Tag Archives: netmums

My top 10 European retail websites for Mums and kids to try

On my recent trip to London, friends tried to encourage me to shop for myself but these days I prefer to buy for my babies. Before I left for London, I had already spent a great deal of time on Amazon.co.uk buying books, toys, and gifts for my children and my friend’s children, and whenever I am in London, I love my usual trawl through Peter Jones, Waterstones and Waitrose looking for much of the same.

However, I wanted something different this time.  As always, I always get inspired when I travel, and this trip back to London after 3 years was no different. It was fun seeing new trends in baby gear and wear from just walking down the Kings Road – the SW3 trendy mums were not buying on the high street but they were buying from new trendy online stores because online delivery in the UK is so much more sophisticated and advanced. Please note I haven’t purchased anything yet from these websites but I fell in love with these products and websites (they will have to go on next month’s credit card bill). All I can say is thank goodness for shop and ship.

#1 www.wonder.casatto.com
These prams have been created in true British design with thought and elegance.  The limited edition prams have three main design themes with the Hepburn being my favourite.  The designs are inspired by other top historical designs and celebrities; the Hepburn is based on the Leica camera design with a touch of Audrey Hepburn. It is sad that I discovered them now as my children no longer require them, nor can I really justify the expense. I have been until now very faithful to my Bug-a-boo but you mummies who have a pram addiction (yes, you know who you are), these prams are the Rolls Royce of prams.

#2 www.smallable.com
This gorgeous luxurious online shop in Paris has 450 brands for all things baby, children and teens has also opened a store in the heart of Paris. I shall certainly be making purchases from this store – not your typical high street fashion but more traditional styles evoking memories of an era gone by. French chic to the core – just fingers crossed that my daughter will wear the clothes that I buy for her.

#3 www.lullabuy.co.uk
If you love gorgeous wooden toys and furniture, this is that well-thought out designed store that can help you decorate that nursery for the first time. I love the Retro Ride on Speedster Car in red for my boys. I am just making sure that I am not overloading the playroom with yet more stuff!

#4 www.Fancykids.com
I am overwhelmed by the types of products and clothes in this store. Everything has been so well thought out. Top favourites have to be the natural rubber bathtoys as I try to avoid plastic toys in the bath. Genius. Their luxurious clothing line include Marie-Chantal, Go Baby Go and Manoko which is a great moveaway from your typical fashion designers. I truly believe that children should wear children clothes for as long as possible.

#5 www.letoyvan.com
These are great wooden toys with quality paints designed in the UK, and they are ethically made in Indonesia. They make children’s play kitchens, castles, playmates, motor planes & garages and so much more.

#6 www.gltc.co.uk
This is better known as the General Little Trading Company, and I know that friends from Dubai have often ordered from the online website, winner as Best Children’s Retailer 2015. It is amazing to trawl through its super well-planned site, easy to navigate, and a brilliant amount of things to buy at affordable prices.

#7 www.toyjeanius.co.uk
This is a website for smart kids. This suits tiger mums like myself looking for alternative pre-school toys to expose our kids to. They are not your conventional toys, and the colours are bright and eye-catching and perfect for memory games, puzzles, matching toys and much more.

#8 www.mercimamanboutique.com
If you are trying like me to get away from mass production gifts, the web today offers an opportunity to find sweet well-thought out gifts. Such a gem of a website with beautifully designed jewellery that you can engrave for mum or a new born.

#9 www.my1styears.com
Another website to purchase personalized keepsake gifts from christening photo albums to dressing gowns. These are the gifts that will be treasured for years to come.

#10 www.partypieces.co.uk

Owned by the Duchess of Cambridge’s mother, Carole Middleton, the West Berkshire party business. The successful party business is still run from the family’s barn, and you can purchase all your child’s party theme from the website.  Classic favourites like Peter Rabbit for first birthday parties can be found on there plus more modern Disney Princesses too.

NetMums | Hannah Barton, US/UK Mum tells us some of her favourite websites from around the world.

Hannah Barton is a mother I do admire, full of resources and ideas for her children – I love her enthusiasm and her ability to ‘get dirty’ with the children and to communicate with them at their level.   She is an American friend who has lived in the UK for over 15 years with her husband, Foster, and their two gorgeous children, Malory and Callum.  She is one of my go-to mums, giving great advice, and I have finally persuaded her to share some of her great advice with SOTP readers.  Hannah is the first mum contributing to our new section called ‘NetMums’, which will allow us to share some online resources that we have discovered between us mums whether for pleasure or for practical survival.

