News

Dear Grandma

12/09/20

Christmas cards & carols

Dear Grandma,

It’s finally December which means it’s almost time for Christmas! I have been looking forward to putting our tree up and decorating the home for a long time. We spent hours last weekend making crafty decorations and the house looks wonderful now they are up! 

I hope you received the Christmas card I sent you, it should have arrived last week. When you do, you’ll see the photo on the front, it’s very festive! Mother, father, Coco, the little ones and I got dressed in our warmest winter clothes and took a photo in front of the Christmas lights on the front lawn. They looked so pretty, it made for a very Christmassy picture, I do hope you display it on your mantelpiece with all of your other cards.

We all loved the Christmas card you sent to us, especially the message inside! We miss you too Grandma, we cant wait for Christmas Day so we can get together for a delicious lunch and a walk in the fields beyond the Sylvanian Village. I cant wait to feel the warmth in my stomach from the all the Christmas food and the crunch of icy grass below my boots!

Have you been lucky enough to have any people coming to your house to sing carols yet? I know we usually love going to sing together with the choir, so Coco and I are thinking about taking the little ones carolling around the village to spread Christmas cheer. It is our favourite time of year after all! You must remind me what your favourite carols are so we can add them to our sheet!

I must dash now, I think I can hear Crème playing with the Christmas decorations!

Freya Chocolate

Around the House with the Silk Cats

12/09/20

Christmas wreath

Hello little ones! What perfect timing, I’m just hanging our Christmas wreath on the front door. Now all the children will know that Christmas is very nearly here! Do you want to know how to make your own? It’s very simple, I’ll show you how!

What you’ll need:

Wire ring

Malleable wire (to attach the greenery to)

Pine greens – find branches on the floor of your local park!

Lots of rosemary

Eucalyptus (or another fragrant green plant)

Christmas baubles

Ribbon (for hanging)

Sharp scissors

Instructions:

Get an adult helper to cut the pine greens off the main stem and into smaller pieces.

Start building your wreath by placing your pine greens onto the ring and attaching them with your wire. Keep adding more layers of different shapes and sizes to build up a lovely green base to your wreath.

When the wreath starts to take shape, you can begin adding the rosemary, eucalyptus or any other fragrant greens you have gathered – don’t be afraid to wire down any branches that are getting a bit wild!

Next, when you are happy with the shape of the wreath, you can start accessorising it!

Add baubles, holly berries or any other Christmassy items to make it look extra festive.

Finally, get your decorative ribbon and tie it around the top of the wreath, leaving a big loop so you can hang it on your door.

Now decide where you would like to hang your wreath! I think it looks great on the front door but you could hang it above a fireplace or as a wall decoration.

Perfect to set the festive tone for anyone who walks your home!

News

12/07/20

Our 35th Anniversary Celebrations

Hello my little snowflakes. I’m back with some exciting news! Now, I’m sure you all will have heard that we’re celebrating our 35^th anniversary this year. If you haven't, then I’m here to tell you about all the exciting activity going on!

To mark this exciting anniversary, we’ve created a new video featuring Freya, her family and some new friends! This heart-warming story features a little girl who wandered into the world of Sylvanian Families. She met Freya Chocolate and they became best friends instantly. They spent time together with Freya's family and did everything that best friends do! Over time, their friendship got stronger until one day something happened… 

Find out what happened to Freya’s new friend by watching the video here - https://sf35th.sylvanianfamilies.com/brand-film/?l=en-uk

If the adorable new film isn't enough fun for you, then have a look at the brand new products now available on the webshop to commemorate the anniversary! Kicking off the celebrations are the Baby Celebration Marching Band who are ready in their matching uniforms to play everyone's favourite party tunes! Each member of the band comes with their own musical instrument and adorable berets!

Next up are the charming Corgi Family, the newest family to move into the village. This family is exclusive to the online shop and are only available in limited numbers so get your paws on them while you can!

