Fairy Princess Play Tent

A fabulous and gorgeous fairy princess tent arrived on our doorstep yesterday.  This is any little girls' (well my girls anyway) dream tent.

The actual tent is made from a thick fabric which comes in soft colours and is beautifully decorated with flowers and butterflies, and the inner poles are wooden.

It can be used inside or outside, as it has a waterproof coating on it.  It seems bigger in real-life than it does in this picture too.

It is relatively quick to assemble, and is a hexagonal turret shaped tent with a flag on the top and three windows. The tent slots together and is joined with connectors for easy installation.

My kids adore this new tent, and I am pretty taken with it too!  It costs £74.99 and is available from www.playhouses.co.uk.

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom Magic Mirror Wand

Entertainment One have kindly sent us this fun Magic Wand to review.

My girls are both fairy mad, and love watching Ben and Holly on TV, and I have to say it is one of my preferred kids programmes too!

This wand replicates Holly's wand from the programme, and when you wave the wand it makes magical sounds.   And if you need Princess Holly’s help to cast spells press the button and she will appear as a moving picture and she says five different phrases.

It is a fun idea and my girls are really taken with it, and find it pretty exciting!  Lots of giggles from both of them!

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom Magic Wand retails at £15.99 and is available at all good retailers.

You can also check out the Ben and Holly website, and their official facebook page.

Wooden Drawers Advent Tree - Party Pieces

I am a little bit obsessed with Christmas products and so I was thrilled to receive this gorgeous Advent Tree from Party Pieces this morning.

I particularly love advent; the calendars, advent wreaths, carol services, and the whole anticipation of Christmas.

This wooden Advent Tree is made up of 24 drawers, which each have a unique and beautifully painted wooden Christmas tree decoration inside.  And the picture painted on the front of each drawer corresponds to what's inside.

I am all for creating our own Christmas traditions, and this will definitely become one of them.  Each morning I will get my girls to take it turns to pull open the drawers by their colourful ribbons and hang the decoration on the tree.  All children love opening up surprises and decorating trees!  I might even pop the odd chocolate treat into the drawers too.  This tree will also make a gorgeous and colourful centrepiece - I have ear-marked just the spot for it.

At just £19.99 I think this is a fabulous product, and a really great idea.  Visit the Party Pieces website for more information and to see many more Christmas products.

LittleLife daysacks

LittleLife sell a range of outdoor and travel inspired products for children aged 6 months – 5 years.

They have three new animal toddler daysack designs coming out before Christmas; a giraffe, dinosaur (pictured) and a clownfish, which are aimed at children up to 3 years of age.

These bags are really well designed, with control and safety in mind, and are fun - the kids love wearing them!  They have a zipped main compartment for all the random bits and pieces my kids insist on carrying around with them, a grab handle (very useful for parents with a wayward child), and padded back and shoulder sections with chest strap to prevent slipping.  They also come with a parent's safety rein and weatherproof hood.  

Go and take a look at their website -  there are lots of lovely designs to choose from!

Happy Hopperz - The Handpicked Collection

The Handpicked Collection have just sent us a Happy Hopperz (pictured) to review.

I felt that this would be a perfect alternative, for my 2.5 year old, who is too little for a space hopper.  She is able to sit safely on the Happy Hopperz and bounce away to her heart's content.  And the added excitement for her is that it is in the shape of a cow!  It is great fun to watch her jumping up and down the path on her new toy.

The Happy Hopperz can be used inside or outside, it is really easy to inflate and deflate, it is a lot of fun, and it costs £22.95.

To see this product or view many other great gifts ideas for everyone, visit The Handpicked Collection website: www.handpickedcollection.com or call them on 0844 482 9707.

My First Ladybird Dictionary and other books

We recently recieved a lovely collection of Ladybird books for Betty, my four year old. 
Included in the collection was My First Ladybird Dictionary, Read it Yourself The Enormous Turnip (level 1), and Wipe Clean First Numbers, and First Writing with Topsy and Tim.

All four of these books came at the perfect time, as Betty has just started school and is desperate to practice her reading and writing. 

