Tag Archives: Christmas Countdown

Did you bag a prize in one of these fabulous competitions

6 Jan

Well, my lovely readers, we have a few more competitions closed resulting in a few more lucky winners about to receive another fantastic prize.

Competitions Drawn: Win a Flip and Tip Dustcart From Wow Toys: Emma Walters this must be your lucky day as the random picker drew you once again. Congratulations, please use the email address in the sidebar under contact details to send me your postal address. (Draw Protocol)

Next Competition drawn… Win Arm and Hammer MyWay Spinbrush’s: This competition was drawn by the Little man as a Friday morning treat, so winners have him to thank 🙂 . So… Our two winners each taking a Spinbrush are… Mummy Fever (Pink Spinbrush) & Julie buttonfifan (Blue Spinbrush)! Congratulations ladies, Please email me your postal addresses and I’ll arrange to have these sent out.

Winners of the Timmy time & Holiday Inn Competition

6 Jan

So, it was a big competition with lots of entries and today I’ve sat copying and pasting everyone into the random picker (which took for ever) No, I was not going to sit and fold near on 200 pieces of paper to be drawn from the hat!

Let’s remind ourselves of the prizes at stake!

1st prize: 2 Nights at any Holiday inn within the UK (Only) for a family of 4, plus the added addition of a Timmy Time DVD (entitled Timmy’s Snowy Fun) and the code for the new Timmy Time App.

Runner up prizes: Five runners up will each receive a Timmy Time DVD (entitled Timmy’s Snowy Fun) and the code for the new Timmy Time App

So… here’s what the random picker generated this time… Drum roll please….

Winner taking… 2 nights stay at UK Holiday in of their choice for a family of 4 plus Timmy time DVD (Timmy’s Snowy Fun) & App code is… M williams (Twitter @melandjake99)

5 Runners up taking… A Timmy Time DVD (Timmy’s Snowy Fun) & App code each are as follows:

  1. Bob Clark

  2. Emma walters (@emmav6)

  3. Emma

  4. Martha P

  5. Sarah Parker

Congratulations to everybody please send your postal addresses ASAP to the email address located in the sidebar of the blog.

 I’m sorry to those who unfortunately didn’t win this time, please check out our competition tab where competitions are added on a regular basis.

To see the draw protocol please click HERE

Note to winners: The blogs competition T&C apply (can be found in the original competition post & on the disclaimer and PR page) Remember winners should send their details within 48hrs to avoid a redraw! If any of the winners have not left their contact details with their entries as requested, I urge you to make contact as soon as you read this post. 

Note: First prize winner must take their prize with the Holiday Inn by the 31st March 2012

Little one’s can take great pictures with the V-Tech Kidizoom Twist this Christmas

24 Dec

1

DAY TILL CHRISTMAS

The children have been extremely lucky to road test some of the newest toys on the market, and as the Santa’s Little helpers comes to an end we still have a few more to come.

When we were asked to review the V-Tech Kidizoom Twist, I have to admit that I myself became a tad over excited! Harley is forever putting his little chocolate fingers all over my camera so the prospect of him having his own couldn’t have come soon enough.

The Kidizoom Twist is in fact aimed at pre-schoolers aged from 3 years, Harley may actually only be 2, nonetheless he loved it all the same! It really is felt that my youngest little helper may in fact grow up with an interest in photography, and his not half bad at it either.

V-tech have been extremely clever when creating the Kidizoom twist, the must have Christmas Gift which is featured in the ‘Argos, fab fifteen’ (Top fifteen christmas toys for 2011).

The 2 megapixel camera camera with 5 digital zoom and coloured screen has a number of clever features designed to bring ease of use, entertainment and learning to it’s tiny users. The Kidizoom twist really is more than just your average kid’s camera. It’s really funky design makes it super cool and appealing to children while it’s designed to restrain bumps and falls avoiding them horrid costly replacements.

The Kidizoom Twist features not one but two lenses window’s so your tot doesn’t come across the problem of having to angle the camera in-order to see their target image and position the camera accordingly to take a picture. The child can instead hold the camera at eye level and take a picture with ease.