The Rose Garden Tea Set is the perfect set to celebrate the 35th anniversary with elegance. Relax with a hot cup of nettle tea on the pastel coloured garden furniture set. The Snow Rabbit girl is dressed for the occasion in a luxurious pink dress, which matches the rosy tableware and garden accessories. 

Finally, celebrate the anniversary in a brand-new home! The Celebration Home is a large house featuring three floors and six sprawling rooms. There is plenty of space for all the family to stay for the celebrations, and a working lift to help you get between floors – it’s controlled by using the weathervane on the roof of the home. The pastel colour scheme means it will fit right in with your other Sylvanian Families products, and the Rose Tea Garden Set will fit perfectly in the garden!

Now, I think that’s all we have time for now. But don't forget, you can view all the Sylvanian Families products on our website, read exciting news and so much more! Visit the site here - https://sylvanianfamilies.co.uk/

Dressing up with Tiffany

11/17/20

Fashion Playsets

Hello there friends! I’m so glad you stopped by. It’s cold outside but you look so snuggly wrapped up in your warm winter clothes, did you knit your mittens yourself? How adorable they look with your matching hat!

Now, the festive season is fast approaching and I can only imagine all the Christmas tea parties you have to attend, it’s such a busy time of year for everyone. Would you like some fashion advice? Of course, you know that’s why I’m here!

Are you looking for something to wear to your Christmas gatherings? Just wait here and I’ll see what I can put together for you!

Okay, I’m back! Thank you for waiting, would you like to see what I picked out? First I have got the wonderful Fashion Playset Town Girl Series – Persian Cat. It has multiple outfits to choose from, all in different shades of pretty pink, with matching shoes and accessories. You’ll be the belle of the ball in these outfits!

Next, I have the lovely Fashion Playset Town Girl Series – Tuxedo Cat. This stylish choice will look great with your new hairstyle! The chequered dress is a brilliant choice for evening parties but you can also switch it up with the matching trousers – perfect for work or running errands in the Town!

Both options look great on you! If you really can’t decide which one is your favourite, why not get both? Let me just wrap these up in some tissue and you can be on your way. There we go, I hope you stay warm out there in the cold!

Mother Chocolate’s Recipes

10/30/20

Yorkshire Puddings

Hello my dears, it’s been an awfully long time since I last saw you! Now summer has passed I thought I would show you my favourite, winter warming recipe. It’s a classic – Yorkshire puddings! At home, I always make time to cook Freya and her siblings a special Sunday meal with Yorkshire puddings on the side. They’re everyone’s favourite treat after all and easy peasy to make! Now then, aprons on and let’s get started!

Ingredients:

140g plain flour

4 eggs

200ml milk

Oil (for cooking)

Method:

First things first, ask your adult helper to turn the oven up to 230 degrees. It has to be hot, hot, hot if you want your Yorkshire’s to puff up!

Get yourself two muffin trays and drizzle a little oil evenly into each hole, then ask your adult helper to carefully place them into the oven to heat through.

Now it’s time to make the batter! Tip your flour into a bowl and beat in the eggs until nice and smooth.

Slowly add the milk in small portions, not all at once! Keep beating the mixture until the batter is completely lump free, then give it a sprinkling of salt and pepper.

Pour the batter into a jug and very carefully remove your muffin trays from the oven - the oil will be very hot so you must get your adult helper to do this step, we don’t want any burnt paws after all!

Very carefully pour the batter equally into each tray, so you end up with 24 pots of Yorkshire pudding batter.

Pop the trays back into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. It’s super important you don’t peak at them while they cook or open the oven door, as they won’t become nice and puffy otherwise.

Once they’re a nice golden brown they’re ready to serve! I recommend having them with your favourite vegetables and hot gravy – delicious!

There, I promised you they were easy peasy to make! Are you going to try and make your own? Let me know how you get on, I love to see everything you make!

