Freddie puts the Milkymouth Baby Weaning Set to the test!

09/08/201911/01/2024 Lisa

Freddie puts the Milkymouth Baby Weaning Set to the Test! – Weaning has to be the messiest part of having a baby but a lot of fun.

Baby Led Weaning

Freddie is our first baby to try Baby Led Weaning as it wasn’t something I’d heard of with either Isabelle or Ryan. Essentially we started our weaning journey with cooked vegetable sticks and soft fruits which we just put onto his tray without a bowl or plate, but as time went on he was trying to reach for the bowl or plate that these were on so we needed to choose bowls and plates that would withstand being thrown on the floor which is where most things end up.

Milkymouth Baby Weaning Set is the complete Kit to establish your weaning journey whether you're starting with purees or going down the Baby Led Weaning route. See what we thought when we put this set to the test

Milkymouth Weaning Set

The Milkymouth Weaning Set consists of:

2 Silicone bibs
1 Suction bowl
1 Food/fruit pacifier
1 Squeeze Feeding Bottle
1 Teething Toy

Silicone Bibs

Both of the silicone bibs have a collection pocket which are the best for a weaning baby who is just learning to grasp and hold food. They do up with a button like fastening and is adjustable as your baby grows.

I love these bibs as they’re super soft and flexible to fit properly to protect your baby clothes. They also roll up which is handy for popping in your changing bag.

Suction Bowl

The suction bowl is the perfect portion sized bowl for babies and sticks to your baby’s highchair or table.

The suction on the bowl is a bit hit and miss, but Freddie seems to have ridiculous super strength. The bowl ends up on the floor a lot so its good that its made from silicone so doesn’t break.

Food/Fruit Pacifier

When we first started Baby Led Weaning Freddie struggled with some foods, and it’s quite scary when your baby starts gagging. The Fruit Pacifier is a little gadget that looks like a dummy with a hollow teat and tiny holes. You open it up, put a piece of fruit inside and your baby can suck and chew the fruit through the teat.

I’ve had one similar to this but it was a mesh type end and it got really grubby quickly, but as this one is silicone it was easy to clean so would last much longer.

Squeeze Feeding Bottle

If using purees this Squeeze Feeding Bottle is perfect for out and about. Load up the bottle and squeeze a bit onto the spoon end for easy, mess free feeding.

We’re not really doing pureed food but Freddie loves yoghurt and had a lot of fun feeding himself with this. It was easy to use and clean which is always a bonus.

Teething Toy

Although this is a Teething Toy it’s shaped like a spoon albeit in a grape kind of way. Freddie almost has a mouth full of teeth and he’s coped with this by using teethers. This one is great for putting into the back of his mouth to help with the back ones that, and being able to use it as a fun spoon is just a bonus!

The Milkymouth Baby Weaning Set is priced at £22.95 and can be bought from Amazon. It has everything you need whether you’re starting with purees or Baby Led Weaning.

Our Thoughts

My first thought was that the set had everything that I needed for Freddie and that it would withstand the many times that it would end up on the floor. My favourite part of the set is the bibs. They cover him well and as they’re super soft and flexible they sit nicely, so he hasn’t tried to pull them off at all. they have also remained stain free even up against the likes of spaghetti Bolognese.

The Milkymouth Baby Weaning Set gets a big thumbs up from this little guy and his Mummy!

???????We were sent the Milkymouth Baby Weaning Set for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are our own.

Building with Strictly Briks | Review

04/08/201911/01/2024 Lisa

Building with Strictly Briks – We were kindly sent a Strictly Briks Classic Brik Set and a Brik Tower Set. Isabelle is hugely into making a huge play area in her room which can vary from small collectibles to a whole large doll set up.

Isabelle has accumulated quite a bit of LEGO over birthday’s and Christmas’ and so we were excited to see how the Strictly Briks measured up.

Brik Tower Set with 6 Baseplates and 50 brick pieces

This set included six 6 x 6 base plates and 50 coloured bricks. Isabelle had lots of ideas that she could use the base plates for including houses, a vets for some small animal toys that she has and teddy bear loungers.

