Cool Christmas Stocking Ideas

26/11/202225/11/2023 Lisa

Cool Christmas Stocking Ideas

Hands down the Christmas Stockings are my kids favourite part of Christmas Day. We leave ours outside their bedroom doors (Belle didn’t want an old man in her bedroom AKA Father Christmas) and then in the morning we all pile on our bed to open them. It’s total chaos but we love it, so there’s a lot of pressure to get the perfect stocking fillers.

As you know, we as parents don’t fill the stockings, Father Christmas does so these are things that I think the children (and adults) of the UK would like if I were to have to buy them!

Slime Baff is slime that you add to the bath or a tuff tray for kids to play with

Slime Baff – RRP £4.50

Okay, I’m not going to lie, this is messy but the kids love it in the bath or in a tuff tray in the garden and then it can be dissolved with additional water when finished. My only tip if you’re playing in a tuff tray is that it’s super slippy on a patio!

Water Droppers – RRP £6.99

These are great for water play on a Tuff Tray.

Things to do while you Poo – RRP £4.99

A fun book full of riddles, word searches, facts, mazes, and more….What more could you want!

Reusable Organic Cotton Pads – RRP £7.99

I don’t use any other kind of pads for removing make-up anymore. These are so good and you only need to use one.

Bath Water Flutes – RRP £8.99

These are great for little ones. The flutes make different sounds based on the amount of water and at the end of play, pop out the plug and the water drains away.

Personalised Hot Chocolate Spoon – RRP £3.49

My kids love hot chocolate so would love a special hot chocolate spoon with their names on.

Dinosaur Spaghetti Soap – RRP £3.50

Baths in our house have become an event where we have to have coloured water, extreme bubbles, or something else. This Spaghetti soap is going to go down a treat for Freddie.

Orchard Toys Dinosaur Dominoes – RRP £6.99

These mini games are a great introduction to games for wriggly children with little attention span.

Grow a Sloth – RRP £5.97

Who doesn’t love a sloth!

Cats Vs Pickles Collectibles – RRP £14.49

These little plushies are very popular with my kids. They’re both cats but I feel like I might be a Pickle.

Happy Shopping x

*This post contains items I have been gifted as well as affiliate links which means I receive a small payment if you make a purchase following one of my links at no extra cost to you.

Christmas Gift Guide for Tweens

25/11/202225/11/2023 Lisa

Christmas Gift Guide for Tweens

This is definitely the age group where the price of everything hikes up and the size reduces. When they were younger, you got a lot of brightly coloured plastic for your money and this age group everything is smaller with a huge price tag attached. I remember the look on our son’s face on Christmas Day (Belle’s first) when her stuff filled half the room (think Jumperoo, megablocks etc) and he got a games console which cost three times as much!

Wooden Truck Model Kit – £24.99

These are great if your kids are into any kind of construction kit and will keep them busy for a while. You can keep them in their natural form or paint them.

Jenga – RRP £14.99

All three of my kids love Jenga, but the only one we have at the moment is a drinking game one complete with shot glasses so maybe it’s time to buy the actual game and let Ryan have his shots one back!

Pastel Coloured Nike Socks – RRP £8.00

This is the price per pair of socks but apparently is something that she ‘NEEDS’. There are loads of lovely colours from sellers over at Etsy.

Gift Cards – RRP As much as you can afford

Belle has reached the age where she likes to pick out things herself, particularly clothes so gift cards are a great option. New Look is her current favourite shop hence the image, but you can get gift cards for pretty much all shops, and cinema ones are a good option too.

Instax Mini Camera – RRP £78.00

These cameras are great for taking pictures with their besties so they can cover their walls with them.

Pink Nike Air Jordans – RRP £125

These trainers are on Belle’s Christmas list this year………….

Metallic Marker Pen Set – RRP £7.98

Belle loves all the different types of marker pens to use in her colouring books or to just make her homework look prettier.

Bop it! – RRP £17.99

This is a real hit, especially at Christmas. You can challenge each other to see who can follow the instructions for the longest. A warning though – It’s addictive!

LED Light Strips – RRP £25.99

Isabelle has put these LED lights on her Christmas list to put around her bedroom. They’re quite clever as they can be controlled by a remote or through an App on your phone.

