Monday 5 December 2016

My Secret Santa Gift Ideas

As you may have seen from some of my recent reviews, my family and I have been trying out some products over the last few weeks, to try and find some great gift ideas to include in our Secret Santa Gift Guide. I think that we have chosen a great selection to feature, and they are all under £20 so won't cost a small fortune either.

1) Morse Toad Chocolate Cards - Give the gift of personalised chocolate this Christmas, with a range of pre-selected wording, or text of your own choosing. This chocolate not only looks great but also tastes delicious and is sure to be a lovely and tasty surprise for the recipient. Stocking fillers are available too from only £2.75. Enter code HappyToadmas at the checkout to enjoy a 10% discount off your order. (Code expires Christmas Day 25/12/16).

2) Letterbox cakes by bakerdays - I absolutely love this concept, and the cake that we sampled, was not only delivered quickly but was a joy to eat too. They offer such an extensive range of designs that there is bound to be something to suit all tastes, with the added bonus that you can also personalise them. This is an ideal secret santa gift for the workplace, family member, or to simply send to someone as a fun festive treat.


3) Jelly Belly Bean Boozled - A great fun game to give as a Secret Santa gift, which is sure to make the gift recipient love you (or maybe hate you depending on how their taste buds are haha). You can't help yourself but laugh through this game, and at only £10 including a refill box, its a great unique gift that won't break the bank.


4) Biscuiteers have an amazing selection of gifts on their website, ranging from biscuits to cakes which all look visually fantastic. They even have a page that is dedicated to Secret Santa ideas. Their handmade Christmas biscuits look delicious, and the site features products to suit all price ranges. My favourite is the Santa Jolly Ginger which costs £6.

5) Amazon.co.uk Gift Card- The ideal gift for the person who has everything. If you are really stuck for that Secret Santa gift, then you can't really go wrong with an Amazon Gift Card. These are available as physical gift cards, or can even be sent via email if you have left your gift right to the last minute.

                                                                             

Disclaimer - Whilst some of these products have been reviewed by us previously, they have been chosen by myself to feature in my Secret Santa gift guide. I have received no additional payment from any of the companies to include them other than the product for my original individual review. The link to Amazon however is an affiliate link and I may receive a small commission payment for any referrals. All opinions are my own.

Sunday 4 December 2016

The Brilliant & Bizarre Jelly Belly Bean Boozled Game - A Review

Whilst we were brainstorming for our Secret Santa gift ideas, my son mentioned a fun game that some of his friends had recently played. We had already selected 4 great presents to feature, but wanted something fun and little bit different to fill the fifth spot.

The game in question was Bean Boozled Jelly Beans by Jelly Belly, and I immediately thought how fantastic, a game involving sweets, who wouldn't like that? However, my son then went on to explain that these weren't just any jelly beans, and that the game featured some very weird and wonderful flavours.

Keen to discover more about this intriguing game, Jelly Belly kindly sent us a sample to try out for ourselves. When the product arrived, I was both excited and very nervous in equal measures.


The box is really bright and colourful, and immediately my eyes were drawn to the obvious Caution sign at the bottom of the box that said "Caution, contains weird and wild flavours". I was still keen to try it out however and began looking at all the surrounding images on the box which explained the different colours and flavours inside. They were:


  • Multi coloured - Tutti Fruitti flavour or.......Stinky Socks
  • Green - This could be Lime or.....................Lawn Clippings
  • Yellow - Buttered popcorn or.......................Rotten Egg
  • Blue - Berry Blue or.....................................Toothpaste
  • Peach - Peach or...........................................Vomit (This was the one I was most scared of).
  • Brown - Chocolate Pudding or.....................Canned dog food
  • Green - Juicy Pear or....................................Booger
  • White - Coconut or.......................................Baby wipes
The aim of the game is to take a turn on the spinner and see which colour it lands on. Each of the players then pick the corresponding coloured jelly bean. If you choose the tasty flavour then you win a point, but if you choose the bad tasting flavour then you lose a point. If you want to be really skillful then you could try and practice your best poker face and pretend that you are happily munching on buttered popcorn when really its Rotten Egg, but it is definitely not easy to try and pretend that your rotten egg flavour was delicious. Not easy at all! I did try to cheat a little and smell them beforehand to see if you could tell before tasting, and you couldn't smell a thing until it was bitten into, then it became quite obvious.


