12/09/201327/01/2014 by jo

Mister Maker App – Let’s Make It

H has always felt like Mister Maker is one of her friends after she met him at the Brighton Baby Show a couple of years ago. The opportunity to try out the Mister Maker App ‘Let’s Make It’ was one I couldn’t turn down!

Mister Maker is a Cbeebies favourite, and P2 Entertainment have devised an app based around his activities. H has been having a play with it when we’ve had chill out time, and is enjoying it a lot so far.

Mister Maker comments “I love having fun and being creative wherever I am in the world and enjoy being inspired by everything around me! Making things is always brilliant, whether with paper and pens, cardboard tubes and gloopy glue, or even digitally!”

Budding artists can create unlimited pictures with nearly 400 different art materials from the digital Doodle Drawers. This includes patterns, stickers, things to glue and funny faces. You can then design a frame for your masterpiece by experimenting further with items from the Doodle Drawers and personalise your creation by typing a special message.

Families can show off their art skills by taking part in the popular Minute Make challenges by choosing and completing items from two different themes: Nature and Underwater World.

Children can have fun with Mister Maker’s friends ‘The Shapes’ in a brand new multi-level interactive shape finding game. We found Mister Maker pops up quite a lot in this one, we had to tell him to be quiet…!

Throughout gameplay, kids can unlock a variety of materials for the Doodle Drawers as special reward content.

The game has up to four users with their own photo album and they can choose to email their favourite creations to the Mister Maker Gallery on the P2 website to be in with a chance of winning monthly prizes.

The app also allows children to take a picture using the camera function and then enhance their real world creation in Doodle Drawers or Frame It!

We’ve been playing this on our older iPad, so for the purpose of review I’ve also put it onto the iPad Mini where we can take photos and make silly faces with them, and H is really loving putting silly things on Daddy’s face. In turn I’m enjoying her creativity, and what she’s turned daddy into! This would be even better if you could use existing photos and add those to the gallery to edit them, rather than having to take new ones.

Essentially it’s like having all the elements of crafts you’ll find in the Mister Maker show within an app; craft without the mess and ideal if you’re travelling and don’t want the mess. You can ‘glue’ things onto the picture you’re creating, and sprinkle various things onto it, glitter and so on. It’s pretty good and one that will help with fine motor skills.

There’s so much to do in this app that even after the short time we’ve had it I feel like there’s a lot more we can do – it definitely feels like something which will grow with H rather than being bored of it after a few months.

Mister Maker – Let’s Make It is available now at the App Store for £2.99. We received a promo code for the purpose of review, all opinions are our own and honest.

10/09/201327/01/2014 by jo

Rug Doctor – A Review

We were given an opportunity to review a Rug Doctor Carpet Cleaner – not your average review item, but perfect for us!

Rug Doctor’s website says all carpets really should be deep cleaned every twelve months. We have just signed our third year tenancy agreement, and while all the furniture is our own, the carpets aren’t, and they’re the proper ‘landlord’ kind. They also show dust. My Dyson cleaner wasn’t doing what it should and you could still see the dust, so having an opportunity to review some Rug Doctor cleaners with a loan of a machine was something that we HAD to do.

The last time our carpet was properly cleaned would have been as we moved in, so it was long overdue. While we don’t own our house, it is our home, so I took H out for the day while Shaun stayed at home and cleaned. (lucky him!)

One really good thing about the carpets being damp after cleaning was the warm weather – most surfaces were dry enough to walk on after 2-3 hours. There was even enough of the cleaner to clean our old armchair – something which has been needed for a long time (gulp, seven years?) as the stains on the arm rests were driving us mad. Add to that the car which again was long overdue a clean, and all of a sudden I could breathe again!

The Rug Doctor cleaner did more than that – a clean settee, clean carpets with only one stain it couldn’t remove (Shaun thinks it may be pink felt tip) – our house feels clean, and really now we need to keep on top of this and do proper weekly cleans.

The Rug Doctor was very easy to use, the instructions were easy to follow, and the carpets in the house were all done in a few hours. It cleaned the carpet really well, the hand-held nozzle was useful for sides in the bathroom as well as doing the settee. We also received a Spot & Stain Removal Spray, a Heavy Foot Traffic Area Spray and an Odour Removal Spray, all of which worked really well.