Bath Bomb Gift Sets – RRP £14.95

We’ve been giving some kind of bath bomb set to Belle for a few years now as she loves them and these are pretty cool.

Happy Shopping x

*This post contains items I have been gifted as well as affiliate links which means I receive a small payment if you make a purchase following one of my links at no extra cost to you.

Christmas Gift Guide for 9 – 12 Year Olds

24/11/202229/11/2022 Lisa

Christmas Gift Guide for 9 – 12 Year Olds

Hmm the age when they still like to play with toys but are also trying to be completely grown up and waiting for the teenage years to kick in. Let’s make one thing clear, this age group are still kids and whether they only play when they’re on their own in their bedroom or openly they still need toys to keep them entertained (and off technology).

Lite Brite Oval – RRP £24.99. We were recently sent a Lite Brite Oval to review and it was such a hit with both my 12 year old and my 4 year old. Once you’ve completed a design you can pop it on a shelf for a light sensory display.

Fidget Toy Box – RRP £15.99

These sets make an excellent present for this age group. You don’t know what you’re getting so it has the added element of surprise.

The Christmasaurus and the Winter Witch – Tom Fletcher – RRP £7.99

I haven’t read this book but I have it on very good authority (Belle’s) this is a really good book that she has read several times.

Barbie Extra Doll – RRP £39.99

This is obviously up to the individual child, but our eldest likes to collect Barbies and accessories and so she got this one a couple of years ago.

Kinetic Sand Set – RRP Around £20.00

This set is really great for some quiet play and weirdly satisfying for all. It comes with a variety of tools and can be kept in this handy case.

Morph Animation Maker – RRP £26.99

If your kids like making stop-start animation movies then this is the kit for them. Who remembers Morph? We always had Plasticine as kids.

Hip Hoppa – RRP £24.99

This is like a pogo stick without the stick. It takes a while to work out how to get on, but once you do you’re ready to bounce away. We had a play on this recently and it was so much fun!

Word Master Game – RRP £19.99

This is a great family game to play. Guess the five-letter word to be the winner!

Blanket Hoodies – RRP £23.00

There are so many designs and colours to choose from but kids seem to be going crazy for these, and with heating being so expensive at the moment it’s a good buy. My daughter has one and loves it, and our youngest is getting one for Christmas as well.

Rainbow Scratch Pads – RRP £12.99

You can get these in all different designs depending on what your kids are into, but Belle will sit and do these when she’s feeling a bit tired or more than likely when she’s had her phone taken away and she needs to have a bit of screen-free time.

Happy Shopping x

*This post contains items I have been gifted as well as affiliate links which means I receive a small payment if you make a purchase following one of my links at no extra cost to you.

Christmas Gift Guide for 5 – 8 Year Olds

23/11/202216/01/2024 Lisa

Christmas Gift Guides for 5 – 8 Year Olds

We’ve been through this stage twice now so far and the first time it was all about football, Pokemon and football and then the second time was blind bags and Barbie.

Unicones – RRP £12.99

If your kids like unboxing blind/surprise bags then they will love these. You can read our recent review of the Unicones here.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – RRP £49.99

If you’re looking for a fun family game for your switch then I would definitely recommend this as it suits most ages. Freddie’s been giving it a go since he was three.

Cutetitos Care Bears – RRP £11.99

Belle has had some of these that came inside wraps and loves them, but this is the Care Bear series which look super cute.

LEGO Spidey and his Amazing Friends Set – RRP £18.99

What kid doesn’t like LEGO and this set includes Superhero’s so it’s a win win!

The Dinosaur that Pooped Christmas – Tom Fletcher – RRP £6.99

If your kids appreciate poo humour then this will have them doubled over at bedtime. It’s one of Freddie’s favourites!

Mouse in the House Playset – RRP £11.99

This cute playset is for playing along your skirting board and comes with stickers and accessories for your little ones to create their own little school setup. Check out our reels to see it in action.

Dobble – RRP £12.99

We haven’t got this game but have heard great things about it. It’s the quickest person to match two items.

Hot Wheels Ultimate Garage – RRP £79.99

All boys (or girls) like Hot Wheels and there are a lot of sets to choose from. I would personally pick something like this that doesn’t look too complicated to set up. We’ve had numerous sets that nearly set us insane trying to put back together.

