Hi everyone welcome to the new monthly blog. To start us off is Easter which is on Sunday 4th April which in the words of the Easter bunny is soon going to hop around!
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Now Easter isn’t all about the chocolate (I know I gave up chocolate for lent too) but don’t worry this blog will cover chocolatey goodness. But deep down it’s about having a special day and for some there is the religious focus of the resurrection of Jesus.
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Like most holidays and special days there are lots of different choices out there and to be fair it’s not easy to know what to get or what to do. Especially with this year where we can’t do absolutely everything we want or would normally do. But have no fear, I am here to take you on the Easter journey and give you some ideas for making this Easter extra special.

‘Easter on a budget’ it does not matter what budget you have. The ideas I have included in this blog you can tailor to your budget, plus I have added in some little freebie downloads and recipes which you can use for Easter or even tailor to any special day. Preparation is key, but the hardest part I find is deciding what to do, with so many choices out there it can be a little daunting. Within this blog I have come up with some examples of what you can do to make it special.

One way is to break Easter up in to manageable chunks, maybe go with the flow of the day. For example I have broken it down in to these areas breakfast, Easter treats and of course fitting in an Easter themed treasure hunt. Now to keep to your budget and in preparation write a list before you go out in to the supermarkets, decide what you are having so that you keep to your budget. Or even just use what you have already.
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Easter is special regardless of what you spend on it and that’s what matters.   

Eggs – no not the chocolatey kind just yet, but ordinary eggs. Get your colouring pencils out or any pen/pencil will do for this. Simply boil the egg to your requirements (here is a recipe should you need it) and voila we have an Easter themed breakfast. Or simply download an Easter picture and pop it near everyone’s favourite breakfast and colour it in and use them as placemats. Fancy chocolate at this time? Sure why not make a cup of hot chocolate and toast some hot cross buns.
Check out the this fab set of free Easter colouring links from Crayola click here to help make breakfast Easter special.

Making Easter treats can be fun for all the family. I personally love making Easter nests, don’t tell the Easter bunny but it’s not all about rabbits, Easter is often associated with chicks. Here is a recipe for Easter nests click here, now you can use cornflakes or even Weetabix just replace the shredded wheat for your cereal of choice. Why not make this extra fun and have a little picnic by making some sandwiches and nests which will make for a great fun lunch.   

Of course this year we can’t go out to a pre-planned hunt, but there are lots of wonderful ideas out there, so I have put together an idea but just tailor it to you and your family that way you will have a lot more fun. Great hiding places can be found inside and outside even pots of daffodils can come in handy. Click here for the idea.

The key to any special day is just to enjoy it, hopefully the sun will be shining and we can all enjoy a bit of sunshine on Easter Sunday and the bank holiday. Have fun that’s the main thing and take photos, I would love to see your colouring, egg designs, rabbit masks or whatever you do!
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That’s all for now readers, which leaves me with one last thing to say which is to wish you all a very Happy Easter and thank you for reading.
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Until the next post – Have fun, stay safe and take care Pen x

Just like Pen said, we'd love to see what fun you've been up to! Email us your photos or visit us on Facebook. Any photos submitted will be shared in our photo gallery. Enjoy!

Is everyone else feeling festive?

After Christmas In Abbotswood we certainly are! And what an amazing day it was too...

Some of you may have heard this little poem recently, after a special advert popped up on Facebook...

There are a few special words of thanks to be said, so on behalf of all of us in Abbotswood:

Phil, Nessa, Barbara, Kerry (Abbotswood Action Group) and Alex (Southern Brooks Community Partnerships) for your hard work throughout the year organising Christmas In Abbotswood. Thanks also go to all the volunteers who helped us out on the day.

Dodington Parish Council for your help with advertising.

Yate Town Council for funding and installing the Christmas tree.

South Gloucestershire Council, Councillors Tony Davis and Louise Harris for funding the event.

And lastly...

We estimated that 500 people joined us to celebrate this year so we wanted to thank you all for helping us keep our community Christmas spirit alive. 

Halloween is swiftly approaching... So it's time for pumpkin carving! Hooray!!! But it also means a lot of yummy pumpkin going to waste! Boo!!!

Ask yourself this, how many pumpkins do you think you've eaten compared to how many you've carved? They're a little bit like marmite aren't they, love them or hate them... But we all love a carved pumpkin even if we don't fancy eating it.