The car was cleaned within an hour, and after three years of making do with the odd vacuum the car does look fresher than before. How long it will last is another matter…

In summary, our surfaces cleaned have come up much cleaner than before, and we’re really happy with the results. You can hire a Rug Doctor for 24 hours from many places – if you’ve been holding off I’d say give it a try, you could be pleased too!

04/09/201327/01/2014 by jo

The Ultimate Tickety Toc Sticker and Activity Collection

The Ultimate Tickety Toc Sticker and Activity Collection is a new book from Igloo Books. It features Tommy and Tallulah and their friends from Nick Jr’s popular show.

The Ultimate Tickety Toc Sticker and Activity Collection book has over 150 stickers as well as puzzles, games and activities within it, and is perfect for preschoolers.

Within the book there are various activities made from card that you can can pop out from the pages and assemble. We tried the birthday card and gift box. Here’s the result :

I really like Ultimate Tickety Toc Sticker and Activity Collection. I found that the activities are kept simple and with Tickety Toc being as popular as it is it’s something which will have a lot of appeal to kids – it’s the kind of book I could leave H to and she wouldn’t get frustrated by it and want me to help her (for certain activities).

The book has a Join The Dots puzzle which H really enjoys doing, as well as a maze. There’s plenty of colouring in and putting stickers in the right space, as well as general decorating of things.

There are some games in the book as well which makes things fun. Once you’ve assembled the card activities you can rip out the pages which makes things easier. Considering how competitive H is this appeals, she enjoys playing games and having something she’s made at the end as a prize is quite appealing.

You can buy The Ultimate Tickety Toc Sticker and Activity Collection at Amazon, currently at a bargain £3 (but out of stock) – if your child is a fan this would be something they’d love – and there’s enough activities in there you wouldn’t run out either – head over here. They’re also available from Asda.

We were sent a copy of the book for review, all opinions are our own. This post also contains an affiliate link.

02/09/201327/01/2014 by jo

Seaview Caravan Holiday Park Near Weymouth – Review

We’ve just come back from a quick stay at the Haven Seaview site, our second holiday this year.

Seaview is next to their Weymouth Bay site in Dorset, and it’s where we spent just under 48 hours this weekend just gone. This was a break, a short break. A very short break indeed. H was unwell so we left a day late, and H was again unwell so we left a day early – so we only stayed the one night. This was enough to get a feel of Seaview, I liked it, and would go back.

We had a caravan for six people – a Deluxe and while it was snug, it was the right size for us all – one double bedroom and two singles, plus an extra toilet (so two in total). We were close to the main reception and entertainment area, the Spar was basic but had everything we needed.

We arrived and headed straight to the beach, which is a 15-20 minute walk, crossing through another holiday complex. This area has a restaurant, shop (with buckets and spades) and toilets, the beach itself is good, plenty of sand (and stones) for tricky sandcastles, plus you get views of Weymouth right around to Portland Bill and out to the sea. We had a glorious sunny day and spent a good few hours there building, H had her first swim (of sorts) in the sea and had a brilliant time.

We headed back and tried the Seaview indoor pool. It has a depth of 1.2 metres apart from a smaller sectioned off area (which is also nice and warm unlike the rest of the pool – you warm up by swimming!), and had a good swim around for an hour or so. There’s a water slide to the side of the pool that H’s friend loved, but H was too scared to try it out and you can’t accompany your child to the top. We were going to try the outdoor pool which has a shallower and a deeper end but missed it due to illness.

Food wise, there was the standard Mash & Barrel food, we were happy with our choice, and it was identical to the food at Devon Cliffs so we knew what we were getting.

Our evening’s entertainment was provided by the Funstars Go Live gang who were excellent – we missed the toddler disco but got there in time for pretty much an evening’s worth of things to do, H and her friend M got into it and had a great time until they were too tired to continue. I probably enjoyed the Rock & Roll Bingo too much and had a few too many beers including the point we bossed Shaun onto the stage when our kids had to find things beginning with B (blue t-shirt with Buzz Lightyear on), our night finished with the Queen and Elvis tribute band King Meets Queen – we left as ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ started, it was way past bedtime for the 4 year olds.

