Being on the Nice List – Portable North Pole Review

It’s the topic of hot discussion this month. Are we on the nice list?

The Wee Man had a bit of a meltdown about it the other day. He wasn’t as well behaved as he could have been, getting ready for school. And then he got even more upset because he suddenly decided that perhaps he wouldn’t be on the ‘nice list’ any more.

‘Mummy, how bad do you have to be to not be on the nice list?’ he asked, bottom lip wobbling and tears threatening to spill at any second. ‘Is just one time enough or if you are sorry and you don’t do anything bad again, can you still be nice?’

Ordinarily, I’d see a whole minefield of questions and responses opening up at this point. Last time we had a similar discussion, it all got very theological and very much over the head of a tired parent. But luckily on this occasion, the previous evening I’d had a bit of a play around with Portable North Pole. And so there was someone else ready to do the talking for me…the big man in red himself, Father Christmas!

Or, as he calls himself, Santa.

Portable North Pole is a magical console used by Santa and his elves to send personalised video messages to children (and adults, if you like!), talking about the year they’ve had, showing that Santa knows where they live (in a non-threatening-he-isn’t-a-stalker way) and – most importantly – whether or not they’ve got that all important slot on the nice list!

The Wee Man grabbed his elf and sat down to find out.

Five minutes later and he was bursting with excitement at the good news – he is on the nice list! Since then, he’s insisted on checking it regularly (luckily it’s easily viewable on tablets, phones and computers) just to make sure his listing hasn’t changed.

The premium video service costs £2.99 and has a choice of three storylines, each including personalisation options of five photographs and a variety of information choices (if you’re feeling mean, you can decide that nice list status is as yet undecided…). For the smile on his face as he watched, the reassurance it’s given and the amount he’s been talking about it since that is definitely worth paying. And because he can watch it as many times as he likes, I think we are going to be seeing a lot of Santa before he actually arrives on Christmas Eve!*

 

*Also because we have just downloaded the Portable North Pole Santa’s Sleigh App, which the kids are loving using.