Playpennies

I recently discovered the ASDA range of products that have been designed to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. They are really well priced and utterly brilliant for that extra dash of colour and splash at your street party.

The first thing I got was the Diamond Jubilee tea towel which has a lovely print on it. The Queen’s head in the laurel wreath on a blue and white striped background and the motif: The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee 1952-2012. The pattern only lies on one side, the other is white, and it costs £3 which is a spectacular price.

The tea towel itself is seamed around the edges for extra stability and can handle a wash of up to 40 degrees. It is pure cotton and has that lovely feeling that a tea towel should have, you know, that memory of cookies and baking and time in the kitchen with mum.

It comes with a hook on the upper end which is nice, it can hang neatly rather than irritate by falling off all the time, which some of my others tend to do. As a Diamond Jubilee expense, I would say that the £3 for this tea towel is good value for money, especially when it can be used for years or kept as a memento of the year and the celebration.

ASDA have a lot of products with the Diamond Jubilee motif or design on them and I am going to be reviewing two others – the commemorative mug and plate. They are also really well priced and I have to say that my Diamond Jubilee party kit is shaping up very nicely indeed!

The Handy Hippo Bather from Fisher Price is a bit hit and miss in my view. With our first we never used a bath seat. We just put a little water in the bath and laid her back in it. By a few months old she was kicking her way up and down the bath and she always loved bath time. When we bath our youngest now, we do the same and bath time’s fuss free.

When we’re bathing both children together, however, it can be difficult to have a free hand when you need it.  In that case, something like the Handy Hippo Bather can be really useful.

It’s a plastic and mesh contraption in blue with a hippo head ‘stopper’ which acts as the seat bit for keeping baby positioned in the bath. The mesh sling bit is soft and flexible, so the water can come through the back and keep baby warm and exposed to water.

There’s also a hook on the back for hanging it up so it can dry. I found it to be a bit heavy to hang on a shower rail that’s not screwed into the wall, and it can bring the whole shower curtain and rail crashing down. There’s a small window behind our bath, however, and it can hang up on that and drip dry into the bath.

The problem is you either have to submerge the baby in the bath so they’re not cold, or you can sponge bath them in the bath or a sink, but either way, unless submerged, baby gets pretty cold, which makes mine cry something fierce.  Of course, you also can’t leave baby in the bather, so you’re there all the time anyway, so for me the bather is rather unnecessary.

I must say though, that when someone isn’t accustomed to bathing such a small baby – like dads, grandparents and so on – it is a useful bit of kit. Mums have the one handed wonder woman thing down pat, eventually, but until you’re confident enough, it’s a useful – but not essential – gadget for infants who can’t yet sit up unattended, and weigh under 25 lbs.

I’m sure we’ve all seen or at some point owned something from the Tiny Tatty Teddy range, right? And just when you think there’s no more they could possibly bring out, something super cute appears on the shelves. Tiny Tatty Teddies are the one range of teddy bears even adults shamelessly collect, and now they have a new range of functional toys and products for babies.

The items featured in this review aren’t available online yet, but when they are, you’ll be able to find them at By Carte Blanche, where you’ll already find a whole range of baby goodies. These products will be available in the next few months.

We were sent three items for our little girl to review – which was a nice thought, but since she can just about stop herself short from  hitting herself in the face involuntarily, she’s not really at the playing with soft toys stage yet. As such, this is my review, from my perspective.

As the name suggests, the Buggy Squeaker has a squeaky centre, which when pressed emits a squeaky sound. I do think this is more for parental diversion, rather than for the child to play with as it requires quite a bit of force – even my two year old couldn’t really get the full squeak out of it.The Buggy Squeaker (£6.99) is a soft and squishy Tiny Tatty Teddy with a yellow t-shirt, with the word ‘tiny’ written on it.  It’s has a buggy loop on it which can be twisted to open and attached to a buggy to keep it safe. We don’t use a buggy, so we’ve attached it to the arch on our playgym for testing purposes. You’ll be happy to know it hangs perfectly ;)

The buggy clip is quite wide, which is nice because if you’re a sling-wearer, you can put the Tiny Tatty Squeaker on your shoulder strap for on-the-go entertainment too.