The plan for the following day was a trip to Corfe Castle. Our two cars set off, and Shaun and I got there uneventfully, however parking there is impossible; this is why they offer a Park and Ride service – worth bearing in mind. We saw Corfe Castle, as in we drove past but then received a call H had been sick, so headed back to find them and pick her up.

So, back to Seaview… where Shaun used their laundry facilites – the clothes and car seat cover were clean and dry within an hour or two and the service was reasonably priced. The Spar had an antibacterial spray which got rid of the smell of vomit from their car, and I was pleased to see they had plain rice cakes in there to keep H from feeling too hungry and being sick again.

We decided that really we should head home that night – we’d have better traffic than going the following day, and she’d have a night in her own bed. We were home by 10pm. Sadface.

Seaview is a small site which backs onto another Haven site, Weymouth Bay which is much bigger and where all the activities are (archery, fencing, football etc) you can use both sites. Overall, I found the entertainment much more fun than previous times and liked being so close to everything within the site. The soft play area was small but fine for our 4 year olds needs. The photo opportunities with characters were still there but it felt less pressured.

Our break cost us around £350 – and split between the two families works out around £175 – we were pleased with this as it’s roughly £60 a night – and you have your own space. The size of the caravan meant the girls shared a room (which they loved) and we all had enough space to move around. The extra toilet was also a good thing! The shower was a little wider than previous caravans we’d stayed in which was great as it meant I could go in there with H (she decided she didn’t like showers this week). There were plenty of cupboards and hooks too for storage.

In summary, if you’re thinking about a break around Weymouth, we found Seaview to be excellent – our caravan had a few loose fittings here and there but it didn’t actually spoil anything, we were just careful to make sure windows were properly shut, that kind of thing. The staff were all friendly, and it felt much more like a smaller site than Devon Cliffs which is huge and has security and people checking passes all the time. We’re now pondering whether to switch our planned half term break back to this area to do the things we’d hoped to!

31/08/201327/01/2014 by jo

Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever

Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever is a fabulous book I remember from my childhood.

Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever is celebrating its 50th Anniversary. I remember this book so well, I think we had it in hardback and I’d spend days looking over the pictures and naming them until eventually I got too old for it.

HarperCollins have just brought out an anniversary edition (priced at a very reasonable £6.99 rrp) which brings back the memories, which keeps them going for future generations. I’d love to think H will read this until she too decides she’s too old for it which gets passed on to any future children of hers – I believe this kind of thing is known as a timeless classic?

The book has pictures, and is based around Busytown, everything has a name and is labelled, and as your child starts to learn to read this kind of thing is going to be really helpful with learning.

Looking through the pages I don’t remember a huge amount, until I got to the one about painting and drawing with colours and they flooded back. The two paint colours are mixed together to make another colour and to me it looks identical to the way I knew it 40 or so years ago. (gulp)

Richard Scarry comes from America but I didn’t spot any words which felt like this was a US edition. I did spot there were no eggplants or zucchini’s, so maybe they were avoided in the first place?

Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever has pictures on each page and within that you’re asked lots of questions which is perfect for H at the moment. She loves to go through the contents of a page and examine everything so I feel this is a book she’s the perfect age for. She also starts school in a matter of days and I think it will help her a lot with word recognition. There are also lots of counting challenges as well.

If you remember Richard Scarry’s Best Word Book Ever from when you grew up, you’ll probably want to consider it for your child as well.

My best memories are the ones I can pass on to H which don’t feel out of date – this is one of them. I love it.

We were sent a copy of this book for review, all opinions are my own nostalgic ones and honest. This post contains an affiliate link.

30/08/201327/01/2014 by jo

The Day The Crayons Quit

The Day The Crayons Quit is out now, and appeals to my sense of humour.

The Day The Crayons Quit is by Drew Daywelt with pictures by Oliver Jeffers – straight away we knew we were probably on to a winner.

