Dear Father Christmas…

Lillie: ‘Do we have to wait for our friends to play with these?’

Mummy: ‘yes’

Lillie: ‘HUFF….that’s a Grown Up Noise’

This weekend The Toddler Review Crew - that’s (deep breath) Lillie, Ted, Eva, Mae, Luke, Elliott, Zach, Jasmine, Daisy, Alexandra and Patricia - had a few Yazoo milkshakes, a mince pie or two and settled down to review a whole sackful of Christmas treats. Here are their favourites…

Lucy Locket Hot Pink Fairy Wings
£10
Daddy: ‘would you like to look at the fairy wings or cuddle daddy?’ Lillie: ‘I can see the wings from here’ Mummy: ‘would you like to cuddle daddy or try the fairy wings on?’ Lillie: ‘ooooh, ummm….’
All girls love fairy wings and this pair which are huuuuge, bright pink and glittery too are perfect for cool girls like Lil and Eva who have been steered away from baby pink from a young age. We have no doubt that these would go down extremely well with teenagers too.

Melody Mix
£44.95
Mummy wishes she’d offered to sell this for commission. Not only did three Mummies want to know where to get one of these in advance of Christmas, the kids couldn’t keep away. Aside from Luke thinking that the legs were for hitting the xylophone with there wasn’t a single complaint about the fantastic Melody Mix.

Look, Mummy put us on the tele! Mr Tumble wasn’t available so Eva’s Daddy did some songs with us…

Bugsby Reading System
£29.99
First things first, Daddy didn’t like the fact that ‘it’s reading to them while I’m just sat here’. However, Bugsby was a hit with the little’uns and Mummy’s ‘I’ll read you a book in just a minute…one more minute…JUST HANG ON!’ isn’t terribly popular.

Lillie loves it and Jasmine who, at 2 and a half, is a bit younger than the target age found it surprisingly easy to use. Jasmine’s Daddy tells us that it really held her attention…no bad thing for any harassed parent.

Bob The Builder Pull Back Figure Set
£12.99
Ted says: ‘Bob mine! Can we fick it? Yes can!’ This wee set of Bob’s best friends is Ted’s pick of the pressies this year, as evidenced by the fact that Lofty and Scrambler have spent every night since they arrived tucked up in bed with him (Bob was in for three days too but he has since been languishing somewhere between the cot and the wall awaiting rescue by a long armed parent). Daddy’s thoughts? ‘Oh, they’re pull back and go…quality!’
*please note that the Bob the Builder set is not recommended for under 3s. Mummy takes full responsibility for Ted eating small pieces of toy.

Olivia The Octopus Tutulegz
£34.99
Lillie: ‘Can I wear these now or do I have to *frowns* share?’ There’s three things which Lil would probably put at the very top of the ‘my favourite things list’ - pink, ballet skirts and bizarre outfits.

Tutulegz covers all bases as far as she’s concerned, if someone else hadn’t invented it, we’re pretty sure she would have done it herself. Now Mummy and Daddy don’t have the ‘it’s too cold for a tutu’ excuse because, look! There’s leggings attached!

Babyboomboom Junior Band Bag (Spanish)
£19.99
PHWEEEEE PHWEEEEEEEE PHWEEEEEEEEEE! Check the Melody Mix video and you’ll notice some other musical instruments in use. These come from the equally popular Babyboomboom band bag. A sneaky way to teach kids foreign languages, Babyboomboom create multi-lingual CDs which, when combined with the cute and colourful musical instruments teach Spanish, French, Italian, German and Polish to young children from 3. Kids love the noise, parents put up with the noise for the learning. Everyone’s a winner!

Fabric Flavours Gruffalo Tshirt
£18
Mummy: ‘This Gruffalo tshirt is in Ted’s size.’ Daddy: ‘you’re kidding? *puts head in hands* do you think it’ll fit Lil?’ Mummy: *shakes head, fear in eyes* ‘nope, size one to two.’ Daddy: ‘****’ Lillie, when denied Gruffalo goods is not a pretty sight let us tell you. Any parent of a Gruffalo fan will agree that this tee will go down a treat under the tree, as long as it isn’t for the younger brother of a Gruffalo obsessed three year old. As Jasmine’s and Daisy’s Daddies agreed it ‘would make you a star with any kid’.