Next up is the Musical Teddy (£16.99). This is a musical pull-toy. You activate the music by pulling the legs away from the body. As the body gathers again, a little melody plays. It’s only about 25 or so seconds of play time, then you have to pull the string again, and I can’t quite place the tune, though it is very familiar.

While activating this toy has a similar problem as the squeaker for babies, it has a tie at the top, so you could tie that to one end and let natural force do the rest as baby pulls on it. It certainly provides a lesson in cause and effect: put in the effort and you get music. Although that’s way too much life lesson for a 9 week old, who just lies looking at it.

While toys are always nice, something practical that can help with clutter and disorganisation is always helpful when it comes to babies and children. The car seat organiser (£14.99) is quite a useful concept and is a definite preference to a back seat filled with car toys, random wet wipes and whatever else comes with a car-and-children.  It’s really handy if you’re as notoriously disorganised as I am. I never go out with snacks and consider it a good day if I open the nappy bag to find both nappies and wipes.

The organiser has three shallow pockets for small items – think a snack pot, extra nappy cream or smaller items – a long covered pouch, ideal for nappies, a change of clothes, a burp cloth and other items that can be folded up quite flat, and two net pouches, which is probably where you’d keep excess toys and so on.

While I do like the idea of the car seat organiser, I do think it could have done with a bit more thought. For a start it’s polyester, so doesn’t have a large amount of ‘give’. I guess you don’t want a storage unit in your car, but that seems to limit it quite a bit. Also, for something made for car tidiness, it could have done with a few loops to hang loose toys on. I know my daughter is forever taking things off the play gym arches, and off the play mat and car seats toys to cuddle, so they end up on the floor of the car. Being able to attach them to the organiser with a stretchy string seems like a missed opportunity to me.

The design on this is really pretty  - they’ve definitely gone for cute and achieved it. I must say though – even if you don’t have a car, you could attach this some way to something in your play room, like the back of the door and it would make a pretty, handy, nifty and streamlined changing bag for a non-baby room, like the living room.

Verdict

These are all very pretty, great quality, excellent workmanship and a lovely gift from a known and loved brand. It’s probably because they’re known and loved that they’re so expensive though. I do think they are expensive. While I would pick them up and look at them and uhm and ah over it, I doubt I’d buy them after looking at the price tag (with the exception of the car seat organiser, which I think is a reasonable price.) But maybe you have more money than I do, or you’re looking for a gorgeous gift and are not too fussed by the price. If that’s the case, these are brilliant, and I say go for it.

There’s a brand new snack for Toddlers just recently launched in the UK called Toddler Mum-Mum.

Currently they’re only available online from Amazon, but as we’re always on the lookout for healthy snacks, we thought they were worth a try. I’ve learned in my two years as a parent that just because something is ‘for babies’ or ‘for children’ doesn’t mean it’s necessarily good for babies or children – like those supposedly ‘healthy’ yoghurt covered fruit snacks? Jam packed full of sugar! Or some ‘snacks’ for children – full to the brim with salt and preservatives. So we’ve learned the hard way to check the ingredients on snacks.

While I have a handbag full of raisins that have escaped from their various boxes and packets, it’s nice to be able to bring a bit of variation into snack time, so I’m always happy to find a snack that’s both healthy and affordable.  The two don’t often go hand in hand. Enter Toddler Mum-Mum.

These baked Japonica rice cookies are a sweet and tasty snack made from organic rice, organic sugar, sea salt, natural strawberry flavouring, citric acid (which is vitamin C used as a preservative in foods), Gelatin and Thiamin (which is vitamin B1).  These biscuits are Gluten, Egg and Peanut free, and they are low in fat. They also have no artificial colours or flavours.

They are currently only available in Strawberry flavour, which isn’t a problem as they are actually very tasty.  My mum and I had to try a few packets out of the first box, just to make extra sure, you know?

For £7.12 on Amazon, you buy a box of 4 boxes, each with 8 individually wrapped packets of biscuits and each packet contains two biscuits, so you’re getting 64 biscuits in a box.  This makes each snack pack just over 22p which is massively cheaper than some other snacks we’ve tried.