In a nutshell, the crayons have (mostly) had enough. So they send a letter to Duncan, their owner. Beige is fed up of playing second fiddle to brown, blue is tired, and pink is feeling neglected. Green is a bit worried about yellow and orange as they’re not talking to each other, whereas peach has a terribly embarrassing problem.

I found the book possibly a little advanced for H which isn’t a bad thing – she’ll grow into it, and she got why each crayon had an issue, but didn’t really ‘get’ why – that will come. I love the book and found it funny, and Oliver Jeffers illustrations give it a great character too.

Drew Daywalt, the author is an award-winning writer and director of film and tv, and of course Oliver Jeffers has written many books which we love.

Now I’m wondering what the chances are this will end up on stage – I give it a couple of years…

You can get ‘The Day The Crayons Quit’ at Amazon for £9.09 at Amazon currently – I’d highly recommend!

We were sent the book for the purpose of review, all opinions are our own. The Amazon link is an affiliate link.

27/08/201327/01/2014 by jo

Cussons Mum and Me Little Explorers Bathtime Fun

There’s a new range out there for older kids to enjoy bathtimes – the Cussons Mum and Me Little Explorers range.

Cussons Mum and Me Little Explorers is a decent range of bathtime goodies which are designed to make your child enjoy bath time again. The range has some characters – Blip, Squidge, Fizz and Splash and each has their own special bathtime treat. We received the following :

Happy Splashy Hair & Body Wash [£2.49 – 300ml]
Funky Fizz Bath Crackles [£1.00- 30g]
Super Soft Squidgy soap [£2.49 – 200ml]
Mega Mild Bubbly Bath [£2.99 – 500ml]

Bubbles mean fun for kids – the colours, the reflections and the magic of them popping and appearing again. Mega Mild Bubbly Bath is dermatologist approved, hypoallergenic and contains Avocado and Jojoba oils. It creates masses of bubbles and helps to keep their skin soft and smooth.

H has dry skin, especially as it gets colder and can react to things so we have to keep one eye on what we’re using. I was pleased to see that they’re designed for sensitive skin, and even more pleased as H didn’t react in any way to them other than with great delight.

Firstly we tried the Funky Fizz Bath Crackles – remember that candy you put on your tongue, then you close your mouth while inside there’s a mini popping firework display of sugary goodness? Imagine that in the bath and NOT in your mouth. It’s something like this :

This went down really well with H, she liked it as it was different and changed colour.

Our favourite by a mile though was the Super Soft Squidgy Soap – it’s a bit like mousse, the same kind of dispenser but you can squeeze and play and mould it, and even better it’s a really gentle soap. Since we got the Squidgy Soap H has got into the bath much quicker and just gets on with washing herself and daddy (lucky him) – you can hear the giggles from downstairs – never mind bathtime, this is FUN time! The soap stays quite solid but dissolves easily and we’ve already run out so I’ll be buying more very soon.

The Happy Splashy Hair & Body Wash is really handy for those mornings you have to give your child a shower and need them to have a nice smell, H hated the shower (she’s gone off them again) but loved how nice she smelt. This is something we’ll use over quite a long time, you don’t need a huge amount and it’s kind to eyes. I haven’t tried it for her hair as we’ve had a few reactions there recently to other shampoos, but we will give it a go when things have settled down.

Finally, there’s the Mega Mild Bubbly Bath – this hasn’t been used as much as the others as despite H having a bath every night she currently loves practising swimming underwater (we’ve a large bath) – so I’m not keen for her to do this with the bubble bath in. When she has a smaller bath (using the Flexibath which we’re still using – she’s very tall and just turned four) we have used it and found it to be nice and gentle with plenty of bubbles – perfect for a bubble bath!

For me, the things which make this bathtime range is the fun element – the Squidgy Soap wins hands down, with the Bath Crackles coming a close second. The question is, would I buy any of these? My honest answer, I would consider buying them, and when payday comes and we do our next shop I’ll be picking up some more of the Squidgy Soap as it went down so well – our only problem now is getting H to get out of the bath – she’s been having WAY too much fun!

Head here for more information about the Cussons Mum and Me Little Explorers range – find them on Facebook here and Twitter here.

We were sent all of the above to review, all opinions are our own and honest.

