Toys – Mediocre Mum

Win a Plus Plus Mini Basic 1200 Interactive Building Kit from Toyella

I hear you ask ‘What is it?’

Plus Plus are an a building kit from Denmark with a difference. The simplicity of the design, two plus symbols stuck together, provide endless opportunities for creativity.

I was thrilled when Toyella resurfaced on Twitter and we reconnected.

‘More time has allowed me to break out of my Twitter coffin Kill Bill style.’ via @toyella

I’ve run competitions for them in the past and genuinely love their stuff. Carl, AKA The Head Honcho, is offering 5 prizes to my lovely readers!

First Prize:

Plus Plus Mini Basic 1200 piece set

4 Runner Up Prizes:

Mini Basic 100 Piece Sets

To enter simply use the rafflecopter form below. Full Terms and Conditions are at the bottom of the form. But in short UK residents only 18+. All times quoted are EST and competition closes on the 25 May 2013.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Photo Credit: The photos are not of the actual prize. I have ‘borrowed;’ the photos from the Plus Plus Facebook Page. I hope they don’t mind. ;-)

This competition is listed on Loquax, Prize Finder and Competition Hunter.

I love a bit of retro!

Boy, times have changed?

Did you have some of these babies?

Or were you lucky like me and had some of these Sexy Mamas? Note: I got these on my sister’s birthday, she got a pair but I got some as well, one of the benefits of having divorced parents. #daddyguilttrip. Don’t think she has ever forgiven me.

But look at the one’s kids get today, Heelys. Too cool! You can pop the wheels out and use them as shoes! Love it! Psst, don’t tell her she’s getting exercise as well!

I honestly, think these would make a fab Christmas present. My 5 year old is struggling a bit but hell bent on working them out. I do love the determination.

Disclosure: The Heelys were complimentary but great fun!

Top 5 Christmas Presents of 2011

Overall, I think we did fairly well on the present front, not too much tat. In a way, we are lucky that my family is overseas and posting presents is extortionate. So they, tend to send money for me to buy presents for our daughter. I really like this as it allows me to control what she gets and I tend to know what she needs/would like. We did our best not to spoil her but in hindsight she did get a lot. Here are her top 5 Christmas Presents.

Number 5

A Princess Tent from Santa, as a family we were torn on how to handle gifts from Santa. Too be honest, we didn’t want him taking all the credit for our hard work. At one point we were just going to have him bring the stocking, but in the end we decided one main present from him would be good.

The Princess Tent is designed for the garden but for the time being, we are going to keep it inside until the spring. At first, I was a bit worried that it would be too small for her but boy was I wrong! At the moment, it’s dominating our rather small lounge. It was fairly easy to put together and you can feel the quality, the canvas cover is robust and the wooden frame is sturdy. At the moment we haven’t secured it with the screws as we may want to put it up and down. As you can see it’s gorgeous and I’m sure her and her friends will have fun playing in it.

Number 4

Kerplunk – a game that I loved to play as a child; it’s changed a bit but still great fun. We’ve really been enjoying playing it as a family, but we’ve noticed that my daughter has a very competitive streak and likes to change the rules as we go along. I think she gets this from her Grandmother who is fiercely competitive when it comes to games.

Number 3

My daughter’s main present, after a lot of thought, was a Puppet Theatre, but what I really like about this one is when you turn it around it turns into a shop. At the moment she tends to prefer the shop. We spent the evening playing Toy Store; however, I find her shop very expensive as everything costs £50 and she doesn’t take IOUs!

Number 2

Prior to Christmas, I tried to ask her what she wanted for Christmas and I really struggled to get something sensible out of her. The last time I asked she said she would like a yellow dress, red handbag and pink bunny costume. Luckily, a friend of mine who has a penchant for Prada and the colour red jumped in and offered to sort out the red hand bag. Phew!

Number 1

To go with her Puppet Theatre we bought a collection of Hand Puppets from the Puppet Company. As she is currently in a Princess phase we opted for Fairytale Characters. As you can see they are absolutely gorgeous. Mummy and daddy could use some work on their puppetry skills, but we are getting the hang of it. Last night we did renditions of ‘we’re off to see the Wizard’, ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’, ‘if you want to be a Prince stand up tall’ and ‘I’m a Little Princess’ sung to the tune of I’m a Little Teapot. We’re looking forward to many more productions.

Wishing you all the best in 2012!

Disclosure: For the record Santa did not bring the Princess Tent. It was a gift from the company.

When I was a kid……

I never appreciated how lucky I was growing up in Canada, until I had my daughter. It now hits home whenever I roll up the rug in the front room, so she can ride her tricycle around the lounge and spend endless hours suffering germ infested soft play centres.

When I was a kid (god, I must be getting old) we lived in a small rural community with approximately 10,000 people. We moved there when I was 2, there was a sawmill nearby and both my father and grandfather worked at it. We lived in a secluded development set back from the highway and surrounded by forest. In the morning, my sister and I’d head out the front door, with barely a goodbye to my mum and not return until dinner time. We spent the whole day cycling, exploring and getting into healthy mischief. If we got hungry during the day we all descended on the nearest house and helped ourselves to the fridge. It was one big happy community.

This was my playground:

I’d give my right arm for that space and freedom again! However, saying that, you make the most with what you have. I’ve been in the UK for almost 12 years and I’m incredibly happy here and consider it home. However, I still struggle with the lack of space. I’m learning how to make up for it and have gotten over my urge of knocking down internal walls to make more space.

Nevertheless, in reality this is my garden:

It measures, approximately 5 x 9 metres.

However, thanks to ingenious toy manufacturers we have managed to create a scale model of my childhood playground. We now have Outdoor toys, Little Tikes slide and a Little Tikes Playhouse. It’s not Canada, but we’re enjoying the great outdoors!