This has been reduced in the sale before but now the price of the Lego Winter Toy Shop is right down from £44.99 to £26.99 which is a pretty tasty discount. You will have to pay their (hideous, in my opinion) delivery charges of around £4 though…

• Click here to get some Lego from, well, The Lego Shop

The Winter Toy Shop kit is ideal for ages twelve and up and comes with 815 pieces for kids to play with. If you collect Lego points, you also get 26 VIP points with this purchase, along with the £20 odd discount.

The Lego kit includes seven minifigures and seven toys that include: a cat, snowman, jack-in-the-box, stuffed animal, toy train, robot and a toy car. Well, at least I think that’s what they mean because mini-figures are not the same as cats and toy trains, certainly not in the picture anyway.

You get a toy shop filled with tools and toys and a light-up tower window plus you can decorate the giant Christmas tree. This would make a fabulous gift for Christmas next year…

Thanks to twodoctors at HUKD!

So, how was your Christmas Day? Was it stunning? I really hope so. It has been a really busy and interesting year so far and, with only a few days left until 2012, I wish you the loveliest week ever. Ok, that’s the nice bit done, now I am going to come over all mercenary again by talking about unwanted Christmas gifts.

While we all appreciate the sentiment behind our Christmas gifts, sometimes the giver just gets it completely wrong. This isn’t their fault really (unless they are an angry sibling who sent you coal on purpose) so we all smile and say thank you. But space is always at a premium at home and we don’t want a cupboard full of weird Christmas items taking up valuable storage.

So, here are some great ideas on how you can get rid of your unwanted Christmas gifts and clear out that dodgy cupboard.

Everyone knows what Mega Bloks are, right? Well, actually no. Apart from the fact that they’re blocks and a little Lego or Duplo like, if you’ve never had Mega Bloks, you don’t actually know what they’re like!

My daughter received the Pink Bricks in a Bag Mega Bloks from a friend for her birthday, and she really enjoys playing with them.

The pack we received has 80 bricks, some with just one ‘spike’  or whatever it’s called, and some with up to six. The bricks come in a dark pink, light pink and white, with a small smattering of baby blue bricks thrown in for good measure.

The bricks are very light – much lighter than their size would lead you to think, especially if you’re familiar with LEGO and Duplo. I find the plastic to be really thin too, so as a whole they’re not as sturdy or solid. That said, they’re great for little hands, and too big for (most) little mouths, but even if they were able to get them in their mouths, there’s little to no chance of swallowing them, even the single sized Bloks.

The educational purpose of these blocks is to help stimulate creativity, imagination, problem solving and fine motor skills, and I’d agree that it does all of that. I guess my daughter is still a little young, but she will play with them on her own for just a few minutes, but if I’m playing with her, she’ll play for ages – especially if she can tip the towers out over me. That’s great fun.

The bag has a picture of a roof shaped block on it and ours didn’t contain one like that, so I don’t know if it’s just a picture, or a mistake in our pack, but it’s worth mentioning.

Also, the fact that it comes in a sturdy bag is really useful as it makes packing up and storage way less of a pain.

Mega Bloks are regularly on sale, and I like the fact that we can mix and match with other colour sets too, and overall I think it’s good value for money.

This is pretty good value for a backpack, especially one smothered in Peppa Pig branding and filled with all sorts of ace goodies. It would make someone a lovely Christmas gift if you quickly hastened over to Matalan to nab it over the next few days.

• Click here to get backpacking with Peppa Pig and Matalan

The Peppa Pig filled backpack used to cost £10 but is now down to only £2.50. You can also get this in the Disney Princess flavour if your little one prefers them to the popular piglet. The backpack itself doesn’t come with any info on the site but looks pretty sturdy and the design covers the entire front.

Inside the Peppa Pig backpack you will find some crayons and colouring in pages as well as an unidentifiable something that I can’t figure out from the picture. I mean, the site doesn’t tell you what is inside the filled Peppa Pig backpack so I am guessing from the images.

Overall, £2.50 is an excellent price for what could be a lovely Christmas stocking filler or in-car entertainment for long Christmas journeys.

Thanks to mmm07 at HUKD!

This ace Graco accessory pack has been marked down from £99.99 to only £9.99. That’s a whopping saving of £90 off the original price! Wow. That is really impressive as discounts go. You can get this delivered in time for Christmas too.

• Click here to get some savings at Babies R Us

The Graco accessory pack comes in the colours known as Super Nova and is ideal from birth. It co-ordinates with the Quattro Tour Sport Travel System in Super Nova but I reckon you can deal with some mismatched colours at this low price.

The entire set includes a warm and padded footmuff, a raincover and a changing bag. The footmuff will keep those little tooties warm and safe from the elements while the changing bag will hold all those baby essentials for your day to day travelling needs.