21/08/201326/03/2018 by jo

Healthier Crisp Sandwiches With Walkers Mighty Lights

Today we had a go at an old family favourite, and something which disgusts Shaun at how unhealthy it sounds – some crisp sandwiches.

Crisp sandwiches always happen on a Tuesday in my family, some kind of tradition my Grannie had. I have to say I haven’t kept it going but do often quite fancy one, but the majority of crisps these days are pretty fatty – and when you’re looking after your waistline you want a good tasting crisp which isn’t going to have a high fat content.

Step forward new Walkers Mighty Lights, ridged crisps available in three flavours, all of them vegetarian. There’s Roast Chicken, Cheese and Onion and Lightly Salted. All contain 30% less fat compared to other crisps as well as no MSG, artificial colours or preservatives and they’re also a source of fibre.

So, back to the crisp sandwiches. Shaun refused to let me make them, but fortunately I had some salad leaves handy. I got some hummous to use instead of butter, and some cheese slices. The bread was freshly made that morning, so I sliced it (badly, seriously, can anyone tell me the secret of slicing soft bread?), spread on the hummous, added some salad leaves and cheese and served it – alongside a bowl of each flavour.

So, a taste test was next. H was asked the flavour of her crisp. She confidently told me hers was vanilla. Hmmm… It was the lightly salted, but she did agree she was tricking me so we’ll let her off. The three flavours work well – way back in time Seabrooks did some low-fat crisps which had such a high sugar content that they tasted disgusting – and I’m happy to say these Walkers crisps don’t – which is reassuring, as often a lot of low-fat foods tend to do this.

Flavour-wise I’d say the cheese and onion and roast chicken were pretty good – I can’t remember the last time I ate any flavour chicken crisps but I felt like they had a good taste, not at all meaty (at this point you need to bear in mind I’ve been vegetarian for 30 years please). They were so good they went perfectly into my sandwich, and made the perfect ‘healthy’ crisp sandwiches (ahem). The lightly salted isn’t too salty, it’s nice and subtle – just how I like it – I don’t want my tongue to feel bleached by salt.

Portion-size wise, it looked a little less than you’d usually get in a packet of crisps, but flavour-wise that made up for it. I got top crisp satisfaction while having had just enough.

Walkers Mighty Lights are targeted at kids, but actually I’d buy these as an option if I’m doing a Meal Deal; at the moment they’re only available in multipacks in supermarkets.

One really important thing I spotted – the crisps are made in a nut-free environment (all Walkers crisps are) – which means anyone with nut allergies should be fine eating these crisps, according to the FAQ on their site – None of our Walkers Mighty Lights flavours contain nuts or sesame seeds, and we do not handle either in our factory. I’ll be taking a pack with me this weekend for one of the children at H’s birthday party, as I had no idea Walkers were okay.

Ultimately, it all comes back to the crisp sandwiches though. Is it really truly a proper crisp sandwich if it has cheese and salad in there? Am I compromising my crisp sandwich needs for the sake of looking better on the blog? Should I have a secret Roast Chicken crisp sandwich tonight with just butter when everyone has gone to bed? Do you think they’re crisp sandwiches?

I think they’re massively underrated! They’re pretty yummy with the new Walkers Mighty Lights anyway, and definitely worth a try.

How do they compare? I’m comparing the Lightly Salted to the Ready Salted regular crisps, both by Walkers.

	Ready Salted	Lightly Salted
Energy [KJ]	549	477
Energy [Kcal]	132	114
Protein [g]	1.5	2.1
Carbohydrate [g]	12.9	15.2
– sugars [KJ]	0.1	0.2
Fat [g]	8	4.7
– saturates [g]	0.7	0.5
– mono-unsaturates	6.3	3.7
– poly-unsaturates	1.0	0.4
Fibre	1.1	1.2
Salt [g]	0.35	0.28

So as you can see, there are differences – higher carbs but lower sugars for one, as well as the lower fats.

The biggest question of all though, is what I made a crisp sandwich or not? You decide…

I have received payment to review these crisps, all opinions are my own and honest.

