Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom: The Elf Games DVD (Review)

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This Summer sees two massive events which should cause national pride. I keep seeing various craft and cooking activities which I want to do with The Boy, but the problem is that I have no idea how to introduce the concept of the Olympics to him. How do you introduce the idea of racing and competing to a two year old?

And then we were sent  the latest DVD delight from Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom, the Elf Games.

Perfectly pitched at pre-schoolers, it is full of episodes from the latest series and the title episode ties in nicely with the Olympics. The Elf Games features Ben having to explain to Holly why she is not allowed to use magic or flying in the games, in the interest of fair play. Her enthusiasm, along with Nanny Plum's meddling, almost costs Ben his winner's medals, but in the end the day is saved!

Other episodes included on the disc are:

  • Cows
  • The Toy Robot
  • Dinner Party
  • Big Bad Barry
  • King Thistle's Birthday
  • The Wand Factory
  • Daisy and Poppy's Pet
  • The Elf Rocket
  • Picnic on the Moon

We're big fans of Ben and Holly in this house, and this is another winning DVD. It's really helped The Boy to understand the concept of races and winning medals.

Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom: The Elf Games DVD is available priced at £7.99

We were sent a check disc for the purpose of this review. Our opinions are honest and unbiased.

Cosy & Cute Children's Bedding (Review)

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I took great pride and pleasure in designing The Boy's bedroom, aiming to make it an attractive place to be that was soothing and would nurture his imagination. It's painted in muted colours but still bright and attractive, and every leaf was painted with love.

We were recently asked if we'd like to receive some new bedding for his recently converted cotbed, and I was more than happy to select this beautiful toddler bedding with a farmyard design.

We love it! It fits perfectly in with the design of his bedroom; bright and colourful, fun and friendly.

Made from 100% cotton, the set includes a duvet cover measuring 120x150cm and a toddler/cotbed-sized pillowcase. The pillowcase is printed on both sides, the duvet on one side. It fits The Boy's bed perfectly and he is snuggly and cosy tucked up in side. Machine washable and easy to iron, this is an excellent duvet set which has replaced our previous Hungry Caterpillar favourite!

Children's Rooms.co.uk sell a range of toddler bedding with something to suit every taste: character bedding, gender-specific, gender-neutral, and a selection of plain colours. They also have a range of toddler beds and mattresses at extremely reasonable prices. I'm already eyeing up another set and contemplating The Boy's next big-boy bed.

We were sent these products for the purpose of this review. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

Frankie & Benny's (A Review)

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I've never been to Frankie & Benny's before, for various reasons one of which was that there wasn't a local branch near us in Cardiff Bay. Just a couple of years ago, one was opened about ten minutes from my house and yet I still hadn't been. I'm not sure why, I think it's because as a vegetarian I wasn't convinced that there would be anything on the menu for me.

However, when we were invited to review their new menus, I jumped at the chance to disspell my uneasiness about the American-Italian restaurant chain and decided to give it a go. Before we went, I checked the menu to ascertain if there are any vegetarian dishes (as I hate sitting at the table and discovering my choice is lasagne or salad) and was reassured to find a range of dishes, including penne, pizza, a burger and a wrap. Not a massive choice but enough for me to feel that I had a choice.

Before I go any further, I will declare now that this is a mixed-bag for a review: most of the actual food itself was ok, the service and hygiene was not.

We arrived at 12.30pm on Sunday for lunch and we'd already decided that we needed to have the three courses to be able to sample the menu properly. We were greeted by a happy and cheerful waitress who seated us at a corner table with a highchair for The Boy. And this was the first hygiene problem. I always carry Dettol wipes in my handbag, and thank God I do because this was the state of the highchair:

The entire seat was covered in ingrained food and dirt. I considered not even putting him in the highchair but decided to give it a wipe over myself and keep an eye on where he put his hands. The table also needed wiping down as it had sticky drink stains on it, and the menus had tomato ketchup and soft drink dried onto them. Two of the five forks were dirty. Mr. TheBoyandMe took The Boy to the toilet and told me that one of the door-locks was broken and the loo-seat wasn't attached. Great.