GooZonians – RRP £19.99

These squishy characters are great fun for squishing and stretching. There are six figures to collect and each one has a different tactile filling.

Beaker Creatures Alien Experiment Lab – RRP £24.99

We were sent this kit to review a few years ago, but have replaced the alien pods several times over as our 4 year old loves it. You can read our review here.

Happy Shopping x

*This post contains items I have been gifted as well as affiliate links which means I receive a small payment if you make a purchase following one of my links at no extra cost to you.

Christmas Gift Guides for Pre-School Children

22/11/202223/11/2022 Lisa

Christmas Gift Guide for Pre-School Children

I find buying for pre-school children quite tricky since they all have very different capabilities. There’s a sticky point between age 2 – 3 where they may have outgrown the ‘baby toys’ but aren’t quite ready for the 3+ range.

However, it goes without saying that I think a Tuff Tray is a fantastic investment for pre-schoolers as the play possibilities are endless. I think we paid around £75 with a stand when we bought ours for Freddie for his second birthday but it has been played with so many times that I would recommend them to parents without fail.

Kid K’Nex Zoo Friends – RRP £18.00

This cool set comes with 55 K’nex pieces that can be made into more than 30 zoo animals. The pieces are brightly coloured and great for small hands. We recently reviewed this Zoo Friends set and it was a huge hit!

Cocomelon Peg Board Puzzle – RRP £9.99

Great puzzles to keep little one’s entertained with their favourite characters.

Let’s Learn Trivia – RRP £12.99

This thought-provoking game is a great way to allow your kids to use their imagination through learning.

Colour Dinosaur Sorting Set – RRP £13.99

We got Freddie a Tuff Tray for his second birthday so sets like this are really great when you’re looking for a quick play idea that will keep them busy for a while.

Superwings Jett Supercharged Deluxe – RRP £17.99

Freddie absolutely loves any toy that transforms from one thing to another and this is a TV show as well. This one has lights and sounds which is doubly awesome!

Playdoh Cash Register – RRP £19.99

We have a lot of Playdoh cutters, rollers and other bits and bobs but this set is really fun. You can even make your own play money.

Scrambler Ducati Balance Bike – RRP £40.00

We bought this for Freddie for his second birthday and he loved it. It’s the perfect size for toddlers and is lightweight which makes it perfect when you inevitably have to carry it when they’ve had enough.

Tuff Tray and Stand – RRP £59.99

A Tuff Tray has endless possibilities. You can create play ideas both inside and outside and the stand makes it far easier for your child to stand and play. It can be as basic as filling with water and giving them a selection of cups and bottles, or you can set up amazing play scenes with themes such as sealife creatures or construction.

Owl Water Wheel – RRP £12.99

This is great for water play on the Tuff Tray. Fill the top with water, turn the tap and watch the water make it’s way down to the truck waiting at the bottom.

Jaques of London Animal Threading Bead Set – RRP £12.99

This set is great fun for little ones who need a quiet activity that will keep them busy for a while. Freddie is also really good at stacking them up as well as threading them.

Kitchen Sink Playset – RRP £23.99

Another huge hit for us was this water playset. You fill up the bottom and it has a working tap by pressing the button, and it empties back into the bottom so recycles the water time and again. The set also comes with accessories and fruit and vegetables that you can chop.

Play Tea Set – RRP £12.99

We’ve used this tea set so much. We’ve had tea parties, used it in the bath and have also put it in the paddling pool in the summer.

Happy Shopping x

*This post contains items I have been gifted as well as affiliate links which means I receive a small payment if you make a purchase following one of my links at no extra cost to you.

Christmas Gift Guides for Babies

21/11/202225/11/2022 Lisa

Christmas Gift Guides for Babies

When you have a baby the urge to buy them a shit-tonne of stuff is strong, but believe me the saying ‘less is more’ definitely applies. My biggest recommendation would be to get a Jumperoo or equivalent which are a huge lifesaver when you want to do a few jobs. They’re big, brightly coloured, and make a lot of noise but are definitely worth it!

We did sensory classes with our youngest two so we put together sensory baskets which included some bought items and the rest were things like ribbons, sponges, material, wooden spoons which they all love to play with.