The great thing about this game, is that it isn't limited on players, so whether there are only 2 of you ready to play or 10, it is an inclusive game for all, the only danger being that you may run out of jelly beans, but you can buy them separately in order to keep them topped up.

We watched a few funny videos on YouTube prior to playing, though I'm not sure whether this was a good idea or not, as one minute I was laughing and the next I was filled with dread as to what they may taste like, but after building myself up to it, I was ready to play!

We sat down in the evening a couple of hours after eating our dinner, and the kids were already laughing before we had even began. My husband was confident that none of the flavours would bother him, and I was merely sat there wondering what on earth I had let myself in for. My son chose to spin first and it landed on blue. I was somewhat relieved by this, as the thought of a toothpaste jelly bean didn't bother me too much, but miraculously we all had correct Berry Blue flavour.

Next up my daughter took her turn to spin and it landed on brown, I was quite looking forward to trying a chocolate pudding jelly bean, but oh no, as soon as I bit into it, it tasted just how dog food smells and despite my best efforts to keep my disgusted face hidden, I just couldn't do it. I quickly ran to the kitchen to grab a drink, which in hindsight I should have made sure we all had before playing. The kids were all laughing hysterically at my panicked face, which was then making me giggle too whilst desperately trying to remove the dog food flavour from my tongue. I swear I can still taste it now.

I will hold my hand up at this point and admit that I excluded myself from the game when it landed on the peach colour, I just could not bring myself to try a vomit flavour jelly bean. Yes I am a total wimp, and either my kids are extremely good at lying, or they totally swerved this one and all managed to pick the correct flavour of peach again, so as of yet, none of us have had the unfortunate displeasure of tasting this one. The only one that didn't bother me too much was the toothpaste flavour as this just tasted like the pink drink you have at the dentist, although it was rather strange having it in sweet form!


The game is great fun both for families or groups of adults and although some of the jelly beans may taste vile, they don't actually contain any vomit or dog food, and I checked the ingredients on numerous occasions just to make sure. We are planning on playing this again over Christmas when all the family come round, and I am looking forward to seeing all their faces. I played this with my eldest children who are 8 & 10, which I felt was just about the right age for children to enjoy playing but obviously this is down to parent discretion.

If I was to change anything it would be to remove the vomit flavour and replace it with something less disgusting. I have a fear of being sick as it is, and so no matter how hard I tried to participate fully in the game, there was no way I could bring myself to try this one. Our version of the game was the 3rd edition, so it would seem that they change the flavours occasionally, so I would be interested to find out what flavours may be on the next edition.

Jelly Belly have a great combination offer on their UK site at present for a 100g box with spinner and a 45g refill pack for only £10. This can be found here: Jelly Belly Bean Boozled

Disclaimer: I was provided with this product free of charge, for the purpose of providing an honest opinion and review. All opinions are my own.






Saturday 3 December 2016

Letterbox cakes by bakerdays - A Review

I love surprise post, though obviously not the kind of surprise post where you receive a bill you weren't expecting, but nice unexpected surprises like a birthday card from a friend, flowers, or a treat from a family member. I was therefore really happy to learn more about bakerdays who provide quality cakes from artisan bakers and specialise in producing personalised celebration cakes. In addition to the usual range of cake sizes, they offer a fantastic product that allows you to create personalised letterbox sized cakes. Yes you read that right, letterbox sized CAKES!

Cake & coffee are two of my favourite things, so when I was offered the opportunity to review their service and product, the thought of this whole concept immediately grabbed my attention. I thought how surprised family members would be if they received a cake through the post instead of a card, or what a nice treat it would be to send to a friend at their works address. I was keen to find out more so I headed over to their website to see what it was all about.


