Royal Wedding souvenir plates for Shelter

I'm unashamedly gripped by Royal Wedding fever - I can't wait to see the dress, the vows, the guests, the tears, and most definitely the flag-waving. Hurray for bank holiday patriotic fever!

The souvenirs though, have been terrible. Up 'til now I honestly haven't seen anything that comes close to my treasured Charles and Di souvenir cross stitch sampler, and that I rescued from a Sue Ryder shop.

Then I saw this wonderful series of plates on House to Home, which Living Etc had commissioned from nine designers to mark the wedding. All profits go to the housing and homelessness charity Shelter, which the couple would be rather pleased by.

A Right Royal Booze-Up by People Will Always Need Plates

Lovely! Such a nice change from that engagement picture writ large over mugs and flutes.

To Love and Companionship by Rob Ryan

These are my two favourites, but have a look through the other seven. I think I might just have found my perfect wedding souvenir.

You can get your hands on them by sending a sealed bid (at least £30) to [email protected] before midnight tomorrow.

You Mug: Tee & Toast Royal Wedding Mug

Already over the Royal Wedding? Me too. But it's not long now until it'll all be over and some semblance of normality should be restored. In the meantime, though, this double-sided Alternative Royal Wedding Mug from Tee & Toast deserves a prize for being the most 'freestyle' memorabilia I've seen. I don't dare comment on the uncanny accuracy of the doodles on it in case the Queen decides to have us beheaded, but if you want something to remember Friday by, it can be yours for only £9.95.

Sophie Allport Royal Wedding Mug

I don’t know what it is about mugs that makes them so eminently desirable – the variety of materials, the endless patterns, the endless capacity for tea and hot toddies – but I absolutely go nuts for them. This bone china mug from Sophie Allport might be my favourite Royal Wedding souvenir yet:


I’m at a loss for words! It’s not tacky, it’s not ironic, it’s something I would actually use rather than put in a cupboard with the rest of my tacky, ironic souvenir mug collection.

It’s on sale at www.sophieallport.com from February 14, but if you’re really keen to give your morning cuppa a royal edge, you can pre-order on 0845 0177 866. The mug is £8.50 and comes in its own presentation box, but is far too pretty to stay there.

Cocktail Hour: The Royal Fusion

So, after all our excitement about picnics, sundresses, and lounging in the garden with a cocktail and a good book, summer turned out to be a bit of a damp squib. I know, I know, and now that it’s September the weather already seems decidedly chillier. I want my money back.

But, all is not lost. As much as it pains me to admit that it might be time to pack away my floral frocks and oversized Jackie-O sunglasses for another year, there are some consolations about the fact that winter’s coming. And one of those is huddling up indoors with a wintery cocktail or two. Now, I know some of you are suckers for whisky sours and that type of thing. But to me, vodka is the perfect spirit to warm your cockles when it’s cold outside. Apparently a favourite of patrons of the Simachev bar in Moscow (a surreal yet intimate venue that appears to be a cross between a decadent boudoir and a traditional English old-man pub) The Royal Fusion is the ideal cocktail for when the weather’s dismal:

You’ll need these things:

• 40ml Russian Standard Original Vodka
• 50g seedless grapes
• 50g cubed pineapple
• 10ml vanilla liqueur
• 10ml hazelnut liqueur
• Dash of lime juice
• Dash of (simple) sugar syrup (1 part sugar to 1 part water, easy peasy)

And you’ll need to do these things:

Muddle the fruit together in a mixing glass. Add the other ingredients and shake, shake, shake over crushed ice. Strain into a cocktail glass and, if you’re feeling fancy, garnish with grapes.

But don’t over-indulge, or your behaviour won’t be befitting of this cocktail’s royal moniker. It’s not regal to get loud and bawdy, fall over and flash your knickers. Just sayin’.