Christmas has come early! Our festive favourites from the MiComms Christmas in July event.

The Wee Man was very disappointed last Saturday, as due to an allergic reaction to piriton he was too poorly to get out and enjoy the sunshine.

Not only was it lovely weather outside – but completely incongruously – MiComms PR had turned the day into Christmas, in a house full of decorations, toys, festive food and a visit from the big man in red himself: Father Christmas! A double whammy of disappointment as the Wee Man was desperate to check that Father Christmas knows how good he’s been so far this year!

Bubby D and I promised to check with Father Christmas, report back on the toys and perhaps even bring him back a little something, and then off we went…

…and here’s what we told the Wee Man when we got home:

Fire breathing dragons are real! The Wee Man is obsessed with fire breathing dragons, and was sad when I told him they are only pretend – but now he reckons I’ve been proved wrong! Ok, maybe this one doesn’t breathe actual fire but a pretty cool vapour like substance anyway – Bubby D loved watching the smoke appear as his ear was pressed down, and the Wee Man is very hopeful that Father Christmas might bring him one so that he can check it out for himself too.

So that’s one request already on the Christmas list.

The Entertainer has a lot of really awesome things!

• the Slly Moo game. It’s a cow, you throw a dice to determine how many times to ‘milk’ it, and randomly, milk will come out. But if the poo comes out, you lose! Never mind the kids, I can see that one being a hit with some of the grown up and drunken males that are likely to be around at Christmas! (I didn’t tell the Wee Man that last bit, because otherwise it would generate questions and uncomfortable visits every time we met up with the relatives for weeks…)
• the Vtech Innotab. It’s a tablet, for kids. They love mine, I’d like it back, enough said!
• the Hexbug nano v2. It’s small and wriggly and can climb tubes. You can build a whole network of tubes! You can use it to amuse the cat. You can leave it vibrating in mummy and daddy’s bed and scare the pants off them when they climb in, in the evening. Hours of fun!

There are cards, with monsters on. WeeMan likes cards, he likes monsters. He was VERY pleased to get a pack of them in his goody bag from Father Christmas (yes, it turns out he HAS been good so far this year…). Cartmundi had lots of great games on offer and Bubby D liked having a good poke through all of them, even though she is too young to understand how to play them. I’m thinking they’ll make good stocking fillers – there’s another tip to pass on to the man in red when we see him again.

And – despite what you may have previously thought – penguins can sail. Yes, they’ve got a ship and they’re not afraid to use it. Unfortunately it is a bit of a wobbly ship…but Bubby D found it hilarious when all the penguins fell of it, and I can see it being a really fun and enjoyable game that the whole extended family can join in with. (It’s actually called ‘Don’t Rock the Boat).

Next to the awesome boat game were some Annoying Oranges. Not real ones, pretend ones that are, as the name suggests, annoying. Because they say random things, repeatedly. Or at least they do when Bubby D has her hands on them, pressing their buttons. On the flip side, I have an Annoying Orange joke book at home and I actually quite like it – the jokes are very silly but that’s the kind of humour I like 🙂

JCB don’t only make giant diggers. They have beds, wellies (the Wee Man already has some of those!), toyboxes and child sized construction sites to play with too – among many other things. Bubby D was pleased about this. The Wee Man is extremely keen on the idea too.

Kurio, Wee Man, is something you will definitely want! It’s probably a good bet for older kids – whilst the Innotab is a good option for Bubby D, with robustness, child friendly apps and camera; the Kurio looks like it has a bit more variability and the option for Wee Man to install some of his favourite apps as well as accessing the Internet (where parental controls allow, anyway…)

Dinosaur train is coming into town! Not only are the dinosaurs instantly recognisable, but they interact with one another too. Bubby D was enthralled and although she did enjoy investigating the Turtles in their Pizza Palace and Spongebob and his friends, the dinosaurs were what she kept coming back to time and time again. Wee Man was very sad to have missed the dinosaurs, as he absolutely loves watching them on TV. Another tip for the big FC!

And then, time for an ice lolly break. Bubby D loved her Frenzy real fruit ice lolly, and I liked the fact that it was in a cardboard tube so it didn’t drip everywhere, plus it wasn’t garishly coloured which is always a danger for little girls in light coloured dresses. In fact, I was cheeky and grabbed one myself, so I can attest to the fact they taste good too!

Whilst we were in the garden we took a look at the personalised footballs from Your Sports ID. I am terrible at sports, but even so I kind of like the idea of a ball with my name one it – so for football fans this is probably a great gift – and it only takes 14 days from ordering to delivery so plenty of time before Christmas…

…and then Bubby D even had a go at Swingball! She’s really much too small to play it in the traditional sense, but she did love having a good whack at the ball in any case. With the Wee Man being four next month I think he’d be able to use it more the way it was intended and as it folds down fairly small it’d be great for our camping holidays.

Then we went back inside, and found that Battersea Cats and Dogs home have a great range of Christmas cards. The Wee Man is starting school in September and will no doubt need to send cards to everyone in his class, so these will be a good option for him – great cards and a good cause too.

And finally, we took a look at Tatty Teddy and Blue Nose Friends, because Bubby D wanted to. She was really excited to push some of them around in a Tatty Teddy pushchair, and she loved the dress up Tatty Teddy, Tatty Teddy tea set and the craft set too. Tatty Teddy has all new material and he’s lovely and soft.

Heading out of the door after a fun morning playing, we spotted some great suitcases that I know the Wee Man would really love for his birthday trip in August. And if he gets all the Christmas presents he’s earmarked, they’ll be handy for packing all of those in too!

 

 

Disclosure: I was not paid to write this post.