Our Sainsbury's Halloween Goodies

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What do you get if you pop into Sainsbury’s for bread and milk with a 4 year old? A trolley full of Halloween goodies!! Last week was the first time I have seen little J be so excited for Halloween. As we walked through the door of our local Sainsbury’s we were stopped in our tracks by a huge display of Halloween decorations. Little J instantly ran over and started pressing try me buttons on light up lanterns and dancing pumpkins. At one point he had three dancing characters on the floor watching them as they spun around. I do usually buy one or two new decorations each year to add to our collection so I had a silly idea of asking little J to choose two new items . . . he wanted everything. 

We always have a Halloween house party each year but as big J is too old now and little J wasn't old enough we haven't had one for a few years, just a little tea party for the 4 of us. However this year I am looking forward to hosting a Halloween party for some friends. 

Whilst little J was playing with the Halloween toys I popped in the trolley some partyware. I know that we will have tons in the loft as I buy lots of it every year and never end up using it all but I had to buy a new table cloth, plates, cups and napkins. There were 3 variations but I went for the ghosts design They say Woo and Boo and the tablecloth has lots of eyes on it and is wipe clean. They were priced at £2.50 each for packs of 10 for the cups and plates, napkins are a pack of 20 and the tablecloth is single and cost £3.50. I also bought Halloween crackers which are cute and cost £4 for 8.

Little J wanted to get some spiders and spider webs which I think are great fun and look so realistic. We have had some similar before and they are very creepy but the web gets everywhere. It comes in a ball with the plastic spiders attached and the idea is you pull the web and the more you pull the more it looks like spooky cobwebs. We always put it over the lights, around the fireplace and up the stairs. These were great value for money and priced at £3 including lots of web and 6 spiders,

Sticking with spiders I bought some door decorations. They hang over your door frame and have glittery webs and hanging spiders. These were priced at £6 each so I bought two as we have two main doors downstairs however now thinking about it I should have bought 4 as I am guessing they will only cover one side of the door. 

This was my favourite buy and I just fell in love with them when I saw them. Halloween Ghost Bottle String Lights, They are sound activated however there is a try me on them and once I pressed them I knew I had to buy them They play the Alton Towers music. For those that know us will know we are huge fans of Alton Towers so this was a must buy. They were priced at £12 for 10 lights. 

Last but not least little J decided to choose a dancing pumpkin which when pressed spins round and dances to The Monster Mash song. There were others to choose from, including a witch and a skeleton. It was priced at £12 and is really cute. 

So that is just a few of our new additions to our Halloween decorations this year. We still haven't been to Costco yet which we usually do every year and will normally find something to buy so watch this space. 

Have you bought any decorations for Halloween yet?

Michelle 

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Review - Havex Machines

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For the past week or so we have had lots of fun playing with Havex Machines. We had seen an advert on you tube for them and they looked amazing so little J was excited to receive two to play with. The tag line is Race Transform Battle and that is exactly what they do. The Havex Machine comes with a small micro car very similar to Micro Machines for those old enough to remember. You can play with the car but once you are ready to battle you drive the car into the Havex Machine and it triggers the machine to transform in to a bot ready to battle.

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Review - PJ Masks Headquarters

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Little J first heard about PJ Masks quite late on when we stumbled upon it on TV. We had no idea what it was but it was really good. Now, he absolutely loves it and like most boys and girls runs around our living room pretending to be Cat Boy, Owlette and Gecko. He recently was given some PJ Masks figures from his Grandparents which was perfect timing as we received PJ Masks Headquarters to review recently.

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Review - Chad Valley Street Showdown Racing Track & Cars Set

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You may have read our recent announcement that we are back on the Chad Valley Play Panel and we are super excited. We love receiving toys and as part of our new role we were very lucky to receive the new Street Showdown Racing Track & Cars Set last week. Little J loves cars so was super excited to try this out.

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Review - Thomas & Friends Adventures, Cranky At The Docks

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There has been quite an increase in children’s toys adverts over the last few weeks and we have been receiving Christmas catalogues from local toy shops too. This can only mean one thing, Christmas is coming. I was unsure what little J would be asking for this year as he just loves everything but I know one thing that will definitely be on his Christmas list and that is a Thomas Train Set. He loves Thomas & Friends and was thrilled when he received Thomas & Friends Adventures, Cranky At The Docks. We have had lots of fun playing with the play set and he’s also managed to merge it with other Adventures sets he has too.

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Review - Ticket To Ride, First Journey

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Playing games is something we have always enjoyed and over the years our board game collection has grew and grew until now we can only have a section downstairs and the majority have gone in the loft until we are ready to play. As big J got older our games become more for adults as he was able to understand more complicated games and had a longer attention span. One of our favourite games is Ticket to Ride. The game is a cross-country train adventure in which players collect and play matching train cards to claim railway routes connecting cities throughout North America. As part of the Board Game Club, last month we received Ticket To Ride, First Journey which is aimed at younger players. 