Another massive bonus to these is that they make no crumbs – that means you can eat them in the car seat or pushchair or at grandmas house on her carpeted floor and not end up with crumbs everywhere.

The Toddler Mum-Mums are aimed at children over 18 months, but they are also available for babies over 6 months as Baby Mum-Mum biscuits (but we’ve not tried these yet!)

I wrote a Pillow Pets deal way back in September 2011 (well, it feels way back to me) and it wasn't until I actually saw one 'in the real', being ADORED by my niece, that I really appreciated just how marvellous they really are.

Here's the story of 'Lily' the Ladybird Pillow Pet...

My youngest son really isn't into cuddly ladybirds - other cuddly things yes, girly ladybirds - NO! - my 16-year-old daughter isn't really the target market and my 17-year-old soldier son even less so.

By sheer alignment of the planets and the Universe (and perhaps a touch of magic from Russell Grant, who knows!) my little niece came to stay for a few days, with her mum, and celebrated her 5th birthday whilst she was here - I gave her the Ladybird Pillow Pet as a pressie.

Finding gift ideas for family members like grandparents is always a struggle. Usually, they've got everything already. I usually end up making a calendar using photos of their grandson/godson/nephew. But honestly, I've done that for seven years now and would really like to do something different.

It was quite exciting then to open up the envelope I received from Funmats. The company describes itself with the tagline of 'the art of school fundraising'. Which is pretty straightforward as all the products are based around art. Your child's art, to be specific.

However, the site doesn't only offer products for school's to use for fundraising. There's also a section for families too, so you can opt to get some of these products made yourself, if your school's PTA isn't doing anything.

This was a double whammy for me, as I'm chair of my son's school's PTA and a mum myself. So I was very interested in how it would work from both perspectives! Here's how I got on.

I recently got a pair of Reebok Womens Easytone Reeinspire 2 trainers from M&M Direct as I’ve been desperate to try these shoes for ages. Loads of people have raved about how well they have worked, and just as many people have said they are a marketing scam. So which is it?

Honestly, after wearing the Reebok Easytone trainers for the past three weeks I don’t care. They are so comfortable. They are like memory foam pillows for feet. They are both soft and firm, sturdy and supportive and utterly and completely, well, comfortable.

On my first wearing, the shoes did leave my big toes feeling a little odd, almost as if they had pins and needles. It was an odd sensation but didn’t last beyond the first few days of wearing the shoes in. These shoes are built to help you get a better butt and legs and for every day walking and use.

The Reebok Easytone trainers are also very subtle in their colouring. Instead of the pink looking as vivid and startling as it does in this picture, it actually is rather easy on the eye. These shoes match pretty much every walking outfit I have and the various features built in – like the anti bacterial and fungal growth material – make them very lush to own. Every had a pair of cheap and nasty trainers start smelling? Yeah, these won’t.

One other thing worth noting about the Reebok Easytone Trainers is that the laces are good quality and don’t undo after every step. Add to this the comfort and the lovely low price at M&M Direct (they have it on offer for £39.99 instead of £74.99 so you save about £35) and you have a pair of very nice trainers in your cupboard.

Do they make your bum and legs thin and sexy? I honestly couldn’t see anything dramatic but they are worth the price for the comfort and style alone.

With a new baby and a toddler in the house, we have a huge array of toys and equipment that’s been given to us over the last few months. One such item is the Fisher-Price Soothe and Go Bouncy Seat, (£52.95 at Amazon) which we’ve been using with our newest little girl.

This bouncy chair is full of practical features without being over stimulating or over the top. It is easy to assemble, quick to flatten up for popping behind the sofa or under the bed for storage , or even behind the car seat for trips away.

There’s a battery operated box that is self-contained – i.e. there are no wires that go elsewhere on the bouncy chair – and has three settings: music only, vibrate only and music and vibrate. The music is interesting. It plays around 20 minutes of nursery rhymes, starting with “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, but it sounds like a mix of piano music and marimba – unusual, but not at all offensive.  The vibrate function has really surprised me. My eldest daughter hated the vibrating bouncy chair, but my youngest daughter falls asleep to it and sleeps about as long as we leave it on!