The website was easy to navigate, and featured a wide range of categories that covered cakes for every occasion.  There was an explanation at the bottom of the home page that described the ordering process which sounded really simple. All you have to do is choose a size, flavour and then add the special message of your choice.  The process sounded too easy to be true, so I set about trying to design my cake.

The cakes come in a round shape in a range of sizes that can cover between 3-60 portions. The choice of sizes are as follows:
  • Letterbox cakes - 5 inches ( 12cm x 2.5cm). Suitable for 3-4 portions.
  • Small party cake - 7 inches (17cm x 5.5cm). Suitable for 10-12 portions.
  • Medium party cake - 9 inches (24cm x 6.5cm). Suitable for 18-25 portions.
  • Large party cake - 12 inches (30cm x 7.5cm). Suitable for 40-55 portions.
Bakerdays state on their website that all cakes are made to order and shipped in rugged packaging. They also offer a guarantee that it will arrive safely and on time. The company are clearly confident in their product and service which is great to see.

I chose to order a Letterbox cake, and with it being close to Christmas I decided that I wanted to go for a fun festive design. There were so many to choose from, but in the end I selected a Teddy design wearing a Santa hat that was surrounded by twinkly stars and a selection of presents.  I had a choice of fillings including dairy free and gluten wheat free options, but I decided to go for a Vanilla sponge cake with buttercream which had a price tag of £14.99.


You then have the option of having a personalised or unpersonalised cake. I thought it would be lovely to have a personalised one for my children and so I wrote Merry Christmas Riley, Ben & Emma. You can have a maximum of 40 characters so I was pleased that this just fitted nicely. The very clever website then even gives you a preview of your cake so that you can be sure it is exactly how you want it before you complete your purchase.

Once you are happy with your cake you simply add it to your online basket and checkout! There is a large range of postal options and you can even send your cake abroad using international delivery. My cake only took a couple of days to arrive and I couldn't wait to open it up.


The cake came presented in a cake tin that was in a letterbox sized cardboard box. Inside the box there was a cracker, along with a card. When you order other celebration cakes these also come with balloons instead of the cracker. There was a sticker on the inside lid of the box that provided the list of ingredients and I loved the fact that I would be able to use the tin again myself in the future which was an added bonus.


After I had sneaked a peek at the cake myself, I closed the box up and waited for the kids to get home. I hadn't told them about the cake beforehand so it was a total surprise and I couldn't wait to see their reaction. On opening the box, they were amazed that the cake had their names on it, and they loved the image I had chosen. I liked the fact that the text was really clear, as you can see in the image below. However, as much as they loved the look of it though, they couldn't wait to tuck in and try some.


It is described as being suitable for 3-4 portions, but we managed to have a small slice each between the 5 of us. The cake tasted perfectly fresh and soft, and the icing was lovely. I hadn't expected it to be as good a quality as it was, so I was quite surprised by how enjoyable and delicious it actually turned out to be.

Overall we were really pleased with the service that bakerdays offered, and the product that was delivered. I particularly liked how easy it was to order, and the wide range of occasions that the cakes cover. I have decided that I will most likely buy my children's teachers one each at the end of the school year as it is something both unique and delicious, and I will definitely be considering them as birthday gifts instead of cards in the future.

If you would like to connect with bakerdays or simply find out more, then why not take a look at their social media pages which can be found here:

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Website

Disclaimer - I was provided with this product free of charge for the purpose of providing an honest review.

Thursday 1 December 2016

Disney On Ice presents Frozen comes to the Liverpool Echo Arena - Review

Well, we still haven't quite got over the excitement from last night, where we were fortunate to attend the opening night of Disney on Ice presents Frozen at the Liverpool Echo Arena. It was fantastic to see so many children ready to enjoy themselves with the majority dressed up as their favourite Frozen characters. We spotted some amazing Olaf and Elsa costumes whilst waiting to take our seats, and it was a really fun and relaxed atmosphere to be surrounded by.

