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TopKnot Blog

Easy + Quick Banana Bread

When you need to use up a bunch of bananas going black in the fridge, there’s nothing better than a batch of banana bread. 

This recipe I have tweaked from a few others over the years, making it quick, easy and healthy(ish). Some recipes call for at least a cup of sugar - or more - but I like to reduce this as much as possible. 

I’ll share the recipe below. I’ve made it countless times and it works in a loaf tin or a cake tin if you need to use one. You can also multiply the recipe if you want to make a few. It freezes nicely too. 

I like to eat mine fresh on the day it’s made or toasted in the toaster in the days afterward. It’ll store for 3-4 days on the bench, 5-7 in the fridge or 6mths in the freezer. 

Banana Bread Recipe: 

  • 3 bananas (mashed)
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup yoghurt (plain, Greek or vanilla have all worked well for me!)
  • 1/4 cup olive oil, coconut oil or butter
  • A good drizzle of honey (2-3 tablespoons or more to your liking)
  • A splash of vanilla 
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter (use a natural one. Smooth or chunky both work well. Almond butter would also work) 
  • 1 1/2 cups SF flour 
  • 1/2 teaspoon bi-carb soda 
  • Cinnamon (to your liking)
  • A pinch of salt
  • 1/4 - 1/2 cup milk (any type. I use almond)
  • Dark choc chips (2 handfuls or to your taste. You could also use milk choc chips or nuts or omit all together) 

Firstly, I mix all the wet ingredients together in a mixer or by hand.
Then I add the flour, bi-carb and salt. I then mix and see how it looks.
I add 1-4-1/2 cup of milk to get it to the right consistency. Not too runny but not too thick like a bread dough, somewhere in between. This does depend on the size of your bananas at the start and the generosity of your honey drizzle. Next, add your choccy chips and pour the batter into a loaf tin (lined) and sprinkle a few on the top. 
Bake at 180c for 40 mins approx. If the top gets too dark but isn’t cooked through yet, cover it with foil for the last little bit. 
It’s cooked when a knife comes out clean but with a smear of melted chocolate. 

Let it cool for ten mins then gobble it up and enjoy a cup of tea with it too. Make 2 and give a loaf to a friend. 

Let me know if you try it! 🫶🏼 Holly x 

Kmart Birthday Party

Kmart Birthday Party

Poppy's 9th Birthday - a Kmart Birthday Party! 

It's been a while between blog posts, but here I am, back again with something fun to share.

My daughter, Poppy, recently turned 9, (yep - I know. The SAME Poppy that was 12 weeks old when this lil' old TopKnot makin' biz began!) and she wanted a party to celebrate. She's born in January, less than a month after Christmas, so I wanted to do something fun for her, but I also wanted to do something that was simple for me. Haha! In hindsight, I made this party additional work than it 'needed' to be, BUT I had fun doing all the extra bits and pieces even though they weren't necessary. 

Whenever it's time for a party of any type, I turn to Pinterest for ideas and inspiration, and this time was no different. I got searching with things like '9 year old parties' and 'easy tween birthday'. I honestly find Pinterest the best place for inspo for these things - anyone else? Anyway, I had asked her what her favourite thing would be to do with her friends, and she told me it would be to go to Kmart for a shopping spree and then have Maccas for lunch. I mean, of course it would be - she LOVES Kmart, and why kids always seem to love Maccas so much is beyond me. I had also remembered seeing a 'Kmart Party' idea on Facebook group a few years ago, so knew the idea was out there. 

So back to Pinterest I went again, this time searching 'Kmart Party'. Surprisingly, a few ideas came up. I saw a few blogs and Facebook group posts that gave me some good ideas and framework on how I could make her dream into a party.

First up, we needed an invite. As it was in the school holidays, I just sent the invite virtually, because it was unlikely she would see most of her friends beforehand. I limited the party to 6 friends + her - so 7 girls in total. It was so hard for her to decide who to invite. I realise it doesn't sound like many guests, but boy am I glad it was only 7!


I designed the invitation, attempting for it to look like a Kmart receipt. I used Canva and made this up from a basic template I found and edited. I found it pretty simple to make, but I do use Canva quite a bit. I have linked the template here if you'd like to use it. You can edit my template by clicking the pencil icon on the page linked above.

I like the idea of a scavenger-hunt style party, that I had seen on my Pinterest expedition. Poppy and I sat down and brainstormed what the scavenger hunt  'rules' would be. The function worked with the idea that each girl was given their 'credit card' (a Kmart gift card) and their own set of 'rules'. We had fun coming up with these, and used a few we saw from the Pinterest parties. I also took into consideration the girls' ages and interests. These rules could be edited to be suitable for others. I wouldn't mind doing this with my own friends! I've also linked this template, with the invitation here

Because I am crazy, I decided to make each girl a 'shopping bag', personalised with their initial. I purchased some blank tote bags in this cute lilac colour and Poppy picked a fun, pastel-yet-neon toned leopard print fabric, which I used to make the appliqué letters onto the bags. 