As a mother of two who is typically working full time, but is currently enjoying some time at home with the children between jobs, I rely heavily on websites that help simplify family life, scratch an intellectual itch, and make me feel like a better/more organised/more thoughtful mother, wife and friend. I don’t have as much time as I would like to focus on researching to the nth degree every food or product that comes into our household, so I tend to follow websites and blogs of experts whose opinions I rate and trust. Sometimes it’s necessary to use their sound advice as a shortcut to making informed decisions.

 

WEBSITES FOR SORTING DAILY LIFE

Ocado

www.ocado.com

I will start with one that is the most obvious, as I find it is the biggest game changer for modern motherhood. Ocado (online grocer) stocks all of the products we use, has the widest range of organic and specialty food that I’ve come across in the UK, and has a super easy app so that I can sort the grocery order whilst on the train or in a taxi. I’m a stickler for organic, grass-fed, and earth friendly products, so this is a dream for me. It has all of the “health food” items and fancy ingredients for dinner parties that I can’t always find in the supermarket. It also includes the nutritional content and ingredients for every item, so I know exactly what I’m getting.

Amazon UK

www.amazon.co.uk

This one is also completely obvious, but again, a game changer. For years I resisted joining Amazon Prime, holding fast to my “look what it’s doing to independent shops” speech, but I finally gave in after a mum from school talked me into it, and I’ve never looked back. For starters, Amazon Prime can ship most things in 24 hours. Let’s not kid ourselves – there will always be a Friday morning when I get up and realise both kids have a birthday party at the weekend and I don’t yet have a gift, the gift drawer is empty, my day is swamped, no way I’ll make it to the shops, etc. etc. GATZ! Amazon can sort it. Can’t beat that. I have to ship gifts to America, Switzerland, Dubai and Hong Kong regularly, so it’s a lifesaver.

BBC News 

www.bbc.co.uk/news/

When working full time, I never have to think about my news source. I typically sit on a trading floor with multiple computer screens in front of me and tv screens along the walls, all barking the news at me all day long. During commutes to and from work, I can read my news source of choice. I used to find it relentless, but now that I am at home, I miss it. Because it used to be all around me, I wasn’t accustomed to making proper time for catching up on current events. I realised that I need the solution to be easy and subtle (one morning of the news on tv covering atrocities sent the children crying into the next room), so reading it on a phone or an iPad suits me best. I like the BBC, the Economist, the Huffington Post, and my local hometown newspaper sites. Push notifications are helpful for quick updates, as is following them on Twitter, but it can be overwhelming how many you receive, so I edit it down to what I want to see.

Not on the High Street

www.notonthehighstreet.com

This website has handpicked the best small businesses that provide creative and well-made gifts and homewares. This is my go-to for thoughtful gifts, as most products can be personalised. You can communicate directly with the sellers for special requests and they can typically ship anywhere in the world. I also appreciate a gift when people can’t immediately guess where you’ve bought it. Nothing is worse than the “Oh, you got me those votives from the 4th floor of Peter Jones” look.

 

WEBSITES FOR PARENTING

Children’s School Website

It is nice feeling like you are up to date with what is happening at school and to feel like a part of the school community, which can be especially difficult for working parents and those that can’t regularly participate in the school run. I am incredibly grateful that our school has a terrific website, through which they post regular, meaningful updates that are actually useful for parents. It’s a terrific resource.

NHS

www.nhs.uk

Every parent will have a moment in their lives with some sort of health scare, so I find the NHS website invaluable. In the middle of the night, when your child cries and you have that “dear God, is it teething or meningitis?” moment, you can quickly do a search through sleepy haziness and worry. The NHS website tends to actually be both useful and a trustworthy resource. Even if I didn’t live in the UK, I would still definitely carry on using this site. You can search by symptom and also by condition, which is quite useful for not only deciphering what the child might have, but also ruling out what they don’t have.