We began our exciting evening out by catching the train from North Wales to Liverpool. It only took us 45 minutes with a change in Bidston and both trains were relatively quiet when we travelled at 3:30pm so there was no worry about trying to find some seats. Under 5's travel free on the train so it only cost us £10.50 for 3 of us for a single way fare. My husband drove there straight from work and met us at the venue after parking in the Waterfront car park which cost £7 which I felt was reasonable for venue parking in comparison to other places we have visited.


The Liverpool Echo Arena, is my favourite entertainment venue for many reasons. The first being the location as Liverpool is such a fabulous city, and the setting on the waterfront is just perfect. I absolutely love it in the summer, but in the Winter it is so pretty with all the festive decorations and twinkling lights everywhere. We saw some fabulous displays on our walk from James Street station to the venue, which felt like an attraction in itself. There are plenty of restaurants and other attractions nearby, so if you have the time you can make it a lovely family day out.

My second reason for loving this venue is quite simply the people that work here, we have never had a bad experience with any of the staff and have always found that they take great pride in their jobs and offer fantastic customer service and hospitality to their guests. An example of this last night, was when I was carrying my son out of the venue when the show finished (and my husband was laden with coats and bags), and without asking, a member of security walked ahead and opened the doors for us. It is little things like this that can make a big difference to a families experience because as we all know it can be quite stressful taking toddlers out and about, so every little bit of help is often appreciated.


After arriving at the venue, we were really excited to have the opportunity to meet Elsa, Anna, and the amazing Mickey Mouse. The costumes were amazing, and despite my son's earlier declaration that he no longer liked girls, he was ultimately delighted to meet his favourite characters from the show. It was also great to see so many local celebrities attending in support of the show, and I also enjoyed the opportunity to meet some other bloggers and their children.


Shortly before the event started we took our seats. The tickets said upper tier and my immediate thought was 'Oh no I've forgotten my glasses" however the seats were actually fantastic and we had a brilliant view. The seats are tiered appropriately as well, and by this I mean that your children can see from their seats regardless of if an adult is sat in front of them. This is one of my biggest annoyances in other venues where you then have to spend the entire show listening to your child declare that they cannot see anything over and over again due to the 6ft person seated in front. It definitely wasn't an issue with these seats though, and there was also sufficient room in front of the seats for children to get up and dance along with the show.

The entertainment began with a mini 10 minute show promoting the new "Fit to Dance" programme, which encourages children to get fit and active by creating their own stories and displaying them through dance. We learnt the Snowman dance, and my son loved the part where you had to "Put your hands around your middle and Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle".

The two Fit to Dance instructors then introduced some all time favourite Disney characters which included Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Ariel & Eric, Cinderella and Prince Charming, Timon and Puumba, and Marlin & Dory. My youngest son Riley was delighted by this, and thought it was hilarious when Goofy kept pretending to fall over. The dancing was fantastic, and the ice skaters exhibited some amazing skills which were fascinating to watch. We are lucky to have an ice skating rink nearby so my eldest son started asking straight away if we could go ice skating at the weekend, which I don't mind as it is great to see kids be inspired to try something new and this was just from the opening ten minutes.


The main part of the show then began and we were introduced to the Kingdom of Arendelle, and the young characters Anna and Elsa. Whilst playing happily in the snow Elsa accidentally hurts Anna and vows never to do it again, and she hides away fearing that she is unable to control her powers. The way that this was portrayed was simple enough for children to understand, yet also displayed great technical skating which made it great for both the children and adults to watch.

As the story continued we saw the kingdom prepare for Elsa's coronation, and this was one of my favourite parts of the show as I love it when there are numerous dancers involved and the choreography looked amazing. During the coronation celebrations Princess Anna meets Prince Hans, and despite only just meeting, they hastily fall in love and Princess Anna accepts his wedding proposal. This scene is accompanied by the lovely song "Love is an open door" and it was a really nice piece of ice dancing. Queen Elsa forbids the sudden marriage however, and in an outburst of anger she plunges the kingdom into an enternal winter. Princess Anna then embarks on a magical journey to find Queen Elsa, fix their relationship and put an end to the winter.