That’s not all, this camera has a number of special editing features allowing your child to create some great features to their pictures such as frames, wacky stamps and the ability to distort the picture in-order to create some really funky funny faces, which I feel is very appealing for children on the autism spectrum (Harley’s elder brother, Little man loves this feature on his younger brother’s latest gadget). Another fabulous feature to this camera is the voice recording mode that allows you to edit & change the tone of your voice to five effects (pitch up, pitch down, slow, robot and echo)  you can then add the edited voice to your images.

The Camera also has a number of built-in games, five in total, you can even use your own pictures within the games to play games such as spot the difference amongst a whole host of others.

If all that doesn’t sound great enough Kidizoom also has the capability to video, giving it that extra edge.

Oh… and in case you were wondering about the name and the reference it makes to the word twist? This camera does actually have a revolving lenses, meaning it spins round to face the photographer in-order for them to create the perfect self-portrait or video of themselves.

Harley loved the Kidizoom twist and to be honest so do his older siblings who actually ran-out two different sets of batteries. Little Harley is just mastering them all important motor skills so yes, he did drop the camera once or twice, but the protective rubber casing around the camera ensured its safety and saved it from breakage.

We, actually received the camera on the morning of the day we set of to Butlin’s so Harley got to bring his lovely new Kidizoom twist along for the ride, which provided lots of photo taking opportunities.

Kidizoom Twist Specifications:

2 Mega Pixel

4x digital zoom

Built in flash

Twisting/rotating lenses

Colour screen

256 MB built in memory (Holds over 500 images & has a SD card slot)

Voice recording & editing mode

Video recording

Image editing (funky effects)

5 built in games

Connect to TV & PC

Dual viewfinder

Durable (funky rubber protective casing)

Accessories can be brought separately such as SD card and protective case

Parental perspective.

I loved this eye-catching camera from v-tech, the only disadvantage I have, is the fact the screen is a tad small (I did expect a slightly bigger screen) though this is meant for younger children and despite the screen being a little small its more than enough for a pre-schooler. I did love the amount of features V-Tech have packed into this kids camera, it really is so much more than a camera, with games and video recording, it’s my opinion that the camera is great value for money.

The camera helps the development of hand eye coordination, gross and fine motor skills while allowing their growing imaginative and creative sides to shine through. It’s great, not only is this super fun but it’s actually quite educational too!

****
We easily award this one with a 4 out of 5 stars.

Available in a choice of pink or blue

Sold at around £49.99 (price may vary depending on retailer).

This is currently on Sale with a £10 reduction (£39.99) at Argos

Click HERE for more details

Disclaimer

V-Tech sent us the Kidizoom Twist in blue, for the purpose of this review! All opinions that are given by myself & the children are our own, are honest and haven’t been influenced in any way.

Win Ben 10 Ultimate Alien Map of Infinity

24 Dec

1

DAY TILL CHRISTMAS

Sadly the Christmas Countdown with my three beautiful little helpers is coming to an end, so for Christmas Eve, I’m offering you a prize that will be the last one of our Countdown competition.

 What can you win?

 I’m offering you all a chance to get your mitts on this fabulous DVD “Ben 10 Ultimate Alien, Volume 3: Map Of Infinity’

This is a brilliant DVD, well so I have been told!

 We were sent a review copy a while back only when it arrived I discovered my children didn’t want to know about BEN 10 at all!

 With this in mind a friends son, who I must add is a massive… fan of Ben 10 was more than happy to give it the once over (his mother tells me that’s the wrong term to use as his watched it more times than she cares to remember).

 I asked this Ben 10 fan who’s name is Luke, what he thought of the film and he gave me the full low down adding that It’s his favourite Ben 10 film (and trust me he has loads).

 The DVD was released during October and has been brought to our shelves by Warner Home Video with a RRP of £9.99.

 HERE’S A LITTLE TASTER

 Aggregor has absorbed the five aliens’ powers and is putting his evil plan into action.  Now Ben, Kevin and Gwen must stop the newly-transformed and extremely dangerous menace from attaining the Map of Infinity. The team travel to a water planet, an artificial puzzle-planetoid, and to a hostile magical dimension. Can former foes become allies in the quest to stop Aggregor?