The Strictly Briks do indeed fit well alongside Isabelle’s collection of LEGO which is great since the Strictly Briks are a lot cheaper. I can also confirm that standing on them brings tears to your eyes and the expletives spurting from your mouth!

The Strictly Brik Tower set retails at £9.99 and available from Amazon.

156 Piece Classic Brik Set

Isabelle particularly liked the addition of this set since she now bulked out her collection so that she can makes lots of houses or horse stables for her animals. She was particularly impressed that it had girl coloured bricks (her words not mine).

The Strictly Brik Classic Brick set retails at £24.99

Our Thoughts

The Strictly Brik’s range definitely gets the thumbs up from me. It’s a great way to bulk out your existing collection at a fraction of the price, and the base plates are great for building onto. Isabelle liked the range of colours and found them easy to build with.

The set also got the green light from my niece and nephew who play with LEGO a lot!

*We were sent the Strictly Briks play sets for the purpose of this review. This post also contains affiliate links which means that I may receive a small payment at no cost to you if you click a link and make a purchase

Cortex Challenge Game Review

28/07/201911/01/2024 Lisa

Cortex Challenge Game Review – Cortex Challenge is a card based game for 2 – 6 players of eights years and above. As part of the Blogger Board Game Club we were sent a copy to see what we think.

What’s Inside?

74 Challenge Cards
10 Touch and Feel Cards
6 Touch Challenge Cards
24 Brain Pieces

The game is quite a small box which when added to our growing collection is a bonus. It also means that it’s a great choice for taking on holiday.

The Aim of the Game

Cortex Challenge is a game of fast thinking, memory and speed skills. The cards have eight different challenges on them including touch, duplicates, logical series, mazes, and colour puzzle just to name a few.

The top card is turned over for all players to see. The first person to work out the task has to slap their hand on the card and explain the answer/puzzle to earn themselves a piece of brain.

The winner is the person to collect all four brain pieces.

Our Thoughts

This is definitely a game for us. The puzzles and challenges are really fun and Isabelle is annoyingly quick at working out the puzzles and the touch cards were really good, but hard to work out.

A bonus is that this game only takes around 20 minutes to play so can be played whilst dinner is cooking or when we have a bit of spare time.

Cortex Challenge retails at £12.99 which I thought was very reasonably priced and can be bought from all major game retailers.

Cortex Challenge gets a BIG thumbs up from us!

As part of the Blogger Board Game Club we also reviewed Get Packing and Ticket to Ride Europe.

*We were sent a copy of Cortex Challenge for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are our own.

Little Brian Face Paint Sticks Review

04/07/201911/01/2024 Lisa 9 Comments

Little Brian Face Paint Sticks Review – All kids seem to love having their face painted and Isabelle is no different. We’ve stood in endless queues at fetes, fairs and school events so she can be transformed into a Butterfly or Unicorn.

When we were asked to review Little Brian Face Paint Sticks we were more than a little but excited. I was slightly worried that my actual face painting expertise might look more like a five year old armed with their Mums make-up bag but was willing to give it a go.

Little Brian Face Paint Sticks

We’re not new to the Little Brian range. We’ve reviewed both the Little Brian Paint Sticks and the Little Brian Fabric Paint Sticks which were both a big hit.

The Little Brian Face Paint Sticks come in a pack of twelve which retail at £9.99.

They look like marker pens and twist up like a glue stick, and it looks like we’re going to get quite a few faces out of them. The idea is that you can create the faces by using the face paint sticks like using a pen, so drawing on their faces.

We were given the challenge to create a Ladybird, a Dragon and we opted to have a go at the Unicorn. The set comes with a sheet which gives you step by step instructions on how to create twelve different faces from a Dog to a Tiger.

The Ladybird

I created the Ladybird using the face paint sticks as per the instructions. The paint glides on the face nicely, but it is quite tricky to do the smaller, detailed parts so I opted to use a paint brush with a little bit of water.