The raincover, well, that just keeps baby dry. I am amazed that these three things cost £99.99 originally. In fact, I am astonished that they got away with that price at all! £9.99 is far more like it…

Thanks to shadow1 at HUKD!

Oooh, these are ace for Star Wars fans of all ages. Tesco is selling a bunch of nine inch Star Wars plush talking toys for only £9.97 each, or you can get three for two in their special offer. Thanks to the Christmas deadline, you’ll probably have to go instore to get them in time.

• Click here to get some Star Wars from Tesco

You can get Darth Vader, Yoda, Chewbacca and R2D2 talking plush toys in this deal. Press the button and they will speak to you with lots of different sounds from the hit film and TV shows! Thanks to this deal you can almost collect all of them with one free!

The Star Wars plush toys are aimed at the 3-4 year old age group, although I am sure younger and older kids (like me) will enjoy them just as much. They are soft and cuddly as well as really cute, and the included sound effects are ace. Fab Christmas gifts right here.

Thanks to balbhaur at HUKD!

This is a really good deal for the entire City Watch collection from Terry Pratchett. Instead of paying the usual £55.63, you get £40.64 taken off the price to pay £14.99 and get it delivered for free using the Super Saver Delivery option.

• Click here to get some reading with Amazon

The entire selection is done up in a lovely black design and covers the life and times of the City Watch of Discworld. I love these books, much preferring them to the wizards and Rincewind. The humour is pure genius and who doesn’t have a bit of a crush on Vimes?

I am not sure I believe that the original sell price was £55.63, that seems more than a little steep for seven books, but if it isn’t a fake price, it is really a good discount and would make an ace Christmas gift. I am not sure you can get it in time if you use the free delivery option, but if you’re prepared to pay for postage you’ll get it as a fab Christmas present.

Thanks to wonkypops at HUKD!

This is a pretty toasty deal from Play.com but unlikely to arrive in time for Christmas. You get the Nintendo Wii console in blue along with the Wii MotionPlus and the game Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic games and all for £89.99 including free delivery.

• Click here to get some Wii with Play.com

The entire bundle here is superb value for money, especially when you consider how the Wii alone cost over £200 not that many years ago. This entire kit is also done up entirely in blue, which is pretty cool in my view.

The game, Mario and Sonic at the London 2012 Olympics seems ok. I haven’t played it but the ads look like much of the same to me – the same as Wii Sports etc, that is – however, I could be wrong and for this price you can’t go far wrong either. Even if the game is a bit rubbish, you get the entire Wii set up for a fraction of the old price.

Thanks to dtlewis2012 at HUKD!

I was sent the info for this ace Thomas and Friends classic collection box set by Ling who found it on sale at both The Hut and Zavvi for this great price of only £20.95. Usually the entire set costs around £30 so you’re saving a tidy £9.99 on this.

• Click here to toot on over to The Hut

The Thomas and Friends DVD box set is the 65th anniversary edition and originally went on sale for around £15. The price has gone up by a lot here but this is still a good deal considering the individual DVDs for each season tend to cost around £3-£4 each. That is quite a saving off going out and collecting the entire series one by one. And less effort…

Ling mentions that the presentation box is pretty but a bit of a letdown in terms of the physical content. She reckons 50% of the box and individual DVDs of each season are the thinnest DVD coverlets you can get. However, there are still several hundred hours of Thomas content for a great price and free delivery.

Thanks to Ling at HUKD!

For some people, it isn't Christmas if there's no Ferrero Rocher. By some people, I mean my family. And by not Christmas I mean world ending, cancel all presents, put the turkey back in the freezer, Christmas is cancelled. That's how much they love the stuff.

But not me. I actually am not a fan of the chocolate, and don't really like the taste. A bit bizarre to review Ferrero Rocher perhaps, but then I'm the odd one out in a household where my other half, and both step children love these little foil wrapped treats.

So for them it was like Christmas come early. We received two packs to try out, the Ferrero Rocher Christmas Tree, and the Ferrero Collection Limited Edition with Pistachio.

Both are billed as 'new', however I am 100% certain that I bought the Christmas tree version for my stepson's Christmas stocking last year. I remember spotting it on the shelves at the supermarket and thinking what a jolly good idea to give it that little Christmas touch.

That's one thing that makes Ferrero Rocher stand out is the hard plastic container used, instead of a cardboard chocolate box. I wonder how environmentally friendly this is, but you can re-use the containers and I've done so many times. They make great display boxes for gifts for example, if you can get the Ferrero Rocher label off, or cover it up.

Click here to read more...

If you happen to be in possession of a Moshi Monsters fan and are still looking for a good deal on Moshi Monster toys, then here you go, this is it. The Mosh ‘n Chat Katsuma doll is down from £22.50 to only £14.63 on Amazon and it comes with free Super Saver delivery.