The show then takes you on an amazing journey with Princess Anna on her quest, where she meets Kristoff and Sven who help her on her journey. The first half also featured the iconic "Let it Go" song and it was great to hear everyone singing along including parents!


There was then an interval of around 15 minutes, which gave the chance for snacks & toilet breaks. There were plenty of facilities within the venue so the queues weren't too long and my husband and son both managed to get back to their seats with plenty of time to spare.

One thing I would like to highlight about the show is how relaxed it is for families. All the children are up singing, dancing and chatting along, and so it makes it much more comfortable for parents who don't have to keep telling their children to sit down or be quiet. My son liked to switch seats regularly throughout the show with his brother, and would intermittently swap from my knee to his dad's knee too, but we didn't need to worry about him bothering any other guests as most children were up on their feet anyway.

The second half featured my absolute favourite performance of the night which came from Olaf and his "In Summer" song. This was a fantastically choreographed piece which was both entertaining and mesmerising to watch. There was obvious laughter throughout the venue when Olaf first came out onto the ice and it was quite clear that children loved him.


The show also featured an excellent display of remote controlled features, including the spectacular scene of the Marshmallow Ice Monster which grew larger and larger. My son was a little bit scared during this part, but I think that this was a combination of the monster and also feeling tired. I personally found it interesting to see remote controlled objects used amongst the ice skaters and felt it was a great use of technology.

Another aspect of the show that my children loved was the snow. The scenes were frequently filled with snow falling from the roof which helped to make it feel really magical and wintry. It made me look forward to hopefully seeing snowfall this winter, especially on Christmas Day, now wouldn't that be great!

Overall we had a fantastic time, the show was captivating from start to finish and I can only imagine the amount of hours that the performers have to put in to rehearsals to make such a great show. The standard of ice skating and choreography was exceptional and I enjoyed the fact that the dancers made full use of the ice so you could get a great view from wherever you were sat in the audience. I also appreciated the fact that they had incorporated some of the favourite Disney characters into the show, as although it was Disney on Ice presents Frozen, everyone loves Mickey Mouse! My youngest son being only aged 3 did get a little sleepy towards the end of the evening, however there are some 10:30am and 2:30pm shows during its run at the Echo Arena which I would definitely recommend if attending with babies and toddlers.

There are still some tickets available and it is running until the 4th December so if you would like to purchase tickets for the show, or find out more about the production then please visit:

www.disneyonice.com or www.echoarena.com

Alternatively you can contact the Echo Arena box office on 0844 8000 400

A full list of tour dates can also be found on the Disney on Ice website here: Disney on Ice




*Disclaimer - I was provided with complimentary tickets for the purpose of providing an honest review of our experience. Any opinions expressed are my own.

Wednesday 30 November 2016

The Gloriumptious Worlds of Roald Dahl - Review and Competition

I have fond memories as a child of reading my favourite Roald Dahl books over and over again, and they would be the first books I would choose to borrow from the library. My favourites were Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, The Witches. Fantastic Mr Fox and The Twits, but in reality I literally loved them all.

At the time, they were the only books that could really draw me into the story and make me laugh along as I read, and over the years I received many of Roald Dahl's books as gifts for Christmas or Birthdays and I was never disappointed. My children have gone on to enjoy these stories too, and have also built up quite a collection themselves.

However, when stories capture your imagination as much as Roald Dahl's do, doesn't it often get you wondering more about the characters, or simply imagining What Happened Next?

I was therefore delighted when I came across "The Gloriumptious Worlds of Roald Dahl" written by Stella Caldwell, illustrated by the wonderful Quentin Blake and published by Carlton Books.



The front cover of the book features a whole host of illustrations of popular characters, and the book is described as "A spectacular scrapbook of stories, characters and creations". It looked fun and inviting and I couldn't wait to open it up and read inside.