Love Letter Cushion
£45
Lillie: ‘what letter is this Mummy?…It’s an L, L FOR LILLIE! *hugs cushion* L!’ Mummy and Lillie both love these cushions which Jasmine’s Mummy and Daddy and Daisy’s Daddy all agreed would be excellent for their little girls’s bedrooms too. Yes, it’s forty-five smackers but, as Mummy will tell Daddy when she insists on buying her entire name (including the two middle names and maiden name, just in case he makes too much fuss), a good cushion is worth its weight in gold, and one like this is a family heirloom in the making.

Knights, Dragon and Princess Fun Pack
£7.50
A proper hit with the TTR party goers, this mask making kit from the National Gallery online shop kept every one of the over twos quiet for a good ten minutes as they coloured in their very own masks. There was a short hiatus as Lillie explained that they would need a ’shooer’ (apparently this is ’shape of a shoe’ and ‘for shooing’) to finish what they were doing. Thankfully some parents were quicker than others and a skewer was quickly dispatched and masks triumphantly finished, proving the kit to be the ideal stocking fillers. Other popular items from the National Gallery team included their Art Sticker Book, Painting Apron and Finger Puppets.

Annabel Karmel Christmas Baking Set
£19.99
Mummy’s love of Annabel Karmel goes on (following her weaning book and ready meals) with this fab Christmas baking kit. Hark, there’s the sound of chairs being dragged across the kitchen so Lil and Ted can reach the work surfaces and ‘do baking’ with stuff that won’t break. Nomnomnom, that’s the sound of Daddy downing the Christmas tree biccies while the children sleep. Eva’s Mummy thinks it’s really good ‘depending how much it costs’ - on special offer at £9.99 plus the fact that it comes with all you need to make chocolate christmas puds (ideal with a cuppa and a gossip) we think she’ll be pretty impressed.

Bushbaby Mini Pack
£15
Lillie: ‘Eva AND Mae have got backpacks and I haven’t got a backpack, not even one backpack at all’. Not often can Mummy pull the rabbit out of the hat but thanks to the lifesaving folks at Bushbaby she just happened to have a backpack in reserve. A backpack which, thanks to its pink-ness was a hit with Lil. Reins probably aren’t necessary for Lillie but Ted, who can’t resist a kerb, needs to be kept in check but in a subtle way. As Jasmine’s Daddy said it ‘makes the child feel helpful’. We were less impressed with him referring to it as a ‘leash’ though.

Nice Bear, Naughty Bear Cards
£6.99
Judging by the ‘my hands are still smelly even after I’ve washed them’ conversation we’ve just had with Lillie, so far the Nice Bear, Naughty Bear good manners card game has yet to have an effect. But this is a great stocking filler for your little nose pickers. Judging by most toddlers we’ve met, ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ are not high on their list of priorities but this easy little game makes it fun to be good. We think grandparents would approve…except Big Granwa who burps at the table.

BIC Kids Visa Felt Tips
£3.09
Little Granwa always gave good stocking at Christmas back in Mummy’s day, and her stockings usually included felt tips. This year the felt tip of choice has got to be the BIC Visa (why the credit card connotation name? We don’t know). They don’t dry out if the lids are left off and are washable too - good news for toddlers. See the creation of Lillie’s multicoloured Christmas tree below…

Bee My Moccis
£18
Ted: ‘Put bees on. Bees sleespers.’ Not much will induce Ted to keep anything on his feet, however these magic Moccis seem to have done the trick. As they won’t fit Lillie’s feet she likes to hold them in a rather bizarre fashion. Each to their own. In several designs from cool stripes to rocking stars to girlie cats all kids will love moccis and - hang about - they do them in adult sizes too, rightthenbyenowmustgo…