Showing posts with label products. Show all posts
Showing posts with label products. Show all posts

Friday 4 June 2021

Disney Classic Plush Collection - A Review

During the most recent lockdown, my family and I subscribed to Disney+ which not only allowed my children to watch some of their favourite films, but it also gave us the opportunity to rediscover some Disney Classics together. I was therefore really excited to learn about the Disney Plush Classic Range from Simba Toys, which features iconic characters from films such as 101 Dalmations, The Aristocats, Lady & The Tramp, Dumbo and even more. 

Riley recently received three plush toys from the collection with the first one being the stunning Dumbo. I used to love this film as a child and each of my children had a small Dumbo soft toy when they were babies, so this particular item brought back some really nice memories for me. My son is still at the age where he loves pretend play, so from the moment it arrived, he immediately began to run round the garden with Dumbo, trying to teach him how to fly. 

The quality of this product is absolutely superb and the stitching is very neat and detailed, which really contributes to the character likeness. Riley loves how cuddly it is with the material being so soft. My son enjoys placing his face next to Dumbo's ear as the fabric feels so lovely and it is such a nice item to snuggle up to.

The second toy Riley received was the beautiful Marie from The Aristocats. She is so snuggly and features a pretty pink bow. Like the other toys in the collection, Marie is hand wash only, but given their size, this shouldn't be too difficult a task and in the summer months they can easily dry outside in the sunshine.

Riley hasn't actually seen The Aristocats before, so he is now intrigued to see the film and find out more about Marie. In the meantime he has been enjoying plenty of pretend play and cuddling up to the adorable snuggly fabric.


The Dalmation is so huggable and this was Riley's favourite of them all. He has watched the film 101 Dalmations numerous times, so he was delighted to have a plush toy of a beautiful dalmation pup. The fabric is so gentle and incredibly soft and even the little red collar is nice and smooth. The collar is also centrally stitched at the front and rear, so no worries about it coming loose or being removed.

The attention to detail is fabulous and Riley enjoyed counting all the spots over it's body. He kept losing count of how many there were, but I am now reliably informed that there are 30 spots in total.

Overall I absolutely love this range of soft toys and they are the perfect gift for both children and Disney fans of all ages. They are beautifully made, super soft and there is a great selection to choose from. They can be purchased in a range of different sizes which include 17cm, 25cm and 35cm. The toys featured in this review are the 25cm size which I felt was just perfect for playing with at home, or for taking on our travels too. 

The toys are really light and comfortable to hold, so Riley has already decided that the Dalmation will be coming on holiday with us in the future. One thing I really liked about the soft toys in this review, was that they can also be displayed nicely without just falling over, which is a common problem I have had with other toys. I feel that these plush toys offer excellent value for money and they can be purchased from Amazon.

If you would like to find out more about Simba Toys UK or the Disney Plush Classic Range then you can visit their social media pages on the following channels:

Facebook - Simba Toys UK

Instagram - @simbatoysuk

*Disclaimer - We were gifted three Disney Classic Soft Toys for the purpose of writing an honest review of the product. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post contains an Amazon affiliate link.

Tuesday 21 April 2020

National Stationery Week with Cross Pens - A Review

As I work from home, it is fair to say that I have accumulated a fair amount of stationery over the years. My collection includes everything from post-it notes to pencils, paperclips to pens and staplers to sharpeners and I like to keep it all nicely organised.

I was therefore really keen to be involved with National Stationery Week this year, which is happening this week up until the 26th April 2020. With the lock down still in place, it is also the perfect time to support National Stationery Week, by getting your stationery out and writing a letter or drawing a picture to send to a friend or family member to let them know you are thinking of them.

My children and I have decided to write my parents (their grandparents) a letter this week, to let them know just how much we are missing them. They live only half a mile away from us, so it has been so hard to not be able to just pop round and see them every couple of days like we usually would, so we thought that writing a letter would bring a smile to all our faces instead.


In collaboration with National Stationery Week, one of their sponsors Cross, kindly sent us a lovely gift of a Wanderlust Pen, which I am really excited to use to write my letter with. I have always considered Cross to be a premium brand and their products appear to me as being sophisticated, professional and most importantly excellent quality.

The Wanderlust pens have been inspired by Planet Earth and as someone who loves to travel, the idea behind these designs suits me just perfectly. Mine is the Antelope Canyon Ballpoint Pen, which is just over 5 inches in length. It has a lovely and elegant curved clip, which complements the white lacquer and gold plated engravings beautifully.