Introducing

10/16/20

Introducing: Persian Cat Family

Give a warm welcome to the Persian Cat Family, the newest residents of Sylvanian Village! They’re an extra big family of ten characters, each of whom has completely different personalities and interests. Despite their differences, they all share their recognisable fluffy fur!

Lucas Persian is the father of the family and prides himself on his strong dancer’s physique. He drinks a delicious homemade smoothie every morning and always tries to get his wife and children to try his latest recipe.

Dawn Persian is a keen astronomer who spends most of her evenings gazing up at the sky. She’s always eager to learn more about constellations so spend hours studying her star charts – she always know the answer any questions her children may have! 

Lyra Persian is one of the twin who is especially happy with the new family home as it means she gets to learn about how the elevator works! She loves to tinker with machines and is always fascinated by how they work. Her mother Dawn hopes she doesn’t tinker around with the elevator too much though, or she’ll have to take the stairs!

Skye Persian is Lyra’s twin who has an eager interest in the natural sciences. As the seasons change, she likes to study the differences in the weather and especially loves recording the changes with her weathervane!

Ryan Persian is the oldest baby in the family. His passion is for photography and his best day ever was when his mother gave him his first camera! Now you’ll always find him taking pictures of his family, but equally loves to strike a pose in front of the camera too!

Leah and Bellamy Persian are the baby twins. They can often be found playing on their ride-on-train together, where Leah always gets Bellamy to push her!

Blair, Blake and Brianna are triplets and are the youngest members of the Persian Cat Family. Blair is the mischievous one, Blake’s favourite smell is mint and the family thinks Brianna is growing up extra quickly - she was the first to roll over after all!

Nature Corner

10/02/20

Autumn leaves

Autumn is finally here and she’s hard to miss! Just look around at all the beautiful autumn colours, crunchy leaves and crisp fresh air!

Have you ever wondered why the leaves on trees change colour then fall off the trees in the autumn? Well, as the days get shorter and the leaves don’t have as much light to absorb from the sun, their green colour disappears and the autumnal colours shine through instead!

The leaves look so elegant as they fall from the branches – why don’t you collect some and we can learn about each different leaf? Don’t forget your hat and scarf though, it’s rather chilly outside!

Maple

A maple leaf always has a bright colour, no matter the season. It goes from a lovely green in summer all the way to a beautiful orangey red in autumn – just look at the tree standing tall above the others in the woods! Each leaf is just as astounding as the whole tree. You can recognise the leaf from it’s very distinctive, symmetrical shape which ends in a point, and lovely autumnal colour.

Oak

An oak tree is the grandest tree of all! Did you know they can live for up to 1,000 years? The one in your local park may not be that old but you can still admire its beauty. Take a look on the ground under an oak tree in the autumn and you’ll be sure to find plenty of oak leaves! They are long, orange leaves with rounded lobes – they look just like a rabbits ear! Can you find one?

Ash

Tall and graceful, you can easily recognise an ash tree by its leaves, which are arranged down the twig on opposite sides to each other. The leaves turn a wondrous orange colour in the autumn, so keep an eye out for them on your next walk!

That’s all we have time for today but I hope you’ve learnt a bit more about your lovely, local woodlands. Next time you go for an autumnal adventure, you’ll be able to impress all your friends with your leafy knowledge!

Day Out With The Walnuts

09/21/20

Village Pizzeria

Good morning little one, how are you on this fine sunny day? Haven’t we been lucky with the weather this week? I hope you’ve managed to have all the fun playing outside but don’t forget your suncream!

This beautiful weather has put everyone in the sunniest of moods, so I decided it was time to treat the family at our favourite restaurant, the Village Pizzeria. Ralph was so excited, he could barely sit still! Pizza is his very favourite meal and he loves to try and fit as many toppings on as possible.

We decided to stretch our legs and walk over to the Village Pizzeria, as it’s just over the big hill in Sylvanian Village. It’s a lovely walk but the hill is very steep, so we worked up quite an appetite for our meal!

