Pirata & Capitano Plush Toys from Posh Paws

(AD/Gifted - We received these items for the purpose of this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)

Milkshake on Channel 5 is a staple in our house and has been ever since the children were babies. I'll even go back further and say that I would watch it religiously as a child 20-odd years ago and my parents even sent a birthday card in for me!

It's part of our morning routine before school and C and E both love that they can watch for a little longer at the weekend too. We all love the diverse range of shows and one of the children's new favourites is Pirata & Capitano.

If you haven't yet watched or heard of Pirata & Capitano, the show follows the adventures of Pirata who helms her own ship, the Pink Skull, looking for adventures whilst travelling the Great Sea. She is also joined by Capitano who flies a red seaplane, and all their friends. It is a lovely show which teaches children values in a fun and humourous way.

Posh Paws International have recently brought out a range of plush toys to coincide with the show and C and E were very excited to finally see some of the new favourite characters available in toy form.

Available in the range are 10" versions of Pirata, Capitano, Roberto and Weboo. You can also get 7" versions of those four characters plus Meowcat and Pineapple Wilson.

C and E received Capitano and Weboo, who is the quick-thinking powerhouse of the Pink Skull. Both my children adore soft toys and have an abundance of them to snuggle up with a night. Capitano and Weboo have slotted right in.

Posh Paws International have done a fantastic job with these when it comes to detail. They are fantastic quality, very well made and they look like they have just stepped right out of the television.

The Pirata & Capitano plush toys from Posh Paws retail at £8.99 for 7" and £14.99 for 10" and you can purchase them from Amazon.

E's Dream Horse with Petplan Equine

To say that E is an animal lover is a massive understatement. She will "aww" over any animal or creature that she sees on TV, she's obsessed with her nanny's two dogs and if she even sees a dog in the street, she'll be itching to run over, pet it and become its new best friend. 

Petplan Equine recently got in touch about their fabulous new campaign, asking if E would like to draw her dream horse and have it turned into a real soft toy. Like many other four year old girls, she definitely dreams of having her own pony so I knew she'd be excited to do it. 

One day after nursery she sat down with all her felt tips, eager to get started. Although she is only four, she is a fantastic little artist so I knew she'd take the time to make her horse look perfect. She needed minimal help from me, I just had to guide her hand around the page to get the horse outline, then she gave it eyes and a smile, lots of polka dots and a mane, tail and, for some strange reason, some hair along the underside! She then asked if I could finish it off with some swirls, stars and hearts as she wasn't able to do them "neat enough." 

A few weeks later, she received her imagined horse in soft toy format and I was blown away by how amazing it looked. Every little detail that E put into her drawing was replicated and E instantly fell in love. She brings her new horse everywhere now - even to bed! I suppose that's the good thing about her dream horse being a toy, I don't think she could fit a real pony in her bed with her! 

If you are lucky enough to have your own horse or pony, being a responsible horse owner and getting horse insurance from Petplan Equine is the way to go as their priority is keeping both horses and their owners happy. You can put your trust in them to get your horse back on their feet following any illnesses or injuries. Thank you, Petplan Equine for E's new favourite toy and the fact that she designed it herself makes it that little bit more special.

(This is a collaboration with Petplan Equine, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.) 

 

Rainbow Designs Talking Peter Rabbit Plush Toy - Review & Giveaway

For C and E who are almost 6 and 4, Peter Rabbit has been a staple on our television. They have both watched CBeebies since they were tiny with Peter Rabbit being one of their favourite shows.

Over the years, their love has a grown and that brings a bit of nostalgia for me as I have always been a fan of Beatrix Potter. We own so many Peter Rabbit & Friends books, toy figures and we even made sure to see the latest movie in the cinema on Easter Sunday.

Rainbow Designs have a super cute little Talking Peter Rabbit soft toy and both children were so excited to receive one of their own.

He is so soft and cuddly which makes him great for children of all ages, right from birth. In true Peter fashion, he has his famous blue coat and green bag perfect for storing his radishes that he nabs from Mr McGregor's garden!

Giving his tummy a little press prompts him to say one of five phrases such as "a good rabbit never gives up" and "let's hop to it!" The voice is instantly recognisable and you can match it straight to the TV show.

Talking Peter Rabbit is the sweetest little toy and would make a lovely gift for any small child. It's the perfect size for tiny hands, good for a snuggle (as E will tell you as she's brought him to bed with her every night!) and the addition of the phrases gives it an edge over a regular plush toy. I also love a toy that comes with batteries supplied too!

If you want to get your hands on your own Talking Peter Rabbit you can purchase it at £17.99 from Argos, in store or online. You can also keep up to date with Rainbow Designs on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The lovely people at Rainbow Designs have also set one aside as a prize for one of my readers! To be in with a chance of winning your very own Talking Peter Rabbit, just enter via the Gleam widget below. Good luck!

Rainbow Designs Talking Peter Rabbit

T&C's:

• This giveaway will run from 28th July until 5th August
• One winner will win a Rainbow Designs Talking Peter Rabbit plush
• One entry per person
• UK residents aged 18+ only 
• No automated entries
• Winner will be emailed by myself to confirm their address. I will then pass the address to the PR for the toy to be sent out. The details will not be used for any other purpose.