The seat portion is a soothing and gentle blue and green with a wildlife and clouds and birds outdoor style scene, and is removable and machine washable. It also has a harness to keep movers in too.

Instead of the usual toy arch, the Soothe and Go bouncy seat has a canopy that continues the theme with a Twitter-style bird and a ladybird picture to look at, and two hanging toys which can be conveniently stored in the layers of the canopy. The canopy is wide enough to be suitable sun protection and during the sunny days late in March we had a lovely time in the garden, airing a nappy rash without exposure to the sun.

I don’t like big and bulky things, but I must say that this is way sturdier than the one we had very briefly with my eldest. That was slimline and by four months my daughter would topple herself out of it and end up like a tortoise upside down in it. The Sooth and Go Bouncy Seat is much more sturdy, and has much better balance, and no six month old is likely to manage to throw themselves out of it.

All in all, I think this is a really good, useful and practical bouncy chair.

I apologise in advance for the repeated use of the word poo in this review. But you know, it’s a nappy review, and when you talk about the shell, you sometimes have to mention the turtle.

The Splash About Happy Nappy is a swimming nappy, for use over a conventional nappy or on its own. It has a unique design, and is made from stretchy neoprene and thick fabric bands that prevent leakages.

I was really spoiled recently with a beautiful piece of jewellery that I, in my sentimentality, will treasure forever.  It was a bracelet from Scarlett Jewellery, and it hasn’t left my arm since the day I put it on.

Scarlett Jewellery was founded in 1998 by British designer Sarah Fenton, who designs and makes all her pieces from her workshop in Brighton. She describes herself as an “eternal romantic” and I personally feel that that is evident in her designs.

The piece I received is called the One Love Bangle (£129) and while their description of it says that it depicts two people joined together by one love, the meaning to me is different: to me it symbolises my two babies, shaped by all the love I can give them. Actually, to me there’s a mountain of symbolism in relation to my children, but I won’t share it all with you. The saccharin sweetness might be too much to bear.

The quality of these bangles is beyond reproach. They’re beautifully crafted, the ‘one love’ inscription is finely engraved and looks exquisite. The sound of silver on silver is bell-like and beautiful and feels feminine just hearing it. In fact I love the silky jingle it makes, because it reminds me of the symbolism behind the jewellery and re-fills my new mummy oxytocin levels.

There’s a lot on offer at Scarlett, and they’re worth baring in my for any occasion – the big ones like Mother’s day, Father’s day and birthdays or anniversaries, and the small and private ones, like a new mum present,  Christening gifts and collections.

The quality of these items surpasses that of even some of my more expensive jewellery, and in my view, adornments from Scarlett Jewellery are worth every penny.

Summer is looming; let's be positive and assume that the rain is going to stop, that the sunshine is going to put in a regular, and hot, appearance and necessitate the wearing of shorts and small vest tops etc.

Of course, June, July and August are also the favourite wedding or 'two weeks abroad' holiday months of the year - these events also throw our bodies into the spotlight:  looking amazing in our wedding outfits or fabulous on the beach.

If your New Year's 'get fit, look hot' resolution is, now, nothing but a distant memory then the impending warmer months will NOT be thrilling you; hiding underneath big baggy jumpers is fast running out as a viable wardrobe option!

So what are your options?

• Actually use the gym membership you took out in January
• Join a gym (after all, you did intend to back in January!)
• Employ a personal trainer (they're not just for celebs)
• Buy one (or all) of the many exercise DVDs that are on the market
• Along with one of the above, embark on one of the crazy diets used, allegedly, by any of the famous thin people.

Alternatively, you could consider becoming a member of thinQfitness.com

If you're a parent, then you're probably familiar with the name Bandai. The company makes toys for most of the top kids shows. Well, most of the American ones anyway. And there definitely seems to be a bias towards action shows that appeal to boys.

One thing they do know though, at Bandai, is their target audience. I think we've got quite a few of their various ranges in our house!

This time around we got three Bandai toys to try out. These were from the shows Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, Power Rangers Samurai, and Thundercats. Here's how my young 7 year old tester got on.