Unfortunately, my son got there before me, and I was pleased to see that after only a short while, he was chuckling away to himself whilst reading. After a bit of persuasion, he agreed to let me have a look through it with him so we could enjoy the book together.

The first couple of pages provided a little bit of insight into Roald Dahl's world, providing some facts and information on where he may have got some of his ideas from, based on his own life experiences. These small pieces of information continue throughout the book and really help you to learn more about the author and realise the inspiration behind the stories.



My son particularly enjoyed the Charlie and the Chocolate scrapbook pages which featured a funny advert for Willy Wonka's invisible Chocolate Bars, described as being perfect for eating in class, along with a letter from a school complaining about Willy Wonka's spotty powder which causes those who consume it to break out in bright red spots and as a result, half of the school was absent due to suspected "chicken pox". My son thought that this was hilarious and a great idea to get a few days off school, if only such a sweet existed! There was also a field guide to "Loompaland" where you can read all about where the Oompa-Loompas live, along with a map and dietery information!


My favourite was the government health warning in The Twits section telling you to be "Beard Aware - Know Before You Grow" informing you of all the things that could be hiding in your beard. Luckily being female, I don't have to worry about this too much, but it made me laugh and go ewwwww at the same time! There is also a very handy guide on How to be a Twit, just in case you ever become interested in the "Twittish Trickery of a Twit" haha!



There is also a lovely end to the book, that I won't reveal, but if you are a fan of Roald Dahl quotes like myself, then you won't be disappointed and I thought that this was a really fitting way to not only end the book, but to also remember Roald Dahl aswel.

The book itself is a 64 page hardback book priced at £16.99. It is designed with a scrapbook theme, with lots of little inserts, imaginary newspaper articles, recipes, photos & letters, and is sure to be a delight for any Roald Dahl fan.

If you would like to purchase this book, then this can be found on the Carlton Books website here: Carlton Books - The Gloriumptious Worlds of Roald Dahl

To celebrate this wonderful book, Carlton Books have kindly provided me with a copy to giveaway to one lucky reader. All you have to do is enter using the gleam form below. Good luck!

The Gloriumptious Worlds of Roald Dahl Book Giveaway

Terms and Conditions:
Entry is open to UK residents aged 18 or over. Any bulk/third party entries will be disqualified. The winner shall be drawn at random from all eligible entries. The winner shall be notified via email and will have 14 days to confirm that they wish to accept the prize. Should the winner fail to respond, then a new winner shall be selected at random from the remaining entries. The winner's details will be shared with the promoter for the purpose of prize fulfillment, which shall be sent directly from the promoter. Please allow up to 28 days for delivery, though every effort shall be made to try and get this to the winner before Christmas.

*Disclaimer - I was provided with this product free of charge for the purpose of this review and to give my honest opinion of this book. All opinions are my own.

Monday 28 November 2016

A Crazy Time with Crazy Claw! - Review & Competition

Thanks to Drumond Park, we have another fabulous game to show you called Crazy Claw in addition to a fantastic giveaway. This game is aimed more at younger children and is recommended for 2-4 players aged 5+.



The game is reminiscent of the popular arcade machines where you try to grab a toy with the machine powered claw. However, in this game, it is you that is in control of the claw, whilst your opponents try to make it as difficult as possible for you to collect the toy tokens that you need. We had already seen this game advertised on television and so we were very excited to be able to try it out.

When I first received the product, I was surprised by the size of the box. It was much smaller than I was expecting, as I had already seen the size of the claw machine in the adverts. This did ring some alarm bells for me as I though uh-oh this must mean self assembly required, which unfortunately is not one of my greatest skills.



The front of the box displays two children enjoying the game, and trying to catch the balls inside. The imagery is a mixture of real products and people, combined with some cartoon graphics, with an area of text describing it as "The Crazy Arcade Action Game". It is bright, colourful and looks exciting to play.