The Dragon

The paints are very quick drying which is perfect for kids with no patience like Isabelle. I love that the colours are as bright as they should be and were very easy to wash off.

The Unicorn

Isabelle is keen to give the Face Paint Sticks a go on her own, and I feel quite confident that she would be able to use these with minimal mess.

Our Thoughts

All in all these Face Paint Sticks would be a great buy to use at a birthday party or just to do on a lovely sunny day. The colours are lovely and bright, and apart from a little help for details with a brush they were extremely easy to use. The Face Paint Sticks get a big thumbs up from us.

*we were sent a set of Little Brian Face Paint Sticks for the purpose of this review. All thoughts, opinions and photographs are our own.

Blogger Board Game Club – Get Packing

22/05/201908/02/2024 Lisa 3 Comments

Blogger Board Game Club – Get Packing

We were very pleased to be asked to be part if the Blogger Board Game Club by Asmodee since this is something we can do with just Isabelle. Having a younger brother means that she craves a bit of one on one time with us, so playing a game can be the perfect way. The first game we received is Get Packing.

Get Packing

Get Packing is a fun game for 2 – 4 players aged 6 and above.

Each player has a little suitcase and a set of objects such as sun cream, a pair of pants, a hat and sunglasses.

A girls hands playing the board game Get Packing

There are a set of destination cards, and each country card tells you the items that you have to fit in your suitcase.

The aim of the game is to be the first person to fit all of the items in your suitcase first, and be able to shut it.

It sounds simple, but the items have to fit in a certain way to fit and be able to close it. The first person to complete three suitcases is the winner.

It sounds simple enough, but our first attempts were pretty bad.

There is a sheet that you can look at which shows how the items fit in which we’ve let Isabelle use the first few times. Now that we’ve done it a few times we don’t need to look at the help sheet so much.

An image of the Get Packing Game instructions

Our Thoughts

Isabelle really liked the look of this game, especially the little suitcases. Initially she found it quite frustrating until we realised that there was a help sheet.

We played it so that once you turned the country card, you had to find the right suitcase on the sheet and pack it as quickly as you can. Once we had done this a few times it was only Isabelle that looked at the help sheet.

Isabelle thinks she’s ready to take it to the next level and do it without the help sheet next time.

We thought it was a great game and have played it several times now. You can buy Get Packing from Amazon and other game retailers for around £22.99.

*We were sent this game for the purpose of taking part in the Blogger Board ‘Game Club review. All thoughts and opinions are our own.

Basic Fun Easter Gift Review

14/04/201926/05/2020 Lisa 12 Comments

Basic Fun Easter Gift Review

?????Basic Fun Easter Gift Review – I know that we’ve already done an alternative Easter Gift Review but when we were offered the opportunity to receive some Basic Fun items that would be suitable as Easter Gifts we jumped at the chance.

Let me tell you why – Retro My Little Pony!

Need I say more!

Basic Fun Easter Gifts - If you're looking for an inexpensive alternative to chocolate for the littles this Easter then here are a few from Basic Fun that I'm sure your kids would love to receive

The My Little Ponies that Isabelle plays with whilst are lovely, are not the My Little Pony’s that my sister and I played with as kids. Nowadays, the ponies have far more features, are slimmed down and the range is huge, but they were the must have toy and you were lucky if you had one.

We did also get a Little Lucky Lunchbox and a Cutetitos so lets not get too nostalgic.

Little Lucky Lunchbox

We hadn’t seen these before so Isabelle was super keen to get this cracked open to see what was inside.

The Little Lucky Lunchbox is a cute metal lunchbox which varies in design (so also collectible) and each lunchbox contains two foodie friends and two secret surprises. There are ten different lunchboxes to collect and 50 different surprises to collect. These retail for £6.99 from Amazon and other retailers and are suitable from 4+ years.

What we got

Oh Isabelle does love a surprise toy. The sight of the checklist is enough to send her over the edge with excitement!!

