Use this Toys R Us promotional code to get 20% off top brands and selected product lines. This is part of their Christmas in August promotion, which started today and runs this weekend only. The code works on sale items.

Click here to use your Toys R Us promotional code

• Discount: 20%
• Applies to: selected top brands and product lines
• Promotional code: 9908080139997
• Expires: 14th August 2011

To use this code  you’ll need to go through to checkout. You’ll have to either log in or register on the site. Then when you get to the Check Out page, enter it in the Coupon Details box and hit apply. You don’t need to enter any other details to see if the code works.

The brands you can use this code on are Toy Story, Star Wars, Barbie, Peppa Pig, Fisher Price, Leapfrog, Sylvanian Families and Playmobil. It can also be used on two products lines: bikes and scooters.

I tested it on a Magna 10" Pearl Balance Bike, which was in the sale for £24.99. Half the original price of £49.99. The code took another £4.99 off this. As delivery is £4.95 (or free if you spend more than £50) the total came to £29.94.

Thanks to crazyblondechick at HUKD!

The Hut got in touch with us recently and asked us to be one of their 'Official Toy Testers' - sounds grand doesn't it! - as we're at the forefront of parent/mummy blogging; hurrah!

We love toys here at PlayPennies so we weren't going to turn them down and eagerly awaited our parcel from The Hut.

The first thing out of the box was aa Barbie Glitter Vacuum and doll, followed by a Monster High Doll gift set.

At this point I was very glad my daughter, at nearly 16, is far too old for this and the boys...well, at 17 and 5  it's just not their thing - so we shipped everything off to Tanya, one of our faithful PlayPennies mums.

Barbie Glitter Vacuum and Doll - £19.99

I must confess to crying with laughter when Tanya told me about her experience with the Barbie Glitter Vacuum and Doll and I WISH I could just repeat it verbatim for you; honestly, it was too funny.

So you have a Barbie doll, some glitter, some sticker sheets and a proper working mini vacuum cleaner to clear up any mess - it's the word mess that strikes fear into my heart and I take my hat off to any parent brave enough to face such things head on.

Tanya told us that the vacuum cleaner is very PINK - nothing else is good enough for Barbie - and that there was also a scoop for the glitter and two changes of clothes for Barbie.

The general idea is you take Barbie and put one of her dresses on, then you get a sticker and stick it on the aforementioned dress. Scoop some glitter with the scoop, pour it over the sticker, vacuum up excess glitter and repeat until Barbie has a beautiful glittery dress to rival the Duchess of Cambridge's wedding dress.

Here are the edited highlights of Tanya's experience...

"It took me 13 minutes to get Barbie out of her box, I know this because I was making dinner and removed her whilst the timer took care of the noodles."

The ability to multi-task is clearly going to be an advantage here.

"Next," said Tanya, "I look at the vacuum cleaner and realise it needs 3x AAA batteries. So it was off to the shop to get them, came home and inserted them. THEN I had to watch as my child poured glitter all over table but felt safe in the knowledge that it could all be sucked up with the mini vacuum cleaner, complete with its new batteries."

Tanya was bemused when she discovered the mini vacuum cleaner didn't yield the promised results, until her husband pointed out that she was trying to use it upside down.

"Feeling rather stupid I turned the vacuum cleaner the right way round and did indeed suck up glitter; all hope was restored."

The next stage was for Tanya's daughter to get busy with the stickers.  She duly removed one from the sheet but it got stuck to her as they are, obviously, sticky on both sides so it can stick to Barbie with one and grab hold of glitter with the other. This caused warping of the sticker and tears from her daughter.

Thankfully, sticker removal attempt number two was more successful and Babie's dress was adorned; now for the GLITTER!

"Glitter was promptly poured onto Barbie and then vacuumed up. Yes, the vacuum cleaner DOES work, quite impressively for a toy too. Not for use on floor or sofa - yes, I tried!" Tanya confessed.

Barbie Glitter Vacuum and Doll also comes with a diamond cut pot for emptying your vacuum cleaner into when it's full of glitter.

"I  followed the 'empty glitter out of cleaner and into diamond cut pot that sits snuggly on top' instructions. I shook it the way it said I should and peeked into the pot,"

Tanya told us she was sure she'd sucked up half a packet of glitter but there were no more than two sparkles in the pot!

"I banged the vacuum on table and could only come to the conclusion that the glitter must have disappeared into a black hole within vacuum cleaner!"

Shame, the whole Barbie Glitter Vacuum experience didn't get any better for Tanya. Her daughter decided the stickers were much better stuck to the table and the vacuum, again, seemed to 'eat' the sucked up glitter when dinner replaced Barbie.

Tanya concluded her review of the Barbie Glitter Vacuum and Doll by telling us she spent the rest of the night rocking backwards and forwards in the corner crying and twitching at the word " glitter".

Monster High Doll Gift Set - £23.99

You obviously have to have children of a certain age to have even the vaguest clue what these Monster High dolls are all about.

A quick bit of Googling (what did we do pre-Google?!) reveals that they are a cast of characters created by Mattel and launched in the summer of last year.

They are the offspring, or descendants, of various well-known characters from horror stories, such as Dracula, Medusa, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Werewolves and Zombies.

The age guidance is six years plus; my youngest is five and I've never heard of them but then I'm not sure this a boys 'thing'.  So, again, we bundled these guys in the post and sent them on their way to Tanya.

"Two doe-eyed plastic dolls greeted us out of the box," reported Tanya - at least they didn't come with vacuum cleaners and glitter! - "and whilst my daughter had no clue who 'Cleo de Nile' and 'Deuce Gorgan' are, she was still more than happy to play with them."

