Contact Coffee Co’s Shots Fired! Makes a Mean Espresso

[Ad- gifted products] I don’t know about you, but I don’t often sit down and think about the military. I guess this means, for the most part, that they’re doing their job just fine. I don’t really have a segue to link that to the coffee, beyond the fact that a couple of British chaps in the armed forces decided to dedicate time and effort into levelling up the sub-par instant coffee that they were getting while out there on operations. The result is Contact Coffee Co, who have sent us along a pouch of Shots Fired, a smooth, medium-roast coffee.

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Hops & Cans Subscription Review – 8 beers, 2 snacks, great price and great variety

[Ad- gifted product] When it comes to beer subscription boxes they often fall into one of three different categories: 1) An opportunity to get cheap beer that you like from a specific brand — much like getting coffee on subscription 2) An opportunity to get something familiar and safe — like how we’d hope Online Supermarket Order Replacements would work, or 3) Getting something new and fantastical, exploring new avenues, and widening your horizons. Hops & Cans is a great example of the latter, which is super handy as that’s my favourite of the three options I mentioned.

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Going to the Bluey: The Videogame Launch Event

[Ad- gifted experience] One of the most loved and endearing characters on UK children’s TV for the last few years has been Bluey, the Australian-developed show about the adventures of the titular Blue Heeler. It’s been nothing short of a phenomenon, and now it has a game, in Bluey: The Videogame.

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A Day Out at Aladdin Sane: 50 Years Installation at Southbank Centre

David Bowie has, arguably, been one of the most successful and talented musical artists in human history. Few creators can claim that, and fewer had successful albums released in six consecutive decades. A large part of the charm and appeal of Bowie’s work was how he twisted and changed over time, reinventing himself — as characters — with new releases. While a lot of people talk about Ziggy Stardust’s time, or the massive shift that came with Low, Aladdin Sane is easily one of the most important transformations, and The Southbank Centre has been celebrating that, and Brian Duffy’s lightning portrait that made up the front cover, with their Aladdin Sane: 50 Years celebration installation.

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Christmas Gifts for tweens

*AD/Collaboration, but as always, all views are my own.

There are more than a few ages where it gets tricky to buy presents for kids, but few more so than the transition from kid into a teenager. Age 11-12-year-old children. My eldest child, Kai, is twelve, and when you ask him what he wants for Christmas, for his birthday, or even – sometimes – for dinner, he answers with uncertainties. We’re a very busy household, we play computer games and board games together, we regularly go out for walks, or to events, or the cinema… and so, there are always a few options there. But, at that age, they’ve just started secondary school, and that means that there’s more than likely a shift in the people who they play with and spend time with at school – as well as the implications from, in the UK, being treated as a ‘young adult’ rather than a child.

So what great gifts do you buy for somebody who already has games, toys and more, somebody whose mind and view of the world might be shifting?

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