Quite a while ago I posted about my top handbag treats for toddlers. We are flying to Spain on Saturday and I will have my hand luggage armed with a variety of snacks. Even though it is only a short flight, I can guarantee that food will be the saviour to get us through 2 and a bit hours of wriggly boy syndrome!

Here are my good, bad and downright obvious snacks for my boys.

snacks 1

The Good

Asda Pouches of every variety! They are on offer 3 for £1 and come in dairy, fruit and jelly varieties. They do not require to be refrigerated and are all under the liquid allowance.

snacks 3

Kiddylicious wriggles and smoothie melts

Perfectly sized for small hands and much more practical for travelling than the fruit bits/flakes which tend to burst everywhere when you open the packet! The wriggles are approx 2cm long fruit lengths like wiggly worms! They come in apple and strawberry are 100% fruit and take a while to eat as they are fiddly! Even better to take up more of the journey time.

The smoothie melts do look a little like pink cat treats! They have a chalky texture and melt in the mouth.

50p a bag in the major supermarkets.

snacks 7

Ella's Kitchen Nibbly Fingers

Of course there are a lot of cereal bar type products available but these are the best! They come boxed as a pack of 5 and the box is flat, so fits well into hand luggage. The bars themselves are made from baked wholegrain oats and are relatively hard, so do not crush easily like other products and are individually wrapped. There are some interesting flavour combinations too! Helps fussy eaters try new things! Mangoes and Carrots!

snacks 5

Ella's Kitchen Apple and Cheese Munchy Biccies

Packaged as a set of 5 individual packets containing circular hard biscuits. Less messy than a packet of crisps and more healthy! There are 12 in each packet and are about the size of a 2p piece. Enough for my boys to share.

snacks 8

The Bad

The Organix Goodies range of 'crisps'. The carrot sticks and spicy tomato stars are favourites in our house but they are so messy. The powder on them gets everywhere and stains their skin. Not great for journeys unless you have bought mountains of wipes! They also squash quite easily.

Fruit roll up products. A few of the major supermarkets offer their own brands but they are unbelievably sticky and my 1 year old dribbles excessively when he eats them!

Chocolate

I avoid any kind of chocolate. Aeroplanes are always warm and chocolate sweats in the wrappers before you open it. You then end up peeling a sticky mess off the wrapping, to give to your child with no hope of keeping them clean!

Yoghurt covered biscuits

Now I don't mean the little pockets of coated raisins, I mean the large flat Garibaldi type fruit biscuits. The get incredibly tacky when they get dribbled on as they are eaten and then dry on clothes and fingers like a chalky paste! Great for at home not so good for confined spaces like cars and planes!

The Downright Obvious

Individual boxes of raisins

You don't have to buy the more expensive branded ones either. Aldi do a cheap version and they taste just as delicious. They are packed so tightly into the box there is no danger of them being squashed either.

Dry cereal

So handy and healthy but forget decanting into little pots that you then end up carrying around empty, or frantically searching for the lids whilst you try and disembark the plane. These handy bags from Nestle are perfect. They come in packs of 6. The cinnamon ones are absolutely delicious.

snacks 4

Dried fruit

I'm sure lots of people have recommended dried fruit as fresh fruit bruises so easily in a bag. However, these packs from Kiddylicious are my favourite as they are just the right size for a snack (whereas large bags you can buy of mixed dried fruit do not come in resealable bags).You can get several flavours including apple and pineapple and the pieces are large enough for my 1 year old to hold and for me to not worry about chocking. They go soggy once they are in the mouth so no sharp bits once they have started munching. They come in a multipack containing 4 bags or you can buy them individually.

snacks 9

Here's hoping for a stress free journey!

The sun is shining a rainbow of colours in our road! I made up this game for big boy who, apart from a soggy trip to the park yesterday to walk the dogs, has had a wet weekend indoors.

I dug out an old digital camera we used to use years ago, that although the picture quality is quite grainy, it is perfect for my son turned photographer!

I tied together a load of paint charts I picked up from a DIY store. We then wrote each colour in turn on the pavement and then went off to explore the cul de sac, to find something that matched the colour. He even tried to copy the writing himself.

When he spotted something he took his own picture! We found a few things for each colour for as long as his attention span would stay on each.

I loved listening to how his little brain worked, as he wouldn't always point to the most obvious thing.

Here are some of his photos!

I spotted this beauty!

Last weekend I played daughters! Our best friends were away for the weekend and I jumped at the chance to have big boy's sweetheart to stay!

She was an angel and when it was time to go home, she told me that I needed to put matching letters to the boy's, on her bedroom door! (She slept on the new chaise longue sofa bed, but didn't need it pulled out!)

My husband and I reflected on Sunday, that it was one of the few times we have literally dedicated almost every second to entertaining children and actually we had had, a rather brilliant time.

The Carters Steam Fair is on the Beach Lawns at the sea front and between 11am and 1pm, all rides are half price. Half the money but double the fun for our 'twins'.

We had a civilised lunch of fish and chips, sat outside in Winston's restaurant. Lunch in a restaurant with 3 children and no stress - incredible!

We had a muddy play on the beach and a lolly on the way back to the car. There was a Street Games event along from the Fair and the kids had a few turns on the trumpet as we trundled along barefoot.

The next day we used our membership and had a couple of hours at Puxton Park (it's free for under 4s). The sheep racing, even in the drizzle was a hit!

Whilst it hasn't convinced my husband that 3 children are in our destiny, I adored the noise and pandemonium. We even recorded them having a bedtime chat, snuggled in big boy's cot bed. Adorable.

If my friend happens to read this, it was a pleasure having your girly to stay and turning the house pink!

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