After 15 minutes, we were 'greeted' by our waiter and we gave our food order and then asked if we could have some drinks. I checked to see if they had a plastic beaker for toddlers (as they do in Pizza Express) or a paper cup with a lid (Pizza Hut) but was told it was just a glass so I asked him to leave it as I had a tippy-cup of water he could drink from. 9 minutes later he returned with the two soft drinks and the heavy glass of water which I hadn't wanted.

Starters

Left:Dough sticks, dough balls and hot cheese = £5.95

Right: 'Amazing skins' with melted goat's cheese & home-made bruschetta = £4.95

These arrived 23 minutes after we ordered them. As it goes, I was very happy with the doughballs and doughsticks and felt that they were good value for money, especially if used as a big sharing plate between people in the party. The 'Amazing skins' were pleasant enough but the potato was terribly fatty and they certainly weren't 'fully loaded' as in the description.

Main

As soon as the starters were initially brought out, I asked the waiter to bring The Boy's main meal as soon as it was ready. This is actually good practise for restaurants when families are dining with young children, but it did seem an alien concept to the waiter. Nonetheless, The Boy's meal was brought out ten minutes after we finished the starters which was a full twenty minutes after it was asked for (more about his later) and ours came twenty-five minutes after we'd finished the starters.

Goat's Cheese & Caramelised Red Onion Hot Baked Wrap = £8.45

This was one of the more adventurous vegetarian meals on the menu and I was happy with the size of the portion, the imagination behind the concept and the quality of the food. The wrap was fresh and tasty, the filling plentiful, and the chips very tasty. The only thing I will say is that I felt that the onion was too overwhelming a flavour but that is probably a personal choice. This had a thumbs up from me.

A 'Deep-filled' New Yorker Calzone = £10.45

At this point I need to point out two things: I have never known my husband (in twelve years) to ever complain about a meal, and the product description for this is as follows; "Full to the brim with spicy pepperoni, ham, bacon, mushrooms and mozzarella. All topped with Mamma’s rich Neapolitan tomato and herb sauce."

I think that it's clear from the photo that it is not 'full to the brim' at all: this 'deep-filled' calzone is as flat as pancake. Mr. TheBoyandMe said that the ham was heavily processed, the bacon was fatty, there was barely any cheese and the whole thing was greasy and bland. He's since explained to me that he orders a calzone as a measure of comparison in new restaurants because he knows what an Italian and an American-Italian calzone is like having tasted them in both countries (I did wonder why he has them so often) and is rarely disappointed. He was incredibly disappointed with this one and said that the filling wouldn't have been enough to cover a pizza had it not been folded. Not good enough for £10.45!

We finished our main at 1.55 and ordered desserts five minutes afterwards at 2pm.

Dessert

'The Godfather' – a sharing sundae = £7.95

We decided to share a pudding and went for this 'mountain of brownies, crunchy chocolate malt balls, red berries and cream. Topped with ice cream, lashings of toffee and chocolate sauce and finished with toffee crunch.' Aside from the small amount of ice-cream and copious amounts of squirty cream, it didn't disappoint. It was very tasty, very filling and we would order it again with no problem.

However, it took 36 minutes for it to arrive.

Kids' Menu

Left: Pork sausage, mash & beans.

Right: Chocolate ice-cream sundae

I was impressed with the choice on the kids' children's menu: spaghetti bolognese, hamburger, chicken strips, margherita pizza, fish fingers, chicken pasta or sausage. This younger menu costs just £3.95 and includes a main course, a dessert and refillable soft drinks. There is also the the option of a free side of vegetables, side salad or Heinz baked beans.

The sausage meat was quite poor quality and The Boy actually wouldn't eat it, which is rare for him and sausages. The mashed potato was 'smash'-style packet potatoes. The whole thing had been sat on the side for a while as the mashed potato had a skin on it, the plate was hot (a no-no for children) and the baked beans were drying around the side. The quantity was perfect for younger children, but the quality was far from ideal.

He had a single scoop of chocolate ice-cream for pudding with sauce on top and a separate pack of chocolate buttons. A perfectly sized dessert for a young child.

The activity pack contained a double-sided activity booklet for different ages, a jigsaw and a multi-coloured colouring pencil. It is one of the better packs I've seen and was well received.