18/08/201327/01/2014 by jo

Hello Kitty Top Trumps Cards

Hello Kitty Top Trumps Cards exist! I have a very pleased almost four-year old…

Top Trumps had a stand at Lollibop which we had to visit, where we bought a pack of the Hello Kitty cards. Up to now we’ve only had Top Trumps cards for London Landmarks and Tottenham players so they’re new to us – and H is a bit obsessed with Hello Kitty (and monsters).

I think they’re great, they’ve been going for many years now and they’re a good way of getting your child to identify numbers as well as learn a little bit from the cards.

The simple rules for Top Trumps – you have five categories, one person places down a card and names which number they think will be the greatest. The other players have to place a card with a higher number to then claim the cards. The winner is the player who collects the most cards.

In a nutshell, in this game if it’s your turn and you have The Moon, you’ll win on distance. The miles are from London (so if you have The Moon vs London on distance, you’re a winner. If you have The Moon vs London on style then London will win), as well as Fashion Factor, Things To Do, Natural Beauty and Glamour. If you have The Moon vs Paris on the latter, then Paris will obviously win!

There are various cities or countries around the world with a little fact about each one. You can even learn how to say hello in the language (or dialect) of the country.

Right now as H isn’t really reading we played with her helping Shaun (they’re very competitive) – and I’ve found it’s a great way at reading bigger numbers – she can count and identify numbers to 100 easily but struggles a bit with larger numbers.

The pictures are as you’d expect for something Hello Kitty related, and even though the game ended in tears (H stole my Moon card) I know it’s one we’ll come back to many times as she did enjoy playing it. I’m thinking about playing it alongside our world so we can show her where the countries are as well to add to the educational element.

So far the game has proved a hit – even with the tears. The Top Trumps were a bargain buy from Lollibop from their stand for £3 and you can buy from Amazon for £3.19. Each pack has 30 cards.

This post contains an affiliate link.

16/08/201327/03/2018 by jo

Lollibop 2013 – Our Review

Lollibop 2013 started today, the first day of a three-day festival for kids.

Lollibop 2013 moved venues to the Olympic Park this year, and although we haven’t been to previous ones, both Shaun and I are seasoned festival goers, a bit of rain wasn’t going to scare us, so we were ready!

Our journey wasn’t too painful, a train to London Bridge then just a few stops on the tube to Stratford with a fifteen minute walk to the park. We also got to walk past the Olympic Stadium, somewhere we never got to last year – it’s huge! (I am seriously struggling imagining West Ham having it as their home)

The Lollibop 2013 site was clearly marked – and helpers were starting to line up to guide everyone. I suspect people with buggies may struggle cutting across Westfield, so look into other ways there, but as we were on foot it wasn’t an issue.

We made it inside just in time for Poppy Cat who did some dance moves on the main stage – the sound cut out a bit but that didn’t spoil it for H. It was running late which was fortunate – H says Poppy Cat was probably her favourite thing about Lollibop 2013 (that and fifteen other things).

On the way in we got chatting to two boyfriends of the GoGoGo Show, and found them near us when they came on stage so insisted they join in with the dancing (they did). Shaun had no idea who they were then realised it was the band he sees every morning when he does his ironing – he knew the songs best of the three of us! H enjoyed it, and I like that one of them wears glasses so hopefully H can relate. We have never spoken about this.

There was no time to stop, as once they left the stage Rastamouse came on – and did a neat little set. The creator of Rastamouse came on too, as well as a lady and man who make the music – and it was perfect festival music, really enjoyable, plus everyone was handed Rastamouse flags. Somehow we caught Rastamouse three times over the day which was pleasant.

Shaun found free yoghurt courtesy of Chobani who were giving away full-sized tubs opposite the main stage, so we helped ourselves to one each and decided to have a wander around the site.

We found the Magic Belles stand, and got to chat for a long time to the lovely Maxine – H coloured in two postcards and posted them, it was such a sweet idea and good to stop. We love the Magic Belles and really you should be signing up for the Flutterbud Club – it’s free and it’s fab – every month we get a lovely picture and some fab goodies from them. H loves them too and they’re a really positive influence for little girls – their tent wasn’t just for girls though, it was for anyone who wanted to send a postcard to the fairies, boys of course are included.

