innocent fruit sports day schools challenge

Are you having a school sports day this year? Hold a fruit event in your sports day and you could win some lovely prizes.

We’re asking primary schools to host their very own fruit event at their sports day. The race winners can be in with a chance of winning family trip to LEGOLAND. There are two trips to be won.

All you have to do is include a fruity event in your sports day. Choose from the lemon and spoon race, runner bean relay, peach volleyball, potato sack race or why not create your own (the more creative the better).

To enter, just take some nice photos of the fruit event and of the winner of the race. Either email or post the photo[s] to us before the deadline on June 22nd. 

Email entries to:innocentsportsday@realevents.ie  Postal entries to: innocent fruit sports day challenge, Real Events, Fumbally Court, Fumbally Lane, Dublin 8

We've some great prizes:

Top prizes: 2 prizes of a family trip to LEGOLAND (including flights, 2 night hotel stay & a day ticket to LEGOLAND for a family of four)

Runner up prizes: 2 prizes of a months supply of innocent smoothies for kids

Teachers’ prizes: We’re not forgetting the teachers who organise it all. All teachers who take part will be entered into a draw to win a weekend break away for two in Ireland (2 prizes to be won)

Don’t forget to share your fruit event photos with us on our facebook or tweet them to @innocentIreland.

Fruit football

It's a rainy Friday and we're all pretty excited about Euro 2012 kicking off so we decided to hold a smoothie football game with Ireland versus Croatia.

Keith concentrated hard on getting the right formation.

Banana ref ensured the game ran smooth(ie)ly.

Coming up to half time Ireland scored to equalise the game at 2-2.

It all got a bit out of control...

...and the game was cancelled after an injury to banana ref.

Winner winner cress for dinner

At the start of March we launched our innocent and GIY Sow & Grow schools pledge. We had schools all over Ireland sign up and over 15,000 kids got planting their own vegetables and herbs. Their lovely teachers posted some brilliant photos to our gallery.

We were blown away by the amount of work all the teachers and kids put in. With so many great photos it was really hard to pick a winning school. But we can announce that the winning school was 5^thclasses of St. Thomas’ SNS, Tallaght. The classes really got involved by planting over 50 plants and uploading lots of very creative photos. They even got to taste what they grew with cress sandwiches and soup at the end of the project.

 

This Friday 1^stof June, the kids of St Thomas’ are off to Bloom festival in the Phoenix Park to get their award from Donal Skehan and enjoy a trip to Dublin Zoo. The school also gets a mentorship from GIY and €500 worth of growing equipment.

The runner up schools in the innocent and GIY Sow & Grow schools pledge were Cloghan’s Hill NS, Tuam and Scoil Ui Fhiaich, Kildare.

 

A huge thanks to all the schools to took part.

Michael Kelly of GIY says, “If you encourage a child to sow a seed, you potentially change their attitude towards food forever – that's why we have been so excited to see the level of participation in the innocent GIY Sow & Grow schools campaign this year.  Up to 15,000 children have got stuck in and sown a seed in schools up and down the country – these are the next generation of GIYers.  We want to thank all the teachers and children that got involved, and congratulate this year's winners.  The future truly belongs to those of us willing to get our hands dirty.”

Juicy mocktails

After a lot of grey skies and drizzle, the sun is finally out. 

So dust off the deckchairs, mow the lawn and clean up the BBQ in preparation for basking in the garden with friends, a refreshing drink and a pink and black sausage or two.

We’ve been busy in the kitchen, mixing up some very special mocktails, just perfect for those long hot summer days. They’re healthy, taste delicious and are really easy to make. Leaving you more time to work on your tan/power wash the patio.

Sister Citrus

Serves 6

What you’ll need

• A 900ml bottle of innocent orange juice (with bits or smooth, depending on your OJ preference)

• 4 clementines

• Freshly squeezed lime juice to taste

• Slice of lime to decorate

• 1 hammock (optional)

How to make it:

Cut the clementines in half and squeeze the juice into a bowl. Next, pop some ice into a big glass jug and pour in the orange juice. Add the clementine juice to the jug, squeeze in as much lime as you like and give everything a good stir. Then pour into nice glasses, garnish with a slice of lime, kick back in your hammock and enjoy

Apple do nicely

Serves 6

What you’ll need

• A 900ml bottle of innocent apple juice

• A punnet of raspberries, washed

• A small handful of fresh mint, finely chopped

• A few sprigs of fresh mint to garnish

How to make it:

Pop the raspberries into a bowl and mash into a mushy puree using a fork. Next, pop some ice into a big glass jug and pour in the apple juice. Add the raspberry puree and chopped mint to the jug and mix it all together. Then pour into tall glasses, adorn with a sprig of mint and sip daintily.

Let us know how you get on. Tweet us your sunshine photos to @innocentIreland or post them to facebook.