Finally, 2 hours and 15 minutes after we were first seated I managed to pay the bill. At this point I decided to tell the manager about the highchair, rather than leaving it until this review is (possibly) passed on and countless other children being placed in the same seat. I showed him the dirty straps and seat and he was genuinely shocked. He apologised and tried to give an excuse, stopped because there is none and apologised again. He then sent over a waitress to clean it. I did intervene and tell her it actually needed taking apart and scrubbing as spray wasn't going to clean off months of built up dirt.

What was good?

  • The hot bread sharing plate for starters
  • The hot baked goat's cheese & caramelised onion wrap
  • The portions and price of the younger children's menu
  • The children's activity pack
  • The sharing sundae

What was bad?

  • The 'amazing skins'
  • The 'deep-filled' calzone
  • The cleanliness throughout the entire restaurant: table, menu, cutlery, toilets, highchairs. If that is what the front of house is like, what state are the kitchens in?
  • The waiting period:
    • 12.30 seated
    • 12.45 order taken
    • 12.54 drinks arrived
    • 1.08 starters came and asked for The Boy's meal
    • 1.21 end of starters
    • 1.28 The Boy's main arrived
    • 1.45 mains came
    • 2.00 ordered ice-cream
    • 2.20 waiting for ice-cream for 20 mins
    • 2.36 ice-creams came
    • 2.41 waiting for the bill

Is it good enough that it took 2 hours and 15 minutes to have a family meal? I don't think so. Not when actual eating time was 25-30 minutes, leaving 1 hour and 45 minutes as waiting time.

Will I go again? Unless there are serious improvements in service and cleanliness? No!

I was provided with a £50 voucher towards the cost of this meal. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

The New Mia Tui Grace: The Leather Version (Review)

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I am an addict.

Handbags, specifically Mia Tui handbags, are a favourite of mine. It started when I was sent the Amelie to review, evolved when I received the tan canvas Grace which resulted in me buying the red canvas Grace, and then the black Grace too. And now? Well now I've invested in the latest family member: the leather Grace.

There are some 'evolutionary' features on this new Grace bag too:

There are now four holes in the strap, each one reinforced to prevent the buckle from slipping open. There's also now a zip to keep everything neat and tidy, and for added security. Mia Tui have also moved the key chain to the other end of the bag for easy finding, and so you don't have to open the entire bag up to find your keys.

The brown leather Grace is available from Mia Tui directly for £139.99 or until 30th April at the bargain price of £99.99.

I bought this handbag, this is not a sponsored post.



Top That Apps (Review)

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I am a book reviewer for Top That! Publishers and this means that every so often we receive a few paperback storybooks to review. However, a month or two ago we were sent some download codes for a few apps that they had recently launched.

Mixed-Up Animals

This is a lovely little app which is very fun and engaging for pre-schoolers, with the opportunity for a whole load of discussions about animals and their habitats and how they are suited to where they live. The basic concept is that there are three sliders, one each for animal heads, bodies and legs. Children can slide it across to select their own, or shuffle to come up with a random generator. They can then select the backgrounds from a variety, save and share their work if they want to.

Mixed-Up Monsters

Exactly the same format, but with monsters!

We really like these apps and have had a good giggle about the monsters and animals that we've made up. Both are available on iTunes for iPod Touches, iPads and iPhones and require iOS 3.1 or later.

Top That! have a variety of apps and e-books available for download from iTunes and on GooglePlay for Android and to celebrate World Book Night, all Top That! ebooks and Apps (UK, USA, AUS & Canada only) will be free to download on Monday 23rd and Tuesday 24th April 2012.

View the Apps on:
  • iTunes: http://topth.at/iosapps
  • Google Play: http://topth.at/play

I was given free download codes for the purpose of this review. My opinion is honest and unbiased. I am choosing to share the information about the downloads because I think they are quality apps and e-books that children will enjoy.

(Disclaimer: Free eBook and app downloads only available for UK, USA, Aus and Canada. Not all Top That! eBooks and apps are available in all countries listed. Free download offer is for two days only. Normal pricing will resume following the two day period. The Publisher reserves the right to withdraw this offer without prior notice and at its discretion.)