We got an Orange Bubble can where the lid pops off so you can hide things inside and a squishy Taco which had a little blind bag hiding inside it.

The two surprise gifts were a Foodie Friends Sticker which is a Blackberry and the other surprise was a little Pig.

Isabelle really loved the Lunchbox and it’s contents since it’s the perfect size to use as play food for some of her other toys. She’s already added this to her extensive list of ‘wants’.

Cutetito

This is Isabelle’s second Cutetito, she also has Luckito the cat which she loves.

Each Cutetitos comes wrapped like a burrito with the foil wrapper like you would get from a street food seller. Unwrap the burrito to reveal which of the Cutetio bunch you will get.

This time we got: Chihuahito the dog!

She’s purple and is Medium Spice which I think Isabelle would be able to handle.

This revelation has sparked up the old ‘can I have a dog’ question for Isabelle as she would like to have her own dog that she can carry around and a chihuahua is currently top of her list. Never mind that we already have a lovely dog, albeit a big and hairy and certainly not one you can carry around.

Isabelle likes to keep her Cutetitos in their wraps so they look like they’re in sleeping bags.

My Little Pony Retro

I saved the best til last, in my opinion. Isabelle was quite intrigued to see what kind of toys I used to play with in the olden days. Cheeky Monkey! A My Little Pony Retro…….

???????She noticed straight away that the pony has fatter legs and is bigger than the ponies that she has. She loved that it had lovely colourful hair and that it came with a comb which I’m not sure mine did.

The names are different which I’m not aware of when these changed. Isabelle recieved Confetti which she absolutely loves.

What chocolate alternatives are you getting for your kids?

Lisa

*we were sent these items for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are our own. This post contains affiliate links.

Fuzzikins Bedtime Bunnies Review

09/04/201929/01/2024 Lisa 8 Comments

Fuzzikins Bedtime Bunnies Review

Fuzzikins Bedtime Bunnies Review – We’ve been sent a set of Fuzzikins Bedtime Bunnies from Interplay to review which Isabelle was very excited about.

What you get

The Fuzzikins Bedtime Bunnies set comes with:

1 Large Fuzzikins Bunny
1 Medium Fuzzikins Bunny
1 Small Fuzzikins Bunny
3 Felt tip Pens
3 Fuzzikins Felt Beds
Felt Accessories for the Fuzzikins Bunnys
Practice Colouring Templates

We cut out the practice colouring templates so that Isabelle could work out her designs before she coloured on the bunnies which I thought was quite a good think since Isabelle’s a bit of a perfectionist.

Each Bunny had it’s very own sleeping bag with accessories including sleep masks which were a nice touch.

Once she had completed her designs she made a start on the real thing. The bunny’s were really easy to colour on and can be wiped clean if any mistakes are made or if you fancy changing the designs.

The sleeping bag much to my relief were already pre-made and came with felt stickers to design the beds with. There were even Super Hero masks and a cape for them.

The Fuzzikins Bedtime Bunnies set is aimed at children 4 years and over and retail at £9.99 from leading retailers.

Our thoughts

Isabelle is very much into role play and add a bit of craft into the mix and you’ve hit the nail on the head in terms of finding something fun to do.

I set her up with this kit and away she went with no additional help needed since there was no cutting or sewing, everything was ready and easy to use.

Once she’d created her designs on the templates, she coloured the actual bunnies and then played with them for ages. She’s not ready to wash them yet as she really likes the way they look, but she’s looking forward to changing their style soon.

I think this was a lovely kit which would be perfect for a rainy day or a home day when I’ve got loads to do. At £9.99 this is a really good price for what you get. There are other kits and animals that you can get in the range to add to your collection.

The Fuzzikin’s Bedtime Bunnies get’s a huge thumbs up from us.

