Birthday haul #3 - gifts I can use

An advanced warning - this will be my longest birthday haul post by far! After writing my 'gifts I can gaze at' and 'gifts I can wear' posts, I realised I still had loads of presents left to blog about which could all fit in under the 'gifts I can use' category. I'm so fortunate to have had so many lovely gifts, and it's definitely been a 30th birthday to remember for many reasons.

To kick off this post, I had an exciting present from Nicola which I'll be able to blog about at a later date once we've made use of it - afternoon tea for two at Cardiff's Angel Hotel! As you should know by now, I'm a huge fan of afternoon tea and I can't wait to visit this venue.

Next up, I'm going to give you a little tour of my bumper gift crate from Sarah - think pink! Sarah thoughtfully bought loads of pink gifts for my birthday (I assume you know by now that it's my favourite colour!) and packed them all neatly into this pretty pink basket.

When I excitedly took a closer look, I had to split the contents into two photographs because there were so many.

My favourites in this first pile are the Forever Friends socks, the heart-shaped cookie cutters

and the Powder Love shower gel. And the wine, of course! 

As for this pile, I absolutely love the frame and the message inside it,

the tealight holder and the patterned cards.

I always love receiving toiletries for my birthday and I had quite a few toiletry-based gifts this year. I never have to buy myself any new toiletries as my friends and family kindly replenish my supplies every birthday and Christmas! 

Toiletry bag from Sarah (different Sarah to the one above!), Soap & Glory goodies

from Neil, Guess Girl perfume set from my sister-in-law, and a bottle of
Guess perfume from my sister.

Soap & Glory miniature set from Amy with a beautiful accompanying bag.

My hot chocolate obsession was also satisfied on my birthday with some delicious Whittard hot chocolate and marshmallows from Neil's pets (I know, they're very clever), and Twinings hot chocolate from Sarah. I'm especially excited about trying the Salted Caramel flavour... I love a decadent hot chocolate! 

I also received a couple of mugs to drink my copious supply of hot chocolate from - you'll already know plenty about my love of mugs if you read my recent 'Disney mugs' blog post. 

Tigger mug from Neil, shaped like a honey pot! 

Pretty personalised mug from Nicola and Osian. 

Nicola also bought me the cute presents below which are already on display in my bedroom and kitchen. I'm a big fan of cushions, particularly cushions with teddies on them, and the wine glass is such a lovely keepsake to remember my 30th birthday. I'm looking forward to using it next time I crack open the Prosecco! 

I also had a few edible treats for my birthday from Sarah, Chris and Neil... as you can see, the Tangfastics didn't last long enough to be photographed properly. Standard. 

This really was the birthday that kept on giving, and I had two sets of birthday presents a few weeks after the big event from friends I hadn't managed to catch up with earlier in the month. 

Disney-themed Lindt chocolates and a Tinkerbell photo frame from Claire.

Yankee candles and a diary from Catrin.

I'd obviously like to say a huge thank you again to all my friends and family for these amazing gifts, and the ones in the previous two posts. I couldn't be more grateful and it's lovely to feel so appreciated. 

I also received lots of pretty cards for my birthday so I've decided to blog about those next for two reasons - I love receiving cards as they're a nice personal touch, and continuously blogging about my birthday is one way of making sure it doesn't come to an end! 

Have you written a 'birthday haul' blog post lately? Send me your links if so, I'd love to read them! 

My collection of Disney mugs

I haven't written a Disney-themed blog post for a while so I thought it was high time I rectified this by blogging about my growing collection of Disney mugs. After all, the blog is titled Little Miss Disney...

I've been casually buying Disney mugs for quite a few years but I started collecting in earnest when we moved into our new home after getting married in August 2014. I suddenly had more room to store my many coveted mugs, and we found some real beauties in Cardiff's Disney Store which we bought with some of the money we received as wedding gifts.

I fell in love with this collection as soon as I saw it and just HAD to buy them all. These mugs are absolutely massive so they're never filled up to the top, but they're definitely among my favourites. I love giving guests whichever mug best reflects their character... a little game I play quite often! 

So, continuing with my mug collection story, I'd always been too afraid of bringing mugs back from holidays abroad previously in case they smashed in my suitcase. However, I made an exception when I saw these lovely specimens in Disneyland Paris in December 2014. Again, they were the perfect addition to the Disneyfied mug cupboard in our new house. I love having hot chocolate with marshmallows in these beautiful mugs as the little spoon is so handy. 

I love all things Winnie the Pooh and this is definitely reflected in my mug collection. I adore my Eeyore mug above, and I've also collected the three mugs below at various points during the last few years. I bought the Tigger mug for Neil for his birthday before we got married, Sarah bought me the Piglet mug many moons ago, and the beautiful Winnie the Pooh mug was a Christmas present to myself last December.  

I'm always super excited when there's any kind of sale in the Disney Store, which is how I acquired the mug below back in 2013. It came with a mini Grumpy teddy and it's perfect for those 'I've had a bad day' hot chocolates!

I definitely need to expand my princess mugs as I only have one at the moment. Siân, my sister-in-law, bought me this pretty Sleeping Beauty mug for Christmas a few years ago. The princess mugs are always so picturesque and elegant, so I definitely want to collect more of these.

Although I'm not a Star Wars fan myself, I do like a few of the characters and I couldn't resist buying these two mugs for Neil for his birthday last month. The BB8 mug is adorable and we nearly bought the R2D2 mug in Florida last year but didn't get around to it, so I don't mind these particular Star Wars items living in our kitchen!

We've also picked up a few Pixar mugs on various occasions for our collection - Neil bought the cute Wall-E mug from the Disney Store a few years ago and he bought me the Nemo mug as a present just before we got married. 

As this is an ever-expanding collection and there are always new and exciting mugs to choose from, I've included photos of the next three mugs I'd like to buy... space and funds permitting!

Rapunzel Sketch Mug 

Dumbo and Timothy Mouse Record Cover Artwork Mug

Minnie Letters Mug

Do you love Disney mugs as much as I do? Let me know which ones are your favourites and which ones I should look out for to expand my collection!