I think we can safely assume that Deuce Gorgan is related to Medusa as he has a few snakes for hair and apparently, he and Cleo de Nile are the coolest kids at Monster High; good for them.

They don't actually DO anything, although they do have the obligatory jointed arms and legs, so their entertainment value is all down to how imaginative and into 'character' your child can get.

They each come with a pet and an accessory:  Cleo has a snake called Hissette and comes with gold purse, whilst Deuce has a pet rat called Perseus and comes with a cool pair of  'shades' (sunglasses clearly isn't the cool term!).

"Cleo comes with hair that you can brush," Tanya told us, "my daughter spent a lot of time brushing her hair and making it look pretty; anything to keep her away from Barbie!"

And Finally...

Whilst Tanya's experience with the Barbie Glitter Vacuum and Doll didn't go well, don't necessarily let that put you off.

Barbie did exactly what she said on the 'tin' and if all else fails you'll have a mini vacuum cleaner that will be good for sucking up things like spilled sugar or salt from the kitchen worktop.

She didn't break and Tanya's daughter had a blast playing with her, once the initial sitcker sticking on skin drama was out of the way.

The Monster High dolls will, obviously, appeal to Monster High fans but any child who likes playing with dolls will enjoy playing with these guys.

Incidentally, at the time of writing the £23.99 price tag for Cleo de Nile and Deuce Gorgan is a reduced one, their usual rrp is £39.99;  if they appeal to you and you buy them now, then you'll have saved yourself 40%; that's what we like!

www.thehut.com

Argos is selling a Barbie Keyboard for £14.99 instead of £33.32, less than half price.

• Get musical with the Barbie Keyboard

Okay, so, we don't do Barbie in our house. Something about that backache inducing bust-line just sets my teeth on edge, to be honest – maybe it's jealousy on my part, but still. I'm also not a fan of the pink. Good heavens, I think that can blind you.

But there are a couple of things about the Barbie Keyboard that I really do like, in theory.

The musical electronic keyboard comes with its own stand and the stool has useful storage space for all that sheet music ;)

The keyboard is quite slimline, so isn't going to take up too much space, and on that note the keyboard turns upside down to transform the Barbie Keyboard into a writing desk.

I checked a few postcodes and the Barbie Keyboard was in stock in all the stores I checked, as well as being available for home delivery.

Thanks to shadow1 at HUKD

Debenhams are selling this Barbie Iron Set for £10 instead of £25 and this Barbie Kitchen Set for £14 instead of £35

• Click HERE for the Barbie Iron Set
• Click HERE for the Barbie Kitchen Set
  

I loathe Barbie and I loathe toys that reinforce the stereotype that cooking and ironing is for girls only.

My poor, now, teenage daughter NEVER had a toy baby and pram, she never had toy ironing boards, vacuum cleaners or kitchens; if she wanted them and has spent years feeling deprived, she's never said.

You, on the other hand, might not be as mean as me so here's Barbie in all her pink and domestic drudgery glory for you.

The Barbie Iron Set is suitable for girls (growl) aged 3 years or over and comes with an ironing board, an iron, one hanger and a spray bottle  - it should be £25, the price on the Debenhams website is £12.50, apply code PL2P to your basket and it comes down to £10.

The Barbie Kitchen Set comes with 16 pieces and, from the picture, looks to be comprised of the usual suspects: pots, pans, spoons and spatulas.

It should be £35, the price on the website is £17.50 and with the code comes down to £14.

You can arrange to collect a Barbie Iron set or Barbie Kitchen set for free from a Debenhams store, or you can add code SHD1 to your basket and get free home delivery.

Thanks to holnwob at HUKD

Great for the stylista in your family, this Barbie styling set is down to £10.00, reduced from £25.00.

• Get stylin' with Debenhams

Debenhams doesn't really give a huge amount of information with this Barbie styling set, other than to say that it features a selection of nail stickers, nail polish and an assortment of accessories.

That's really not overly descriptive, but at least they take high quality photographs, so you can zoom in and have a good look!

The pack comes with two disembodied hands that serve as the artists pallet of this set. There are false nails that can be stuck on the hands and over a hundred glitter stickers, normal stickers and gems for nail art decoration.

There's also nail polish – great for practising before trying on yourself for the first few times, as the kit can also be used on real little girl hands.

The kit says suitable from 3 up, but I'd imagine it needs a fair bit of supervision at that age, but should keep most older girls busy for some time.

Standard delivery takes four days, and is free.

Thanks to amandax at HUKD

Amazon have a lovely little deal for young musical Barbie fans - they've reduced this Barbie Keyboard down to £14.92 instead of £29.99

• Click HERE to dash on over to Amazon

I loathe Barbie.

I didn't own a Barbie or a Sindy, or any other dollies for that matter, when I was a little girl.  I liked playing with cars and go-carts - that probably explains my love of motorsport!

My daughter, however, ADORED Barbie when she was small.

She had a Barbie scooter; a Barbie bike and this hideous pink velour Barbie hairband that had a naff plastic silver 'B' on it - all of these things made me cringe, but my daughter loved them and that made me happy.

There's no doubt in my mind that she would have begged and pleaded for this Barbie keyboard too. Why have an ordinary keyboard to compose great symphonies a'la Mozart on, when you can have a BARBIE keyboard!

There's no doubt in my mind either that, if you have a little Barbie fanatic, you'll love the current deal price of this Barbie keyboard too...even if you'd be buying it through gritted teeth like I would.

It's very pink, it's very Barbie and the four AA batteries it needs to run are included.

It has volume and tempo control, record and playback functions and pre-recorded demo songs for those musical moments when inspiration abandons your young maestro.

Thanks to bitsnbobsbuyer over at HUKD!