Five Things To Do With Your Family This Weekend

DO SCHOOL DAYS
Yay! Boo! For many of us, it’s back to school time. We’ve got a checklist of things to make the transition a little sweeter, cheaper, and tastier.
*Be inspired by fresh vegan lunchbox ideas (the Buffalo Jackfruit Sandwiches with Hemp Crunch sound amazing) or find gluten-free inspiration here.
*Check out how to cut the cost of expensive school uniform here, including tips on whether you qualify for grants, the new uniform policy law schools must follow and ideas for where to find second-hand clothing. There are more deals on school uniforms here.
*Or set up your own school uniform exchange. Find tips to make it successful and fun here.
*Brighten up your pencil box with home-made pencil toppers, cute rainbow unicorn notebooks, gorgeous pen roll-ups and a brilliant measuring tape pencil case.
*Double check you’re claiming all the benefits to which you’re entitled. This handy online calculator is super-quick and easy to use.
*Find a new pair of shoes that care as much for the earth as your kids’ feet – the Vegan Society has an excellent guide to animal-friendly brands
*Discover how flower essences can support your children’s wellbeing at school
*Help your child learn how not to feel small at big school.
*Make power food-packed salad jars, pumpkin muffins and energy-giving bliss balls for lunch times!
*Find out why letting your children walk alone to school helps build self-confidence.
*Run a financial healthcheck on your college students. Find checklists, parental contribution calculators and student loan tips here.
*Print out – or be inspired to make your own versions of – these cute lunch box notes and jokes – slip one in your child’s cool bag or pencil case every day to bring a smile to their face.
*Find out how to unschool your school-attending children.
*Gen up on how to take care of nits naturally!
Or, if you’re considering home schooling, find out more here, here, or browse our archives here and here.

EVENT SWAP SHOP

Every week 11 million items of clothing end up in landfill. Throwaway fashion is putting increasing pressure on our planet and its people - it’s unsustainable, expensive and wasteful. Now there’s something you can do to help. Join Second Hand September and pledge to say no to new clothes for 30 days (and perhaps beyond that!) Take the pledge and find shopping tips, styling tips and inspiration here.

There are other ways to make second-hand living more fun. Throw a swish party to swap unloved clothes, find out more about upcycling the clothes you have or try new ways to give existing garments a new lease of life such as dyeing them with flowers or making baby rompers from pre-loved T-shirts.

EVENT EAST OR WEST

Two very different free parties hit London this weekend. The huge, noisy and brilliant Notting Hill Carnival rocks across west London with soundsystems, parades, and glittering, eye-scorching costumes – head there on Sunday for the slightly quieter Family Day. A lower-key, east London alternative, Sunday’s Clerkenwell Festival is a great introduction to music parties. As well as bands including Jim Jones and The All Stars, Slady and DJs, there are history talks, a kids area, tarot reader and dog show.

RECIPE COB ON We’ve spotted hazelnuts (AKA cobnuts or filberts) in gardens near us – the time for the sweet green nuts is here. See if you can beat the squirrels to them! Dry them and turn them into hard little sweet brown flavour bombs for the winter. Or use them in recipes now. We have recipes for Rosemary, Orange, Dark Chocolate and Hazelnut Sables, Raw Chocolate Brownies and Berry and Hazelnut Cakes, while Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall transforms them into Pear and Hazelnut Salad, Honeyed Hazels and Chocolate Hazelnut Cake (all vegetarian), or try this Cobnut, Wild Mushroom and Chestnut Stir Fry (vegetarian or easily made vegan - if you don’t serve it with the suggested chicken!). Most triumphant of all, is Yotam Ottolenghi’s decadent Fruit and Cobnut Crumble Cream (vegetarian). Find out more about the hazel tree here

EVENT BAT FANS

Watching tiny bats flit across the sky in summer is one of life’s great joys. It’s International Bat Weekend, so get out into the dusk and see, hear and find out about our leathery winged friends – download a pack here. There are events across the UK; go here to find a batwalk, quiz trail, bat night or craft workshop near you.Find out more about bats here, find out how to encourage them with a bat-friendly garden here, and, if you don’t spot any real-life chiroptera, make your own cute origami version!

WHAT WE’RE EATING Sweet and Sour Tofu: Anshu Ahuja founded Dabbadrop with Renee Williams from their homes in East London. Here they share a super tasty sweet and sour tofu recipe, perfect for a Friday night family dinner. Find out more here

WHAT WE’RE READING ‘I felt I was being assessed on my skin colour’: Black women around the world share their birth stories. ‘The NHS is a wonderful service, but it is also a microcosm of our society. The same inequalities are played out in a hospital setting, and the same outcomes replicated. The Black maternal experience is a symptom of this, and that consultant was, for me, the mouthpiece for inherent biases and snap judgments.’ Read more here