The Café at the Edge of the Woods | Exclusive Story & Play Christmas Gift Box

Step inside the Café at the Edge of the Woods… where the menu is wonderfully disgusting!

An award-winning story. A magical world of imaginative play. One beautifully curated Christmas gift.

This Christmas, give them more than a present. Give them a whole world to explore!

Inspired by The Café at the Edge of the Woods by BAFTA award-winning author and illustrator Mikey Please, this exclusive Little Talkers Club Christmas Gift Box brings one of the most wonderfully weird children's stories to life.

Winner of the Waterstones Children's Book Prize 2025, this brilliantly imaginative picture book introduces children to René, who has finally opened her dream café beside an enchanted wood.

But there's one rather enormous problem…

Her customers have some VERY unusual tastes!

With mythical creatures ordering everything from Slugs in Goo to Battered Mice, René and her trusty waiter Glumfoot must find a way to satisfy their rather gruesome guests.

And now, it's your little one's turn to open their very own café!

What's inside this magical Christmas gift box?

Every element has been thoughtfully selected by The Little Talkers Club to extend the magic of the story beyond the pages.

The Café at the Edge of the Woods – by Mikey Please

The award-winning picture book at the heart of this collection. Bursting with extraordinary illustrations, deliciously disgusting dishes and wonderful rhyming language, it's a story children will want to enjoy again and again.

Beautiful wooden café play equipment

A gorgeous collection of wooden cooking accessories, including a mixing bowl, wooden spoon, measuring spoons and serving bowls. Perfect for mixing, measuring, serving and inventing all sorts of peculiar café creations.

Gruesome recipe-making kits

It's time to get messy! Using specially selected sensory play products, children can follow our themed recipes to recreate some of the wonderfully revolting dishes from the story.

From Slugs in Goo to Maggot Fondue and Battered Mice, these playful activities bring the café's most disgusting dishes to life!

Exclusive recipe cards

Created especially for The Little Talkers Club, these story-inspired recipe cards guide children through their own gloriously gruesome café experiments.

My Recipe writing pad

Every great chef needs somewhere to record their creations! Children can draw, scribble, mark-make and write their very own revolting recipes, creating new dishes for the café's peculiar customers.

Beautiful Christmas gift packaging

Everything arrives presented in our specially designed Little Talkers Club Christmas gift box, ready to bring a little extra magic to Christmas morning.

The story doesn't end when the book closes…

What makes this gift so special is everything that happens after the story.

Children can become the chefs, invent their own magical menus, serve imaginary woodland creatures and create entirely new adventures.

And when the sensory play packets have been used? The beautiful wooden equipment is theirs to keep.

The café can reopen again and again, with new recipes, new customers and increasingly disgusting dishes!

So much more than play

As a former primary headteacher and Early Years specialist, I've carefully curated this box to encourage the skills that help children thrive.

Through storytelling, sensory exploration and imaginative play, children have opportunities to develop:

• Imagination and creativity – inventing recipes, characters and fantastical café adventures.

• Early writing and mark-making – drawing menus, recording recipes and experimenting with written language.

• Communication and vocabulary – describing ingredients, taking orders and bringing stories to life.

• Fine motor skills – pouring, stirring, measuring and handling cooking equipment.

• Early mathematical thinking – exploring quantities, sizes and measurements through play.

• Confidence and independence – making decisions, experimenting and leading their own imaginative adventures.

All without worksheets, pressure or children even realising how much they're learning.

A Christmas gift they'll return to long after the decorations come down

Beautifully presented, wonderfully imaginative and exclusively curated by The Little Talkers Club, this is a gift designed to create memories, inspire storytelling and make childhood a little more magical.

Because the very best gifts don't just entertain children. They inspire them.

£54.99 | Exclusive Little Talkers Club Christmas Gift Box

Please allow 7 working days for dispatch.

Please note: Sensory activities require adult supervision. Follow the individual product instructions and age guidance. Wooden equipment is intended for imaginative play.