitter but this would be a nice touch if you have some.
In case you are wondering the food colouring, I use is Wilton icing colour gel paste rainbow. I love how vibrant the colours are from using the tiniest drop. I added some Halloween bits and pieces and my children had lots of fun playing with this slime. I’d say the texture is more comparable to play dough really but this is a much safer idea for young children who are likely to still put the slime in their mouths. My toddler played with this dough for about 20 minutes and then lost interest, although she occasionally came back for a little longer. My 5 year old however played with this for well over an hour.
The other recipes are a mixture of savoury (like spring rolls) and sweet (like monkey bread). They are a mixture of difficulties and are clearly labelled as beginner recipes, those that are a little harder and the ones classed as tricky. I love that this book can be dipped into throughout the year and used as another way of following the seasons with young children. The stories are perfect for enjoying followed by making a recipe or trying a craft or other activity which is such a nice way to spend time with children.
Nadiya’s Bake me a celebration story is available to buy now from Amazon.
If you enjoyed this post, you may also enjoy my post on 5 inspiring creative activity books for children.
Pin for later:
Disclosure – I was sent this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts, opinions and photos are my own. This post contains affiliate links.