Cherry good

We haven’t made a new kids smoothie recipe for a while, but we think this one was worth waiting for. Combining the delicate taste of cherry with a sweet, jammy strawberry-packed punch, it’s one of our most refreshing recipes yet and perfect for quenching your thirst after a game of mini-golf in the park. And just like all of our drinks, it contains real, pure fruit and no rubbish whatsoever. It’s cherry cherry good (sorry) and on the shelves in selected Dunnes and Tesco stores now.

To celebrate we're giving away a case of our new smoothie. To win write your answer to this question in the comments below: Name a county in Ireland that rhymes with cherry. We'll pick the winner from a hat. Good luck.

This competition is now closed.

Congratulations Sinead C, you've won a case of cherries & strawberries smoothies for kids. We'll send you an email.

Sow & Grow school visits

This week, our grassy van headed back to school. We drove across the country visiting some of the schools who have taken the innocent & GIY Sow & Grow schools pledge. We got sowing and chatting with kids in Limerick, Cork, Waterford, Kilkenny, Wicklow, Dublin and Galway.

The boys and girls in St Brigid's Presentation Primary School in Middleton got a very special visit from GIY patron Darina Allen, who got her hands dirty and chatted to the kids about how great it is to grow your own.

Darina is encouraging school children nationwide to grow their own, she said:

‘As a keen GIYer I am delighted to see primary schools around Ireland take part in the innocent and GIY Sow and Grow schools pledge. It is really important for kids to learn about where their food comes from an early age and I was very proud today to help my local school today take their first steps in growing their own.’

A big thanks to all the schools; Scoil Moin A Lin, Limerick, St Brigids Presentation Primary School, Middleton, Our Lady of Good Council, Ferrybank, Waterford, St Colemans NS, Kilkenny, Educate Together Blessington, Patrician College Finglas and Scoil Rois Taylor's Hill, Galway, who were all so welcoming and doing some really great growing.

Check out the progress of Sow & Grow on our website.

Our carton family

We are delighted to announce that both our kids juicy drink carton and our 1.25 litre carton are now made from 100% Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified card, making the whole carton family forest friendly.

Forests are special places, and we want them to stick around. By using card with the FSC stamp of approval, we can be sure that it comes from responsibly managed forests where people, animals and trees are all treated with the respect they deserve. If you want to read more about the great work of the FSC visit their website.

Back to school with Sow & Grow

The innocent and GIY Sow & Grow schools pledge is in full swing. We've had 15,000 kids in schools all around Ireland sign up to grow their own. To get them started, we sent out seeds, pots, growing guides and lesson plans. Every class that gets involved is in with a chance to win prizes worth €2,500 and one year’s mentorship from their local GIY expert. The winning class also gets a day trip to the Zoo and the Bloom festival where they will be presented with their prize by home cook & food writer, Donal Skehan.

This week our grassy van is hitting the road to give some encouragement to seven schools around Ireland who've taken the pledge. We'll be dropping in with a local GIY expert, who'll have some top tips for growing and of course, loads of smoothies.  Keep an eye here for some photos of the visits.

We've already loads of lovely photos uploaded to our Sow & Grow gallery, check out the progress here.

Don't forget you can still get seed packs by purchasing special packs of innocent smoothies for kids or fruit tubes. Happy growing.

 

Lights out for Earth Hour

This Saturday is WWF's Earth Hour, when hundreds of millions of people, businesses and retired wrestlers around the world will be turning off their lights at 8.30pm to show their support for the planet. So whether you fancy a nice moonlit walk, a bit of dancing in the dark or a candlelit meal with friends, just make sure you switch off the lights and any other electrical items you can do without (perhaps not the freezer) at 8.30pm sharp. And hopefully while the lights are off, it will get us all thinking about what we can do beyond the hour to help protect this brilliant world we live in.

Watch the video and find out more.

Sow & Grow schools pledge packs on the move

A big thanks to all the schools who have signed up to take the innocent and GIY Sow & Grow schools pledge. All 500 pledge packs were snapped up and we're delighted to say that they have all been sent out to schools around the country.

With the sun shining outside, we are calling all schools to get growing in the classroom by taking the innocent and GIYSow & Grow schools pledge. Every class who takes the pledge could be in with a chance to win a day trip to Bloom where they will be presented their award by home cook & food writer Donal Skehan. The winning school will also receive €500 worth of growing equipment and one year’s mentorship from a GIY specialist in their local area.

If your school want to take part but didn't manage to get a pack, you can still get involved in the pledge by uploading photographs of your class planting in your school garden or classroom here.

Don't forget you can still get seed packs by purchasing special packs of innocent smoothies for kids or fruit tubes. Check out the gallery to see how schools across the country are getting along. We will be announcing the winners of our innocent and GIY Sow & Grow schools pledge at the end of May. Good luck.