How They Made their Millions - Bananagrams Review and Competition.

As we enter the last part of the Summer Holidays, with the children trying to kill each other and me trying not to murder them, we have, today, spent half of our time playing a 'PAIRSinPEARS' game picked up from one of the stands at the Britmums Live conference.

I met the lovely Lesley from LSMedia fronting the stand and was also introduced to Rena Nathanson, one of the founder family members of what has become the global phenomenon that is BANANAGRAMS.

There is a video HERE that, in less than ten minutes, gives you a really good feel for how her family took 'An anagram game that will drive you bananas' from an initial concept over a kitchen table in Rhode Island, USA, to selling more than six million games in 31 countries around the world.

I'd never heard of it before!

The video is from an American TV show called 'How I Made My Millions,' but Rena has now lived in London for 25 years and has actually been running the business from there since it began in 2006.  She has just been shortlisted for the MumpreneurUK Best International Trader Award 2012.

Derived after an exhaustive game of Scrabble, by her father who adored games and loved creating them, they wanted something faster, more furious and fun for even the grandchildren to play, but still based around letter tiles and making free form words. 

It took time, but the family's obsession with their new game and with the belief and encouragment of their friends, it wouldn't be too long before 'SUCCESS' was spelled out for them!

Defying the big stores who wanted more than one product to sell and the game sold in boxes, thereby eschewing their (home designed) banana shaped bags which contained the tiles to play with, 'BANANAGRAMS' went on to beat all the big boys and win 'Toy of the year 2009.'   

It has since made over $90 million and the company is involved with many childrens' charities.

The PAIRSinPEARS game is a spin off of the original word play one - in a veritable fruit bowl of recreation which has been spawned, with Rena's children carrying on the family tradition of inventing educational entertainment.  Some now come in Jumbo size and let's not forget the fabulous wordplay books, in which my seven year old can be truly absorbed for hours.

If you want something to keep the little ones / big ones/ all of you upbeat and occupied for half the day - or, more likely - the remainder of the holidays, then check out the BANANAGRAMS 'Fruit Stand' Site  The simplicity is the greatest feature.  Even my three year old happily joins in with FRUITOMINOES and the all round spirited battles with our foreign language students, plus my partner and I have become (unusually) fiercely competitive with each other over the travel version ZIP-IT. 


I was very lucky to win the raffle of a range of their games at the conference and we've had the most enormous fun as a family - the very reason they were - and continue to be - inspired. 

As a result, it is my pleasure to offer my spare PAIRSinPEARS game as a competition prize.  All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this blog post and then tweet “I’ve entered the @mumoldersingle competition to win a @Bananagrams_UK game.''

That way, I can keep track of who has entered and a winner will be picked at random on Thursday 30th August.

In the mean time, I'm off to thrash my sons again - but not in the way that most mothers usually feel we might by this point in the Summer Holidays!

Disclosures - The PAIRSinPAIRS game was given to me for a review. I bought the ZIP-IT game and won the rest in their raffle!

www.bananagrams.com
Twitter: @Bananagrams_UK
Facebook: www.facebook.com/

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/

T&Cs:  The prize is non-negotiable and the competition closes at midday. Any entries received after this point will not be included in the draw. One winner will be picked at random from all entries. Only one entry per person please.

 

So Glad Am Outta There!

'I wish not to harp on about this book, 'Why Does He Do That?', (re previous post) so won't, however it is important that those who find themselves in a relationship that is disrespectful come to appreciate what a crucial problem it can be, or is.  

We all find ourselves in one from time to time - with work colleagues, family members, lovers or friends - where we feel DEVALUED.  Sometimes we find the ability to stand up for ourselves, yet, depending on who we are, our upbringing, our culture, our current state of mind, we really don't and life can be miserable as a result.  Our self-esteem is eroded, our strength evaporates and we are just plain worn out.

In extreme cases, insults and certain forms of intimidation - looks or glares and sneers plus much worse, this is considered abuse.  Mental cruelty is common.  The perpetrator attempting to justify it, playing victim and distorting or twisting events is just par for the course in these relationships, at work or home or 'play.'

In Natural Medicine circles, or Spiritual ones, they say we attract what we need to heal.  My Shitty Ex-Husband was a perfect gift looked at in that light.  He isolated me to a degree that no-one would expect of a bright, successful person, cleverly lured me in to his dramas and warped my mind, sucking up my life like a vaccuum cleaner to meet his own ends.  He was selfish and destructive, while making me feel sorry for him and I still don't get how it all occurred.

There are women (and men) who live with a Jekyll and Hyde character and are too ashamed to say so.  They are scared and confused, depressed and anxious, yet everyone they know feels sympathy too for the other person in the frame.  It is a complex situation.

'Why Does He Do That?' covers all these things in general.  I have only had a peruse, not wishing to drag up stuff that, previous to reading it, could happily (naively and wrongly) have been deemed to be OVER.  It made an uncomfortable time looking through, but I feel it could be of help to those who know they deserve better, but don't know what to do.  Good Luck!

Many of us will come out the other side.  Having children gives you the wherewithal for backbone you never before knew existed and you may find out who you really can be - see 'Is Life Like a Sat. Nav. Drive?' - an essential a thing as you'll ever do!


Emotional Abuse

Refuge Charity

Go the F**k to Sleep

This little treasure of a book is a must for any would-be parent, any friend of a would-be parent and any parent with little ones, whose eyes are bleary and / or for whom the memory of sleep deprivation is still raw.

My boys are two and six so it is a bit late in the day to arrive on my doorstep, but frustration, anger and general weariness cum end of the day exhaustion now have a wry smile about them that last thing at night before Robson and Aiden finally give up the fight to drop off.  

It is a story consisting only of several short, incredibly funny rhymes, written by a man, Adam Mansbach, which, I reckon might well keep you sane in the face of things when you run out of patience, at best, or genuinely think you're going to die, which, at some point, we are all convinced we will.

'The cubs and lions are snoring, wrapped in a big snuggly heap, How come you can do all this other great shit, but you can't lie the f**k down and sleep?'

It is brilliant, so if you want to do someone a favour, even do yourself a great big one, because we all need a laugh, single or otherwise, to prevent insanity - or indeed improve it, then this might help.  

amazon