Lamaze Freddie the Firefly Pram Toy – RRP £11.99

I love this range. I used to sell them back in the day when I had my online baby shop. There are loads of features including crinkles, teething rings, and squeakers.

Fisherprice Jumperoo – RRP £119

I said I wasn’t going to get one of these when I was pregnant with Freddie as they’re huge but I succumbed for the want of a hot cup of tea and five minutes of free arm time.

Ewan the Dream Sheep – RRP £39.99

This is slightly different from the original Ewan as it has soothing lights and white noise sounds which is activated by babies movement

Baby Einstein Musical Activity Bar – RRP £21.99

This is great for tummy time or sitting up with three settings – Colours, Animals and Xylophone.

Wooden Bunny Pop-up Toy – RRP £12.99

This toy is really simple but such a lot of fun. Put the Bunny in the hole in the top and press it down – and it pops up.

Vtech Activity Cube – RRP £28.00

This cube has a different activity on each side. A word of warning is that the volume control is loud and louder but it’s definitely a thumbs up from Freddie as a baby.

Hide and Squeak Eggs – RRP £10.99

This is such a simple toy but so much fun. You take the eggs out and put them back in time and time again with a little squeak here and there.

Fisher Price Shape Sorter – RRP £14.99

All babies love a shape sorter and this one has ten shapes and a carry handle.

Wooden Teething Activity Toy – RRP £14.00

This toy is great for little hands to grip and seems to keep their attention with bright colours and the ability to stretch and squash it down.

Touch and Feel Activity Book – RRP £17.99

Babies love touch and feel different materials. These books are full of crinkles, squeaks and textures. My kids had something similar to these but I would definitely buy these for any new babies in the family.

Happy Shopping x

*This post contains items I have been gifted as well as affiliate links which means I receive a small payment if you make a purchase following one of my links at no extra cost to you.

Review: Lite Brite Oval

31/10/202205/11/2022 Lisa

Review: Lite Brite Oval

It feels like a lot of the toys that I had or wanted as a kid are making a huge come-back recently and one of these is this Lite Brite Oval which has obviously had a huge makeover since the basic one I coveted as a kid.

As well as the new shape, the Lite Brite over is now in high definition with 50% more holes and three times the pegs than the classic version.

The Lite Brite Oval is recommended for children aged 6+ and retails at £24.99 from Smyth’s Toys and other retailers.

What comes in the set?

The set comes with the oval base which has a stand so you can keep your designs and would look great on a bedroom shelf.
It does take three AA batteries which are not included.
Hundreds of little coloured pegs for creating your designs
8 template sheets.

Light Modes!

Once you’ve created your designs there are 5 different light modes

3 Colour changing patterns (fade, flash, white light) or 2 animations (slow, fast flash)

Sensory Play

The Lite Brite Oval can be used in a sensory play setting by creating patterns and selecting the different light options to help support developing visual senses which can be used to create a soothing environment which is great for self-regulation.

Setting up

There is very little set-up with the Lite Brite Oval. All you need to do is pop in some batteries and you’re good to go. The template sheets that come with the set just peg onto the board and you just follow the colour code on it which has the first letter for each colour as a guide. You then push the coloured pegs through the template into the board, and once finished choose your light setting to show off your designs.

Our Thoughts

Isabelle is twelve and was really pleased to give the Lite Brite Oval a go. She loved the templates that came with the set but, was also very keen to create her own designs as well.

She really liked that it had a stand so that she can put it next to her bed to use as cool lighting for her room.

I also really liked this set as it’s something that Belle can go off and do on her own which is what she likes to do these days. I know that Freddie is also going to want to give this set a go so I know it’s definitely going to get used between the two of them. It’s also a lot cooler than the Lite Brite of my day.

You can buy the Lite Brite Oval from Smyth’s Toys currently priced at £22.99

If you liked this post and the toys that we’ve reviewed then why not take a look at some of the other Review Posts.

*We were gifted the Lite-Brite Oval set for the purpose of this review. All opinions and photographs are our own.

Review: Kid K’Nex Zoo Friends

16/10/202216/10/2022 Lisa

Kid K’Nex Zoo Friends

We were so pleased to be given the opportunity to review the Kid K’Nex Zoo Friends set. We already have a box of K’Nex so we knew that we were going to have a lot of fun with this Zoo Friends set.