So we've come up with a few alternatives this year! We may have gotten a little carried away so it's in two parts. Fun for the kids today and fun for the bigger kids tomorrow! 

Hmmm. He looks like he may have been modelled on Freddie Mercury... Dependant on the variety some apples can ripen off in the trees right up until November. If you've still got some growing near you these little Halloween treats are a great way to use them and they're easy to tweak. If you add a touch of orange food dye you can make pumpkins or swap out the icing for decorations of your own choice. Raisins or melted dark chocolate perhaps?

Again, there are many ways to personalise this crafty little lady. You can use paints instead of pens and add as many decorations as you like. If you're really feeling fancy and have a steady hand then you with a sharp knife you could carve the face as you would on a pumpkin. 

Remember we don't like to waste anything so save the juices and pulp that you scraped out. You could use it to flavour jellies and truffles as an extra treat. If you've carved your orange that's pretending to be a pumpkin that's pretending to be a witch, then you can also use the peel later on. Use the zest in cheesecakes and brownies or make some preserved and candied peel  ready for Christmas!

It might be early but happy Halloween folks!

The greatest thing for me about Sustainable September so far has been how involved Abbotswood residents and the wider community has been. When we decided to try the blog this year, I sat down, researched sustainability and did a rough plan of a post for every day. There's quite a few that haven't been used because of hearing great things from you folks! And today is a prime example of just that... Over to Jo and Theo with their suggestion of how to reuse an old plastic bottle...

You've almost got them out Theo! Thank you Jo for sending us your how to photos and video, and thank you to Theo for your starring role. You were purrrfect!

Advisory note - Supervise your pets while playing with their treat bottles, we wouldn't want anyone chewing things they shouldn't. Have fun everyone!

Enjoying your new swap shop with your friends? Great!

Let's take it to the next step shall we? You're getting the hang of things like this by now, so we'll keep this one short. How about taking it in turns to host your swap shop, followed by a film night? In the host's house of course...

Think about how expensive a night at the cinema can be. There's the cost of the tickets, the drinks and the cinema snacks. If it's friends you don't see that often you might decide to have a group meal in the restaurant next door first, or a drink in the pub after. You've all got to get there so that's the travel expenses as well. It soon mounts up...

Not if you bring the cinema home!

Browse your DVD collection and pick an old favourite, or that horror you're never quite brave enough to watch alone or maybe that  one that you keep meaning to watch but is still sealed in the packet... We all have one of those right? If you've been making the best of your swap shop everyone will have different DVD's, so you get plenty of variety.

Grab your snacks, treat yourself to some fancy drinks, turn the lights out and hit play!

It's time for a hot topic, ladies and gentlemen...

​It's a hot topic for us anyway. Like many places around the world, Abbotswood is prone to invasion from that mysterious species... the litterbug! Rarely seen, rarely heard but leaves it's tracks all around our public spaces... Boo!!

However Abbotswood is a lucky part of town as we are also home to the even more mysterious... cleaning fairies! Hooray!!

It's not pleasant and we think it's time to do something about it. Here in Abbotswood we regularly hold clean up days where anyone can join us and make our community that little bit tidier. It's taken a while, but we're getting there. We're starting to receive comments about how much better the area is looking. So if we can do it, so can you! It only takes a few seconds to pick up one piece of rubbish and pop it in the bin. Even the children can get involved with our Litter Pickers Scavenger Hunt! Click HERE for your own copy. We're using a points system and offer out stickers to all our litter picking superstars but you can choose any reward you like.

References:
​World Atlas

Let's all stop and think for a minute. When was the last time you had a technology free day? No phones... No tablets... No TV... No computer games... Nothing...

It's OK. Neither can we.

So today's sustainability suggestion is about saving electricity... By ditching the technology for a while! In today's techno crazy world it may seem a little daunting but you might find it refreshing. Put down Facebook, turn off Netflix and join us for some old school entertainment.

We're sure you can add a few more ideas of your own. But how about starting with a game of electricity free bingo with your friends? 

It's simple, pick some of your favourite technology free activities and write them out in a 3 by 3 table (or bigger if you fancy). You can choose how you want to play. 

Here's some suggestions to start you off:

• Play for a line in any direction.
• Play for a full house.
• All donate a prize, whoever wins can keep the lot.
• Last person to reach their target, treats everyone else to a coffee.

Enjoy your old school fun and games!!