Tickety-Toc

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For Christmas, Mr. TBaM wanted to get The Boy a clock and I vetoed it; I felt he was too young to deal with the concept of time other than demarcations of the passing of the day. I suggested that we look at it for his third birthday (in June). Lately, The Boy has shown an increasing interest in time asking what day it is, is it night time/lunch/breakfast/dinner etc. He's finding Sundays particularly confusing, every sunny day is a Sunday according to him!

I was recently told about a new programme starting up on Nick Jr: Ticket Toc. The British produced (you know I'm a stickler for native accents in tv programmes) pre-school animation series features twins who help children gain and develop their awareness of time.

As a child, my grandparents had a genuine Swiss clock which didn't feature a cuckoo, but featured a little girl and boy that would come out of opposite sides of the clock to greet each other. I was obsessed with the thing, waiting and wondering where they went and what they got up to. When I read the information about Tickety Toc I smiled to myself.

'On the wall of an old clock shop hangs a very special clock. Every hour, on the hour, it chimes and out pop our little heroes. But what happens when they go back inside?'

When chime-time has finished, Puffity the puppy-dog train takes the time-twins Tommy and Tallulah Tockey off to the other side of the clock for adventures  galore in this CGI action-packed adventure perfect for curious and imaginative pre-schoolers. We loved the colourful and charismatic collection of characters, especially the ping-ponging Madame au Lait and knitting Chick-a-dee.

Ticket Toc will air from Monday 23rd April 2012 at 8.15am every weekday on Nick Jr (Sky 615, Virgin 715, TalkTalk 318)

"Smelly Peter, The Great Pea Eater" (Review & Competition)

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There are two ways to my son's heart: making things and reading books. And chocolate. Ok, so make that three things and we'll ignore ice-cream for now.

If someone was to send my son a big box of books (and I mean big) then I would undoubtedly be indebted to that person forever, and so would The Boy. Little Tiger Press were those people.

When they first contacted me about reviewing for them, I took a little browse of their lovely and engaging site and was pleased to discover that we already had quite a few of their books. I will post in more details again about the books that they sent us, but I wanted to share two specifc books with you for the moment, both of which are picture books with a CD featuring the vocal talents of one Justin Fletcher.

"The Very Greedy Bee" by Steve Smallman and Jack Tickle

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Lights Out Portable Pop-Up Blinds (Review & Competition)

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One of the things that I was adamant with when setting up The Boy's bedroom when he was first born, was the window coverings. I was determined he'd have a black out blind and the linings on the curtains, as I didn't want him waking up at silly o'clock in the morning during the Summer, and I wanted him to have uninterrupted sleep during his afternoon naps. It's worked brilliantly and as a result is always something that I've worried about when we've gone to stay with friends and family, or gone on holiday. Most holiday homes have thin curtains which serve little purpose other than to throw a tinted hue over the room. I've been known to be pegging black out lining to the curtain rail in an attempt to darken it sufficiently enough for him to sleep.

Well, not any more!

Last week we were sent the Lights Out Portable Pop-Up Blinds to review, and they came at a perfect time as we were away for Easter weekend in a place that I knew had wafer-thin translucent curtains at the windows. These blinds are excellent. The pack contains two blinds and each one measures 1.2m x 1m. They fold down into a circular lightweight storage bag (measuring 45cm diameter) which took up barely any space in an otherwise cramped car!

Each of the blinds has a toggle through the middle of it with a suction cup attached to the one end. Simply position the suction cup and attach it to the window, pull the toggle and it holds the blind in place over the window, pulling taut to rest against the frame.

They overlapped perfectly and pulled tight to cover the wide expanse of window with no problem whastoever. Bearing in mind I'm not a 'follow-the-instructions' person, I had them up in the window within thirty seconds. For deeper window recesses there are extension rods to attach.

The left picture above shows the window to be covered, the middle shows it with the 'curtains' drawn, and the right hand picture shows the blinds in action. Apologies for the blurriness on the middle picture but I was taking the photo without a flash and had to stand still for thirty seconds to get the photo. I couldn't take a photo of the room with the blinds attached at first, as it was pitch black and my camera couldn't focus. I had to place my phone on the bedside table with the light on to give it something to focus on. As a result the slight light strip you can see is from the reflection of my phone not from the window.