This pen will cost you £65.00 on the Cross website and it comes nicely presented in a premium gift box, making it the perfect stationery treat for yourself, or as a quality gift to celebrate a special occasion or birthday.

Overall, I am absolutely in love with my Cross pen and it is a pleasure to write with. The pen just glides across the paper and writing seems much more effortless. I am definitely going to treat myself to some other items in the Cross range in the future and if you would like to take a look at some of the products available, then you can visit the Cross website or their social media pages on the following channels:



If you would like to find out more about National Stationery Week, then check out their social media channels below. I have also found some fantastic competitions over on Twitter in celebration of #NatStatWeek, so be sure to check out the hashtag too!



*Disclaimer - We were gifted a Cross Wanderlust Pen in collaboration with Cross and National Stationery Week. All opinions and thoughts are my own unless otherwise stated.



Wednesday 4 December 2019

Creating Gummy Sweets with Bandai Foodie Surprise! - Review

Foodie Surprise is a brand new craft toy collectible from Bandai, that combines the fun of getting crafty and creative with a collectible treat. It is the world's first sweet making collectible and the DIY sweet making kits come with everything you need to get started in making your very own gummy sweets.

There are currently four main Foodie Surprise Food Carts to collect which are the Ice Cream Cart, the Pizza Cart, the Sushi Cart and the Bubble Tea Cart.  Each of these come complete with a mould for creating your sweets, along with a sweetie storage collectible containing at least 10 surprises inside. As well as the Food Carts, you can also purchase Mini Collectible Take Out Sets, which are smaller than the main Food Carts, but still contain all you need to get started.


Riley was sent several products from the range to review and he couldn't wait to get started making his very own sweets. We began with the Foodie Surprise Food Cart, as this was the first item that caught Riley's attention and we opened the box to find out what was inside. We had received an Ice Cream Cart and enclosed within the box was:

  • 1 Food Cart
  • 1 Candy Storage Container
  • Numerous packs of Candy Powder
  • 1 Collector's Poster
  • 1 Eye Dropper
  • 1 Mixing Tool
  • 1 Mixing/Measuring Cup
  • Vac Form Mould Trays
  • 1 Ball Chain
  • A set of instructions

We began by having a look through the instructions to get a good idea of what we needed to do, before beginning to create the first part of our Foodie Surprise sweets. The first item we created were the waffle bowls and we filled the measuring jug with water up to the recommended fill line in the guide.


We then added the peach coloured powder and mixed the solution together. We then poured this into the moulds and allowed them to set. Next up was the cherries, so I gave the tools a quick wash and then followed the same process of filling the measuring cup to the guide line and adding the red powder to create our gummy cherries. It was then the same process for the gummy bananas so we were starting to get the hang of things.

The ice cream scoops were slightly different as this involved rolling the mixture into a ball using your hands, much to Riley's delight. We did this for both the Vanilla ice cream scoops and the Strawberry scoops.

With our sweet treats now starting to take shape we commenced the final part of the process to create the drizzle topping, which was really easy to do and Riley was really pleased with his finished Foodie Surprise Gummy Sweets. These could be placed into the food cart, which involved a minimal amount of self assembly and our set was then complete. Our first attempt turned out well with a jelly like texture, so our attention then turned to the Takeouts Box.


Our smaller Foodie Surprise Takeouts Box contained a Foodie Surprise Donut Takeout Set, Confectionary Powder, Moulds, an Eye Dropper, Measuring Cup and a Mixing Tool. The instructions were simple enough, however they are visual with images as opposed to text and personally I prefer written instructions to ensure that we are following the process accurately.


Our Donut set involved three different elements that we needed to make, starting with the donut dough base and then followed by the green and white icing. Riley really enjoyed it and he loved the fact that he was making his own sweets which made our efforts completely worth while. The process is a little time consuming and our donut dough gummy seemed to have a different consistency to the gummy sweets we had created previously, so I was a little unsure as to whether we had done this one correctly and without a written guide to refer to, it was hard to tell.

