Why I Love Portable North Pole (and a reader discount)

Way back in 2013 I reviewed the Portable North Pole, back then I was creating free personalised videos and even then my kids were in awe, it just added that little bit more magic to Christmas. 

Portable North Pole 2017 lets you create highly personalised video messages delivered directly from Santa in just a few minutes on the web, smartphone or tablet. Watch your child's (or friends or other family members!!!!) smile light up the minute Santa greets them by name and shows their picture. PNP brings the magic of the North Pole Village to life and lets kids be kids a little bit longer as they see real-life Santa’s home, the magical reindeers, and the hustle and bustle of the elves.We want to work with you to showcase PNP and the joy it creates.

Books, Kids and Colouring #youtuberoundup

A lot of you probably wouldn't have noticed by I am delving into the world of blogging. Admittedly I'm not very good at, I mean I am normally the one behind the camera but I thought I'd pop up a round up of the videos I have been sharing with the world this week.

First up is a good old library haul. Have a look at what Layla and I borrowed from the library this week. Includes books from Gwyneth Rees and Julia Donaldson.

Sing Along To Disney's Frozen

If you haven't heard of Disney's Frozen yet then just where have you been?? This has become the favourite Disney film in the Hazelden household and the girls are extremely excited because on Monday Frozen will be available to buy on DVD and Blueray, I have to admit that even I'm looking forward to watching it again.

One of the things that is so loveable about the film is the amazingly catchy soundtrack. We have had the Frozen CD playing on repeat and the girls know a lot of the words off by heart now.

I'm sure you've seen plenty of the videos of parents and children singing along to all the now famous songs.

There is a great video on You Tube on Disney UK's official channel that has the words on the screen as the song plays allowing you to sing along with ease to the song 'Let It Go'.

I wasn't brave enough to get infront of the camera but my eldest daughter Elise loves to sing her heart out so gave it her best shot. gave it her best shot last night :

Will you be buying Disney's Frozen next week? What is your favourite song the film to sing along too?

xxxx

Portable North Pole Review

Recently I reviewed the new Santa Sprint app made by the lovely people behind Portable North Pole (PNP). I was kindly given the chance to review their premium video from Santa.

I have always love the Portable North Pole, this is the third year that I have used their site. Every year they expand what they do. As well as videos and phone calls, available in their store this year are letters from Santa, certificates to let your children know they are on the nice list and even personalised colouring books.

The Portable North Pole has actually been running for 6 years now and their videos allow family members to create a personalised message to their children from Santa himself, letting them know whether they have made it onto the naughty or nice lists. With a database holding thousands of names, you should be able to find your child's name and you can even listen to make sure the pronounciation is correct.

I've always loved the free version however the premium version is fantastic, costing just £2.99 you get a lot extra for your money. The video itself is twice as long as the free version. You are able to choose from a wide range of scenarios and exclusive clips including watching the elves making certain toys and Santa standing with the reindeers. You can even make it that much more personal with extra images being added.

Making the video is extremely simple and relatively quick, the only problem I really had which was the same as last year, was that I couldn't get the right pronounciation of Freya.

The video itself is emailed to you once it is completed, it can be watched as many times as you like and unlike the free version which can only be watched during the holiday period, the premium version can be viewed until march.

My girls got all excited whilst waiting for the video itself to load.

You also receive a bonus personalised video for your child to watch on Christmas eve, this is a really magical touch.

I even enjoy watching the video, watching the reaction on my childrens faces is priceless!!!

I can't recommend Portable North Pole enough, it has become a great tradition in our house, my girls were actually asking last week whether they would be receiving a message from Santa this year!!

As a lovely gift to all my readers, Portable North Pole have provided me with a code for you all to use, helping make Christmas magical. This code will give you 20% off all digital products in the PNP store and is valid until the 1st January 2014.

BLG20BKP

xxxx

Disclaimer : I was provided with a code for a free premium video however all thoughts and opinions are my own.

MakieLab Makies - Creating the Doll

Makies are a new brand of doll from MakieLab, when I was contacted by them to see if I would like to create and review my own doll, I thought this would be a nice thing that I could do with my two older daughters.

These poseable dolls are 3d printed and stand at 10 inches tall. Created completely by you, you get to choose everything starting with their hair, eyes and mouth, even down to the width of their smile and the clothes they wear.

We were sent a Makies "Gift a Makie" which cost £69, included in this is a gift certificate which pays for the price of creating a Makie doll. You can create your doll on their site like we done or you can download the makies app from iTunes and create your doll whenever and wherever you happen to be at the time.

The process is quite simple and really fun, my daughter's and I had a good laugh at the way we made the doll look, some very weird and wonderful facial expressions seen.

Below is a short video showing my girls going through the motions of making their very own doll :

We have now sent our doll selection off to be made. Delivery costs £6.60 and once purchased your very own Makie doll should be with you within about 2 weeks time.  Look out for my next review showing you just what these dolls look like in real life, to say the girls are excited is a bit of an understatement!!!

xxxx

Disclaimer : The doll making kit was sent to use free of charge for reviewing purposes however all thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Graco Evo Mini in film

For those of you that perhaps haven't seen my tweets, I have put a few clips on You Tube showing different features of the Graco Evo Mini. So I thought I would put them all in this post for you to have a nosey at.

1. Introducing the Graco Evo Mini

2. A pushchair is a chair right?

3.  Even little girls can push the Graco Evo Mini

4. Folding the Graco Evo Mini

5. Fitting the raincover on the Graco Evo Mini

Happy watching

xxxx

Flora's Fairy Garden, WOW Toy Review

Having had four children, I have played with my fair share of toys and also gone through a lot of batteries keeping these toys in working order, I should buy shares in them!!

So imagine my joy when the lovely people at WOW Toys kindly sent me one of their toys to review.

For those of you that have never heard of WOW toys, I shall explain a little. This company was launched way back in 1997 at the London toy fair. They are now available in over 900 UK retailers and can be bought in 40 countries around the world. Their toys don't rely on batteries and help children develop through creative play, aimed at kids aging from 18 months right up until 5 years old and even beyond that!!

I received the lovely Flora's Fairy Garden to review :

The true tester of this toy was my three year old daughter. Straight away she was eager to get it out of the box.  In the box you get the main toy and you also get a cardboard backdrop to aid their play time. I loved that on the box it gave you the names of the the two fairies and the frog that came with it, this mean that Gracie connected with the toys straight away and began role playing with them.

As you can see from the picture above even though its says from 18 months old, even my 8 month old wanted to join in with the fun. I think the main selling point of WOW toys to a parent is that there are no batteries needed, no need to keep paying out after you have bought the toy. There is actually a lift that moves up and down but it is done manually by the child turning the flower at the top, therefore helping with coordination and motor skills. 

                                    

As you can see from the video above, without batteries it meant that there were no sounds, this meant that Gracie had to use her imagination, creating what the toys were doing and saying herself, well until she noticed mummy with her phone lol.

An added bonus was that you got a lovely leaflet that not only showed you all of the other WOW toys that you could purchase, there was also a lovely drawing that could be coloured in.

I have found this toy really well made, my children can be quite heavy handed and it still looks brand new after 2 weeks of playing with it. My children even got their dolls involved with what they were doing.  There are such a wide range of toys to choose from and all them can be played with together, creating endless ideas and stories. I will definitely be investing in some more of these toys, even my 7 year old was joining in with the fun!! 

You can find WOW toys on facebook and twitter to keep up with all the latest news.

For those of you that want to get your hands on a WOW toy, keep an eye out for a competiton on my blog.

xxxx