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50 Ways to celebrate the Mr. Men 50th Anniversary
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Mr. Men, created by Roger Hargreaves and we have come up with 50 ways to celebrate in 2021... Are you ready?
This year marks the golden anniversary of the much-loved and nostalgic Mr. Men and Little Miss (offically, they are celebrating their 40th anniversary) series of diverse, colourful and personality filled characters, created in the early 1970’s by Roger Hargreaves. Over the years we’ve seen Mr. Men and Little Miss collaborations with Lazy Oaf, Tobias and the Bear, Keds, The Spice Girls and, even Transport for London. So, to mark this milestone of one of our favourite children’s book series we have rounded up 50 happy ways to celebrate. Yes, 50! Why not? We could all do with seeing some sunshiny happy people in 2021!
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Welcome to Happyland! 50 ways to Celebrate the Mr.Men & Little Miss, Golden Anniversary
1. Mr Men Striped PJ Set, £13, M&S
1 – 3. Shop the Mr Men Fashion range at M&S
Head to M&S for their fun new children’s clothing range featuring the cheerful world of MrMen™ & Little Miss™. With a wide choice of exclusive designs featuring the original Roger Hargreaves’ characters, the range includes daywear, sleepwear, accessories and bedding (see below), which are sure to evoke a sense of nostalgia and capture the imagination of kids and parents alike! We love the powerful messages like “Happy Vibes Always’ and “It’s Cool to be Kind.’ Launches today. Prices start at £7 from available in sizes 0-7 years
Start the celebrations by buying a special copy of the 50th Anniversary Mr. Tickle book. Mr. Tickle was the first character created by the late Roger Hargreaves in 1971. Hargreaves was inspired to write his first children’s book by his son, Adam, who had asked him what a tickle looked like. Hargreaves responded with a round, orange figure with long, bendy arms and, the rest is history.
A personality traits test game where players decide who in their group shares different characteristics with popular Mr Men and Little Miss characters with 100 different personality cards. Sure to be hours of family fun!
To mark their 5oth year, for the first time ever, the general public and fans will be able to decide the next 2 characters that will be turned into classic Mr. Men and Little Miss books. The new characters to discover and choose from are: Mr. Calm, Little Miss Brave, Mr. Brilliant, Little Miss Energy and Little Miss Kind. Read more in ours special feature Mr. Men and Little Miss Children’s Books Celebrate their 50th Anniversary
>> UPDATE
7 months and 70,000 votes later
Mr. Calm and Little Miss Brave are the winners! The pair will officially join the iconic family as their books hit shelves from September 2nd. A tumultuous year has clearly fed the need for more ‘Calms’ and ‘Braves’ amongst us, as these two were selected above the strong line up of Little Miss Energy, Mr. Brilliant and Little Miss Kind. Both priced at £4.49 each.
Mr. Calm – It’s time to meet Mr Calm, who is quite possibly the calmest person in the world. He appreciates the simple pleasures in life and nothing can upset or disturb him, which means he’s a calm head in a crisis. But unfortunately not all his friends approach life in the same way. Can Mr Calm help them to change their ways?
Little Miss Brave – Get ready to meet a new Little Miss who is fearless in the face of danger and proud to stand up for what she believes in. Little Miss Brave is not afraid to speak out and her inner strength and confidence is inspiring, particularly for Little Miss Shy. Will she give her the courage to challenge expectations too?
7. Send your baby off to Happyland!
Much-loved kids clothing brand, Lil’ Cubs has unveiled a cute Mr Men and Little Miss baby and kids range, with two limited-edition prints that have been designed specially to celebrate the fun, across leggings, sleep suits, swaddles and T-shirts. Prices range from £8 and the collection is available in sizes 0-7yrs.
8. Little Miss Floral Kids Medium Backpack, from £20, Cath Kidston
8 – 9. Shop Cath Kidston X Mr.Men Little Miss
Not one to miss an opportunity to mix its vintage florals and heritage prints with a classic character, Cath Kidston kids has a limited edition collection of pieces including pj’s, washbags, shoppers, rucksacks and baby essentials all with a cheeky Mr & Miss slant.
They may not be as (Mr.) Perfect as the ones above but you’ll have lots of fun baking with the kids and icing these colourful characters. The basic cutter shape can be used to make a whole host of Mr and Miss and maybe even a few of your own design!
If your kids have ever wanted to draw Mr Tickle’s extraordinarily long arms, Mr Bump with all those bandages or Little Miss Naughty’s cheeky grin, then this is the book for them. The sketchpad includes pictures to complete as well as pages for their own drawings.
15. Or, download some Mr. Men & Little Miss activity sheets
If you can’t wait for the above book to arrive then head over to the official Mr.Men website and download from a number of fun actives including how to draw step-by-steps, spot the difference, dot-to-dots, colouring sheets and, even pages for kids to write their own Happyland story.
Mr. Tickle had a special family portrait created to reflect modern families in the UK – forgetting the traditional nuclear 2.4 kids, as research shows modern families can include 1.4 grandparents, 1 friend, 2.6 cousins and a dog! – and, it may may well still be hanging up in the National Portrait Gallery in London – we can’t be sure as the gallery is closed until 2023.