Lisa x

Hatchimals CollEGGtibles Season 5 – Mermals

02/04/201929/01/2024 Lisa

Hatchimals CollEGGtibles Season 5 – Mermals

Hatchimals CollEGGtibles Season 5 – Mermals from Spinmaster. When Isabelle first saw the advert for these she did her usual pause and rewind the TV so that she could show me them in the hope that we would stop what we were doing immediately, go to the shops and buy them ALL!

The Season 5 range is slightly different as they are colour changing which just adds to the excitement tenfold.

There are lots of different sets to collect from pocket money affordable single packs at to playsets, and with over 80 to collect it’s a pretty long check list.

Within the series there are lots of different types of Hatchimals including:

Mermals – Half Hatchimal half Mermaid – Blue Sparkly Egg
Underwater friends – Blue Sparkly Egg
Mermal Twins – Blue Sparkly Egg
Sunshine Surf – Special Edition – Blue Oval Egg
Mischief Marsh _ Yellow Swirly Egg
Racing River – Purple Horn Shaped Egg
Blissful Bay – Limited Edition – Pink Sparkly Egg
6-Pack Shell – Peach Eggs
One Dozen – Blue Sparkly Egg

Each type of Hatchimal comes in a different type of egg as above but you won’t know what’s inside until you open them.

Of course, the first thing that Isabelle always does with collectibles is scan the checklist and pick out the ones that she would like to get the most before she opens the eggs.

How do you open the eggs?

Each of the eggs has a heart on them which you press and the egg cracks revealing your hatchimal. Isabelle tried her best to split the eggs in half, but some of them are impossible to open this way, and then her impatience gets the better of her and she just pulls them apart.

We were sent a Single Pack, a 6-pack Shell, and a 4 pack with bonus totally 13 hatchimals which was very exciting.

What we got:

A Single Hatchimals Season 5 Pack
A Four Pack Hatchimals CollEGGtibles + Bonus Pack
A 6-Pack Hatchimals CollEGGtibles Shell Pack

In the single pack we unboxed a Sunshine Owling which is a common Hatchimal. She was very impressed with this one as it had its very own surf board.

In the 4 pack + bonus we got four mermal eggs in which we got Mer-pandoo, Mer-Seaspoon (rare), Mer-Unikeet, and (*drumroll) – Koalabee which are Mermal twins, and a Blissful Bay Egg which contained a limited edition Blissful Kangaroose.

In the 6-shell pack she got Sapphire Anteagle, Sapphire Owlicorn, Sapphire Burtle, Sapphire Girreo, Sapphire Foxfin and Sapphire Penguala.

How do they colour change?

Parts of each of the hatchimals change colour in the water whether it be their tail or a gem that they are holding onto which then changes back once they are dry.

The Hatchimals CollEGGtibles are recommended from age 5 upwards and are available from most toy shops and Amazon.

There is also an App that you can download to keep track of the Hatchimals that you’ve collected.

Our thoughts

Isabelle loves a collectible and has quite an extensive range of different collectibles that she likes to add to on birthdays, christmas or through saving her spending money. She loves the element of surprise, and whilst there does always seem like a lot of packaging compared the end result she does play with them time and again which makes them worthwhile.

Hatchimals Mermals collection in a shell

She was very excited that out of the twelve Hatchimals she managed to get a rare, a limited edition and a set of twins which she was so thrilled with. The colour changing aspect of these Hatchimals makes them extra special, and also gives her a good excuse for taking them in the bath.

These sets would definitely make a lovely gift whether it be for a birthday, Christmas or even as an Easter Gift.

Which Hatchimals CollEGGtibles Season 5 is your Favourite?

Lisa x

*We were sent some Hatchimals CollEGGtibles Season 5 sets for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are our own. This post contains affiliate links.

Farmyard Friends Chunky Puzzle Review

29/03/201929/01/2024 Lisa

Farmyard Friends Chunky Puzzle Review

We were sent a Farmyard Friends Chunky Puzzle from Ravensburger which is a chunky puzzle featuring nine farmyard animals. Each puzzle is two pieces or three if you include the frames that each puzzle comes in.

The puzzle is aimed at children from 18 months on and has large brightly coloured pieces which are nice and sturdy which is perfect for this age range.