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Little Green Men Battle Pack Review

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Disclosure - We were sent the products below for the purpose of this post. All thoughts, opinions and photographs are our unless stated. This post contains affiliate links. 

For the past few weeks we have having lots of fun and battles playing with Awesome Little Green Men. Little J watches children opening 'blind bags' all the time on you tube but these Little Green Men combine blind box opening with actual gameplay and is lots of fun. 

We received The Awesome Little Green Battle Pack and two mystery boxes. The battle pack also contains 2 mystery soldiers as well as three green men and 3 blue men. Three of the six included were vehicles which little J loved. 

 First thing to do was to open the mystery boxes. Little J got 2 green men so his green army outweighed the blue. 

Each Little Green Man comes with his own dog tag which you can wear.

Once the blind boxes are open its time to play. 

There are official game rules which come in the battle pack or can be downloaded online however little J made his own army rules up.  For those that want to play the proper game here are the game play rules.

SET UP

1- Pick Your Armies. Add up the power points printed on the bottom of each soldier. Each army must have the same total power points.

2 - Next, each player selects a prized possession of equal size to guard as his or her goal.

3 - Your battlefield should be a smooth, long surface about 6 feet in length, so a long table or the floor are perfect. Set up both armies at opposite ends of the battlefield. No soldier should be more than one soldier length in front of their goal.

HOW TO PLAY

The youngest player goes first. Each turn, a player takes four actions. Choose to march or attack.

 To attack, place an "Attack" Slider on either side of your attacking soldier. Aim at an enemy and flick the Slider. If you miss, that's one action. If you hit the enemy, that enemy takes Hit Points (HP) equal to the Attack Strength of the attacking soldier. 

 Each soldier has a different total amount of Hit Points (HP) they can take. Once a soldier reaches his or her total Hit Points, the opposing army captures that soldier. Keep track of Hit Points by putting one of the bandage stickers on the soldier for each hit they take. 

Your mission is to capture your opponent’s goal. Clear the soldiers in front and then attempt 5 to hit his or her goal with your “March” Slider without hitting an enemy soldier in the process.

If the Slider cleanly hits the goal, you’ve marched in and captured the prized possession.You win.

What We Loved

Great idea and the figures are really good quality. 

Little J loves the vehicles which we also use when playing with cars and hot wheels tracks. 

For those that have children that are obsessed with the 'bling bag' phenomenon then these will be perfect.

What Could Improve

Nothing, we love them and will be adding to our collection very soon.

The Awesome Little Green Men battle pack (RRP £24.99) and Mystery boxes are available to buy in Smyths Toys or online at Amazon

Michelle 

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Review - Kinetic Rock Crusher

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Little J has played for many hours with his Kinetic Sand set so when we received Kinetic Rock I knew it would be a hit. The Kinetic Rock Crusher set is very similar to the sand however it is made up of tiny pieces of rock. The Rock Crusher set consists of a small bag of Kinetic Rock, a construction worker figure, dumper truck with removable bucket, rock crusher, rock shaping mould, a tool and a sign. Once we had opened it we soon realised that the box doubles up as a box to play with the rocks in. It is designed as a construction site and perfect to help contain the rocks in one place. 

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Review - Fuzzikins Craft, Campervan Carry Case

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When it comes to toys Little J is open to everything. He has never really been a lover of just one type of toy. even though he loves cars he would also play dinosaurs or batman alongside them. It's great for us as parents as if I had to play with just cars all Summer it would drive me insane. We recently received Fuzzikins Craft Campervan Carry Case to review. Now I know it is like a car as it has 4 wheels and a steering wheel but it really is much more than that. 

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Review & Giveaway - Gassy The Cow From Drumond Park

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Last month we received a very exciting delivery from Drumond Park, inside was Gassy The Cow. If you have little ones that watch the TV you will have probably seen Gassy already as it is always on the adverts and little J always says "I want that". I suppose its very appealing to children given the fact that Gassy trumps and poo's . . . a lot. 

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Review - Teletubbies Giggling TiddlyTubbies

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We absolutely love Teletubbies and it's crazy to think that big J used to watch them 15 years ago and now little J does too. A few weeks ago we were sent Teletubbies Giggling TiddlyTubbies Umby Pumby and Ping.

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Review - Brio World School

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You may have read our post last year when little J received a huge box and inside was a Brio Fire Station and Helicopter. He absolutely loves Brio and this was his first Brio World set. Since then we have bought a few more sets and a few weeks ago he received the Brio World School playset.

