My favourite Christmas Present giveaway of the year! The Grand Pile'O'Stockingfillers is an assembled box full of things we've been given for the site over the year. Maybe we were given extra, or already had one, it was a bit young or my boys just don't need another pink blind bag collectible...


Rather than waste all this stuff by putting it in a drawer or letting my boys open it and forget it instantly, I've put together a big box of goodies and one of my readers can win the lot. It is a random assortment, so you probably won't find it all useful, but there's something for everyone...

StikBots are great fun and we've reviewed them several times now. They are little poseable figures with sticky pad hands and feet, which are designed to be perfect for creating animated movies. There are lots of different themed sets available for amateur film-makers aged 4+ and I'm delighted that Brainstorm Toys (StikBot UK Distributor) have kindly offered 3 StikBot Movie Sets as Christmas presents for my readers.


Inside each box is not only the StikBot, but press out thick glossy card pieces to create scenery, backdrop, props and small plastic accessories to complete your scene. They're attractive, clever and don't need any glue or tape.

This review and giveaway is for the family game Reveal, which is a bit of a special one for us. It's been sent for review by the inventor himself and he's also sending a copy to one of my readers as a prize in my Christmas Present Giveaways. Suitable for 2 to 4 players or teams aged 8+, this is a game which has no questions, only answers, and we first tested a prototype almost 2 years ago.


It's lovely to see the development of a game like this and I'm delighted that Reveal has been picked up by Paul Lamond Games and is now available to buy in Smyths.

Inside the box are the game board, dice, 3 packs of Answer Cards (Movies, TV and Music), a cardboard sleeve/slipcase to conceal answers and golden tokens to keep score.


Everything stores in the box and there's minimal single use plastic, plus no batteries, so Christmas-morning and storage-friendly. There's no set up time involved and no complicated rules to learn, just open up the board and place your counter at the corner Start Space.

I've got a very special and somewhat traditional giveaway tonight. Courtesy of Celtic Herbal one of my readers can win Frankincense! Welsh company Celtic Herbal make excellent quality handmade products which last an incredibly long time and are indulgent just as much as they are relaxing.

They've offered a Pine & Frankincense Winter Woodland bundle with a soy candle and a very smart reed diffuser, as a prize in my Christmas Present Giveaways.


I have used Celtic Herbal myself for a while now. I love their products. They are not inexpensive, but they last so long and work so well, that you really get your money's worth. I've used their Exotic Wood & Ylang Ylang Bath Oil for the last 9 months and it's a true treat every time.

This is a toy giveaway which is aimed more at younger members of the family. Sent to us for review by Zuru Toys, the Robo Alive Dino is a walking, roaring Dinosaur who opens and closes his mouth and will no doubt be very popular with young paleontologists.


The Dino takes ages to unpack and open. It's not difficult, there's just a lot of tape and then the Dino's feet are fastened on by plastic pegs. You'll need 2 x AAA batteries too, so I can't call this one entirely Christmas-morning friendly. Once the batteries are in though, he's away.

Balloon Bot Battle is brilliant. An active and understandably noisy game, sent to us by KD Games to review, it's already a favourite. Suitable for 2 players or teams aged 8+, this is a lively family game which really allows you to let out your frustrations on your family - with their permission...


There is minimal plastic and a sturdy box, which is wasted because once you've assembled your robots they don't fit in it for storage, and aren't designed for disassembly. Assembly is quick and easy though, and actually quite exciting.


Inside the box are all the parts for 2 Balloon Bots plus 20 balloons, stickers and instructions. Assembly is fairly obvious as long as you start with everything turned the right way.

My last book review and giveaway in this year's Christmas Present Giveaways is a fantastic bundle of 4 STEM Activity Books which have been sent to us from Carlton Kids Books to review.

Suitable for young readers and future Scientists and Engineers aged 6+, this is a set of books which will stretch your child in interesting and engaging ways, while they complete puzzles and pictures, spot the odd one out, answer questions and a host of other fun activities...


STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and maths, and these subjects are vital for children who will be entering the job market in 10-20 years time. Each of the 4 books is a large format glossy paperback with 64 full colour pages and over 40 STEM activities crammed inside.