 

WEBSITES FOR INTEREST

Get the Gloss

www.getthegloss.com

Now is when I get to start indulging on things I actually find fun. Get the Gloss runs the full gamut of news on beauty, nutrition, exercise, work-life balance and what’s new topics, all of which I find helpful because it feels they are specifically targeted to my demographic. It has a terrific list of contributors, many of whom I follow individually, as they give advice I rate and are top specialists in their fields (beauty editors, nutritionists, trainers, psychologists). As I said before, I don’t have time to research everything as much as I would like, so this website perfectly whittles down all of the information for me to give me advice that I both enjoy and trust. I go to it when I’m looking for everything from what new skincare product to buy, to latest diet and exercise advice, to tips on banishing anxiety and managing stressful city life. It’s a great all-rounder. They send daily emails and I click on at least a few of the articles every day.

Refinery29

www.refinery29.com

Originally focusing only on New York, it has since jumped over the pond to give Londoners the latest on fashion, beauty, wellness and entertainment news. It typically presents its articles in a list, for example:  top restaurants for brunch, top high street knock-offs of runway fashion, top cocktail bars with a view, top restaurants for al-fresco dining, etc. I use it for new ideas of where to eat, drink and shop. As we have a lot of tourists who come to stay, it’s fun to stay on top of all of the new things happening in London. It helps me feel young and in-touch, two things I struggle with now that I’m not out on the town every night anymore.

GOOP

www.goop.com

Think what you will of GP, this mother faces of the same challenges and concerns as any other mother would (albeit, on a different budget), but she happens to be surrounded by world’s top specialists in many areas that are important to me. For me, the most helpful articles from the site tend to be nutrition, exercise or children focused. For example: nutritious breakfast recipes for the whole family, deciphering the world of supplements, exercises you can do in your hotel room, pesticides in the foods that kids regularly eat, and great calming apps for children. She has the best people in the world looking after her family and personal health, so why not mooch off the intel?

 

WEBSITES FOR EXERCISE 

The Body Coach

www.thebodycoach.co.uk

Joe Wicks is a genius. I found him on Get the Gloss and he has done some work with the nutrition ladies at Honestly Healthy. He has been featured recently in nearly every top UK publication and his first cookbook comes out next year. His 15-20 minute training sessions on YouTube helped me reach my goals faster than any other exercise regime I’ve ever done. It’s super quick and can be done at home with minimal equipment, so I can fit it into my day easily. Follow him Instagram to watch the transformations of his clients and to see his recipes. Let your new addiction begin! PS – he’s nice on the eyes too.

 

WEBSITES FOR SHOPPING

My kids don’t wear uniforms at their school, which has its pros and cons. I tend to save their nice clothes for the weekends, as their weekday clothes get destroyed rather quickly. No sense in big investments here. H&M is brilliant, as it’s cheap, cute, relatively well made and convenient. We buy lots of our basics here. Crew Cuts (J Crew’s line for children) is terrific. It’s sweet, but not overly preppy, and the graphics are tasteful. I also love Ralph Lauren for its cotton jumpers. They are practically indestructible. You can pretty much boil them and they will retain their shape and colour, always looking smart.

For me: I tend to do most of my online fashion shopping on J Crew and Tory Burch, then Donna Ida for denim.

J CREW

www.jcrew.com

As an American, I’ve been shopping at J Crew since my teens. It has come such a long way since then. Their website is brilliant and the emails are full of terrific styling ideas. I am almost a bit sad that they have gone global. It was a glorious little secret while it lasted.

Tory Burch

www.toryburch.com

I love Tory Burch for a number of reasons: the brand makes lovely pieces for both work and weekends, people in London don’t recognise it yet, it gets me out of the LK Bennett/Reiss uniform rut that women in the workplace are stuck in here, and because everything they make fits me well without needing alterations, which is rare for me. I don’t have to rush to a shop to try it on first.

Donna Ida

www.donnaida.com

Several of my favourite stateside websites for buying denim have recently closed, so I’ve had to find something reliable in the UK. This shop carries nearly all of the top brands, but in a way that isn’t terribly overwhelming. The Denim Clinic buying guide on the website is really helpful when trying to find the most flattering fit for your shape, but it’s really the Compare List facility on the website that makes denim buying so much easier. Just tick your favourites and then see all of their measurements, fit and review stats one page to help you make a decision. It saves trying on 33 pairs to finally find the perfect one.