The Numbers and Writing books are colourful and clear, with fun pictures, and Betty will sit happily for ages and trace the letters and do the counting exercises.

The Dictionary is really great too, with its colourful and fun illustrations, and clear easy-to-understand meanings of over 1000 words - sometimes I find it really hard to answer Betty's questions on what such and such means - so I too have a good reference to use now!  There are also some lovely sections in the back of the book with pages dedicated to fruit, vegetables, the body, animals, opposites, shapes, colours, seasons, months, compass points, to name but a few! 

I am really impressed with these books, but more importantly Betty really enjoys using them.

Visit http://www.ladybird.com/ to find out more about the Ladybird collection.

Shelves from Vertbaudet

We recently received this set of shelves from Vertbaudet's nursery furniture department.

I opted for light blue (pictured) but these shelves also come in white, pink or green.  They were easy to assemble, and once up they feel very solid and stable.  They are well made and look really good in the kids bedroom.  All the cuddly toys, that once littered my kids bedroom floor, now live on these shelves.  They could be used for anything, such as toys and books etc.  You can also place wooden or fabric boxes (which are sold separately) onto fixed shelves.

They are a lovely design, and cost £39, which I think is reasonable.

Vertbaudet specialise in gorgeous baby and children’s clothing, but also stock a great range of maternity clothes.  

Funky Giraffe Bibs

Funky Giraffe is small, green and ethical company, who design and sell gorgeous, good quality, competitively priced bibs, and other baby products.

Not only do I love the name 'Funky Giraffe' but I also love these bibs.  For me it is a little frustrating as my kids were both real dribblers when they were babies, and I searched high and low for a product like this - there were lovely bibs out there but they were all so expensive.  Funky Giraffe offers 3 bibs for just £8.50, or 10 bibs for £19.50, and with free UK delivery!

I have a confession to make.  When Yasmin from Funky Giraffe contacted me and asked if I wanted to review a couple of these bibs, I explained that my children were no longer babies but I would be happy to pass on the bibs to a couple of friends with babies.  However, the bibs arrived and my kids caught sight of them, and before I knew it there they were both proudly donning a bib each.  But on a two year old and four year old they don't look like bibs, they just look like rather cool neckerchiefs, so we kept them, and we love them!

The bibs are incredibly soft, and well made.  There are many fabulous different designs to choose from on the website, and they come highly recommended from us, as a bib or a neckerchief!

To look at the full range of bibs and to find out more, visit their website: http://funkygiraffebibs.co.uk/

Tag Interactive World Map - by LeapFrog

This interactive map is a perfect example of how toys have progressed in recent years, and while this excites me, and I look at this map in absolute wonder and awe and try to work out how the heck it works, it fills my husband with fear for the future.

This jumbo map, which is aimed at 4-8 year olds, is double-sided, and is used in conjunction with the Tag pen, and it has many different educational games and activities to choose from.  

Tom and I spent a whole evening competing against each other to see who could find countries and continents the fastest in the race game.  And with my geography not being that great, I found that I learnt an awful lot in that couple of hours.


I was excited about unleashing this product on Betty (my four year old) the following morning, and she too was slightly in awe of what this map could do.  She had been learning about Africa at pre-school, and so spent her time in Africa picking up all sorts of useful information and facts.

The map enables you to find distances and travel times between major cities and learn about children around the world, including how they say 'hello' and what they have for breakfast. It also talks you through major landmarks, seas, rivers, mountains and desserts.

The games on this map include:

Map racer - this timed quiz tests your knowledge of the world's countries with three different levels

Treasure hunt- follow the clues to locate the "mystery country"

Continents and countries - this timed quiz tests your continents and countries knowledge

Let's explore - go on exciting expeditions with your hosts Reggie Rover and Sara Sahara

Travel time - touch any two children on the map to find out how far apart they are and how long it takes to travel between them

Kids like me - learn about where children live, what they eat for breakfast and how to say "hello" in their language!

Children can earn online rewards and parents can connect the Tag Reader to the online LeapFrog Learning Path to see what their child is learning. 


This product retails at £14.99, which I think is fantastic value for money - as it provides hours of educational fun - we love it!