• Click here to chat to Moshi Monsters with Amazon

The Mosh ‘n Chat Katsuma doll comes with a neat saving of nearly £8 off the usual retail price which is, I think, pretty good as the latter is very high indeed. The Moshi Monsters Katsuma doll is a nonstop chatterbox. You can squeeze her tummy to hear her (or him) start a conversation and the more you say to her, the more she says back in her cute Moshi Monsters voice.

The 31cm high soft toy is also a guard for the bedroom! Thanks to her magical sensor mode, Katsuma can detect when people pass by and will start making an almighty racket when anyone does. She needs three AAA batteries to keep her going and the included ones are demo only so it is probably a good idea to get more in case these run out.

So, if you happen to be running a bit behind on your Christmas shopping and in dire need of Christmas gifts, then here are some excellent ideas for you from The Monster Factory. I was sent the Man Wrap and the Gnome Breadmen to review and this is what I thought…

The first items I reviewed were the Gnome Breadmen. The packaging reads… “The humble garden gnome is back!” And I add, mentally… this time you can eat them. The pack contains three gnome cookie cutters, a recipe, and some pictures that will come in handy come time to ice them.

I whipped up a batch of chocolate gingerbread dough and used these Gnome Breadmen to make some cute little cookies. They cut brilliantly, clean easily (not too many fiddly and poky bits to wash) and store away nicely in their packaging when you are done. These cost £6.99, are dead cute and brilliant, and aren’t just for Christmas.

Next up was the Man Wrap. This is a roll of wrapping paper on a handle so that men can wrap their presents easily. It is a bit sexist but seeing as most of the men I know are pants at wrapping Christmas presents, this isn’t too far off the mark.

My husband wrapped two boxes of homemade gingerbread for me. He had trouble getting the sticker off the paper to start. The paper itself is actually sparkly tinfoil. A sexier version than the one you find in your kitchen, but still tinfoil. Clever.

He then whipped it around the boxes. It was too narrow so he had to wrap it one way, and then the other. This was a point against it really, because you will have to use a lot more than standard wrapping paper to get one gift wrapped.

However, once you have whipped the Man Wrap around the gift you just press it to seal it. No sticky tape needed. Wow. What a pleasure. That alone makes this awesome. It costs £5.99 which is expensive. While the idea is great and the no sticky tape feature just brilliant, my husband found it as fiddly as standard paper (he said it was more difficult as it crinkled while he manhandled it) and I think the price is high. A fabulous novelty, a clever idea, but the paper needs to be wider and the price tighter.

The Hello Kitty kitchen set with a kettle and toaster included has been marked down to less than half price at Tesco from £60 to only £24. You can get it delivered express in time for Christmas, or reserve and collect it instore for free.

• Click here to get cooking with Hello Kitty and Tesco

This Hello Kitty kitchen, kettle and toaster set will have your little one off having fun imagining that she is cooking, making toast and serving delicious cups of tea to you and her dolls. The set price also includes a saving of £36 off the original price. Mmmm, tasty.

The Hello Kitty kitchen has a white worktop and sink for the dishes and a white Hello Kitty with a pink bow peers out over the top of the cooker. Underneath her is a shelf to store the pots and hooks to hang kitchen utensils and knives and whisks. The set doesn’t say if it includes the utensils, pots and pans but it looks like they may well be part of the deal.

Thanks to geminibabe at HUKD!

Use this Matalan promotional discount code to get 20% off your order when you spend £30.  We last ran a Matalan 20% off code in October, so this one is timed clearly to coincide with the Christmas buying season.

Click here to use your 20% Matalan promotional code

• Discount: 20%
• Minimum spend: £30
• Promotional code: Hello46myt
• Expires: 13th December 2011

To use this code, to to the checkout page and enter it in the promotional code box. It will be applied automatically to your order in the totals column.

For once, I tested this code out on something other than clothes. The code works on everything except sale and discounted items, electricals, mobile phones, books and DVDs. I tried it out on this Camelia Print Fine Bone China 12 piece dinner set. The code took £8.40 off the price of £42. Standard UK delivery is £2.

Matalan also has departments for kids, mens and homeware, as well as seasonal events.

Thanks to djmetsandy at HUKD!

Now this is a much better deal than that silly Innotab. Here you can get three Beanie Puppies for £5 or one Beanie Puppy Baxter for only £2. The price includes free delivery using the code outlined below. Oooh, Merry Christmas!

• Click here to get some Beanies from Matalan

These gorgeous cuddy toy dogs are now available in miniature and you can collect all of them thanks to this ace deal. They are not suited for kids under the age of 18 months due to pile shedding by the way. So yes, like a real dog, these little cuties will shed on your carpet, sofa and business outfit.

