The Summer is over but it's not all bad news, game season is back! One of Drumond Park's newest releases is King Pong, a very active game for 2-4 players aged 8+. This is one that'll get the couch potatoes sitting up and joining in...


Inside the box is everything you'll need, and you do have to assemble this one yourself. Much like the game Crazy Claw there is a cube formed from clear plastic with a solid base, corner pillars and top. Then the pyramid fits neatly into the centre. It'll take about 10 minutes maximum - it's a newer design and much better, less fiddly than Crazy Claw.

I had the dubious honour of writing this Autumn's get-to-know-you linky for #BlogOnXmas 2017, so I should probably be among the first to complete it! As it's the Christmas Jumper Linky, two of my teenagers kindly offered their modelling services...


The linky is open for anyone who is attending BlogOn Conference on 24th September to join in and add their answers, so that we can get to know each other a little beforehand. This isn't my first BlogOn, I've been a regular since 2013 and in fact it's my 4th BlogOn linky - here's my first. All being well I'll be the short blonde one greeting you when you arrive at Hotel Football...

Sometimes I get offered tickets to an event that isn't for me, or I'm not able to attend. It's lovely to see those tickets go to someone else, especially someone who will really will get the most out of the opportunity.

On Tuesday 26th September from 4pm until 5.30pm (times may be subject to slight alteration) Disney On Ice presents Passport To Adventure will be holding a Fit To Dance workshop in the centre of Manchester. This isn't just any workshop, it's very special.

The workshop will be led by the Disney On Ice Skaters and hosted by leader of dance troupe Diversity, winners of the third series of Britain's Got Talent, Ashley Banjo himself!

Our latest review is a very familiar name in the game world - The Settlers Of Catan is rightly a classic, and Catan is simply a name change. A beautiful game which gets trickier as you become more experienced, yet a complete novice can start to play it in 15 minutes.


The aim of Catan is to build settlements and roads, then farm, mine and trade resources and expand your settlements into a network of cities. Each settlement has a value of 1, each city 2 and development cards can also have value. The winner is the first person to have a total score of 10.

The box is gorgeous, with a textured matt illustration, and that does reflect the muted classic colours of the game itself. It is beautifully presented. The hexagonal cards which form the board are thick and excellent quality and the playing pieces are painted wood.

The kids are back to school and you'll have to wash all of those 'white' polo shirts covered in whiteboard marker, paint and an unidentifiable selection of foods. Hurrah! But hang on, it's not just the kids who manage to stain their clothes...


With children life is all about stains and it starts long before they can even walk, but it doesn't stop when you become an adult. As a child you can get away with it, my son doesn't care at all, but when you are grown up having a stain can be incredibly embarrassing.

Pickles And Ice Cream by Vicky Jacob-Ebbinghaus and Juarez Rodriguez is a cookbook with a difference - all of the recipes are cravings that real pregnant women have had, and they've been lovingly recreated to share with you, alongside a short story from the inventor.


I'm not pregnant just now thankfully, but I have been 5 times and I had some pretty interesting cravings. Mainly I just wanted beetroot and boiled brussels sprouts, but with my 3rd child (and only daughter) I dreamt of eating coloured glass. Whenever I saw coloured glass I felt I could taste it and it was so delicious. I did manage to beat that craving by eating boiled sweets, but I would wake up having dreamt I'd eaten the glass and in a panic about it. NEVER eat glass.

This is a review I'm very excited about. I'm actually usually dire at controlling small flying vehicles, but I love having a go. Billed as being incredibly stable and easy to control using a console style Parrot Flypad Controller, that has been my experience, as you'll see from the video further down the post.


Even before you open the box you can tell it's going to be good quality. The design inside backs that up. It's not only gorgeous, but practical and will protect your minidrone when not in use.

I joined in with a special Ben 10 Twitter party on Thursday afternoon to promote the new range of Ben 10 toys. We were sent a selection of the toys ahead of the party to take a look and get my 7 and 8 year old boys opinions, as well as the thoughts from their guests!


The children opened most of the toys during the party, but before they arrived we'd had a good look at 3 of them - The Ben 10 Omnitrix, The Ben 10 Deluxe Omnitrix and the Diamondhead Transform N Battle set. Everything is suitable for age 4+.

Our latest review for Hasbro is the Beyblade Burst Epic Rivals 2-Player Starter Set with Beystadium. It's the first time my young boys have played properly with their older brother's Beyblades and now they understand entirely what it's about.


Beyblades were very popular in our house when they first arrived in the UK in 2002. They've taken a back seat for a while and now they're back - stronger and faster than before.


Inside the box you have the Beystadium, 2 Beyblade Burst Tops and 2 Beyblade Burst Launchers. There really is minimal packaging here, just some sealed plastic bags, and it's opened and ready to play in seconds - Christmas morning-friendly.

Just before the Summer holidays we took a trip to Blackpool as part of the Blackpool Has It All campaign with Visit Blackpool, Merlin Entertainments and Blackpool Pleasure Beach. We rode on the trams and reviewed 3 of the seafront attractions. Although we really enjoyed both Sandcastle Waterpark and Sealife Blackpool, the highlight of our day was probably Madame Tussauds.


We've been to Madame Tussauds before, so we thought we knew what to expect, but it was so different from our visit 4 years ago that it really was a completely different day out and we saw so much that was new - and got nostalgic about old favourites too..