I always like to find interesting stockingfillers and the Bananas we've been sent by Bandai are certainly that! Brightly-coloured and scented, and filled with all kinds of goodies including characters, stickers and a display vine, our girls would have loved these squishy collectibles when they were younger. My boys maybe aren't quite so keen...


The Banana is mainly it's own packaging. It's quite big at almost 13cm long and inside are a host of little treats that make this the perfect stockingfiller. Available as a single Banana or packs of 3.


The Bananas have different contents with 24 ‘surprise’ Crushie friends to collect, including Rare and Ultra Rare Crushies. The Bananas attach together, another feature which makes them a great collectible.

I am truly delighted to have the MiniMaster Sports Company involved in my Christmas Present Giveaways because their 1/8th scale Football game is one of the most beautifully designed toys I've reviewed all year, with absolutely tons of added value and it's genuinely suitable for anyone aged 8-99 or over...


The set comes with 1/8th scale articulated 'kicking' footballer in white, who is ready to customise to any team of your choice (MiniMaster Sports even sell model paints separately at under £2 each) plus all of this:

Action Wand with pull-lever handle
Eye2Ball shot training aid
Goal with net (W)70cm x (H)30cm x (D)15cm
Target Screen
Gameboard with spinning Pointer
Anglefinder/Defensive Wall
5 x Lightweight Footballs
Marker Tape (4m)
5 x position Markers
Display Stand
Instructions

Today's book review and giveaway has been sent to us by Carlton Kids Books. A bundle of 3 books for the sports fans amongst you, with World Football Records, Neymar: The Ultimate Fan Book and the sporting gamer's Who's Who - eSports Superstars.

What On Earth Books didn't only send us Absolutely Everything!, they also sent a really gorgeous lift-the-flap book for readers of all ages. Eye Spy is a huge format and incredibly beautiful book that is utterly fascinating. It shows how animals, birds and other creatures see the world and they see it very differently to us! I'm really delighted to have a copy to give away to one of my readers in my Christmas Present Giveaways...


The beginning of the book explains how we see and how eyes work, and why we even need sight at all. It's beautifully written and presented in a fold out page which already makes you feel you are holding something exciting.

This afternoon's Christmas Present giveaway and review is a brilliant non-fiction book which has been sent to us from Carlton Kids Books to review. Suitable for any reader aged 6+, Amazing Optical Illusions is a book which challenges you to look at the world very differently! Especially when our eyes deceive us...


This is a fairly thick book in a large format and the illustrations are really big, so even I don't have to squint to see all of the effects. Inside the book are 96 pages with over 80 optical illusions - enough to satisfy anyone.


Each optical illusion is explained so that the reader understands what is happening and often exactly why it happens. This is a puzzle book with the answers on every page and there is a really varied assortment of different optical illusions and ways to trick our eyes, our brains, or both.

We worked with GB Posters back in September and they sent us an amazing bundle of goodies. They sell hundreds of different posters and loads of branded merchandise including keyrings, mugs, glasses, button badges, hip flasks, plus brilliant low cost, lightweight poster frames.

This is exactly the type of gift I regularly buy at Christmas and I'm delighted that GB Posters are offering a gift box of your choice for one of my readers in this year's Christmas Present Giveaways.


The range at GB Posters is huge, there's an A-Z on the website and you'll find something for anyone. We reviewed a bundle of GB Posters items which suited our family. Posters are 4 for the price of 3, and generally £4.99 each - the same price I paid 30 years ago in HMV and Athena...


We chose Fallout, Playstation and Skyrim merchandise for the gamers, and posters for everyone, including the human skeleton, the world, Star Wars blueprints and a ginormous Periodic Table 2018.

In the Summer we were sent 2 new Minecraft STEM Challenge books from Carlton Books - Build A City and Build A Theme Park. Both books contain all of the plans and techniques that a player needs to complete some really complex and beautiful building projects within the game of Minecraft.


Each of the Minecraft STEM Challenge books follows the same format, with explanations of basics behind building and how to create special or tricky shapes and objects, followed by a selection of themed builds.