 DVD SPECS:

Title: Ben 10 Ultimate Alien 3: Map Of Infinity

RRP: £9.99

Running Time: 88 minutes

 Episodes:

Map of Infinity

Reflected Glory

Deep

Where the magic happens

 Luke loved all the episodes but was mightily impressed with the ‘Map of Infinity’

 So… do you want to win this Ben 10 must see for a special little fan of yours? Well, here’s how…

 Compulsory Actions

 To win the DVD, all you have to do is tell me why your Ben 10 fan deserves to win? I don’t know, are they so Ben 10 bonkers that they dress up and go shopping looking like him, or maybe they own all the DVDs but not this one.

 The Competition will finish on the 9th January & then my Little man will choose a winner on the 10th January 2012

 NOTE PLEASE LEAVE A CONTACT EMAIL OR TWITTER SO I CAN CONTACT YOU IF YOU WIN!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE  

T&C

UK only, Competition will close at midnight on the 9th January 2012, little man will select a winner and his decision will be final unless the winner fails to make contact within 72 hours of notification. Name and postal address will need to be emailed to myself who will then forward to the relevant party for despatching. Winners name will be published within this blog.   

Disclaimer: We received a review copy of the film in order to write a review and produce a competition. All opinions are honest and remain my own (and Luke’s) 🙂

Last Minute Christmas toys

24 Dec

1

DAY TILL CHRISTMAS

So, it’s just one more day till Christmas, are you excited?

Today is literally your last chance to shop!

For those of you, who still have one or two more gifts to buy, here’s a little inspiration.

Something for the toddlers

Octonauts Gup B-Vehicle with Kwazii & shark playset

This fabulous bath toy sent to my Little Harley to test by Argos, is the perfect toddler playset.

This toy is so super that you can even find it in the Argos ‘Fab 15’ (Top toys for Christmas).

If like me you have no clue what Octonauts even is, it’s a new CBeebies undersea animation that little CBeebies fans seem to love.

Strangely, on presenting the toy to Harley he shouted out “Kwazii… Wow” to which I didn’t have the slightest idea what he was talking about!

You see, I’ve never come across the series which is a tad weird considering CBeebies is daily viewing in our house, I guess I had never took notice of it! When It came on a few days later, it was only then I connected the two. Harley however seems to love Octonauts and is fully aware what it is, making this a pretty awesome choice of toy to review.

My, now 2-year-old has always been something of a water baby, so the fact this is also a bath toy makes it that bit more special!

The Octonauts set can be played with in and out the bath, just put Kwazii in the driver’s seat by opening the clear dome and your ready to go! On dry land the Gup B Vehicle can zoom about the floor with the use of it’s wheels or take it in the bath and treat it like a submarine. By pushing the Gup B’s fin its Jaws open and close and Harley just loves pretending that it’s eating all of his other toys, just yesterday I discovered Bob the builders legs hanging out of its mouth. This feature also works really well in the water and when pushing the fin Gup B chomps and squirts water everywhere (very delightful). If this wasn’t enough to amuse my little fellow, the set also comes with a small grey shark with rod that once in water, changes colour.

Harley really has had lots of fun playing with the Octonauts playset! Argos stock a whole host of Octonaut toys and considering how much of a fan Harley is of his current set, I’ve brought him a few others for Christmas.

Parental perspective

A well made, great value play set with lots of playability. Harley never seems to get board of playing with it and it’s joined him for each and every bath his had since he received it some weeks back. The set comes with an age recommendation of 3 years, Harley is 2 but plays with it without any problems whatsoever (note the rod & shark are a little small so may not be ideal for the child who enjoys chomping on their toys).

The set consists of a reasonably sized Gup B vehicle with Kwazii figure and colour changing shark.