One last point to note is that, despite many 'pop-up' items being nigh on impossible to 'pop-down' again afterwards, these were back in the storage bag within thirty seconds.

The Lights Out Portable Pop-Up Blinds are excellent! I would buy these in a flash because they work brilliantly, and I wish I'd known about them when I first had The Boy, so many holidays could have been more enjoyable with more sleep!

The kind souls at Lights Out are offering a set of the Portable Pop-Up Blinds to one lucky reader. Simply fill in the Rafflecopter form in order to enter.

All entry mechanisms must be completed for your entry to count.

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Easter Eggs on DVDs

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Surely, you've heard of them? An 'Easter Egg' on a DVD is a special bonus feature which has been added to the disc but isn't easy to find without following a little trail to it.

Only this isn't those types of Easter eggs, this is the traditional small variety.

This was a very welcome sight when we got home from our Easter weekend away. The journey back on Monday involved copious amounts of precipitation on the M4 and since then April has really shown that it's going to live up to its reputation of providing plenty of showers. Chocolate and DVDs are therefore a must during the Easter holidays.

The lovely basket contained:

    • Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory: this original gem starring the inimitable Gene Wilder still entertains through the decades. No-one is quite as maniacal as him, and no Verucca Salt can be anywhere near as precocious as the original version. Can you believe this is now forty years old?

  • Charlie and The Chocolate Factory: I adore this film, mainly because of the magic combination of Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton. The visual effects, and song and dance numbers are astoundingly good, certainly enhanced by the modern age's CGI. Freddie Highmore is an absolute gem in this version, but for me he's just a tad too well-spoken for poor old Charlie. For me, this brilliant film is a different story to the original, it works just as well but on a different plain.
  • Yogi Bear: This modern take on the classic cartoon, mixing live action and computer animation features the vocal talents of Dan Akroyd and, bizarrely, Justin Timberlake. Yogi and Boo-boo must save Jellystone Park from destruction due to logging. This adventure for 7 year olds and over is packed full of crazy inventions, silly gags, high adventure, and slapstick comedy. Perfect as a present for my niece and nephew.
  • Bugs Bunny's Easter Funnies: No WarnerBros parcel would be complete without the addition of one of their legendary cartoon characters. And at Easter time who better for that to be than the Easter Bunny himself? In this classic, the Easter Bunny is poorly and Bugs has to step in and help out, although Sylvester and Daffy want to help out as well. This disc also contains three interactive Looney Tunes puzzle games.

I can't wait to introduce The Boy to the wonders of The Chocolate Factory (both versions) over the next few weeks.

We were sent these items for the purpose of this post. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

Review: Trunki PaddlePak

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A few months ago we decided that we didn't take The Boy swimming enough. He's coming up to three years old and is still developing his water confidence. He pretends to swim in the bath, he's more confident with water splashing about his face and head but he's still a little unsure in the water clinging to me in the pool. We made a decision there and then to take him more often, and he goes once a month now (looking to increase that now with the warmer weather).

When Trunki asked me if we'd like to review their new fun backpack for little swimmers, we were more than happy to oblige! The Boy's lovely azure blue PaddlePak was sent to us in perfect time for our trip away over the Easter weekend. The place we went to stay in, has one of the best waterworlds around for fun and laughter, so we packed his new PaddlePak with his fluffy towel, Konfidence jacket and HappyNappy swim pants, popped it on his back and off we went.

Made of waterproof fabric and featuring a roll top tight seal, the PaddlePak is the perfect size for pre-schoolers and infants to hold their swimming stuff. Obviously older children won't have something as bulky as a Konfidence jacket to fit in, giving them plenty of space for other items. The funky backpack has a reflective fish detail all over the back and in the cute fin there is a zip pocket to hold small valuables. It was incredibly comfy for The Boy to wear, especially as the straps and back are padded for comfort.

The PaddlePak gets a definite thumbs up from us; lightweight, waterproof, fun and funky, it's sure to get loads more trips to the swimming pool.

The Trunki PaddlePak is available (in bright pink or blue) directly for £19.95

I was sent the PaddlePak for the purpose of this review. I had previously bought the SplashAbout HappyNappy and Konfidence Jacket. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

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