2013 Christmas Gift Inspiration

Here we are with less than a week until Christmas, it still gives us some time to purchase those last minute Christmas gifts though. I thought now would be the perfect time to share some ideas that I have been accumulating over the past couple of months. All of which I have first-hand experience with and can offer my own personal experience against.

There are a number of different categories I would like to share my views across so let’s start with toddlers and toys.

For the majority of these selections you will be able to read a full review by clicking on the appropriate links. I hope this helps if you are looking

Toddlers and Dream Toys for Christmas 2013.

Each year there are new toys that compete to become the dream toys for Christmas. This year I have experienced one of the toys that are set to be incredibly popular this Christmas. The Furby Boom. Even I have been enjoying this virtual toy that now has it’s very own app. There are endless possibilities with this toy and I have noticed them on offer at Tesco for £54.99 rather than the RRP of £59.99. 

While on the topic of animatronic toys, the Emotion Sugar the Seal pet has been a big hit around our house. Retailing at £59.99 it is on the more expensive side and does not offer the same levels of play value as the Furby but if you scout around for some offers and maybe read our full review on this toy, you can help Santa decide if this is a yes or a no toy.

The next couple of sets are from Fisher-Price a brand I have always loved since becoming a Mummy. They have some new sets that are going to be incredibly popular this Christmas… Firstly the Thomas and Friends All Around Sodor is a toy for the train enthusiast. It’s electric and puffs around the tracks when the appropriate buttons are pressed. I liked how their were a number of phrases, and that Thomas’s eyes actually move around, and his mouth opens and closes as he talks to you. I found the track to be a great size and even liked the price of £39.99.

The Little People Animal Farm is the second Fisher-Price set, and I knew that this toy was going to be a hit before I had even introduced it to Leo. This play set is perfect for encouraging the imagination and gives so many different play options. It retails at £39.99 which can seem pretty hefty, but it is built to a solid standard and will survive toddler play.

Chocolates and Treats for Christmas 2013

Now we all know that we like to indulge at Christmas, chocolate and a few beverages seem to go hand in hand. Christmas is all about good company and amazing food, so it would be completely obscene to not share some tasty treats in the Christmas 2013 gift selections.

Hampers are always a great way to keep to your budget and bestow a rather great gift on those nearest and dearest to you. Lakeland have a fantastic selection of different hampers to cater for all of those different tastes this Christmas, and we can certainly vouch for their Chocoholics Hamper that retails at £39.99.

Or if you had a smaller budget and wanted to gift some luxury chocolate this year, look no further than Hotel Chocolat and their Christmas Goody Bag that offers a selection of all of their favourite treats for £18.00.

Sent With A Loving Kiss is a brand I hadn't heard of before, but after trying their Santa Baby Chocolate Slab (£21.99) I was really impressed. This chocolate is a great gift thanks to the memorable tin that you can have personalised with a message to the recipient. It will be enjoyed long after all of the tasty chocolate has been devoured. 

Board Games and Family Fun

I love the excuse to get silly at Christmas, pull out the board games and just enjoy everybody’s company. I find that each and every one getting involved in the festive fun brings something new to the table.

Dobble is a fun and exciting game that is going to get my entire family around the table this year, each card has a series of different illustrations on and the trick of the game is to find the matching illustration on the next card. It's not as easy as it sounds though you see... Each picture is in a different size and position on each individual card, so you have to keep your eyes pealed in order to win the card!

Can you  locate the next illustration before your opponents? Or will you be like me and suddenly blinded by all of the other illustrations?

I am exceptionally slow when it comes to looking at each of the Dobble cards, but I intend to improve over the Christmas holidays. There will be lot's of opportunity! Dobble retails for £12.99 and would make a super stocking filler. 

 Not all of this year’s games are based on the traditional board game. This year I have seen a new type of game that is set to be increasingly popular in our digital age. iPieces are board games that you play with your iPad. Yes it is all true. 

Your iPad doubles up as the play mat and you use the pieces in the indivdual packs as your counters or game pieces to play the game. My favourite game is the iPieces Air Hockey, but there are so many different titles now available to play. They are really handy to travel with as they fit in a compact box that doesn't take up much room at all. 

There are titles for both kids and adults alike:

- Peppa Pig

- Fireman Sam

- Colour Slam

The prices vary and start from around £9.00. 

Technology for Christmas

Now I don't usually delve into technology. I use it in my day to day routine and as long as it does as I need it too, then I am a happy lady. When it comes to Christmas though, technology is under every Christmas tree. Since the arrival of the tablet, we have all hopped on the band wagon and there is now a nice selection from different brands which of course provides us with flexibility within the price brackets. 

I was recently sent the Toshiba Excite Pure to try out, now for me I have never actually used an Android operating system first hand. It has a decent sized 10 inch screen and I found it easy to use, but did miss it not having a back camera on occasion.

I found the battery life not to be pretty good, and that was after using it on and off throughout the day. I think the price of £249.99 provides a reasonably priced tablet that will be perfect for social networks, browsing the internet and streaming multimedia.