What are K’Nex?

Essentially they are a type of construction toy that comes with lots of different brightly coloured pieces that connect together almost like jigsaw pieces. These are great for smaller hands and the models can be made easily with a little bit of help from an adult. K’Nex help develop fine motor skills, dexterity, and hand-eye coordination. They’re pretty indestructible, we’ve yet to have a broken piece.

Kid K’Nex Zoo Friends

The Kid K’Nex Zoo Friends set comes with 55 pieces and the ability to make 30 models. Your kids can of course go rogue and create their own animals using the various eyes, tails, and feet pieces. This set retails at around £18 on Amazon and is suitable from age 3.

Putting K’Nex to the Test

Freddie loves construction toys and is particularly good at building and creating models. He was very pleased when I gave him this set and had his sights set on the giraffe as soon as we looked at the model sheet. There aren’t details instructions to build each model, but the brightly coloured pieces make it very easy to work out what pieces you need and how to put them together.

Freddie only needed a little bit of help to make each model and it wasn’t long before we’d made all of them.

Our Thoughts

Freddie – ‘I love it’ were his exact words. He was very excited that he would be able to mix it with his existing monster set to make some very unusual creatures. The K’Nex Zoo Friends set gets a huge ‘massive’ thumbs up from Freddie.

Mine – This set also gets a huge thumbs up from me. I bought our first set as a non-messy tuff tray option that would keep Freddie busy when he needed to be entertained and I needed to do something like make dinner. The pieces are a good size even for toddlers and are easy to put together and pull apart. I’ve bought K’Nex sets as presents for other children as I know they will be played with and are a good price.

If you enjoyed this review and are looking for some recommendations then please take a look at our other Toy Reviews.

* We were sent the K’Nex Zoo Friends for the purpose of our review. All thoughts and photographs are our own. This post contains affiliate links.

Review: Having Fun with Unicones

04/09/202204/09/2022 Lisa

Having Fun with Unicones

Unicones are the sweet ’n sparkly unicorns that come with a slime surprise! There are 12 Unicones characters to collect. Each comes in an ice cream cone with a variety of accessories to decorate the surprise unicorn. Will you discover a rare, super-rare or an ultra-rare character?

Each Unicone comes with more than ten suprises, including a tub of unicorn poop slime.

Kids can collect all 12 adorable Unicones characters in the range. Each comes hidden in a sweet ice cream cone, along with a variety of accessories and stickers to decorate the unicorn inside. Will you discover the rare, super rare and ultra-rare characters?

There are more than ten surprises to unwrap, with each Unicones cone. This includes one tub of unicorn poop slime; there are 12 mystery Unicones styles to find! The Unicones retail at £13.99 and are suitable for 3 years and above.

What’s inside a Unicone?

Each Unicone comes with its own set of accessories and slime dependent on which Unicone you get.

We opened up Party Rox which came with the following:

Silver Party Rox Unicorn
Gold Sunglasses
A SWAG Necklace
Earrings
A set of Wings
3 Tattoos
Clear pot of Slime
Silver fine Glitter for Slime
Stick-on Jewels

First of all you pop the ice cream off the top and this reveals the Unicorn and the set of wings. The wings slot onto the back of the Unicorn.

There are three tabs on the ice cream cone which reveal a further three pots, each containing accessories. Our accessories were sunglasses, a SWAG necklace, and Earrings.

Underneath the Unicorn is a pot of Unicorn Poop slime which can be mixed with fine glitter. Ours came with clear slime and silver glitter which became a super stretchy sparkly silver slime.

We used one of the pots to put water in to apply the tattoos to the Unicorn which went on surprisingly well.

The jewels were already set with glue, so Belle was able to easily apply these to the Unicorn with no problems.

You can watch the unboxing over on Instagram.

Our Thoughts

My first thought was that these are going to be very popular at Christmas. My daughter loves collectibles and finds the whole unboxing/surprise element to be just as exciting as the end product. As a parent, I think these are at a great price point and definitely get a thumbs up from me. The only thing I could fault was the wings, which come off quite easily but are also easy to pop back on.

