Christmas is expensive, and presents that are opened and then sit in the cupboard all year are a disappointment to everyone. Especially when you are buying the first sets, you want to make sure your LEGO investment will be a set that your child will like, and will open up a huge world of creativity for them.


The most important thing is to start by thinking of LEGO as a creative puzzle toy, rather than a brand. Following a LEGO instruction book to build a model is not so different from following any model instructions, or even completing a jigsaw. The difference is that once you've finished, you can play with it, dismantle it and rebuild it however you want.

Choosing might be more simple than you think, and to me has 3 main questions:

1. What toys does your child like playing with?
2. What is your price range?
3. What age and ability range is your child?

The Card Gallery are a Shropshire based online company selling personalised cards and other stationery. They started out 11 years ago catering for Weddings and Christenings, and now have a massive range of personalised products for all occasions including birthdays, thank you's, new babies and pretty much any event you can think of - including Christmas - and cards start at 70p each.

The Card Gallery also create personalised stationery and other products for business and schools. They even print iron-on name labels and personalised gifts for your child's teacher.

Ticket To Ride is one of my personal all-time favourite games. A turn-based board game for 2-5 players aged 8+ where players create rail routes from location to location in order to score points. The original ticket To Ride was first published in 2004, and there are now 4 different full game versions, all together selling more than a staggering 3 million copies already. There are also a host of expansion packs featuring different maps worldwide.


Until now I've only ever owned a copy of the Nordic Edition, but I've been sent a copy of the European Edition of Ticket To Ride to review, and I will also being giving one away thanks to Esdevium Games.

Last Thursday we were invited to a Magical Christmas Party at the Disney Store in Manchester Arndale Centre, to find out about their new charity initiative, which is taking place right up until Christmas this year.

"Take a festive photo in one of our stores, or dig out a classic from the family album and share it through Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #DisneyStoreFamily."

For every treasured moment shared, Disney Store will donate a soft toy to children's charities. This year their chosen charities for the UK are Great Ormond Street Hospital and In Kind Direct. If you don't have Twitter or Instagram, you can also share via The Disney Store's page on Facebook.

That's not all though, each family that submits a photo will be entered into a competition to win a family trip to New York, including a private shopping spree at the Disney Store in Times Square. It's a huge prize for someone, and so we gave it our best efforts to win while we were there!

Everyone seems to be having it a bit rough at the moment. The clocks changed and Halloween and Bonfire Night came and went and the rain moved in, and lots of us haven't seen much daylight since then. In another week it'll be less than 5 weeks to Christmas and we can start getting excited/panicked, but this week is a low. It'll pass.

The last month has actually been the hardest for us in a long time. It's been 15 months since Elspeth died, and to the outside world 15 months is such a long time. We should be learning to live with our new life. In many ways though, the new life is just beginning. Our child who was struggling and literally 'wasting away' has been in hospital for the past 3 weeks.

Friendship Games is the latest release this year in the My Little Pony - Equestria Girls series. A full length animated adventure featuring all of your favourites from the more 'grown up' branch of My Little Pony.

Lasting around 72 minutes, the Friendship Games movie tells the tale of the 4 yearly Friendship Games, where all of the regulars from Canterlot High meet up with their rival school Crystal Prep Academy to compete in a series of games with the aim to make friends and have fun, and bring harmony to all.

Last Christmas The Incredible Adventures Of Professor Branestawm was a huge hit on BBC TV, and on November 30th it will be released for you to own on DVD and Digital Download. Just in time too, because this Christmas the successful team will be back with the second installment - The Further Adventures Of Professor Branestawm.

Based on the book by Norman Hunter, Professor Branestawm first appeared in 1933 and hasn't really changed since. The screenplay is written by the master of many roles Charlie Higson and it stars equally multi-talented Harry Hill as the Professor himself.

We've been playing with Magformers for the last week or so, and I've been really stunned at the amount of play value in our Wow Box. 16 magnetic construction toy pieces for children aged 3+ that allow you to build all kinds of structures and vehicles in moments.


Now Magformers have very kindly offered a Wow Box for one of my readers. The Wow Box is ideal for building vehicles and comes complete with wheels and a driver/pilot/passenger who is designed to always stay upright whichever position he's in.

The giveaway is a late addition to my Christmas Present Giveaways, and will end with the others at midnight November 30th, so that you can have your Magformers ready in plenty of time for Christmas.


Magformers models only take minutes to build, and moments to take apart, so it encourages your child to rethink their designs and add modifications. They aren't frustrated or disappointed when their model suffers a breakage as it's so quick to put back together, and there are no tiny pieces to lose under the sofa.

Magformers are a multi-award winning construction toy which has multiple educational benefits, as well as being really great fun to play with. The way they are constructed means they are mainly safe for children of all ages, and model sets exist for children aged around 18 months and over. We've been sent the Wow Set to review, which has a recommended age of 3+.


Magformers are mainly regular shaped strong plastic toys which are used for construction. They need no fixings and you don't have to be precise, because they attract together with rotating built-in magnets.

Stick Man is written and illustrated by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. They are a prolific pairing who have created over 20 of our best loved children's books together, including The Gruffalo, Zog, Room On The Broom and The Snail & The Whale.


Stick Man is exactly as old as my 7 year old and it really is a top 5 favourite book in our house. I was delighted to discover that this year Magic Light Pictures have created an animated film version to be the big BBC TV children's Christmas Story Of 2015.