It’s my opinion that the picture in the catalogue and that of the one on the internet doesn’t do this toy much justice! It’s much bigger than I expected, which is a good thing! It came well packaged but was a breeze to free from it’s packaging which is always a bonus (if you’re like me and hate all them twisted wires and overload of tape you’ll love how easy this one is to set free).

Priced at £13.99 I’d go as far as branding this toy a true bargain and would highly recommend it.
A deserved 5***** stars are awarded.

To view or get one for your tiny tot just click HERE

Something for the girls

Barbie Puppy water park playset


Alice was overjoyed at discovering Argos had sent her a Barbie puppy water park to review (another toy listed as one of Argos fab fifteen). This nice sized set comes complete with Barbie, her 2 puppies and a fabulous water park for them all to enjoy.

I have to admit my first thought was, “Great, my floors are going to get soaked” it’s not that this is a massive toy that holds a great deal of water, it’s just that my daughter always seems to soak her entire surroundings if she doesn’t play with this kind of thing in the bathroom! Well, I need not have worried as when she wasn’t stuck in the bath playing with this for hours on end while wrinkling up like a prawn, Alice laid down her big beach towel on the floor and just about managed not to soak a thing!

Alice’s thoughts

Alice told me she really likes her new Barbie and puppies when asked what things made it great she stated that the waterslide was lots of fun and she wishes she could ride one the same in real life (looks like we’ll be heading to the swimming baths following Christmas)! Other things she commented on was Barbie’s lovely swim wear and all the accessories that come with it.
Alice gave it a 4 star rating out of the possible 5

Parental perspective

The set includes a fair bit so isn’t badly priced, the doll is nicely made and doesn’t feel cheap and plastic. Alice-Sara is forever taking her Barbies in the bath and sometimes we end up with a good 20 Barbies draining in the sink following her bath time so this was a good edition. I’m pleased Alice likes this set as I often worry that she’s going to lose interest in dolls, she’s 8 years of age and will be 9 next month, yet at the moment fashion dolls such as Barbie, Moxie and her all time favourite “Monsters high” all seem to remain at the top of her wish list.

From a parents perspective I award this one with 4 stars.

Barbie Puppy water park playset is priced at £24.99 but can currently be purchased from Argos at a reduced price of £22.49.

To view or buy click HERE

Lastly, a huge thank you to Argos for being a fantastic brand to work with this year.

Merry Christmas to everyone

Win board games in our big Christmas Countdown

20 Dec

5

Days till Christmas

With five days left till the big day here is another awesome prize to excite!

The lovely people at www. theboardgamers.co.uk have donated a lovely prize in-order for me to run yet another great give-away!

The Boardgamers is a great online retailer selling a good selection of games for all ages and abilities. When they invited me to come and pick a prize for my readers, I will admit, I had my work cut out when choosing due to the number of great games on display!

I also discovered that  The Boardgamers  products are actually what I’d call “Better than reasonably priced” instead their games are much cheaper than many other online retailers selling board games that I’ve come across. With all your top brands and names in board-games www.theboardgamers.co.uk  really is worth taking a peek at!
Honstly don’t just take my word for it, check it out yourself by clicking HERE

The Prize

Well, as a result of my inability to choose I instead narrowed it down to two, therefore letting the lucky winner chose which game they want to win.

So, here’s your two choices

The winner can choose either

Imaginations Doctor Who’s battle to save the universe


or

Imaginations Play that tune

Here’s how to enter

It’s simple, just leave me a comment telling which game you would choose if you won and who it would be for. Don’t forget to leave me a comment containing your contact details (email or twitter)

Additional entries

To gain additional entries just use any, or even all the share buttons within this post… Leaving an additional comment for each action taken. Remember in-order to gain extra entries you must first do the compulsory action required to enter (located above)

Merry Christmas all and good luck

Competition will close at Midnight on the 10th January 2012.

T&C
Winner must choose one one the two listed board games, Competition open to those in the Uk only, the prize is as stated and no alternatives will be offered, winner has 48hrs to respond to the winners notification. Name and address will be passed on to Boardgamers.co.uk who will send out the prize directly, winners name will be published on this blog.

Win with Timmy Time & the Holiday Inn

20 Dec

5
Days Till Christmas

Hello everyone, just me playing Santa again.

