Earlier this year I had the pleasure of being introduced to local business woman, biscuit-decorator extrodiannaire and just general all-round lovely-lady Nila Holden, who is also from Bedfordshire. We met at a Creative Bedfordshire networking event & hit it off instantly - we've so much in common, and I find her work, business ethic and passion for creating beautiful biscuits so inspiring!
Nila's small artisan bakery creates the most beautiful decorated biscuits ever - from wedding favours and gift boxes to biscuits for corporate events, Nila has a biscuit (and some stunningly decorated cupcakes) for literally every occasion...
Nila Holden wedding favour biscuits
Nila Holden biscuit gift sets (I LOVE these cute teapots!)
Nila Holden Easter Bunnies gift set
Nila's New Baby gift sets
Vintage key biscuit favours
Stunning Papillon Biscuits
Beautiful Mum themed cupcake boxset
[All above images from Nila Holden Homepage]
Isn't her work just incredible?
Nila's business has gone from strength to strength and made it's super-big break when she was asked to stock her products in none other than Fortnum & Mason (Oooh err!) You can also buy her ranges online at Not On The High Street. I was so chuffed to see her biscuits featured at the NOTHS Christmas in July event I attended last month, I had to stop myself from squealing "I know her! I know her!" when I saw them!
Nila is also a busy mum, and she knows how hard it can be to keep the kids entertained through the summer holidays, so in order to help me keep The Bertster busy she kindly put together a lovely biscuit decorating kit for us to use!
Bert definitely takes after his mummy is his biscuit-loving ways, so he was super-excited to get up close and personal with a mixture of biscuits, icing tubes and SPRINKLES!!!
Our super-fun biscuit decorating kit from Nila Holden
We set up our biscuit decorating station in the garden last sunday - the sun was shining, we were feeling peckish and Bert was in need of some entertaining, so it seemed like the perfect excuse to get biscuit-happy!
What child wouldn't be excited by bowls full of sprinkles?
Bert was just brilliant! We've never done this sort of activity with him before, and I wasn't sure how he was going to take to it - would he understand the notion of decorating the biscuit BEFORE he shoved it in his mouth? I wasn't sure...
But he totally 'got it' and was really fab - Daddy helped him to squeeze out the icing tubes, and then we showed him how he could drop on the rainbow and glitter sprinkles...his gorgeous little pudgy hands were soon busy blissfully chucking sprinkles at his biscuit, and not a tantrum about eating it in sight.
Once his biscuit couldn't possibly fit another sprinkle on it, we told him he could eat it, and he tucked in...
Yum, yum! Biscuit's taste even better when you've lovingly decorated them!
Mummy and Daddy had a turn at decorating our own biscuits too - naturally! It was such a lovely simple activity to do with our little munchkin, and although our results don't quite stack up to Nila's incredible standards, they were perfect in our eyes...
Our finished biscuits! T'ah D'ah!
Of course there is something truly wonderful about letting kids loose with a whole bowl of sprinkles...Bert's delight was obvious - and he was soon creating a sprinkle-sparkle tornado around the garden - I have video evidence! (Let me just add that had we been doing this inside the house I'm not sure I'd have coped so well with the sprinkle shower! Ha!)
Sprinkle related delight from my nearly 2 year old!
Thanks to Nila for keeping us all entertained with some truly scrumptious biscuits!
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If you're looking for biscuit favours for your wedding, corporate event, party or a gift set for a special someone then I can highly recommend Nila's bakery - you know they're good when Fortnum has given them their seal of approval!
Bye for now
Mrs B
(A not so secret biscuit-addict)
xxx
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