Overall Riley enjoyed attempting to make some gummy sweets that we could eat and it was fun to try a completely different kind of creative activity. There are 4 food carts to collect in Series One which come in two different colour ways for each theme and I like the fact that the food carts can also be used as storage for the sweets or moulds once you have finished your sweetie-making craft. Riley really enjoyed creating gummy sweets himself and then displaying them in his food cart. He would then pretend that he was running a sweet shop and would invite his brother and sister to come and sample his food. We found the Foodie Surprise Food Cart sweets turned out much better for us than the Takeouts Box, but Riley enjoyed using both items. The products are recommended for children aged 6+ and I think that this is accurate with parental help and supervision. 

The Foodie Surprise Food Cart has an RRP of £15.00, whilst the Foodie Surprise Takeouts Box has an RRP of £8.00. Both of these items are available for sale from toy retailers including The Entertainer, Smyths Toys and Amazon.


*Disclaimer - We were gifted these products for the purpose of writing an honest review of the items and our experience. All opinions and photographs are my own unless otherwise stated. This post contains an Amazon affiliate link.

Friday 15 February 2019

Aquabeads Disney Tsum Tsum Character Set - A Review

If you are a regular reader to the blog, you will know that we are huge fans of Aquabeads and over the past couple of years it has become one of our favourite indoor activities. With the weather being so awful lately, it has given us plenty of time to enjoy making some new creations and we have recently added a new set to our Aquabeads collection........The Disney Tsum Tsum Character Set.

The Aquabeads Disney Tsum Tsum Character Set includes everything you need to start creating, so it can be purchased and used as a set of its own, or you can use it as an add-on to your existing collection.


The box is small so it is easy to both carry and store, though despite its size, there are plenty of contents inside. The front of the box shows all of the characters that you can create, as well as showing an image of the display, sprayer and layout tray. This helps you to see exactly what is included in the pack, as well as giving you a good idea of what you can make. It is recommended for children aged 4+ due to small parts.

The reverse of the box provides a full contents list and this set includes:
  • 2 Template Sheets (Printed on both sides)
  • Display
  • 1 x Sprayer
  • 1 x Layout Tray
  • Solid beads consisting of 20 black, 60 white, 10 orange, 30 yellow, 40 light blue, 30 light green, 10 green, 40 pink, 10 blue, 90 light orange, 20 brown, 20 purple, 40 light brown, 80 ivory, 40 grey, 10 red
  • Jewel beads consisting of 30 pink, 10 brown, 20 green and 10 purple
  • Instructions

We already had an Aquabeads storage case* which came with a previous set, so to begin with I opened each of the bead packets and my son Riley sorted them into his case and arranged the colours. He then had a look at each of the templates and chose which Tsum Tsum characters he would like to make first. Once he had made his decision, we placed it in the layout tray, ready to start creating.

*Star storage case is our own from a different set and is not included in the Tsum Tsum Character Set.
Riley has made so many Aquabeads creations now that he knows exactly what to do and finds it really simple. I used to have to help him place the beads on the tray, as well as assist with finding the right colours, but now that he is 6, he manages all this on his own with ease. After a short while, Riley had completed the first characters so decided to continue with the other templates using an additional tray that we already had.


Once the templates were finished, Riley filled the sprayer with water and began to spray his creations. The water then fixes the beads together and you then simply leave them to dry for a short period of time. After the recommended time of 60 minutes had elapsed, Riley then began to remove his creations from the tray and place them into the display. 


We did have a peeler from a previous set on standby to help with this, however due to the Tsum Tsum characters being quite small, we were actually able to remove these easily with our hands and no beads became separated. 

I really liked the idea of the display and Riley enjoyed setting out all the characters exactly where he wanted them. The display is made from cardboard and is really easy to slot together, but should you have any difficulties, then the instructions provide guide images to help you.

As with all the Aquabeads sets we have tried, Riley really enjoyed this. He loves being able to create the designs all on his own and he feels a sense of accomplishment once he has finished. I think that this set is great value for money as you get quite a lot of contents included. It is a great set to use as an introduction to Aquabeads, but also a fabulous set to add to an existing collection. It is currently available to purchase from Amazon and other good toy retailers.

For more information on Aquabeads you can visit their website or social media pages, which can be found on the following channels:

Website - https://www.aquabeadsart.com/en-uk/catalog.html
Facebook - facebook.com/aquabeadsuk
Twitter - @aquabeadsuk
Instagram - @aquabeadsuk


Disclaimer: We were sent this item for the purpose of writing an honest review of the product. Opinions are my own unless otherwise stated. This post contains an Amazon affiliate link which means that I may receive a small commission should you choose to make a purchase from this retailer.