Getting Creative With Messy Me

Creative, messy fun has always been something I have enjoyed doing with the kids, despite the mammoth task of clearing up when we are finished! With Leo starting school on the horizon I want to make sure we cram in as many of these messy filled afternoons as possible. Having already shared our playdough and slime recipes with you I thought we would get the paints out and try a spot of hand printing for this post whilst road testing our new apron from Messy Me. With Father’s Day in less than a month we decided to make some homemade gifts for Daddy and perhaps giving you a little inspiration for some creative gifts of your own at the same time.

Award winning company Messy Me sell a range of products designed to help Mum’s manage the mess their children create! I was sold on this statement alone as let’s face it kids and mess go hand in hand. Mum of three Helen Hibberd was inspired to create Messy Me after identifying a gap in the market whilst weaning her youngest child Florence. Having opted for baby led weaning, mess was inevitable- we have all been there- however with two other children to contend with she found herself lacking the time and energy to spend her days cleaning up. Having searched for a solution to help contain the mess and drawing a blank, Helen decided to design a range of products to help Mum’s everywhere and Messy Me was born.

Manufactured here in the UK, using high quality oilcloth sourced from Denmark, Messy Me design and create bibs, splash mats, tunic bibs, nappy clutch bags, aprons plus highchair cushions and covers in a range of subtle yet stylish designs. The cloth has a gloss finish which not only makes their products hardwearing but helps them be resistant to most stains. They are also able to be machine washed which is music to any Mum’s ears!

Leo recently received his every own apron in the post from Messy Me for us to use during our creative afternoons, a very welcome addition as he does have the habit of just wiping his mucky hands down his clothes instead of washing them! Designed to fit ages 3-5, I was pleasantly surprised with the fit as Leo is a tall nearly 5-year-old, but he still has plenty of growing room. With a 100% cotton base, the oilcloth is both soft and breathable unlike other aprons we have used in the past which trap in the heat making him hot, sweaty and a little grumpy! We were sent the dusty blue mini stars design which looks so good on Leo, offering a practical yet stylish solution to help him stay clean.

So, did it work? I can confirm that the apron ended up covered in paint, but Leo didn’t! Our Father’s Day creations were inspired by one of the messiest painting activities around, hand painting. Usually doing this I end up hovering over him to ensure once he has finished printing that his hand stays away from his top, but I felt safe in the knowledge he could have fun and his apron would take the brunt of the mess. Easily sponge cleaned with a small amount of soap afterwards his apron was good as new and ready for the next paint assault. Not only useful for painting and creative fun, we will certainly be using it the next time we have meatballs and spaghetti, Leo’s current favourite meal, and something that he usually ends up wearing 99% of!

So onto our creations…..We decided to create a lion picture as we call Leo our little lion so it will be an ideal gift for Daddy. To make the lions mane we used a mixture of yellow and orange printed handprints which needed to be completely dry before adding the face using marker pen – this part of the afternoon was hellish with Leo asking me approximately a million times a minute if it was dry yet!

We also made a tree with handprint leaves and added some flowers at the bottom using our round sponge. They were then finished off by drawing on petals with marker pen and what a fabulous job I think he did – look at that concentration face! We will be buying some frames to put them in and they will make the perfect, personal, budget-friendly Father’s Day gift.

To find out more about Messy Me and view the full range of products available visit their website or alternatively you can find them on social media; Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

We were gifted an apron in return for an honest review. All thought and opinions expressed are our own.