With 5 Little days left till Christmas we only have a few more of our ‘Big Christmas Countdown’ Competitions left to run!

So, with this in mind I thought we best make them good ones!

So… I was wondering, is this good enough for you?

To Celebrate the brand new special half-hour episode of Timmy Time which will be a premiere on CBeebies this Christmas, Timmy Time has teamed up with the Holiday Inn to bring you, my readers this awesome prize…

First prize

One lucky Winner will win a family two night stay for a family of four at the UK Holiday Inn of their choice plus a Timmy Time DVD & App code?

Plus 5 runners up get prizes too…

Timmy Time DVD’s (Timmy’s Snowy Fun) plus Timmy Time Apps


First let me tell you a little about this very special Timmy Time Christmas episode!

It’s Christmas Eve and Timmy and friends are busy getting ready for Christmas, only at home time they discover they are snowed in and will have to remain in the nursery for a sleep-over! But will Santa know where to find Timmy & his friends?

Sounds great doesn’t it! That’s not all, I also have the key (well, the link) that allows you to have a sneaky peek at this fantastic episode, titled, ‘Timmy’s Christmas Surprise’ just Click HERE

“God, do I feel festive or what”

Now on to our fabulous competition!

It really is quite simple to enter, I promise you!

As to give everyone a fair chance, there is no need to have a twitter or facebook account! All you need is an email address so I can contact you in the event that you win!

Compulsory actions

Just tell me in a comment your favorite christmas film.
Please be sure to leave a contact with your comment (twitter, email etc)

As I’m such a lovely Mrs Christmas I’m offering you more chances to win by providing you with a chance to submit some extra entries:) Just follow the instructions below and to validate, you must leave an additional comment for each action you take, remembering to leave a means of contact within each comment.
Enter as few or as many as you like!

Additional entries

Tweet: “I want to win the Holiday Inn and Timmy Time comp with @clairelouise82” (You must add the URL to this competition to your tweet) Then tell me you did it leaving me your twitter id in a comment.

Comment on another post out the list below, then in a comment tell me which one you commented on

Subscribe to the blog either by email, rss, or networkblogs… tell me how you subscribe in a comment.

Last but by no means least stumble this competition and let me know you have done it in comment.

Subscribe to my youtube channel (just click HERE) return to tell me you’ve done it in a comment

That’s it guys

Merry Christmas and good luck

Competition will close on the 5th January 2012 and the winner must redeem their prize with the Holiday Inn by the 31st March 2012

T&C

UK only, competition will close on the 5th January at midnight and winners will be notified soon after. The prizes are as stated and no alternative’s can be offered, 6 winners will be drawn at random, one first prize winner and five runners up. The Holiday Inn stay must be redeemed by the 31st March 2012

Video Review of the blue Mini Micro with detachable O-bar and seat

19 Dec

6

DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS

As christmas draws ever so close we find ourselves nearing the end of our ‘Santa’s Little Helpers’ feature.

 We have run some fabulous competitions and featured some spectacular products in our reviews but as it’s not over yet here’s another of them spectacular products!

 This really is a ‘Must Have’, it’s the brand new Mini-micro with detachable O-bar and seat. The O-bar and seat makes the original Mini Micro scooter assessable to tots as young as one.

 I have in-fact added a video to this review as words alone cannot describe how fantastic this new addition to the Micro range really is.

 However I do have a few things to say about this fabulous scooter which I must add was an instant hit with myself and Harley.

 The Mini micro with detachable O-bar and seat is designed to last your child through three stages which is

  One: the ride on stage (designed for children aged 1-2 years)

 Two: the O-bar stage (designed for children aged 2-3 years)

 Three: the mini micro original T-bar stage (designed for children aged 3-6 years)

 No more does Harley stare at his siblings all gooey eyed as they scoot about at the park, he can now actually join in with the fun.

 Harley is quite tall and was able to use the scooter in its original form, however he still had a long way to go before he could fully master it. I really wasn’t sure how he would find the seat and whether he would actually use it! Well, I need not have worried, Harley took to it like a duck to water.

