3M Command Clear Caddies

I was recently sent a couple of clear caddies from 3Ms Command Brand to review.  The idea is that they hang without the need for glue or nails (no bashed fingers - always a plus in my book!) but can be easily removed and repositioned elsewhere.

This is what they promise:

The clear caddies are supplied with easy-to-hang and easy-to-remove Command Clear Strips. The new Clear Strips from Command are virtually invisible on the wall and allow you to hang the caddy without the need for nails or screws. The adhesive holds firmly and strongly in place, yet is quick and simple to remove, leaving no holes, marks, residue or stains.

Command Clear organisation products can be hung on any painted, tiled or metal surface and because the adhesive strips can be easily and quickly removed, you can reposition your caddie whenever or wherever you need it.

The smaller caddies are ideal for holding make up essentials, whilst the smart-phone holder is designed for mounting on the wall above your desk or near your charging socket and comes with a charging lead hole at the base.

The larger caddies are perfect for using in the office, kitchen, playroom or bathroom and can hold up to 1.8kg or 4lbs in weight. If you prefer to keep your clutter hidden from sight, why not mount them inside a cupboard? 

Small caddy

Large caddy

Not being the most DIY minded of single mothers, anything that doesn't require tools has got to be worth trying. I was sent one of the larger caddies and a small caddy to try out.The caddies come with 2 sets of adhesive strips so that they can be positioned twice, but I have seen further sets available to buy in Sainsburys. Asda, Boots, B&Q, Homebase, Robert Dyas, Ryman, Staples, Tesco and WH Smith also stock them.

Depending on the size of the caddy you position 1 or 2 of the strips on the back in the obviously marked places. The strips come with black on one side and blue on the other so that it is easy to work out which backing paper to take off first. Once the adhesive strips are in place you can then remove the other backing paper and then press the caddy to the wall/cupboard/fridge/boiler. I think you are supposed to wait 30 minute before actually using the caddy.

To remove the caddy from the wall you pull down on the tab at the bottom of the adhesive strip whilst holding the caddy in place. You have to pull the tab down about 15 cm, so make sure you leave enough room wherever you hang it. This is the bit where you have to hold on to the caddy because otherwise, when it releases, it pings off and you can end up with bashed fingers!

Although it says on the instructions not to hang on wallpaper, I did try this out on wallpaper (my kitchen needs redecorating anyway!) and I was very impressed when the caddy came off clean as a whistle, leaving no marks, and leaving all of the paint and paper on the wall.I was a bit puzzled though, as to what I was actually going to use them for. The small one works as a phone or pen holder - I stuck mine next to my calendar so I'd always have a pen to hand. The bigger one I wasn't so sure about. The packaging shows the caddy holding nail polish, but I have rather a large collection (500+?) so there's no way I could fit THAT in there. Then inspiration struck! I struggle to keep my tablets and inhaler close at hand so I don't forget to use them, whilst keeping them out of the way of small people. And when those small people aren't so small and are climbers that is not easy to do! So I stuck the large caddy onto the side of my boiler and put those necessary items in it - apparently not such a bright idea as it gets hot and probably not the best thing to have my inhaler next to, as my mum kindly pointed out! But at least they are handy and out of the way, and, with the second set of strips I can always stick it somewhere else.

Ok, so may be boiler wasn't the best idea!

So this product gets a double thumbs up from me and I would definitely recommend it to other tool shy people like myself!  

Ben & Holly's Little Castle Magical Playset Review

Right, I need to tell you a secret.  I love Ben & Holly.


If you have no idea what I'm talking about, then Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom is a tv programme aimed at 3-5 year olds, from the makers of Peppa Pig.  In fact if you listen carefully you will recognise most of the voices.   Ben is an elf and Holly is a fairy princess, and between them, Nanny Plum, the Wise Old Elf, a ladybird called Gaston who thinks he's a dog and magic jelly they cause confusion and delay!


What I really love about Ben & Holly is that although designed for small children, quite often the humour is designed for adults.  For instance no child is going to understand the reference in 'It's mutiny!  Mutiny on the Bunty'!!  It has me in stitches quite often and I think it's just a shame that Girl has decided to leave Nick Jr behind in favour of Disney Jr and Boomerang.  But when she's not around the other 2 quite happily sit and watch Ben & Holly.  In fact Bug refers to all ladybirds as ''olly'.


So when we were offered the chance to review the Little Castle Magical Playset I eagerly snapped it up!

