In June we love

LEGO Friends

We are certainly loving LEGO Friends in this house at the moment.  Our visit to LEGOLAND Windsor last month to see their new Heartlake City are has only increased my daughter’s  LEGO Friends obsession.  We have a long list of LEGO Friends sets that she would like and then there was an advert for the brand new LEGO Friends Pop Star range and that was it.  A can often be seen brandishing a microphone and pretending to be a pop star, so these new sets moved straight to the top of the list.

We were sent the Pop Star Recording Studio set to review and I was a very popular mum the day it arrived.  A is five and a half and she can build LEGO sets really well on her own.  Every now and then, I have to give her  hand but she soon had this set built and it is really cute.

Personally I am already a big fan of the LEGO Friends range not only is it really appealing with the ease of building and the bright colours, but it has the most amazing details.  In this set you have speakers, a recording desk with buttons and levers, a place to put your discs in and pop them back out, a door with star-shaped handles, a guitar, a chair and a sofa and the list goes on.  The RRP for this set is £12.99 and I think that for all of the different elements, that is really good value.

Having always had LEGO in this house, it is one toy that I have always loved having around (except when I tread on it) as it is brilliant for imaginary play, for developing motor skills and for learning to follow instructions.  A followed the instruction carefully and has played with the set non-stop ever since, adding it to her other sets and using different characters too.

She is now doing some jobs around the house to earn some money to buy another set, so I think that shows you how much my daughter loves this new LEGO Friends Pop Star Range.

Minion Stompeez

It is hard to not love the Minions isn’t it?  There is something very cute and funny about them and judging by the fact that they are now starring in their very own film, goes a little way to telling you how popular they have become. We also like Stompeez in this house.  A had some money left over from Christmas and bought some Stompeez earlier in the year, she is a true consumer and is totally mesmerised by the adverts and she loved the Stompeez adverts, so off we went to find a pair.  We ended up with Unusual Unicorn and she has lived in them and loves to show them off as the pump-action open and closes the eyes as you stomp around.

The pump-action is the secret of Stompeez and it is a clever way of making slippers more appealing to children.  Stompeez have an exciting new range which includes Hello Kitty, Peppa Pig, Monster University and of course Minions.

I couldn’t resist the Minions as I know that my nine-year old son in particular loves them and I also struggle to get him wearing slippers.  They are brilliant.  The Minion in question is Dave and the pump-action in the slippers make Dave’s arms go up and down as you walk.  As these are bigger, I could just squeeze my feet inside to give them a try and they are really comfortable and I can see why L likes them so much.  Comfortable, cool and crazy is how he describes them and certainly very funny.

Minions Stompeez cost £14.99 and you can find out more about them and the whole range on the Stompeez website.

The Queen of Hearts Cookie Company

If like me you love a nice biscuit then I can tell you that you will absolutely love The Queen of Hearts Cookie Company. Bespoke biscuits that are baked to order, delicately iced and with a range of stunning themes which can also be personalised, these biscuits are no ordinary biscuits.  Whether you are looking for a special and unique gift for a special occasion, biscuits for a party or simply a special family treat, there really is something for everyone.

Choosing from the huge selection of themes was so hard and the designs are really beautiful. Each page offers a different selection of biscuits which have been iced to perfection.  As tempted as I was by the range of feminine biscuits I was curious to see what was on offer for males and I wasn’t disappointed but I was immediately drawn to The Sportsman Biscuits which are made up of biscuits shaped and iced into miniature edible replicas of sporting kit and equipment from a range of different sports.  I knew that my husband and sons would love these and I was right.

The biscuits arrive beautifully packaged and they take care to ensure that the biscuits arrive in one piece with lots of packaging in an outside the box.  You can select different size boxes; small which is 3 – 5 biscuits, standard which is 5-8 and Deluxe which 10 – 15 biscuits.  With many of the ranges, you can select certain colours or styles of biscuits within your selection and some offer on single, slightly larger biscuit.

As you can see from the photo, the biscuits look amazing and they taste delicious too although they do almost look too good to eat.

It really is worthwhile taking a look around The Queen of Hearts Cookie Company website and looking not only at the wonderful range of biscuits but also to watch the short video about how to ice the perfect biscuit and you can see how some of their wonderful designs are created.