18. Make your own Mr. Men Little Miss Family Portrait
For now why not have fun creating your own family artwork with the Family Portrait maker? With 50 characters to choose including your pets, you can choose your family size, background image, select the most suited character for each person – and order a print for your home.
Next is always good for a cool character t-shirt – as you know how fussy we are at Junior about character clothing! We like them to have a quirky or vintage edge and, this grey printed one is just the tee! Available in ages 3mths – 8yrs.
Hot of the press is that some new Royal Mint Mr. Men and Little Miss coins are coming soon… to celebrate their 5oth anniversary. UPDATE: The Mr. Men Little Miss commemorative coin collection features Mr Happy, Little Miss Sunshine, and Little Miss Giggles with Mr Strong on a £5 crown. All three coin designs have been created exclusively by Adam Hargreaves and these brilliant uncirculated editions of the coins will feature the latest colour printing techniques showcasing the Mr. Men Little Miss characters in all their vivid colour. (The coins will not be going into general circulation.)
Brilliant Uncirculated Coloured Three-Coin Series £22.50 per coin (£67.50 full series price) ** Exclusive to Royal Mint
22. Character Snacks
Homeschooling, weekends at the park or watching cartoons. keep their energy levels up and fill these cute lidded lunch and snack pots with some colourful treats.
A great positive, inclusive and inspiring book to help young children believe in their own strengths and abilities. Celebrating their differences: whether small or tall, noisy or quiet, shy or silly, kids can achieve amazing things by believing in themselves. With a little help from their friends….
Keep that hand washing going and make it fun with these sweet scented anti-bacterial hand washes from Carex. Featuring 8 characters to collect across the range there is also hand gel, showers washes and refillable pouches.
Make hand washing more fun by heading over to Carex to download the hand washing reward chart and award gold stars. Share your child’s progress with them on Instagram to be in with a chance of winning lots of prizes.
Do you have some of those Mr Men and Little Miss cups lying around from those McDonalds Happy Meals? (if not, you can pick them up on eBay as they have become quite collectible!). Perfect for growing cress heads, flowers or small plants.
28. Update your Little Library
Is any child’s library complete with a Mr. Men Little Miss book or 10? With a calculated lifetime sales total of over 250 million books across the UK there has got to be a few in your home, school, playgroup or local library. If not, get them set up with these box sets.
Did you know? If all the books of each series are put together in order the words ‘My Mr. Men library’ or ‘My Little Miss library’ can be read across the spines and an illustration of Walter the Worm (Mr. Men) or a flower (Little Miss) can be seen
We love this high quality colouring book with each image printed on separate page – which prevents bleed-through. Meaning kids can go crazy with pencils, markers, pens and paints.
Think happy thoughts and doodles with this box set of pencils. Whether they are more of a Mr. Tickle or a Little Miss Sunshine, these cheerful and colourful pencils are sure to provide hours of fun.
Keep this budding artists pens, pencils and crayons in order with one of these personalised pencil tins. Available in 3 colours and with various characters.
Inspired by the classic 1970’s Mr. Men Little Miss images. These exclusive retro designs from the Mr. Men shop mean you can decorate kids bedroom, playrooms or desks with some cheerful interior pieces, accessories and gifts.
If the comic style is more your style then these exclusives collection at the Mr. men shop takes inspiration from comic strips illustrated by Roger Hargreaves in the 1970’s, with a more muted pastel colour way.
What could be more British than a Mr. Men tour? Through a book of course! Visit the English Heritage store for lots of Mr. Men goodies. We like this exclusive book that takes Little Miss Sunshine and her friends on a double decker bus tour of Great Britain. Taking in all the famous sights, like Stonehenge, the White Cliffs of Dover, Hadrian’s Wall and Ben Nevis – and, a very special appointment with the Queen!
Keep them warm and toasty with this heatable and snuggable plush toy – or, the perfect way to soothe any little (Mr.) Bumps. Heat in microwave to warm, it comes in 6 character designs and is ideal for ages 3+.
If there already have the plush toy then how about knitting your own Mr. Men? There was a vintage intarsia knitting booklet containing toy patterns – by renowned toy designer Alan Dart – which is now sadly out of print. But, you can still get details and some advice on the patterns and instructions if you sign into the Ravelry website and search on Pinterest.
And, if they are up and at’em then pour yourself a cup of happy. And, watch the black background transform into a brilliant yellow, in the company of retro-tastic rainbows. Ensures happy thoughts all day long!
Get them ready for the day ahead too with a daily Haliborange Mr. Men Little Miss Multivitamins. With 7 essential vitamins including (Vitamin A, C, D and B12) these strawberry flavour softies are ideal for ages 3-7 years.
Last year Mr. Men Little Miss teamed up with Haliborange to educate families on the importance of healthy eating with some interactive events. If you missed them you can still catch the Mr. Chef cooking lessons along with Mr. Strong – who has helped him to prepare 4 nutritious recipes for you to try at home. Packed full of good stuff, these meals including cheese or, apple & blueberry muffins, vegetable frittata and stuffed jackets potatoes all of which are fun to make and super healthy. Why not give them a go?
If you have made it this far and think you know all your Mr. Men Little Miss characters. Then this picture and name matching game can be enjoyed by all the family. Ideal for children aged 3+