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Review & Giveaway - Mokuru Fidget Toy

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Having kids usually means that whatever the latest 'playground' craze is we usually know about it. We've had everything from loom bands to bottle flipping and now he most recent craze fidget spinners. We have a house full of them at the moment and I have to admit I have had a go of them myself. If you or your children are keen on fidget spinners then you may be interested in the new Japanese craze, the Mokuru Desk Toy.

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Review - Peppa's Family Home

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A few weeks ago we received Peppa's Family Home for little J. Little J absolutely loves Peppa and it was perfect timing as he has been watching the new Peppa episodes on Milkshake TV. Little J has a Peppa house already however this newer version is brilliant.  Once we opened the home I realised straight away that the quality of the newer home was better than the previous. Unfortunately this home doesn't fold away but it seems more durable and when you have boys you need that.

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Review - Thomas & Friends Trackmaster Scrapyard Escape Set

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You may have already read that last month little J experienced his first visit to the cinema. It's such a big deal going to the cinema for the first time and I am glad we waited till we thought he was ready. Now he has been once he is desperate to go again so we have planned a visit to see Thomas & Friends - Journey Beyond Sodor this weekend as it's released in Cinemas on August 25th. We haven't told him yet but he loves Thomas so we are sure he will love every minute of it. To get him in the mood we have been sent Thomas & Friends Trackmaster Scrapyard Escape Set which was inspired by the new movie. 

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Review - Dynamite Dare

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We love trying out new games so when the opportunity came up to review Dynamite Dare we accepted as we had actually seen the advert for the game and it looked lots of fun. The rules of the game is very simple, diffuse or lose.

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Jake Shoes Back To School Range | Review

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Disclosure - We were sent the products below for the purpose of this post. All thoughts, opinions and photographs are our unless stated. 

So it's that time during the Summer holidays that I start to think about buying big J's uniform. It is usually quite simple as we buy most of it from the school shop, however we do usually have some trouble finding shoes for him as he is very fussy and a typical teenager. As little J will be starting school in September I decided to be super organised and start buying his uniform early as I didn't know what to expect especially if he took after his brother when shoe shopping. Jake Shoes got in touch recently and offered us the chance to try out a pair of shoes from their back to school range. This was perfect as I really dislike shopping for school shoes as it's always manic, doing it online meant I could browse from the comfort of my own sofa. 

There was quite a selection on Jake Shoes including lots of well know brands such as Kickers, Geox and Timberland. You can search the school range by brand, young  boys or older boys. I searched through the young boys selection and was pleased to see most of the shoes available in this category were velcro fastening. We haven't begun to teach little J to tie laces yet infact even now big J were velcro fastening. They are so much easier to slip on and off when needed. 

We narrowed our choice down to two pairs, one Kickers and one Timberland. Due to sizes available we went for the Timberland Woodman Park. The ordering process was very easy and they arrived quickly. 

It's hard to imagine little J in school shoes because he's always in trainers or more casual shoes. When he saw them he smiled and said 'oooohhh' so I think he's impressed.

They are made with quality leather, velcro fastening and are cushioned inside. They look durable and perfect for school.

What We Loved

Lots of choice including well known brands.

Easy to browse using categories.

Free next working delivery if spending over £40.

The shoes we chose are great quality with velcro fastening which is a must for little J.

If online shopping isn't your thing, there are 2 stores in Manchester and Stockport.

What Could Improve

Nothing, everything was fine.

I am so pleased how easy it was to order online but if you would rather shop instore, Jake Shoes do have 2 branches in Manchester and Stockport. You can view more information by visiting Jake Shoes.

Michelle

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Review - Super Wings Toys

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You may have read recently that we were chosen to be one of the Super Wings Ambassadors for this Summer. We absolutely love the Super Wings programme on Cartoonito so little J was very excited to receive a range of toys to play with this Summer. We received the Super Wings Airport, remote Control Jett and transforming characters both large and mini. 

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Review - Jungle In My Pocket Treehouse Playset

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 Welcome to the jungle, if you're a fan of puppy and Kitty in my pocket, you'll go wild for these new fuzzy jungle pets. Jungle in my pocket is the latest line of collectible characters to join the in my pocket family. They're soft, cute and ready for adventure. We have not heard of Jungle in my pocket so we were excited to receive the Jungle In My Pocket Treehouse Playset last week. We also received two blind bags which little J finds very exciting. 

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Review - My Summer Wear From Jacamo

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You may have read recently that Michelle was invited to choose and review some new clothes from J.D. Williams. I was lucky enough to also be invited to try some clothes from Jacamo. My clothes tend to be a bit scruffy. I wear typical ‘Dad’ clothes most of the time when I’m not in work. Tracksuits, Everton Shirts, Shorts and Film and TV orientated T-Shirts.  I noticed recently that Big J’s wardrobe is actually a lot smarter than mine, and decided it was time I got myself some smarter clothes to wear.

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