More importantly, is Belle’s opinion. She loved the whole surprise element and the fact that it was an ice cream cone gave this extra points. Adding the slime in and this is a perfect collectible, and something she would definitely want more of.

You can buy your own Unicone over at Amazon.

*We were sent two Unicones for the purpose of this review. All opinions, thoughts and photographs are our own.

Sooty Land – A Magical Day Meeting Sooty at Crealy

16/06/202218/06/2022 Lisa

WSooty Land – A Magical Day Meeting Sooty at Crealy

We live a stone’s throw away from Crealy and it makes for a fun family day out. There are things for all ages to do including fast-paced rollercoasters right down to taking a stroll through the animal paddocks.

You can also make a holiday out of it and stay at Crealy Meadows with an option for Camping, Glamping, or one of their Lodges.

Where it all began

We were invited to go along for the opening of Sooty Land at the weekend. I grew up with Sooty, Sweep, and Soo so it was such a treat and a trip down memory lane for me personally.

Richard Cadell, the Presenter, and Owner of the Sooty Show introduced us to Sooty with some background information about how Sooty came about. Sooty was discovered in a Blackpool Joke Shop in 1948 by Harry Corbett and was offered his own TV show after appearing on the BBC’s Talent Night.

Sooty has met many a famous face including the Queen and Prince Philip where he might have been a little bit naughty!

Sweep first appeared on the show in 1957 joined by Soo in 1964.

In 1976, both Sooty and Harry Corbett were awarded OBEs for charitable services.

Also in 1976, Harry Corbett’s son, Matthew took over as presenter of the Sooty Show.

In 1985 Richard Cadell joined the Sooty Show, and in 1998 Matthew Corbett retired leaving the show in the hands of Richard going forward.

Richard talked so passionately about his adventures with Sooty that it felt like a ‘Proud Dad Moment’ that Sooty now resides at Crealy.

Sooty will be celebrating his 70th Birthday next year which is pretty incredible since he doesn’t look a day over five!

Sooty Land

Sooty Land is a great addition to Crealy.

There are four new rides:

Sooty’s Magic Bus takes you up into the sky and gives your tummy a little flip when it comes back down.

Sweep’s Flying Circus is an aeroplane ride that goes round and round. You can make the planes go up and down yourself using the button.

Soo’s Sweet Balloon Ride where you sit in a hot air balloon and go round, like the teacup ride but in the sky.

Izzy Wizzy Let’s Get Dizzy is a fast car ride that spins around and makes you feel like you’re going to crash into the other cars.

The Pier Building is home to:

An interactive Strike Arena
Sooty’s Carnival Games
Sooty’s Magic Mirror Maze
An electronic interactive climbing wall
Spider climb duo slides
Jigsaw Tetris
Magi Bricks
Giant Twister
Dance studio

The Pier is also home to the Hall of Fame which was such a lovely trip down memory lane. It features many of the original props from the shows and is definitely worth checking out.

Grab something to eat

There are four additional places to eat:

Sooty’s Diner
Sweep’s Hot Dogs
Soo’s Cafe
Seaside Spuds

We went to Sooty’s Diner where both kids had chicken bites and chips and I had a Southern Fried Chicken burger and chips which was both reasonable in price and tasty.

The Sooty Show

Last, but definitely not least is the Sooty Show which you can watch in the big top. It was funny from beginning to end, even including a few jokes for the adults. It was interactive and held the attention of my usually fidgety four-year-old from beginning to end.

We ended the day with ice cream and a meet and greet with Sooty, Sweep, and Richard which was the actual Sooty used in the shows.

Our Thoughts

Visiting Sooty Land was a huge hit with my kids, and I really enjoyed it as well. The rides were all great alongside the rides throughout the rest of the park. The Sooty Show was my favourite bit. The kids had flashing wands and joined in with the magic spells and other interactive bits. We laughed all the way through. Isabelle nearly fell off her seat at one of the cheeky jokes that she’s told everybody she’s talked to since we went. There’s so much to keep the kids happy both inside and outside. There are lots for all ages which is always a bonus for a parent with big age gap kids. I would definitely add it to your Devon Bucket list.

You can find other recommendations for Great Family Days out in Devon here.

We were given complimentary tickets to attend the press event, but all thoughts are our own.