Tried & Tested: The Products & Experiences We’re Loving This September

Team Sassy rounds up all the tried and tested things we’re loving this September from the latest family blockbuster at the cinema to sleep-inducing massages!

At Sassy Mama we love to gab with each other about our favorite new finds and hidden gems, from a gadget that schedules and programs your air-con, to sensory Montessori Mandarin flash cards for kids! Here we share with you our favourites and, of course, all opinions are our own. Sometimes we get invited to try out new products and experiences, and sometimes this is just stuff we come across in our daily lives. We are a diverse group of mamas who are shopping, eating, watching, and experiencing fun things with our families, just like you!

So if you’re looking for some quick pick-me-ups and inspiration, mama, read on to see what tried & tested stuff we’re loving this month.

Click here to see our past picks!

Dora and the Lost City of Gold was such a surprising delight! My two boys (now 7 and 10) grew up watching Dora and Diego but I was never a huge fan, other than really appreciating the Spanish representation on a mainstream show. I wasn’t sure if this show at the cinemas would be too childish for my kids based on the original cartoon, but it’s actually perfectly suited for kids 7 and up with lots of great jokes to entertain teenagers and parents. The movie makes fun of its own absurdity and is totally charming and hilarious with lots of great messaging about how to ‘survive’ high school while being true to yourself. Isabela Moner was perfectly cast as Dora and pulls off the funniest lines. This movie is like a modern-day Goonies, Crocodile Dundee and Indiana Jones all wrapped into one. Highly recommend!

   Read more: Score FREE Cinema Tickets for Kids!

Dora and the Lost City of Gold, (PG) now showing in cinemas in Singapore.

(Image credit: GV Cinemas)

I recently discovered the ice cream brand Momolato whilst shopping for cheese at The Cheese Shop on Joo Chiat Road. They have some of the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted. The founder is ex-investment banker Sharon Tay, she decided to quit her job and follow her dream to make ice cream. She trained in Italy and has since won several awards for her delicious concoctions.

Our favourite flavour so far is Wild Berries Sorbet. Momolato operates mainly as a wholesaler so it’s not easy to find but you can check out their website for places that sell this delicious ice-cream. The Cheese Shop sells Momolato tubs (500ml) 1 for $15 and 2 for $25.

Momolato, www.momolato.com

(Image credit: Momolato)

Feeling rather depleted and over-tired last month, ESPA’s Sleep Ritual treatment could not have come at a better time! This 90 minute treatment ($280++) was created to promote restful and rejuvenating sleep which we know is essential to any Mama’s wellbeing. The Sleep Ritual begins with breathing and visualisation exercises guided by a therapist which helps release physical and emotional anxiety. A deeply indulgent and sleep-inducing body massage follows using a combination of hot stones and warm oils (which you get to choose and take home the used bottle!) to soothe deep seated muscular tensions. Next is a therapeutic scalp massage, clearing the mind for total relaxation. The journey ends at the peaceful sleep zone, where specially-designed sleep pods with built-in music and soothing lights lull guests into slumber as they relax and let their bodies fully absorb the lasting effects of the treatment.

Sassy Mama tip: arrive at least 1 hour ahead of the treatment to make use of ESPA’s complimentary spa facilities such as their rock sauna, crystal steam room, forest onsen pools and outdoor vitality (warm) and cold plunge pool. Every time I open my leftover bottle of soothing body oil at the end of a long day, the aromas of sandalwood, rose geranium, frankincense, myrrh and sweet almond oil not only puts my mind to ease, but the scent takes me back to this restorative and oh-so-relaxing treatment.

ESPA, next to Equarius Hotel, Resorts World Sentosa, Tel: (+65) 6577 8880, www.rwsentosa.com/ESPA

Getting our first electricity bill in Singapore was a shock and my husband immediately went about finding cost-saving solutions. Besides the usual suspects like energy-efficient lightbulbs we landed on a little gadget to help manage our air-con consumption. The Sensibo allowed us to schedule and program our air-con so instead of running it all night long it now comes on every couple of hours for a few minutes. You can also control it from anywhere – if we leave the house and realize we forgot to turn the air-con off, no problem! If we are coming home from Changi we can turn it on from our phones so we are not walking into a stuffy apartment. It also works with Amazon Echo, Google Home and Apple Siri so I don’t even need to use a remote or the phone app when at home. We loved it so much we ended up getting one for our den area as well… as my husband likes to say “it pays for itself.”

Sensibo supports any air conditioner that has an infrared remote control; you can check compatibility here. We bought ours a few years ago locally in Holland Village. But you can also find it on Lazada or qoo10 for $139 or at most electronic stores.

Sensibo, www.sensibo.com

(Image credit: Sensibo Facebook)

After a few years at a local preschool doing Mandarin immersion for half of each day, my son had gained a good foundation in Mandarin, but since moving to international school and dropping back to just 2 hours of Mandarin a week, the regression has been a bit disheartening.

So these flash cards from Hello Bao ($48) were a welcome prompt for him to remember some of the Mandarin he’d forgotten! The set comes with 14 stroke cards, 30 character cards and 30 matching picture cards. Based on a Montessori method where English letters are cut out of sandpaper and mounted onto individual pieces of wood, the stroke and character cards are sensory so that young learners can learn via touch – tapping into both their visual and muscle memory. My son enjoyed matching the character cards to the picture cards, and also testing himself by trying to identify the character while I covered the English translation below. The set also comes with useful lesson ideas and extension activities, which we’re looking forward to trying out.

Hello Bao, www.welcometothebrightlife.com/shop 

We wrote about some of our favourite money-saving hacks in Singapore earlier this week so this is a little additional tip that has saved me a fortune since I started using it. It’s called YouTrip. YouTrip is Singapore’s first multi-currency travel wallet with a prepaid Mastercard and is specially designed for travellers to pay overseas with no fees in over 150 currencies. It also supports the exchange of 10 currencies so you can conveniently lock-down competitive rates before your trip. I now pay all of my overseas online buys without having to pay extra currency exchange fees. I just saved myself $20 on Amazon today by paying in USD rather than in SGD! That also applies to my Spotify account and other subscriptions I have in other currencies. Last but not least it is pretty safe since you can only load it up with a maximum of $3,000 at a time.

YouTrip, www.you.co

(Image credit: YouTrip)