My daughter has become well and truly hooked by the Moshi Monsters madness out there and her dad, firmly wound around her baby finger, recently bought her the Moshi Monsters Mash Up Series 2 starter kit as a present.

The kit includes a binder to store the cards, ten packets of cards, a game mat, a game guide, a Super Moshi Mask and one Mash Up packet. It’s only £5 in stores but extremely expensive online, so watch out for that. I have to say that I thought the binder included in the set was really a bit pants.

Remember the days when you used to collect things like this? I remember having a really funky binder that had a story with it, and clever slots for storing your cards. This is just like a giant plastic card holder with zero branding on it and no character. It is actually a bit rubbish.

For a little bit more dosh, you can rather get the Moshi Monsters Mash Up tin that includes plenty of bonus cards, bandages, stickers, badges and an exclusive card to boot. It costs around £9.99 on Amazon but shopping around can get you some decent bargains. The tin is beautifully branded and really lovely, it’s something you would buy for the look and you still get loads of extras.

The cards you get to boost your collection cost around 75p per packet in stores, or you can nab some bulk buy sales that happen from time to time on sites like Amazon. I find these cards very expensive as you only get six cards per packet and one of them is a picture card with a special code. This code will nab you free in-game items or Rox.

Overall, I have to say that the series is great, the cards well made and good quality, but the price is high. The Moshi Monsters Mash Up Series 2 is an expensive investment that kids adore but parental wallets detest.

It may only have been around for just over a decade, but the tale of The Gruffalo has quickly established itself as a modern children's classic, with the original book spawning everything from a theatre production to a half-hour animated film adaptation.

Then, of course, there's the merchandise, such as this Gruffalo-flavoured Magnetic Adventures set aimed at children aged 3 and up.

It comes with two sheets of press-out magnetic shapes, each containing all the key characters from the story, along with flowers, insects, leaves, squirrels and frogs for adding detail.

The metal case itself serves as the background for these magnets to be placed on, with the inside of both the front and back of the case offering a typical forest backdrop on which kids can create their own Gruffalo adventure.

There are also two further backdrops on loose cards for added variation. Not being magnetic, these can't be used independently, but are thin enough to work when placed inside the metal case – or on any other metallic surface, such as a fridge door.

The look and feel is exactly what you'd expect from official Gruffalo merchandise, and everything is substantial and well made, though parents of younger children would do well to point out that the 27 picture shapes are in fact magnets that you push out, not stickers that you peel off – a lesson we learned the hard way, unfortunately.

Other than that, the Gruffalo Magnetic Adventures set delivers what it promises to: open-ended play and the chance for creative expression.

It's a shame that the set's overall size means the four scene backdrops are only a little bigger than A5 size, which can make things a little cramped especially given the size of the Gruffalo piece itself. But at under £10 it's reasonably good value, and you can always create larger scenes of your own to expand on its potential.

* Image: Mummybird

When I’m not huddled over a computer screen at PlayPennies HQ, I’m also a qualified Baby Massage teacher, so whenever products for use with babies come in, I feel a bit nervous because in truth, I’m going to be more critical of the product than the average user.

When I received a beautiful gift set of Tiddley Pom Organic Baby Massage Oil and Organic Baby Wash, I had the same nervousness, but I was pleasantly surprised by some of it.

The set is lovely. It would really make a nice gift.

As many parents of children sensitive to allergies will testify, keeping bedding free from dust and allergens can be a constant struggle, in no small part because duvets are bulky and difficult to clean.

If that's a problem you're all too familiar with, Nordic Comfort's Pure Sleep range of duvets might be just what you're looking for. They're made from 100% mulberry silk, which is luxurious and lightweight, but more importantly naturally hypo-allergenic too.

The result is a duvet that's first and foremost improbably thin. In testing out the single Superior Silk duvet , my first impression – and probably what crosses most people's minds initially – was that it simply didn't look thick enough to keep anyone warm at night.

But appearances can be deceiving. The flexible nature of silk means the Nordic Comfort duvet is lightweight and breathable, and yet still cocoons you in its soft embrace better than any bulkier conventional duvet ever could. In practice it proved both comfortable and warm in all conditions, which is pretty much what most of us are looking for in a duvet.