 (We received this item for the purpose of this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.) 

Shnooks; from Bubble to Friend - Review

[This post contains affiliate links. If you click through to buy anything through a link on this page, I will earn a few pennies at no extra cost to you.]

If you haven't heard of Shnooks before, they are adorable, cuddly, colourful little characters with fluffy hair. My three year old daughter E is obsessed with doing hair whether it's her own, mine, her dolls - she loves having a hairbrush in her hand!

Shnooks are available in six different characters; Shazam, Sheebah, Shweetly, Shine, Shnuggles and Shmiley. Each character has it's own special way to look after you. We received Shazam and Shmiley to have a play with. Shazam goes on adventures with you and Shmiley brings happiness that you can't hide. 

The Shnooks come vacuum packed into a "bubble" and the idea is to open the pack and shake the Shnooks, making their hair expand to up to 8 times its size. The shaking was definitely E's favourite bit and she got a little aggressive when doing so! 


 
Once your Shnook is fully grown, you can style it's hair using the comb and hair ties provided. E was totally in her element but as she's only three, she did need a bit of help from me to actually put the hair ties in the hair. We did have a little bit of hair loss due to how heavy handed E was with her comb but it isn't enough to be noticeable when you look at the toy.

E loved watching this tiny toy transform into a proper cuddly toy right before her eyes. They even come with two friendship clips so you can connect your Shnooks together! E has totally fallen in love and has been even taking her new friends to cuddle in bed with her as she sleeps. 

The Shnooks retail at £7.99 per toy and you can buy them here. You can find out more about the range at the Zuru website.

(We received these toys for the purpose of this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)

#MPBTurns4 - Hallmark Itty Bittys Giveaway

If you have been on my blog this month, you'll have noticed me writing about how Mum of a Premature Baby turns four years old this month - crazy! To celebrate, I have a fantastic giveaway courtesy of Hallmark where three winners can win two Itty Bittys of their choice!

If you haven't heard of Itty Bittys, where have you been?! They are super cute little mini plush toys which are released under numerous collections such as Star Wars, Marvel, Peanuts, Snoopy, Wizard Of Oz, DC Comics, Scooby Doo and more.

We actually own three of them ourselves; Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman, and my superhero obsessed children absolutely adore them. I think they are great too so I'll definitely be wanting to add more to our collection. C will no doubt want the entire Marvel range.

Want to win some for yourself? Just enter via the Rafflecopter below. Good luck! 

T&C's:

• Three winners will win two Itty Bittys of their choice, subject to availability 
• The giveaway will run from January 20th until February 3rd
• Open to entrants aged 18+
• UK residents only
• One entry per person
• No automated entries

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Lily's Driftwood Bay Talking Plush Toys - Review

I was really excited to recently get the chance to review some toys from the Nick Jr show, Lily's Driftwood Bay. Both of my children are fans of the show and I love that it is produced here in Northern Ireland too.

If you aren't familiar with the show, the main character Lily is a young girl who lives in a hut on a deserted beach with her dad. The show follows her adventures.

We received two of the plush toys from Golden Bear Toys that coincide with the show; Lily and jolly old sea dog, Salty Dog. Both toys are approximately 27cm tall and when you press their tummies, they recite a handful of phrases from the show. As soon as they arrived, E claimed Lily whilst C took a shine to Salty Dog. I totally expected that to be honest! At first they were unaware that they spoke but it didn't take them long to find out. Sometimes with talking toys, the children can struggle to push them in hard enough but these are recommended for kids aged 10 months+ so my two found it easy enough. They much prefer hugging them to make them speak as opposed to pressing in on their tummies!

I love that they are small enough for C and E to take out and about with them, they are the perfect size for little hands and there is nothing I hate more than lots of big plush toys that don't fit in toy boxes properly so these get a massive tick in my book.

The quality of the Lily and Salty Dog toys are fantastic and I can tell they are going to withstand a lot of play with C and E. They have been enjoying making the both of them chat and interact with each other whilst acting out little scenes.

The Lily Talking Soft Toy and Salty Dog Talking Soft Toy both retail at £9.99 each and can be purchased from Argos.

(We received these items for the purpose of this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)

Easter Gift Ideas from The Cuddle Company

With E only being six months old, it's been quite tough to find Easter gifts suitable for her age.

The Cuddle Company have some lovely items which would make perfect gifts for little ones this Easter.

The Cuddle Cubbie lamb is absolutely adorable! They are 15" tall, fully washable and have a removable stuffing pod. They retail at £21.99 and you can even personalise the tummy for free!

If that's not your style or maybe you have a younger baby, you can also choose one of their Taggiez.

Taggiez are comfort blankets for babies with little ribbon tags around the outside. E loves playing with tags so it is perfect for her.

You can choose which fabrics you'd like and even personalise it with a name. There are so many designs to choose from which makes it perfect for a boy or girl.

The fabrics are so soft. We received Fuchsia Dimple Dot and Flutterby Ivory and I think it is so beautiful. Her name is stitched perfectly and E hasn't had it out of her hands since we received it.

The Design Your Own Taggiez retail at £11.99.

You can find out more about The Cuddle Company at their website or you can follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

(Disclaimer: I received a Taggiez for the purpose of this post).