 It did make me laugh watching him scoot along while in a sitting position, to my surprise he did it really confidently and without any problems occurring whatsoever.

 He first took it for a spin on the way to my mother’s house who actually lives only a few streets away. At first he wanted me to hold his hand but as soon as he got going, he really went for it! I was actually really surprised how much speed he picked up once he got going.

 Once at my mum’s my niece took a shine to the scooter, and at ten weeks younger than Harley she couldn’t wait to test it out. As you can see from the picture below Little Amy-Leigh even loaded her handbag on the back (typical woman, you’ve gotta love her for it)!

 I absolutely love this little piece of equipment and so does Harley, its made taking the child out on their scooters so much more enjoyable knowing Harley can join in with all the fun, just check out the video below and you’ll know what I mean.

 Note how Harley refuses to come inside forcing me to set chase up the road!

 You may think that a children’s scooter with a price tag of £74.95 is steep, but seriously, this Mini micro is suitable for a child aged from one all the way up to the age of 6 years, I therefore feel this is excellent value for money.

For the Mini Micro Blue with detachable O-bar and seat attachment (also available in pink) price £74.95

Click HERE

For existing Micro Mini owners O-bar with seat attachment can be brought for £29.95

Just Click HERE for more details

Micro also stock a whole range of funky accessories including bags and scoobits. They also stock interchangeable handle bar grips and scooter plates, meaning your child can vamp up their Mini Micro anytime (this includes the colours so you can go from blue to green or any other colour you like)

Just Click HERE

Christmas Winners

19 Dec

6

DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS

So, here are the names of some of our winners for our latest competitions

The Winner of the Mummy I’m here Teddy-Bear locator is…

Becky John (@becky0020)

Congratulations Becky please email me via the email address in the sidebar with your postal address.

For the ‘Draw Protocol’ click HERE

Our next winner, who wins a Tekkers Hoody is…

Kate Cunningham

Congratulations Kate please contact me via the email in the sidebar with your postal address.

To view the ‘Draw Protocol’ click HERE

The next winner, taking a beautiful Janod Confetti Piano from VUPbaby is..

Erica Price

Congratulation Erica Please contact me via the email in the sidebar to send me your postal address please.

To view the ‘Draw Protocol’ click HERE

Last but by no means least, Our winner of the Stocking Fillers for toddlers competition, taking a Peppa Pig and Ben & Holly DVD is…

Again

Kate Cunningham. 

Congratulations Kate and again please send your postal address via email (well, you could just send the one lol)

To view the ‘Draw Protocol’ click HERE

Well done to all our winners.

Sorry for those of you who were no so lucky, however we still have lots of competitions running and a lot more on the way.

Win Flip & Tip the dustcart from Wow Toys in our Big Christmas Countdown

18 Dec

7

DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS

With just a week to go till Christmas everyone’s getting pretty excited, myself included!

As promised, I’ll be bringing you some super competitions in the run up to the big day, so… here’s yet another of them awesome competitions right here, right now!

The Prize

This fantastic flip and tip dustcart so kindly donated by the lovely people at WOW Toys

It’s so easy to enter, just do the following compulsory action and for extra entries, just follow the steps below.

Compulsory Actions

Comment on any other post here on the blog… then return to this post and in a comment tell me which post you commented on as-well as your all time favourite Christmas food!

Be sure to leave only the one comment for the compulsory action with your contact details (twitter, email etc.)

Additional Entries 

For additional entries, just use any of the share buttons in this post to share the competition, remembering to leave an additional comment for each and every additional action you do. Please remember to leave a contact so I can reach you in the event that you win!

Competition will close on the 5th January 2012 at midnight

T&C

UK only, closing date is as stated above and no entries will be entered after this time. The winner will be drawn at random soon after the closing date and the winner will have 72 hours to respond to the winning notification before a possible redraw. There is no alternative to the prize which will be sent out directly from the people at WOW Toys. Winner will need to email me their postal address which I will forward to Wow Toys and their name will be published on this blog as the winner of the competition. 

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