Junior Magazine Design Awards

Morning! I anticipated the arrival of the latest copy of Junior yesterday as some companies were tweeting their successes in the Design Awards early yesterday morning.  Thankfully I was right and just in time for lunch Junior landed on the doormat.  I already knew that I Love Gorgeous had won Best Designer Girls Fashion and Belle and Boo had won Best Online Toy & Gift Retailer.  However these were the only winners I knew of and so eagerly looked to see if there were any other names I hoped to see in the Winners and the Highly Commended lists.

Popcorn Jumpsuit from I Love Gorgeous

Of course there was the predictable winner of Best Family Day Out, Legoland.  However the rest wasn't so predictable.  I was incredibly excited to see Carddies gaining Highly Commended in Best Arts & Crafts.  Don't forget to enter the giveaway to win two sets of Carddies.   I was also pleased to see Trunki winning with their Paddlepak, which I reviewed back in March.  I also recognised a couple of companies that I have featured in my weekly Family Holiday posts, including The Athenaeum which was highly commended in  Best Family UK Hotel and Ski Famille gaining highly commended in the Best Family Holiday Tour Operator award. 

Best Interiors Collection awards went to PaperBoy Wallpaper and Baby Joule Nursery, with highly commended going to Funky Little Darlings and Laura Ashley.  Best Furniture Collection award winners were Feather & Black and Tissington Little Chair, with highly commended going to Laurette, Maclaren Nursery and P'kolino.  I really don't envy the judges of either of these categories as the shortlist of contenders was incredible.

Safari Collection from P'Kolino

I am still absorbing all of the awards winners and highly commended businesses but one thing I have realised is that Zoe & Drew needs to feature a few more designs for the littlest people in our lives. Although I will not be adding a little person to make it easier to do this! But fear not I have a couple of ideas that I have already started researching to make this happen. 

So were there any winners I felt that were undeserved? To be honest no, apart from the Best Family Car winner.  How can a car with only 5 seats possibly win Best Family Car? Even with the average 2.4 children you will need extra seats for when friends come to tea, it's your turn to do the Brownie pick up, your turn to do the Rugby away match road trip.  Sadly five seats do not meet the needs of many modern families, so yes I was disappointed to see the Skoda Yeti win this award.  Which car would I choose for the modern family? Well let me make a coffee and I'll make a list!

So many deserving winners in the Junior Design Awards but sadly not enough time to share all of them here, but you can buy the special issue in the shops later this week or visit their website. 

Right I'm off to make that list of Best Family Cars with more than five seats!

Have a fab day

Zoe

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Tootsa MacGinty - Colourful and fun childrenswear

Morning! Hope you're all well and having a fab week.  Today I want to share with you clothes that have been made for children to wear, to run around in, splash in puddles in and most importatntly have fun in! Tootsa MacGinty clothes offer a rainbow of colours for boys and girls, infact the majority of their designs are infact unisex. Perfect I here you cry when you've just found out you're expecting a boy and already had a girl! I know I would have loved to be able to keep some of the boys clothes for the girls to wear. Well actually Lucy is known to pinch their jumpers, so it's not all bad!

Anyway, who are Tootsa MacGinty? They are childrenswear design house based in London and the brainchild of designer and mother, Kate Pietrasik.  Having worked in fashion in Australia and France, Kate returned to the UK last year and was quite frankly appalled by the choice of clothes on offer, camoflague for boys and princess pink for girls.  So rather than just sit and moan about the state of childrens fashion in here in ol' Blighty Kate got out her crayons and created a rainbow of a collection that is made for children who know how to have fun!  

Tootsa MacGinty clothes can be found in a number of stores throughout the UK and I am sure parents aswell as their children are loving their designs.  They are not the only one, as Junior Magazine has recently shortlisted Tootsa MacGinty in the 'Emerging Talent/Best New Brand' category in their Design Awards. 

I think this little paragraph on the  Tootsa MacGinty homepage sums up their brand perfectly and assures me that these clothes are made for my children!

"Tootsa MacGinty are clothes for little people who want to step into a rainbow and splosh through the colours, who think rain is a shower of diamonds and that getting wet is fun. They’re for children who make a bee-line for mud and see the magic in bubbles made out of washing-up liquid!" 

Tootsa MacGinty website

Tootsa MacGinty

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Do you love the idea of unisex childrenswear?  Are you and your children already fans of Tootsa MacGinty clothes? I would love to know!

Have a fab day

Zoe

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