Disclaimer: I have received the above items for the purpose of this feature, but all views and opinions expressed are completely honest and my own. I have not been compensated for writing this post. These are items I wanted to share.

The Emotion Pets Sugar the Seal Review

I am loving the toy selection that is opening up to Leo as he grows up. No longer are all the toys baby orientated, as he grows the toys are getting more sophisticated and there opportunities for us to enjoy the toys together as he learns how to use them.

Leo was recently asked if he would like to have a play with a rather exciting toy, and I didn't have to think twice about saying 'yes' for him. This new toy is going to be rather popular this Christmas with both boys and girls, I know that when I was a child I would have gone rather wild for Sugar the Seal. 

Sugar is an animatronic seal that makes a selection of realistic noises, blinks his deep blue eyes and flips his flippers in such a way that even lets him cruise slowly along the floor. After seeing the adverts for Sugar on the television I was really looking forward to see if he lived up to all the hype that surrounds him, and of course to see what Leo thought of his new friend.

I called Leo through for the grand un-veiling of Sugar, and instantly he was captivated by the snow white, soft to the touch Seal. Of course one of my first thoughts before we even turned him on was 'I wonder how long he will stay white?' but luckily Leo has been very careful with him and Sugar is still a lovely sparkly white! For now...

The first thing I personally noticed was his size, he is a quite large and perfect for little hands to cuddle and carry around. The second thing I noticed that admittedly I would have been a little disappointed with had I just bought this toy myself, was that there were no batteries included in the price. For me at £60.00 I would have half expected him to come with batteries so that you could start playing with him straight away. Luckily we always have batteries lying around the house so it was no real set back.

The batteries are easy enough to fit and go underneath Sugar on his belly where there is a Velcro lining that you pull away in order to access the battery compartment. This is where the on/off switch is located so that you can conserve battery power when the seal is not in use.

With Sugar now equipped with batteries and the switch flipped to the 'on' position, he was more than ready to be handed over to my 2 year old who was patiently waiting with open arms. Leo carried him off and gave him a big cuddle, before tucking him up in his make shift bed that consisted of his comfort blanket and a pillow off Granny's sofa. I could see from the word go that they were going to become good friends...Fast! 

Leo has spent a lot of time tucking Sugar up into bed with him, and this has given me ample opportunity to get some beautiful shots of them both snuggled up. He has been treating his new seal friend as a baby, and has taken to feeding him his fish like a pro. For the most part he has been incredibly gentle with Sugar, but as you will see from the video there have been a few rough moments which only demonstrate that Sugar WILL withstand toddler play. Let's face it they all get a little over excited at times.

If you leave Sugar alone long enough then he will actually drift off to sleep, when he wakes up he opens up his big blue eyes, wiggles his flippers around and flicks his tail all the while calling out for some attention! If your toddlers make as much noise as Leo does, then you will soon realise that Sugar can be pretty jumpy when it comes to loud sounds. Leo worked this out pretty quickly which of course was rather funny in his opinion...

As expected Leo is completely smitten, and I am sure that will be the case for most children. I think it falls with the parent's when it comes to the nitty gritty details and although I think Sugar is a really lovely toy, I do have a few criticisms.

- When I heard that Sugar moved along the floor I thought that he would move considerably faster than he actually does. Now don't get me wrong, I was not expecting him to gallivant across the floor at lightning speed, but I was expecting him to be faster than he is. We have used him on tiles, wood and carpet and there hasn't been any real variation in his speed on any of these different surfaces, but you will see his speed for yourself in the video at the end of this review. 

- I would like to see the batteries included in the price.

Now they are my only quibbles with Sugar, over all I have been really impressed with everything that he does. I don't think that the motor on this toy is too loud, and you can defiantly hear all of Sugar's chirps and chirrups over the motor sound. 

I love that each new play session with Sugar is unique thanks to the random functions which mean that they don't operate in a predictable loop. It let's Leo make up his own games and include Sugar in any way he see's fit. Leo has even told me that Sugar needs his nappy changing and that he needs to put cream on his bum! I get the feeling that Leo thinks that he is Sugar's parent and that Sugar is actually a baby human...Not a seal. 

I like how soft Sugar is so that he can also double up as a soft toy, and that you can turn him off so Leo can actually take him to bed without random seal noises keeping him awake.. Or even coming down the baby monitor!

In a nut shell, Sugar has been welcomed into Leo's toy collection and is a very popular addition. I can see why there has been so much hype around this new Emotion Pet and think that he will be very popular this Christmas. 

Sugar the Seal retails at around £59.99, which I have to admit I do think is quite expensive. But as you can see from our personal experience with Sugar he is a big hit with the kid's and is sure to put lot's of smiles on kid's faces this Christmas morning.

Sugar is currently on offer at Tesco for £55.00 at the point of writing this review, and he is also included in their Clubcard Boost Scheme which means that if you have some Tesco vouchers lying around you can double them up and get some more money off.

Below is a video of Leo enjoying his Sugar the Seal, hopefully this will help you form your own opinions of Sugar.

Will Sugar be on your little one's Christmas list?  

Disclaimer: I was sent Sugar the Seal for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are completely honest and my own.