The reverse of the box provides a bit more information, along with a further two images, one of which that shows you what the toy tokens look like inside the balls. There is a brief description of how to play the game which is really easy to read and understand, and this is followed by the contents list and company information.

On opening the box, we found:

  • A Unit Base and lid
  • Folding clear unit walls
  • Grabber
  • 12 balls
  • 12 Toy Tokens
  • 4 Collection Cards
  • 2 Sticker Sheets
  • Instructions
I need not have worried earlier about the self assembly, this was really easy and took me less than a minute to put together. The plastic unit walls simply slot into the base and then you place the lid on top. It was myself that built it on this occasion, but I am confident that the kids will have no issue doing this themselves in the future. The stickers can then be added which the children wanted to do, so that was the longest part as it took them half an hour to make sure all the stickers were perfect and in the right place.



The game is recommended for age 5+ but having had a quick read through the instructions, I felt that the concept of the game was very easy and my 3 year old had no issues in understanding how to play. The aim is to grab the correct balls that have the toy tokens inside to fill your game card before the others. Each game card features three different tokens, and if you choose a ball that has a matching token inside you can keep the token and put the empty ball back into the game, making it harder for your opponents. If you select a game token that you don't have then you simply place the ball & token back into play, whilst trying to remember which ball it was so you don't pick it again!



For additional enjoyment, you can also make the game more difficult for the other players, by tapping like crazy on the paddles that are around the outside of the walls. This causes the balls to bounce around in all directions and makes it harder to both grab the balls, and also to keep track of the ball you want. My children had a great time with this game, and it is definitely one that they won't be getting bored of any time soon.


If I was to make any critical point, it is just the fact that you need to dismantle it and rebuild it each time you play if you want it to remain in the box, as obviously it does not fit when built. You could choose to leave it assembled and store it somewhere else, however with the walls only being made from plastic, I would be worried about damage that could occur, and so for the sake of a couple of minutes it is definitely better to dismantle it and store in the box it came in.

Overall we really enjoyed this game, and I can see this being the first game that gets pulled out of the cupboard when my children have friends round. It has an RRP of £22.99 which is slightly higher than what I would usually pay for a game, however with it being a unique idea that offers lots of fun, I would be happy to pay this.

If you would love to try this game, then I have a fantastic opportunity for you to win one courtesy of Drumond Park. They have kindly provided a prize for one winner, and if you would like to try your chances, then simply enter using the Gleam form below. Good Luck!

Win Crazy Claw by Drumond Park Terms and Conditions:
Entry is open to UK residents aged 18 or over. Any bulk/third party entries will be disqualified. The winner shall be drawn at random from all eligible entries. The winner shall be notified via email and will have 14 days to confirm that they wish to accept the prize. Should the winner fail to respond, then a new winner shall be selected at random from the remaining entries. The winner's details will be shared with the promoter for the purpose of prize fulfillment, which shall be sent directly from the promoter. Please allow up to 28 days for delivery, though every effort shall be made to try and get this to the winner before Christmas.

*Disclaimer - I was provided with this product free of charge for the purpose of this review and to give my honest opinion of this game. All opinions are my own.




This product is available to buy from Amazon, and other good retailers. The link above is an affiliate link which means that if you choose to purchase after clicking, then I may receive a small commission. These small commissions help me to run this site and provide great content for my readers.

Sunday 27 November 2016

Family Fun with Stoopido - A Review

We are big fans of fun family games that get you giggling, and so we were absolutely delighted to be offered the opportunity to review this fab game Stoopido, which is sure to be a popular addition to children's Christmas lists.

The game is made by Drumond Park who already offer a whole host of games to the market, but the fun and silliness of this particular one, had us keen to find out more!



The packaging for this particular product is really eye catching, bright and colourful, and features a selection of funny faces on the front of the box. It is recommended for 2-4 players, and for ages 8+. You can already gain a good idea of what the game involves from the images, so you can tell straight away whether it looks like a game that would appeal to your family. 