Snapfish Acrylic Prints 

In the digital age where we take loads of photos each week, it is so easy to store photos on memory sticks, hard drives and computers and never print any of them out.  I know from my own experience that I have so many lovely photos that I have taken over the children that I would love to display and I am always on the lookout for new ways to display them.

Acrylic blocks and panels are my new favourite way to display photos as they offer a lovely clean and modern way to display your prints.  Snapfish have a great range of Acrylic Prints and Blocks in a range of sizes.  The 6 x 4 Acrylic Print comes with a handy plastic desk stand which is perfect for displaying just about anywhere.  I have mine on the desk next to the computer and it would also make a lovely gift idea. I chose one of the few photos that I have managed to get of the three younger children, R isn’t smiling but I still like this photo.

Larger Acrylic Panel Prints are stunning on the wall, they don’t distract from the photo and in fact I think they enhance your favourite photos.  The acrylic panel itself is 10mm thick and the larger sizes come with a free wall hanging kit which makes hanging them easy.  Snapfish have three sizes; 6 x4 inches, 12×8 inches and 18×12 inches. I knew which photo I wanted, one of my favourite photos from our trip to Dorset earlier in the year.  It is the boys; the teen and his two younger brothers, chilling out and they all look happy and relaxed.

It looks so lovely as an acrylic print and I am looking forward to putting it up in our study once the decorating has been finished.  Snapfish have some brilliant ideas to inspire you to display your photos in different ways.  Acrylic Prints are wonderful but I have ordered photo books and other photo gifts from Snapfish in the past and they always arrive quickly and are also excellent quality and value.  Check out the Snapfish website to find out more.

My Doodles Headphones and Headphone Splitters

My Doodles made a big impression last month when we were sent a watch to review and the bold colours and characters are carried through the whole range of My Doodles range of products.  

A has started asking about using headphones when she is on the iPad watching films or listening to music. Her brothers often use headphones but I do worry about headphones with younger children as you need to control the volume limit to protect their ears, so I have avoided letting her use them often.  There are so many times when we would all love her to have them, particularly when she has ‘Let it go’ playing on repeat twenty times in a row.

The headphones limit the volume to 85Db and are lightweight and foldable.  The inside of the headphones are really soft and A has told me that they are very comfortable. She can easily adjust them to fit her head and happily sits with the iPad listening and watching in her own little world.  She loves the design and the fact that they are so easy and comfortable to wear.

I love the My Doodles range, they have made a range of coordinating products with such cute characters and great colours that make these practical items really appealing to children.

My Doodles also do the coordinating Headphone Splitters which are compatible with a huge range of devices and these enable you to connect two pairs of headphones to one device.  A loves this and even though she has been using the headphones by herself, she is still insisting on using the splitter as she loves the design.

These are such a great idea and perfect if you have two children who want to watch or listen to something together. It is also really small so easy to pop in your bag so that you have it for days out or long car journeys.  A likes it if I plug in with her and listen to Let it go together and I dread to think how it must sound to everyone else when we are both singing along.

The RRP for the My Doodles Headphones is £20 and £7.99 for the Headphone Splitters.  They are available from Amazon an other high street stores.

Belvoir Fruit Farms 

Belvoir Fruit Farms had the most wonderful stand at the BBC Good Food Show.  They had a selection of their cordials made up for people to try and they handed you a tiny plastic cup to go around and try each flavour.  I had tried the Elderflower Cordial before as it is available in my local supermarket and I love it, so I was very keen to try the other flavours.  

With gorgeous sounding combinations such as Raspberry and Lemon, Elderflower and Rose and Honey, Lemon and Ginger, these cordials are delicious and it is easy to see why the Belvoir Fruit Farms are award-winning.

Belvoir Fruit Farms are a British company and have been making drinks for over thirty years, sourced from local ingredients and Belvoir spring water.  They now have a huge range of cordials, pressés and a small range of cans.

Raspberry and lemon is my absolute favourite at the moment although I have discovered that they also have strawberry and rhubarb which I am keen to try.  Their website is packed with lots of information about their drinks and you can also find local stockists and I was thrilled to find a local farm shop who stock quite a big range of the cordials.  You may not want to share these drinks with the children though, they are seriously amazing.

We were sent some of the products in this review for the purpose of the review.  All opinions are our own.