We've been sent the Absolutely Everything Bundle to review. Published by What On Earth? Books. Absolutely Everything!: A History of Earth, Dinosaurs, Rulers, Robots and Other Things Too Numerous to Mention really is a huge book full of the history of everything, starting with the Earth itself. A big thick hardback full of information, diagrams, photos and illustrations, it's the sort of beautiful and fascinating book that anyone can pick up and spend a quality hour with...




Suitable for readers of any age around 9+ and written by Chris Lloyd, who created the brilliant Timeline Wallbooks, Absolutely Everything!: A History of Earth, Dinosaurs, Rulers, Robots and Other Things Too Numerous to Mention takes us on an epic journey from the creation of the universe 13.8 billion years ago, right through to the modern world, computing, equality, war and peace...

The Gloriumptious Worlds Of Roald Dahl is a truly gorgeous book which was released to celebrate what would have been Roald Dahl's 100th birthday. Sent to us by Carlton Books to review back in August 2016, it's still one of my favourite books of all-time and I'm delighted that Carlton Books have offered a copy for one of my readers in my Christmas Present Giveaways.


Suitable for readers of any age, this is a book which looks more deeply into Roald Dahl's stories and recreates some of the items which appear, guesses and elaborates on backstory and takes 'comments' from witnesses and participants. It also includes some of Roald Dahl's original notes.


Pages are crammed full of new illustrations by Roald Dahl's long-time collaborator, Quentin Blake, and you can't help but feel it's exactly as Roald would have wanted it.

My youngest 2 boys have never really been impressed by vehicles, which is the opposite of my 2 oldest, who were complete petrol-heads. They'd have loved Ultimate Cars, which has been sent to us by Carlton Books and I have a copy to give away to one of my readers in my Christmas Present Giveaways...


Ultimate Cars: The World's Most Amazing Speed Machines isn't just about speed. It starts with the history of the motor vehicle and it's manufacture, and the rest of the book is split into 5 sections - Performance Cars, Iconic Cars, Crazy Cars, Racing Cars and Future Cars.

This Christmas Present Giveaway has been sent to us by publishing co-operative New Internationalist. Don't Call Me Princess! is one of the funniest and cleverest storybooks I have ever read. Award-winning cartoonist Kate Evans' first children’s book takes a good look at 6 of our favourite fairytales and shows us exactly why being the princess wasn't such a great deal... I love this book.


Suitable for independent readers aged around 6+, but a good short read for humans of any age, this is a book which rips apart The Princess and the Pea, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Rapunzel and The Little Mermaid. And it does it beautifully.

I didn't think I'd be working with Thomas again, our boys have all grown out of him now, but I'm a strong believer that children should learn all kinds of skills from story books without even realising it. Stay Safe With Thomas is a partnership between Network Rail, Mattel and Thomas & Friends, who have created a book which teaches children how they should behave around trains and railway lines.


This is the first time Network Rail has partnered with children's entertainment company Mattel, and the first time Mattel has published a Thomas the Tank Engine book with a rail safety theme.
In the past 5 years, the number of young people taking risks on railway lines has risen by 80%, so safety messages need to reach younger children before they are allowed to play unsupervised and put themselves in danger.

The Atlas Obscura Explorer's Guide for the World's Most Adventurous Kid was released this month by Workman Publishing. Produced by the team behind the incredibly popular Times Best Seller Atlas Obscura, their children's Explorer's Guide edition is a really beautiful book which showcases 100 of the most exciting and unusual places on our Earth. Be an explorer at home and discover the world's treasures...


The authors, Dylan Thuras and Rosemary Mosco, highlight lesser known and hidden places which children are unlikely to have heard of or read about previously. My 10 year old is a voracious fact-collector, but he has found a host of new places, customs and incidents described here - it really is very carefully researched and very different.


The illustrations by Joy Ang are bright and colourful, clearly depicting the description alongside and bringing a realism to the accounts. It's an unusual move not to have photographs, but it works and in many cases is more beautiful than the real thing, bringing a certain calm to the Self-Mummifying Monks of Japan and the Everlasting Lightning Storm in Venezuela.