Our test sample was rated at 350g/sqm – there's no tog ratings here for easy comparison, but on Nordic Comfort's sliding scale it's one of the thicker options, rated for night-time temperatures around 10-15 degrees C.

For parents of children with allergies, meanwhile, there's the added bonus that the organic nature of silk makes it less attractive to dust mites and allergens than feathers or synthetic fibres. Not only that, but the Nordic Comfort duvet is machine-washable, and small enough to fit in just about all domestic washing machines.

A net bag is provided for just that purpose, though that's the kind of extra you'd expect. In fact, as these are only just launching in the UK and to buy it you have to head to their Danish store where you'll pay €160 for these.  And the high cost is just about the only downside here – that and a slightly 'rustly' texture that makes moving around a bit noisier than under a conventional duvet.

If allergies are a major concern, that price will be worth paying. If not, Nordic Comfort's duvets are wonderfully luxurious, but possibly too pricey to justify indulging in.

I was rather intrigued when I saw my name next to the 'Yummy Mummy M&M Direct' review - that's was the only information I had before two items from M&M Direct landed on my desk.

I don't know about you but there are days when I feel the absolute opposite of yummy and anything that may go some way to making me feel more so can only be a GOOD thing!

The M&M Direct parcel arrived and inside was an Onfire Jute Shopping Bag - its title doesn't do it justice! - and a pair of Sunwise sunglasses.  A bag and a pair of giant shades - awesome, just the job!  You can hide tired, bleary eyes behind the sunglasses and who doesn't love a new bag to play with!

This is one of the oddest reviews I've ever written. Usually the items I get are themed in some way, or all a bit similar. Not this time. I Want One Of Those sent us three very different items.

The first two are clearly aimed at very much younger children. The Gyro Bowl and the Twilight Turtle are probably best for toddlers. The Moustache Straws on the other hand are clearly aimed at children aged up to 80!

I Want One Of Those is a popular website in our house. My other half spends ages on it looking at all the stuff that's available. He's nuts for odd, whacky, and off the wall gadgets and 'boys' toys.

I'd not really thought of its potential for children's stuff before, so was really intrigued at what they might have to offer. Here's how they fared.

Click here to read more...

There are a lot of toys, stickers, cards and books that have the Moshi Monsters label on them and they are proving as popular as the original website that spawned them. But we haven’t done a review of the website itself, and here it is.

I found the Moshi Monsters site purely by accident last year and thought that the idea behind it was perfect for my daughter. She was four at the time, and still learning to read, write and handle basic maths. The site captured her attention immediately but, at first, needed my constant participation as she struggled with mouse control and, obviously, reading the various instructions on the site.

One thing I realised early on was that the site was pretty empty without the paid-for subscription. I looked into the prices and realised that it was worth trying out for at least a month. You pay £4.95 for one month, £23.95 for six months, and £29.95 for 12 months. The latter is, obviously, the best deal and one that I have now opted for.

The reason I now have a yearly Moshi Monster membership is because the site works. I allow my daughter a maximum of an hour a day on the website and she has learned how to: handle a mouse and keyboard deftly, basic general knowledge that even I don’t know, spelling, reading, maths and problem solving. I can honestly say that the Moshi Monsters website and its Super Moshi missions have gone a long way towards encouraging my daughter to learn.

I think one of the reasons she is so good at reading now, six months later age 5, is because she was sick and tired of waiting on me in order to do her various games on the site! Great value for money, well designed, extremely funny for adults as well (Simon Growl anyone?), and has educational merit.

Warburtons has added three new brioche products to its range. There's a chocolate chip brioche loaf, brioche swirls with creme patisserie, and brioche butter rolls. And they sent all three to me, yes to me, all to me mwah ha ha ha!

All right, as exciting as it was to get that much brioche in the post, I am afraid that processed flour and my digestive system have developed a few issues as I've got older. So as much as I wanted to just open it all, stick it in a big tub, and dive in face first, I resisted.

Instead I took them along to a PTA morning to try them out with the ladies who coffee, in between packing sweets for the fundraiser tuck shop, organise meeting dates, and all the other mind numbingly boring stuff we do to help support our kids (well actually it is also kind of fun too!).

Here's their verdicts.