I had some fabric leftover and decided it would be cute + practical to whip up a few lanyards for the girls to wear with their rules + credit cards attached. I printed the rules cards off in an A5 size and laminated them. I hole punched through these and the plastic gift cards and attached them to the lanyards. They all loved them, and hopefully they can be used by the girls beyond the party, for something. I found the heart-shaped clips from Spotlight and knew they would be a cute touch. The beauty of making things yourself is that it's often unique! 

When the girls arrived to Kmart, I met their parents at the entrance and Poppy handed them their tote bag with the lanyard inside. They then were briefed on how it would all work, which I would more so call it an attempt, as you can imagine, it was an exercise itself with 7 chatty tweens! Each girl had $25 'shopping money' loaded on their card, which meant they had to be mindful of their budget. 

The girls had fun finding and scanning items. Lollies, bath bombs, face masks, small toys, stationary and make up were the most popular items. 

It was a mission, to say the least, keeping up with them all, helping them to add up totals (multiple times, each!) and work out if they had ticked all the boxes in the scavenger hunt. It was overwhelming at times, but a whole lot of fun.

From what I have learned, I would probably recommend doing this with slightly older kids, that are confident in math skills and understanding adding and subtracting - or having a helper or two. I was on my own with them all, but did rope in my 12yr old son to help, but he actually wanted to participate and was no help to me at all in the end! Haha!

The checkout process was a sensory overload for us all. Scanning countless small items on self-serve machines and processing 7 gift cards with bagging-area alerts, hyped up girls and less-than-enthusiastic Kmart checkout workers in the mix. I was somewhat relieved we were heading to Maccas for lunch.

McDonald's was only about a 6min walk from Kmart. I would have drove, but couldn't fit everyone. When we arrived we all plopped down at a large table in a 'meeting room' they have there, luckily it wasn't being used. The staff were amazing and came over to our large group and accommodated us well. They were happy to help with things like waters and extra serviettes and turned the air-con on in the meeting room. I would totally recommend booking a room if your Maccas has one! It kept the girls together and the noise trapped in a bit. Ha! 

I ordered the food via their app. I thought this would be easier than going to the counter. Asking each girl what they wanted was a task! Most wanted nuggets so I ended up ordering a bunch of 20-pc nugget boxes and large chips and they split these between a few. Was much easier than buying lots of individual meals.

Everyone was happy. While they ate lunch, I presented 'awards' to each girl. I made sure everyone was presented with one. Again, Canva for the win. I designed, printed them and laminated them. We had awards like 'Biggest Item', 'Cheapest Item' etc. This was great as the girls were involved in finding out if they could be in the running for one. They were looking on their receipts at the prices they paid and holding up items saying "This was $1" and "My keyring was only 20c". It was quite fun, I really enjoyed this part of the party. Find the awards template here.

'Most Expensive Item' award was this set of grapic markers, which was about $15.

'Most Sparkly Item' award was this little kitty softie, which had glitter all through the fabric. Cute! 

'Funniest Item' award was this squishy banana - all the girls thought this was the funniest thing! One of the girls did buy a fart-in-a-can toy that made noises, so this qualified too.

They played for a while in the playground and with their purchases, and we had cupcakes and Poppy opened her presents from friends.

All in all, the girls had a blast - and I am still hearing from parents and the girls about how much fun they had. I think they all went home raving about the party and how much they enjoyed their shopping spree! 

I went home and happily put my feet up with a cup of tea. I was exhausted! 

Poppy got out all of her Kmart purchases and showed me what she had bought. She's been really enjoying playing with her baby dolls, as my cousin recently had a baby and it spiked a renewed obsession with Poppy. She themed some of her buys around this. 

I hope this blog post has been fun and informative - oh, and given you some ideas as to how the party worked. As I was planning it, I had a lot of you ask me about it and I thought that posting a more detailed blog about it all was the best way to do it! 

Please jump on over to my Instagram and engage if you have any questions. Comment on my party post and let me know what you think! Also, as many of you know, I am a huge believer in supporting small brands and businesses, and I know this whole shenanigan promotes the big biz, however, I do believe that these larger companies have their place, and there is accomodation for these things.

Thanks for being here and if you read all of this - well done! As a thank you for being you and enjoying this blog post, you can use the code 'KMARTPARTY' for 10% off storewide! Shop Here

xx Holly

Headbands don't suit me.

Headbands don't suit me.

I hear this a lot. 

"Headbands don't suit me"

"I've got a big head"

"I look dumb in a Headband"

Is this you? Have you said this to yourself? 

Headbands are 'one of those things' that people often love or hate. I have avid Headband wearers, Headband collectors and Headband lovers, because - once you've found your love for them, you won't go back! 

It can be hard to find the right fit or style to suit your head shape, hairstyle, fashion style, colour palette, the list goes on. 

We're here to help with that! If you're unsure what might fit the best or after some customisation for your head shape or size - we can help! Just ask. Email us or send us a DM on Instagram. 

I'd love to help you find you love of Headbands and have the ability for them to become a go-to accessory. They will make your morning routine much easier (put away the blowdryer) and faster too. 

