I stumbled across the concept of Schultüte while randomly googling for info on schooling around the world. It's a German tradition dating back to the 1810s, whereby children are given a Schultüte (lit. School Bag) on their first day at school. The idea is that it 'sweetens' what can be a frightening time with the help of sweets, chocolate, and all manner of little bits and bobs from stocking filler toys to practical stationery.
In Germany you can buy Schultüte - or Kindercones as they tend to be known in English speaking areas - ready made in the shops; either as an empty cone to fill yourself, or even ready filled. As with most traditions, commercialism is rife and parents can find themselves spending upwards of €100. I thought the idea was super cute, but living in the UK and being a devout cheapskate I determined to go the old school route and make one myself.
What You Need:
★ Large rectangle of paper, card, etc.
★ Sticky tape.
★ Crepe paper.
★ Ribbon.
★ Sweets, small toys, etc.
(I stocked up on toys from WowTastic - they have tons of stocking filler/party bag type stuff, and free UK delivery if you spend £10 or over.)
Schultüte can be really simple, or really elaborate, with all kinds of decorations. I checked out a few blog guides suggesting using wallpaper or taping sheets of craft card together, but I was lucky to have the perfect material on hand - a huge laminated map of Europe I got for free from the UK EDIC (Europe Direct Information Centre), which sends out EU publications. It's educational and decorative. And will make a great playmat for play-doh and the like. :)
With that taped into the shape of a cone I lined it with some colourful crepe paper I saved from other purchases, then filled it up with toys and sweets. All I need to do now is add some more crepe paper and tie it up, then give it to Marianna on Tuesday morning!
Four prep school students are trapped in an old nuclear fallout bunker by a sadistic classmate. Or are they? I really liked how one story keeps getting chipped away at to reveal another in this.
I was really surprised to learn this peaked at #40 in the UK, it felt like it was on everywhere back then. Still, chart success or no, the lyrics really nailed it:
The whole damned world is just as obsessed With who's the best dressed and who's having sex Who's got the money, who gets the honeys Who's kinda cute and who's just a mess And you still don't have the right look And you don't have the right friends Nothing changes but the faces, the names and the trends High school never ends...
I Three Little Maids from School are We - The Mikado [1885]
I is for Irony. Or lack thereof. Either way, Gilbert and Sullivan will be with us for a long time yet.
L is for LOL, so in that spirit we have Alligatoah telling kids why they ought to stay in school. Because, at the end of the day, Gangbang-Parties, Fame und Frau'n machen sich nicht gut im Lebenslauf. (Gangbangs, fame, and women don't look good on your CV.)
Written in the aftermath of the Cleveland Elementary School shooting, the song spent four weeks at #1 in the UK but - unsurprisingly - proved controversial in the States with radio stations in San Diego choosing not to give it airplay.
Q is for... questionable. Back in 1981 Sting said "I'd been through the business of having 15-year-old girls fancying me - and me really fancying them! How I kept my hands off them I don't know..." Hmm. On the trivia side of things, the girl in the video is played by Rene Alperstein aka Pamela Cartwright, Grange Hill's uber-swot.
Written by Matt Willis as an ode to his dance teacher, the song peaked at #3 in the UK charts and was later covered by the Jonas Brothers along with another Busted hit, Year 3000.
XWhat Did You Learn In School Today? - Pete Seeger [1964]
Cyw is S4C's kiddie's programming strand and provides lots of cute and horridly catchy little songs. You can find the full lyrics on Ysgol Glan Morfa's website HERE.
Yn yr ysgol, ysgol, dere gyda fi I weithio a chwarae o naw tan dri Yn yr ysgol, ysgol, darllen a rhifo wnawn ni nawr Mae pawb yn yr dosbarth yn ffrindiau mawr!
(Something like: At school, hey, come on with me / we're gonna be learning and playing from now until 3. At school we're reading and counting together, everyone in the classroom is best of friends!)
This was the UK's entry for the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest and it actually performed better than our usual offerings: Daz scored 25 points, placing us 19th out of 24 entries.
Regal Academy was an Italian cartoon series which aired on Nickelodeon. All similarities to Mattel's Monster / Ever After High is surely coincidental. ;) Anyway, Giochi Preziosi wasted no time producing dolls based on the show. For the US market Auldey Toys, a subsidiary of Alpha Group, produced their own line of dolls.
The Auldey dolls are quite a bit smaller than the Giochi offerings; the latter are more like typical fashion dolls while the Auldey ones stand 10.5 inches all. Both lines have screened faces and rooted hair, although some of the Auldey dolls have more limited articulation. Giochi's are generally better made but, really, both are at the cheap and cheerful end of the scale!
My favourite five films from the 1960s... This was by far the most difficult post because I love so many 1960s movies. All that wholesome technicolor, I dunno, it just makes me nostalgic for a life I've never even lived!
I've got a huge soft spot for all those convoluted misunderstandings and doublespeak in Britcoms of the 60s and 70s, and Carry on Camping just embodies their whole essence so perfectly.
Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine star as old college classmates who run a private school for girls. When brat of a pupil Mary is punished for lying, she gets her own back by spreading rumours the two are secret lovers. This being 1961 - and the play it was based on 1934 - it ruins their lives, so that even when the truth comes out it's too late for things to be put right...
Why they besmirched its good name with a remake, I'll never know, but nobody does Disney like Hayley Mills. To be fair, I love all of Mills' 60s movies - and Tiger Bay! - but this one holds an extra special place in my heart for memories of watching it with grandparents on rainy afternoons. ♥
As a little kid this was my favouritest favourite film in the whole wide world. I watched it at least once a day for months and months and months. The plot is, as one contemporary reviewer put it, 'featherweight': when the Garrisons' award winning dachshund Danke has pups, vet Pruitt convinces Mark Garrison to take home the runt of his great dane litter - 'Brutus' - and so save its life. Mark just neglects to mention to his wife that the extra puppy isn't one of Danke's...
If you're thinking of getting hair extensions, samples are a must to judge quality. That they also make perfect sources of tiny doll wig making material is a bonus!
I'm having a big clear out at the moment of dolls and miniatures, so it seemed like the perfect time to get around to making a selling page. All the links lead to eBay listings currently, but I liked the idea of having a place I could just literally list stuff if need be.
Orcara arrived on the scene in 2009 as a Chinese alternative to the gold standard of the plastic miniature industry, Re-ment. They released a wide range of food related sets before production tailed off in 2010.
At the time Orcara was cheaper and correspondingly less detailed than Re-ment. These days the Orcara stuff is on a par with, if not better than modern Re-ment, so it's well worth picking up if you find it going for a good price.