Looking at the screen you can get a spotty dude, a pink poodle type dog, a black and white one, a chocolate and white one, a husky and a dalmation. I have spent a bit of time poking around the site to try and figure out how you know which puppy you get.

By the looks of things you ONLY get Baxter and not the others as there is nothing saying that you can choose which one, nor is there any other listing for a Beanie puppy on the site. So I honestly couldn’t tell you if you’d get three of one or if it is pick ‘n mix. Your free delivery code is FREEBL7X3!

Thanks to sarajhmm at HUKD!

The Innotab has become one of the Must Have gifts for 2012 and are selling out everywhere. As of today Boots has these in stock and you can get them for the stock standard price of £79.99. At least you won’t be spending over the odds as you would on Amazon or eBay!

• Click here to get technical with Boots

I am completely against the Innotab if I am honest. The device isn’t that good, doesn’t work very well and is extremely expensive. After you’ve bought several games to go with it, you may as well have bought an iPad or a Transformer and loaded it with better games that cost under £1 or are completely free.

However, if you still want an Innotab in spite of my warnings, you can get one per customer at Boots. And, if you add something else to your pile and make the purchase over £80, you can get £10 off using the code EMAIL80.

Thanks to linzi2301 at HUKD!

This Hornby train set has been marked down from £99.99 to only £59.99 at Play.com and it comes with free delivery. The train is set to look like it is part of the 2012 Olympics and so is smothered in branding and Olympic style.

• Click here to zoom on over to Play.com

The Olympic and Paralympic icons are used to great effect on the Class 395 model train. It comes with a specially prepared TrakMat featuring some venues from the London 2012 Games. The train is designed with the modern snub nose and sleek front and looks lovely.

Both the power cards have lights which operate in the direction of travel and all together they create a spectacle as they traverse the track that’s included in the set. You get two cars, one train front, a remote control unit, plenty of track and the TrakMat mentioned earlier.

I love model trains so this would make an ace Christmas gift for my daughter – something we can play together.

Thanks to dtlewis2012 at HUKD!

Tesco is selling a range of body bath sets at a buy one get one free special offer. The prices range from as little as £3, all the way up to around £20. What you get depends on what you like and there are some ace Christmas stocking fillers here.

• Click here to get some bathing with Tesco Direct

Buy two items and get the cheapest free so if you happen to nab to deals at £3, you are only spending £1.50 per bath set. In the £3 range you can choose from Tesco Fruity Fizzers and Tesco Floral Secrets Bathing Roses.

The £4 range includes Tesco Extracts Soap Collection, Tesco Fruity Lip Glosses, Tesco Floral Secrets Soap Collection, Tesco Fruity Shower Selection, and plenty more. In fact, this selection of bath products is pretty good so you will end up paying only £2 per item if you nab two or more of these.

Thanks to k8ie1980 at HUKD!

Amazon has reduced the price of this Pink Lego Princess Magical Castle down from £29.99 to £15. Delivery is free with Amazon Prime. A nice little Christmas present or other gift for a girl who's into Lego. It's not quite as pink as it appears at first glance either. I like the effect of the white and purple, giving it a sort of frosted cake look.

• Click here for your Pink Lego Princess Magical Castle at Amazon

Pink building bricks can be assembled and connected in many ways, to construct objects such as castles, cafes, buildings, and even toy horses. Anything constructed can then be taken apart again, and the pieces used to make other objects. The website says it is also comaptible with Lego, which you'd assume would be a given as it is a Lego set. I guess it always pays to check.

One reviewer on the website had this to say "What a lovely lego set for any little girl. Excellent value for money as they are being sold on Ebay for alot more. Bought this for my 7year old neice who loves it. Lots of pieces to allow hours of fun."

Thanks to Beanz On Toast at HUKD!

Looking for a Christmas gift for nieces and nephews? Or any child who's tastes and preferences you're not sure about? You feel like a proper idiot buying a toy for the 'in' TV show only to find it is one they don't like. Something like the Junior Jamie Baking Kit is the perfect alternative, plus you'll win brownie points with the parents (in both senses of the word!). Sainsburys has the Junior Jamie Baking Kit in the half price sale, reduced from £12 to £6. Delivery is free if you can collect at a store, otherwise it is £3.95.

Click here for your Junior Jamie Baking Kit at Sainsburys

Even if they're not interested yet (and truthfully, all kids love cooking when it comes to making cakes and biscuits) you can get little ones interested in cooking, with the Junior Jamie Baking Kit.

There's quite a lot included. You get five metal cookie cutters, a non-stick baking tray, a wooden rolling pin and a printed cotton oven glove. Much better than adding to the massive pile of plastic tat that the kids will be undoubtedly getting on December 25th. This could also make a fabulous stocking filler. My son loves cooking and I'm seriously tempted to get this myself. Problem is he already has a couple of cooking sets of his own!

Thanks to sharonlilley2 at HUKD!