On our way over, we bumped into Glenn and Amanda Splashy at the riverside with their little ones. They were cooling off in the water and having such fun splashing around! They even have a new canoe set which they were super excited to try out!

When we arrived, Mortimer Bramble was loading up his bike to deliver some delicious pizzas. He said some Sylvanians were having a pizza party in the park, which I thought was a wonderful idea! Luckily, we managed to get a table outside on the beautiful terrace in the sunshine. We were all a bit hot and bothered after our walk, so had to gulp down some refreshing water to cool off! Then it was time to order our pizzas.

Saffron and I always share a plain pizza, as we can never manage a whole one to ourselves. Cedric loves cheese so he always orders extra on his pizza, and then there’s Ralph… I told you pizza is his favourite meal, so he got a bit overexcited and asked for every topping they had in the kitchen! The chef even had to pop over to the Grocery Market next door for extra ingredients for the other customers – he is such a naughty squirrel!

Unsurprisingly, all four of us had clean plates and very full tummies! The walk home was much slower, as poor Ralph had a bit of a tummy ache from too much pizza. His eyes are always bigger than his stomach! Anyway, that was our day trip – we can’t wait to visit again!

Unboxing

09/04/20

Grocery Market

Welcome to the Grocery Market, where the residents of Sylvanian Village come to purchase their all their fresh fruit, vegetables and other delicious goods!

Inside the sunny yellow building, you’ll find all sorts of different food items ranging from milk ad frit juice, to crackers and bananas! Make sure you keep the food shelves stocked up so that customers can easily find what they’re looking for – it can get quite busy in there, especially at the weekend!

Don’t forget to greet customers with your biggest smile when they visit and make sure they have a clean basket to fill with their delicious goodies. Customers tend to come back each week so you’ll quickly get to know everyone and will be able to suggest new things they’re sure to love.

Once the customers have chosen what they’re going to buy, call them up to the checkout and scan their items through. Once scanned, just slide the bar on the cash register to move the till along and drop the items into the bag, how helpful! There’s even a points card for loyal customers to collect during their shop.

The Grocery Market can be joined with the Village Pizzeria to create a high street and attract more customers. Shop at the Grocery Market HERE.

Learning with Patrick Petite

08/21/20

Town - An Essay by Freya Chocolate

Q. Describe something exciting that happened recently.

A. Living in Sylvanian Village is lots of fun, surrounded by the beautiful meadows and woodlands, but sometimes it’s nice to go somewhere different for a change. Last weekend mother decided we were going on a day trip to the Town to do some shopping which was very exciting news, as I hadn’t seen many people or been shopping in forever!

The sun decided to put his hat on that weekend, so the first thing we did when we arrived was pop into the Creamy Gelato Shop for a refreshing gelato. It was so cold my tongue almost stuck to it! When we were coming out, I saw my best friend Sabrina Sandy across the road so I gave her my best smile and the biggest wave I could manage! I can’t wait to see her and all of my friends again when we’re allowed too.

Next, we visited the Grand Department Store. Mother can’t resist popping in to see Stella at her Designer Studio, often coming away with a shiny new dress! I love seeing all the different fabrics, ribbons, buttons and decorations that Stella uses – we waved at her from across the store and she suggested I try on a pretty new hat she’d just made. We found the loveliest new outfit for Mother and she treated me to the new hat, and with that we were off!

We left the Grand Department Store and had to dash off to the Ride Along Tram, as we didn’t want to miss our stop! On our journey home we waved at the passers-by and I wondered what was for dinner, as my tummy had started to rumble. I do love visiting the Town and can’t wait until next time!

Marker: Patrick Petite

Grade: A*

Comments: Freya, you have a way with words that magically transports the reader to wherever the story takes them! You have written an exciting essay and made me want to visit the Town as soon as I can. You deserve the highest praise, and this is reflected in your grade.