maternity & infant

Wishing you all a very happy - and safe - Halloween!

Get set for the start of Halloween with the traditional Lighting of the Pumpkins in Virginia, Co. Cavan this evening!

Growers from around the world are gathering at the second annual Pumpkin Festival today where a street carnival will kick off with fire eaters and exotic dancers. Other attractions will include organic food stalls, crafts, cookery demonstrations and children’s fancy dress Halloween party.

The Festival will also include a Pumpkin Treasure Hunt, choosing the king and queen of the Pumpkin Festival and a fire parade - oh, and if you happen to have a huge pumpkin to hand, you could win a €3,000 cash prize if it’s the largest!!

Artists will include Sharon Shannon, Mundy and Shane McGowan.

The festival ends on Sunday with a fireworks display over nearby Lough Ramor - check it out if you’re in the area!

The maternity & infant Awards are nearly here and we’re calling for last votes to be cast - just click here to do so!

The Awards are your chance to vote for your favourite products and services, so check out the final shortlisted companies and let us know who gets your vote.

The Awards will take place on November 14^th, 2008 in The Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin. Hosted by RTE’s Sharon Ni Bheolain and attended by more than 300 people - including Minister for Health and Children, Mary Harney TD, our People Award nominees and all the key industry players - this promises to be an exciting event!

For a full list of Awards categories, click here.

Paddington Bear, a childhood favourite for generations and star of the recent Marmite ads, turned 50 yesterday. On October 13th 1958, the very first Paddington book was published in the UK.

Special commemorative bears are available from Marks & Spencer (above), priced €23. If you haven’t yet read a Paddington story to your child, both of you are missing out! The very first book, A Bear Called Paddington, is a real children’s classic. I’ve just checked Amazon.co.uk and it’s selling for £2.99 + P&P if anyone needs to pick up a copy.

If you want to find out more about Paddington Bear, his stories and adventures and for lots of child-friendly activities and downloads, check out www.paddingtonbear.com

Apologies to all who have tried to access the blog in the last 10 days - we had some unscheduled maintenance issues to deal with.

Never fear, we’re back up and running now and will be posting more news, views and offers for you shortly.

This year’s Festival was launched today by Derek Landy, Ireland’s internationally celebrated author of Skulduggery Pleasant. The Festival runs from Oct 1st-31st with over 1,500 events taking place nationwide to celebrate children’s books and encourage reading amongst children and teenagers.

The vast majority of Festival events are FREE, although booking is recommended. Libraries, schools, bookshops and community centres will be hosting the widest range of book-related activities the Festival has ever seen, all designed to spread the message that reading is fun and stimulating, accessible and inclusive.

Also as part of the Festival, there is a new ‘Design a Book Cover’ competition, sponsored by The O’Brien Press. Budding young artists can compete for the chance to see their design become a front cover. For details on how to enter and more on the Festival events, visit www.childrensbooksireland.ie