The animals include:

A Pig

A Cow

A Hen

A Goat

A Duck

A Dog

A Cat

A Horse

A Sheep

Although Freddie is only almost ten months old, we have had this puzzle out on the floor for him several times. We’ve been singing Old McDonald whilst making the puzzle and sounding out the animal noises which he is enjoying.

The puzzle retails for around £8.50 onwards which I think is a great price.

Our thoughts

We were really pleased with this puzzle and I think it’s going to be played with a lot by Freddie. It was also something that Isabelle could do with Freddie to keep him occupied and her involved.

We added this to our Easter Gift for Kids list since it would be a good option other than chocolate for toddlers and young children.

*we were gifted this jigsaw for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are our own.

Lets go fly a kite – Kitedrone Kites

20/03/201929/01/2024 Lisa 10 Comments

Lets go fly a kite – Kitedrone Kites

Lets go fly a kite up where the air is bright! Did you know that the 8th February marks National Kite Flying Day where kite flying enthusiasts head outside and hope for some fantastic wind.

Kitedrone is the ultimate range of high performance kites all set to transform the skies into a colourful spectacle this Spring! The impressive range of kites are supplied in their own transport tube and are available in both Aircraft and Twinstar styles and are all super-easy to assemble and launch up to 300 feet in the air.

Kitedrone offer a fab range of brightly coloured easy to assemble kites that can achieve amazing heights.

Did you know that kites date back to China in 470 B.C. and the history of the origins relate to the way the wind affects the leaves on the trees, te shelters the people lived in and the blowing of the sails on their ship and the hats they wore upon their heads.

Everybody can enjoy a kite from keen enthusiasts to a fun free family activity.

Kitedrone Kites

Kitedrone is the ultimate range of high performance kites all set to transform the skies into a colourful spectacle this Spring! The impressive range of kites are supplied in their own transport tube and are available in both Aircraft and Twinstar styles and are all super-easy to assemble and launch up to 300 feet in the air.

Kitedrone offer two shapes of kite, the traditional Box Style kite which is ready to go with a quick one step assembly and can be hooked up to a Go-pro to record your flights.

The Aircraft style kite requires no assembly and has an impressive 5ft wingspan. Air pockets in the body inflate the fuselage and engine pods to increase flying performance giving the ultimate flying experience.

Both kites comes in a transport tube which makes it perfect for putting in and out of the car and storing. Kitedrone kites are just £29.99 and can be used time and again.

We were gifted a Kitedrone Buster Fusionwing in Camo print to see what we thought.

We headed to the site of the Exmouth Kite Festival which we went to last year. Its a large open space right next to the estuary which is the perfect spot for flying. we weren’t the only ones with the same idea as we saw families and groups unloading kites, windsurfing gear and surfing gear.

We were thoroughly impressed when we took the kite out of the tube and apart from attaching the spool it was ready to go. It was a lot bigger than I expected, but was a cool shape and we were excited to give it a go. It looked well made even with our inexpert eyes.

It was hilarious watching Isabelle and Chris getting the kite in the air. Watching Isabelle being pulled along as the wind took the kite was so funny, but she soon got the hand of letting out the string and it went really high looping and soaring.

We all had a turn and I was quite surprised at how strong the pull was when I had a go. Freddie observed from the comfort of his pram and was happy sat watching.

I would say that we spent a good couple of hours flying the kite before everybody got a bit hungry and cold.

Our Thoughts on the Kitedrone Kite

We really enjoyed ourselves. The kite itself was well made and easy to use straight out of the tube. We spent a good couple of hours running around flying, taking it in turns which was a lot of fun.

I would definitely recommend the Kitedrone kites for a fun and free activity (aside the initial cost) which gets the family outside and running about.

Next time were going to make it a bit of a family thing and go with some of the cousins which will be a fun day for Isabelle.

Lisa x

*we were gifted a Kitedrone Kite for the purpose of this review. This post contains affiliate links.