The reverse side of the box, shows you a visual guide as to where the pieces attach onto your glasses, along with some brief instructions informing you of how to play the game. Along with this is a list of contents, the manufacturers contact details, and an important notice that the game is NOT suitable for children under 36 months due to the small parts.

I could already tell from the packaging alone, that this game was going to be hilarious!



Inside the box, there was a bag containing 4 pairs of red glasses and 15 plastic clips, a bag with the Stoopitoot (love this word) and dice inside, 1 sheet of card featuring the 4 slap pads, 25 x Stoopido face pieces, 1 Stoopido Loser Sign, and the all important instructions. The Stoopido face pieces, slap pads, and loser sign, are featured on 6 sheets of card, and you simply just press them out to get all the individual pieces.



We began by pressing out all the pieces from the cardboard sheets and attaching the nose and ear clips to the face pieces. My children's first instinct was to try and make the funniest faces they could, before even starting to play the game, but then we sat down and my daughter read out the instructions. Although recommended for over 8's my youngest son (nearly 4) was also keen to get involved too and I was happy for him to do so, since I was playing aswel and could keep an eye on him. 

We each put on our pair of glasses and then placed the Stoopitoot in the middle of the floor with the Slap Pads surrounding it and then spread the face pieces around and we were ready to play!

To begin play, you simply roll the dice, and see where it lands. If you land on a Nose, Eyes, Hat or Ears image, then the first player to touch the corresponding Slap pads wins that round. The winner of that round then gets to pick a Stoopido Face Piece and add it to the glasses of ANY player that doesn't already have a face piece of that feature. So for example you couldn't add a nose to someone that already has one. If you roll the glasses side of the dice, then this unfortunately means that the player to your left can add a feature which you don't already have to your own glasses, and lastly if you roll the Stoopitoot then the first player to squeak the Stoopitoot can choose to either pick a Stoopido face piece of any feature and add it to any players glasses, or they can remove a feature from their own glasses.



If you win a round and each player already has the piece that you rolled then you can remove this piece from your own glasses. Once a players glasses are completely full then they are the LOSER and out of the game and have to sit there looking hilariously ridiculous!

The aim of the game is to be the last player left without a full Stoopido face on their glasses. For added fun you can take pictures of all the other players that lost holding the Stoopido Loser sign.

After reading the instructions a couple of times we began to play. I had been a little worried that it sounded a bit confusing, however once playing it all became really clear and the game is very easy to follow. It was so funny seeing each others funny faces and being able to choose what we added to each others glasses. My son especially liked the "Bogey nose" piece, ewwww! We played it a few times together and loved the fact that there are so many different combinations that you can make, so the game is never the same as the last time you played it, with everyone looking ridiculous on a whole different scale, each time we played.

I also loved the fact that no-one actually minded losing in this game, as the kids were quite keen to totally cover their glasses as quickly as they could just so they could see how silly their Stoopido face was. This helped to make it much more enjoyable, as my children weren't as competitive and as a result it prevented arguments, that can often arise when playing a more serious game.


Would I recommend it?

Absolutely! If you enjoy family time and a good giggle then this is the game for you. It has an RRP of £17.99 which I think represents good value as it can be played over and over again without becoming boring, due to there being so many different combinations. If you enjoy your more serious games, that involve some element of skill then sadly this game would not be for you, however I believe that everyone enjoys just relaxing and being silly with the kids every now and again and I am sure that many families would really enjoy this product. In fact, we enjoyed this game so much that I have decided to also include this in my Christmas Gift Guide for Children which I will be posting at the beginning of December, so make sure you check back to the blog soon to see what else we will be featuring.

If I was to change one thing, it would be that I would have preferred the dice to have been a bit larger, as sometimes it was hard to see which feature it had landed on, especially the yellow side, but we soon learnt what colour represented which feature. I would have also have loved to have had a fold-able picture frame included so at the end of the game you could take a picture with you all in it like a portrait.

Disclaimer - I was sent this product for free to provide our personal review and opinion on this product. This review is my honest opinion of our experience with the game.



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