So, if you're one of the 'not quite sure about Headbands' kinda people - give one a go! We know that you are going to look + feel FAB, and give yourself time for a second coffee in the mornings! 

x Holly 

p.s Just to entice you to have a try - use the code 'NervousHeadbandWearer' for 15% off all Headbands in the shop! Enjoy. 

Simple Self Care - a good nights sleep!

Simple Self Care - a good nights sleep!

I forgot how simple 'self care' can actually be. 

It's all over the the place at the moment - self care. Blog posts claiming '10 easy self care hacks' and grammers tagging #selfcare on every post containing a smoothie or pedicure. 

These things are good, but don't always work for me. Pedicures are rare (hello, no time!!!) and smoothies, well I have to make those at home because I can't tolerate bananas anymore (I know, weird!) and 99% of smoothies contain bananas.

Ok, so back to simple self care! 

I recently took a risk and got myself (well, Nathan too - so 'we got ourselves' - however he had nothing to do with the deciding on so let's keep it at 'myself') a new mattress. 

Our mattress is (was) almost 13 years old and had seen better days. Personally, I wasn't sleeping terribly and I wasn't too worried about the mattress, other than the fact I just felt we could be sleeping better on something better, but I knew it was time for a fresh upgrade - so;  

*Insert Koala here*

I jumped out of the box and got a mattress in a box. I went with the Koala mattress as I had seen it jumping into my facebook feed for months, and I loved all the reviews. 

I also took a big liking to the fact that its made in Australia (and my mattress was only manufactured like a week before it arrived, so I know it wasn't sitting in some dusty facility for months) and the mattress is environmentally friendly, recyclable, and made of sustainably sourced materials - all the wins!

When I ordered it after Koala reached out to me, it arrived 48 hours later to my front door and we all couldn't wait to set it up! 

You literally take it out of the box and roll it out - thats it! I left it for a few hours to fully expand out, then we gave it a bit of a test (check out these photos!).

Anyhow, simple self care for me this month has been enjoying SLEEP on a new mattress that is super comfortable and ticks all the boxes for me! It's about time we replaced our mattress and I am so glad we did!

Now that I am nailing a good nights sleep (well, until my 5:30am alarm goes off!) I will work on making a little more me-time for pedicures and finding a smoothie shop that will customise my beverage to be banana free! 

Chat soon x Holly 

P.S If you've been looking into getting a Koala mattress, use the code 'Mateswithkoala' for 10% off your entire purchase. Check out the website here!

Where's all the love gone?

Where's all the love gone?

It's been on my mind for a while now, and I am wondering, where's all the 'Love' gone?

I'm talking about the 'Insta Love' that used to be spread around. 

7 years ago, I joined instagram. It was such a different platform than it is now. 

People were there because they loved it. They weren't paid or prompted to be anything other than genuine. Followers either liked it or they didn't. They followed or they did not, based only on what they enjoyed when using the platform. 

6 years ago (almost) I stated this brand. Many brands/accounts started up that year. 

I remember a few of the originals I 'met' in 2014 - 'Insta Brands' doing their thing, starting out in the unknown world of 'Insta Businesses' and giving it a red hot crack! 

Zilvi, Momk Baby, Vixsa, Dove & Dovelet, Beau Hudson, Cheeky Chickadee and From Zion are just some of the stickers and stayers - some of the ones that have 'made it through'!

This is the thing though, and I thought to blog about it, because I am not a natural blogger so I wanted to challenge myself here to actually get this down + out - that I don't wanna 'make it through' any more. I want to thrive.

I am keen to get my insta-mojo back. I want to act more + react more. 

When did we stop the 'love' on instagram? When did we lose our 'why' for using the platform and why did we stop engaging, commenting, encouraging and supporting one another - OR, is it just me?

Have you felt like this too? Have you stopped or pulled back on spending some quality time building others up on the platform? Are you a little tired or complacent when it comes to the gram? 

I am setting myself a challenge to use my insta-time wisely and get back to basics!

Here is what I'm going to do;

1. Comment on the posts I LOVE, decent comments to, like real ones, not just 'wow' or 'super cute' - but real, authentic comments that come from the heart - insta needs a little bit more heart! 

2. Share the love; shout out, share to stories, share images and spread the love of the brands and products I LOVE! I have already started a saved story 'Products we Love' and I am filling it with stuff we actually LOVE and use! I don't get paid to share this - I just share brands and products I truely like to use. 

3. Purchase and support the 'Shop Small' movement; I have been doing this for YEARS now - since I discovered the whole 'small brands' movement back in around 2009. I would much prefer to support a small biz. Sure - Kmart and other stores are there and I do/will shop there - but I am making sure to continue to intentionally choose small when I can. I also want to continue to support this movement and help others discover it where I can [watch this space - I've a few ideas]! 

 

So, what will you do? What can you do? What do you do? Share with us! Tell me what you want to contribute to this platform, and perhaps even what you want to get out of it too! 

It's always better to give than to receive, because the giving is in fact receiving when you get so much love out if it yourself! 

Chat soon, X Holly.