Author: Donna

Donna is a married mum of 3, currently living in Melbourne Australia. After growing up in the beautiful Hunter Valley, New South Wales, she moved to Newcastle - working for a large resources company. This career found her moving to Melbourne where she; travelled, fell in love and completed her Bachelor of Business. Little Gulliver was born in between her first and second child - after finding she couldn't purchase the CARES Harness in Australia. Donna's three kids were born in a space of 2.5 years, so when she's not being "mum" she loves her work, reading and travel!

May Competition – Lonely Planet Best in Travel 2013

To win a copy of this book is simple.

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter (or if you’re already a subscriber you’re eligible)
Think about your dream holiday destination and answer the question “where would your family love to go in 2013 and why?” (nb; it doesn’t have to be in the book).
Send an email to members@littlegulliver.com.au (or click here) with the header “May Competition”
Entries must be received by midnight Sunday 2nd June 2013 – so enter now!

Entries are open to all newsletter subscribers – even new ones – so share with your friends!

More about the prize

Read about the best places to go and things to do all around the world right now. Highlights include Lonely Planet ranking of the top 10 countries, regions and cities to visit in 2013. Also, the best travel experiences for the year ahead are outlined, with over 35 events mapped out month by month in the 2013 travel planner. Its a great addition to any family book shelf or a lovely gift.

Small Print

Winner will be chosen by the Little Gulliver team and no correspondence will be entered into
Winner will be notified by email Monday 3rd June 2013
Feel free to keep your entry brief, as long as you have answered the question you’re entered (sometimes we receive quite long entries and that’s fine too)!
One entry per household
We love hearing from our customers, so some entries may be used by Little Gulliver on our website or blog. Only your first name may be used. If required we may edit to shorten.
Little Gulliver NEVER shares your personal information with a 3rd party
Prize value is $24.95. Little Gulliver will post the prize to the winner within a week of the winner being notified.
Entries open to subscribers with Australian addresses only.

~ Thank you for visiting Little Gulliver and for entering our competition! ~

April Competition – I Went Walking

To win 1 of 5 copies of this classic book for young children is simple.

Subscribe to our monthly newsletter (or if you’re already a subscriber you’re eligible)
Look at Little Gulliver’s range of walking harnesses and answer the question; “which of these walking harnesses would you or have you used and why?”
Send an email to members@littlegulliver.com.au (or click here) with the header “April Competition”
Entries must be received by midnight Sunday 5th May 2013 – so enter now!

Entries are open to all newsletter subscribers – even new ones – so share with your friends!

More about the prize

This is a classic book, loved by babies and toddlers world wide. It tells the story of a young boy identifying animals of different colours on the course of a walk – with beautiful illustrations to accompany it. At the end of the story he has a parade of animals following him! This version is a great sized board book, in a size ready for a walk in any nappy bag or back pack. It is 30 pages long and dimensions are 13.2 x 12.4 x 2.0 cm. Recommended for reading ages 2 – 5. It was a favourite at our place from babies + and is a great addition to any family book shelf or a lovely gift.

Small Print

Winners will be chosen by the Little Gulliver team and no correspondence will be entered into
Winner will be notified by email Monday 6th May 2013
Feel free to keep your entry brief, as long as you have answered the question you’re entered (sometimes we receive quite long entries and that’s fine too)!
Enter up to 5 times if you wish, but send a separate email for each entry please (nb; only 1 book can be won per household)
We love your feedback, so some entries will be used by Little Gulliver on their website or blog. Only your first name may be used. If required we may edit to shorten.
Little Gulliver NEVER shares your personal information with a 3rd party
Prize value is $14.99 per book and will be sent by mail to each winner by Little Gulliver the week after winners are notified.
Entries open to subscribers with Australian addresses only.

~ Thank you for visiting Little Gulliver and for entering our competition! ~

New Christmas books on the Little Gulliver book shelf

We love children’s books here at Little Gulliver and believe that books are an important part of a child’s daily routine. We extend this routine into our travel with kids and have therefore integrated some of our favourites into our on-line stores ‘Book Shelf’.

As parents we give our children a new Christmas book each year on Christmas Eve. That way we are able to open a present and read something new (in the midst of our excitement of waiting for Santa)! The kids Christmas books sit on a shelf in our bookcase the rest of the year and come out again December 1st when when we decorate our Christmas tree. Its become a lovely tradition and we are getting a lovely book collection!

If you are looking for a Christmas book for your children or for a Christmas gift, here’s our selection of Christmas books for 2012. All are in stock and available now (double click on any of the books to be taken to it in store).