Bear Nibbles were handing out free samples of their scrummy food, and next to them were some Barny edible teddy bear cake-y type things (which H loved). There was also a Haribo man making his way around the audience giving out free packets for those moments when it becomes too overwhelming for your little one and you need to give them sugar.

After that we headed back into the main area to get some food. Oh my, everyone else had arrived and the queues were long. Fortunately Dick and Dom were on stage, my Lollibop 2013 highlight, too funny, no ‘bogies’ but plenty of Dick Vs Dom and brilliantly funny. I think it opened up a new kind of comedy to H who wasn’t sure what to make of it. Definitely the best thing we saw – I could have cried laughing at times. H still finds it very strange someone would shout in a library ‘as you’re not meant to do that’ (oh, she’s so good).

Food queues were getting silly, so after a quick scoot around (Nando’s – too long, The Food Stop – too long) we decided on toasties. Reasonably priced Shaun queued while H and I had a little rest – we hadn’t sat down by this time (Hello Kitty had been cancelled on the main stage much to H’s disappointment and the Mr Men had finished which was our only stage clash) plus we were hungry.

The Toasties are quick, but the queue is slow – we got them after about 20-30 minutes in the end, and headed to the press area to sit down and eat them.

After that we felt a bit more refreshed and headed out to catch the end of the GoGoGo Show – we really liked the sets were repeated so at least we caught them at the start of the day when it was quiet and didn’t miss anything as Rastamouse started again. This time we wandered around the shops.

I saw this. I managed to hold myself back. Just.

There were loads of great stalls but we don’t have a lot of money to spend with H’s 4th birthday next week, so we were sensible – in the end I got her some Hello Kitty Top Trumps as I think she’ll like them. There was an entire Top Trumps stall, so that was good to see. I spotted some Moshi Monsters ones too but will wait for now.

We headed towards the Lolli Kitchen where Katy Ashworth from I Can Cook was about to start, which coincided with Andy & Sid from Cbeebies on the Lollipalladium – both stages pretty much next to each other so you can easily get between the two. Actually, H wanted to stop at the Parentdish stand and colour in some bunting. Eventually we got to see both, and both were excellent. Katy was especially funny and got H giggling – a very talented lady – another Lollibop 2013 highlight. Sid and Andy were singing nursery rhymes by the time we got there and being ever so funny – H was getting tired though and by now was on Shaun’s shoulders.

After that we were a bit Lollibop-ed out, and decided to check the face painting queue – it was still long, but we spotted a Hello Kitty Meet and Greet, so joined that queue instead. They closed it when we were FIVE away from meeting Hello Kitty, cue lots of sad kids who just bombarded her with cuddles. That was enough for H, that and there was a Hello Kitty Twister on the hill too which was pretty awesome (and we got to sit and let her get on with it which was even better).

A quick wander back to the main area and the face painting queue had gone right down so we joined it, where the fabulous ladies from Kattoo were, giving out free tattoos to everyone – we already had ours and I got to have a chat with them. It’s a brilliant idea and perfect for events like Lollibop – keep an eye out for them! H had her face painted like Hello Kitty (see a theme here?) and we headed back towards the Magic Belles stand for one last colour in.

Kattoo Tattoos at Lollibop 2013

After that a quick stop at the Wow Toys stand, I’m kind of sad as we’re at the top end of their age range, their toys look excellent though and one I’ll consider for my new nephew when it comes to Christmas time. Duplo were next door so we had a quick play before it really was time to leave Lollibop 2013 and make a move back home.

All in all we spent the day from around 10.10 until 5.30 which is pretty good going. I was pleased how well H handled it, there was plenty of space to rest up, plenty of shelter from the rain and everything was reasonably priced. Lollibop 2013 was a fantastic day out and I really wish we’d got to the National Geographic Kids area as I would love to subscribe for H if it was age appropriate and they had a good deal on. We missed the science area too. I feel like you need an even longer day to do it all!

It was a wonderful day, we have no complaints and we’ll be back next year.

You can still buy tickets here!

We received free passes for our day at Lollibop 2013 – all opinions are our own and honest.

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