For young children

Some more in the classic Usborne “That’s not my…” series. ‘That’s not my reindeer’ and ‘That’s not my Santa’ are two festive board books with lots of pictures for kids to touch and feel. A lovely series of books from 0+

A delightful touchy-feely book with simple, repetitive text.
Bright, colourful illustrations with textures to touch and feel on every page.
Helps very young children develop language and sensory skills.
Series awarded “Best Buy” by readers of Prima magazine.
A perfect gift for young children.

I’d recommend either of these as the ideal babys 1st Christmas book and for any fans of the ‘That’s not my…” series from Usborne Beautiful quality and robust enough even for the most active toddlers! ‘That’s not my reindeer’ and ‘That’s not my Santa’ both in stock.

The Christmas Star

This gift book uses changing pictures to tell the story of the first Christmas “from the point of view of a special star who has an important role to play”.

The book has pictures (as can be seen on the cover if you look closely) that turn as you lift the page and others that move as you lift a flap. Its lovely and interactive, while telling the story of the first Christmas. The illustrations are traditional and beautifully drawn.

It is a good quality, hard cover, Christmas keepsake and would make a lovely gift for children of all ages.

A Classic Christmas Treasury – Carols and Stories

This is a classic family Christmas book.

It is full of a lovely assortment of Christmas pictures and stories, while introducing the traditions of Christmas to the young (and reminding mum and dad of some too)! It begins with the very first Christmas, tells us how the Christmas tree came about and why is mistletoe a Christmas tradition? Lovely Christmas carols are listed throughout, such as ‘O’Come all ye faithful’. The book finishes with everyone’s favourite, ”twas the night before Christmas’ and (spoiler alert) finishes with a pop up Christmas tree and the words “Happy Christmas to all and to all a goodnight.”

~ Just a reminder that we post twice daily ~ Orders made before 3.30pm leave same day ~ Express/overnight options are available to metropolitan areas within Australia ~ Last day for posting prior to Christmas is Friday 21st December ~ And why not take advantage of our flat postage rate ~ pick up all your kids travel items for the one low postage rate ($6.95 regular delivery) ~ Any questions? Give us a call 03 98246770 business hours or email sales@littlegulliver.com.au any time ~

Take care and have a marvellous Christmas!

Donna, Ben & the team at Little Gulliver

Camping anyone?

Just when it seemed the cold days in Melbourne were just getting colder, here we are with some warm(er) sunny days. Its really Spring! School holidays are back again and our family are excited to be going “real” camping, that is pitching a tent. I love how the kids are excited about the things I am dreading, like sleeping bags and fishing! But I do appreciate that it is a lovely way to spend some quality time together and make some special memories. Really I do! And bring on that spaghetti on toast I say, hmmm?

Recently we headed off to Anaconda (“Australia’s largest camping and adventure superstore”) to get the kids in the mood. Wow, they loved it. They checked out some tents, discussed which would be their “bedroom” and rated some air mattresses. They also loved the accessories, mini kitchen set-ups, tables, cupboards – the works. Solar powered fridges? Did you know there are washing machines FOR CAMPING? How do people carry this stuff around? We can barely fit the kids and a suitcase in the car!

Have you heard the term glamping? That is, glamorous camping? Its a good way to start if you’re a novice or a bit iffy about taking the kids offroad. For our first effort (when the kids were younger) we chose a “wilderness retreat”, so it was kind of camping, but with toilets, showers and a kitchen! We only needed to take sleeping bags and food. It was an easy trip and very relaxing. Everyone in the family often refer to it with that wistful “we should go back there one day…” It has certainly been our favourite family trip to date.

So, although that experience will be hard to top, we’re off to spend some time with a family of other “experienced” campers. As a friend said to me (at school pick up yesterday) “camping is fun when you go with someone who has all the gear”. So that’s a good thought! Also, our youngest is 3.5 now, so night-time should be toilet-accident free and trips to the shower block a lot more bearable.

Here at Little Gulliver we’ve been busy adding some new kids travel gear, while restocking some old favourites. All of them are perfect for that camping trip or would equally at home on a First Class flight to Paris! If you love Trunki, you’ll be happy to see Tipu the Tiger is back in stock! And we’re happy to welcome his brand new friends from the Trunki Snooihead range; Dudley the Dinosaur, Pippin the Penguin, Milo the Monkey and Leeroy the Lion. In our Play category, you’ll love the latest Finding Nemo Invisible Ink, the crafty additions we’ve made with Alex Toys, some new Usborne books and zooming around with Tonkas Chuck & Friends. Mum and Dad will love the new Moshi noise isolating headphones.

Here’s a look at some of our new kids travel gear;