The Little Castle Magical Playset is aimed at boys and girls aged 3-5 years old.  Both Girl and Boy couldn't wait to play with it!!  This beautiful magical castle opens up to reveal 6 rooms, which have various play features and are activated by using Holly’s magical wand! The wand has a magnet inside which opens different things or makes something pop up.  This colourful set includes the castle with Courtyard, Holly’s Wand and figures - Princess Holly, King, Queen Thistle, Nanny Plum, Ben Elf and Gaston.


It arrived and we eagerly tore the box open - only to find it needed assembling.  Actually putting it together didn't take too long but it had lots of fiddly stickers which needed to be put on in the right places, over 50 I think, and it took me nearly an hour to do - and that was without help from small people!


The children were delighted with the Castle - all the different rooms, stairs, doors, and they loved using Holly's 'magic' wand to open the fridge and light the fire.  However I was surprised and disappointed by the size of the figures.  Ben & Holly are barely an inch tall - they are really tiny, which means I have to keep the playset out of the reach of Bug as she could easily choke on the figures if she put them in her mouth.  Gaston in particular is easily swallowable.  For a playset designed for 3-5 year olds I would have expected much larger pieces, similar to the Peppa Pig characters that come with the Peppa Pig playsets.  Also, it is quite hard to get the adult characters to stand up.  Having said that though, the children were very happy and didn't seem to mind the characters being a bit small.  They did find the stairs a little fiddly as these have to be tucked under to close the Castle, but with some help from a grown up they managed.


All in all, this is a lovely toy which the children will get much use from, as long as they don't lose the tiny figures.

4M Girls Craft - Design Your Own Jigsaw Puzzle Review

I was sent the Design Your Own Jigsaw Puzzle by 4M to review.  It comes with 3 blank precut jigsaws and pens to draw your own designs.  Your child can then create their own picture or design which then becomes a jigsaw.  I particularly like the idea suggested on the box of using them to create secret messages - very Famous Five!!!

Girl, while enthusiastic, is still working on her artistic talent and with her autism at present currently has the attention span of a goldfish, so I asked some daughters of a friend to have a go when we were having a craft night.  They came up with 2 lovely, different designs as shown below, and had great fun doing it.

These jigsaws would make a great project to have in for a rainy day, or a present for a girl who is into secret clubs!!!






I was sent this product for the purpose of review - no financial incentive was given.  The opinions given are my own.

London 2012 - Winning Wenlock Review

Apparently there's some sports event going off in the summer in London.  And I don't mean Wimbledon!  Anyway, for this sporting event someone came up with an interesting mascot called Wenlock.  Who has one eye.  I'm not sure if this is so that he can see the games better or what, but there you go.  We were sent a singing, dancing Wenlock to review.

When he arrived we were just on our way to the seaside but my postman was very relieved to have caught us on our way out the door as Wenlock had been singing to him all morning (which may explain why the batteries went flat rather quickly)!


Wenlock is 35cm tall and stands firmly on his feet.  He has poseable arms (which can be quite fun), and when you press a button on his toe the official mascot song plays and he dances to it.  I thought he was hilarious as he has quite a bum wiggle!  Which my son copied to a T!  All the kids loved it, including Bug who keeps bringing him to me saying 'On, on!'.  Boy, in particular, loves him, which pleasantly surprised me.


Well here's a video of the kids playing with Wenlock.  Please go easy on me, it's my first blogging video!

We were sent Wenlock for the purposes of this review but no financial incentive was given.  The opinions within this post are my own.

Bob the Builder – Let’s go to Work Playsets Review

I receive a fair few parcels so my son was delighted when a parcel arrived with something for him!


We were sent 2 Bob the Builder Let's go to Work playsets, the Builder's Yard and the Suppliers Yard.  Both playsets are sturdy with lots of fun construction activities and one Bob the Builder character.

The Builder's Yard is great fun!  It comes with Bob himself, a skip, a wheelbarrow, little pieces of 'concrete', a pneumatic drill and loads more accessories.  There's a concrete chute where the lid lifts up and the child can drop the little pieces of 'concrete' (or anything else he can find!) down the chute and into the wheelbarrow.  There are also tiles which lift up to reveal pipework underneath, and the pneumatic drill can be used as a lever to lift them up, which is a nice touch.

The Suppliers Yard comes with Charlie, various building supplies, shelving and a little pallet lift.  In fact there's so many accessories it's hard to know what to play with.


Something I loved about these playsets is that although they can be played with perfectly well on their own, they can also be added to - you can buy track to connect the playsets up, and the skip and the pipes come with loops which you can use Lofty (if you have him) to lift them up.  I shall definitely be buying some track and a Lofty as I think they will complete this set, although they are complete playsets on their own.


Boy was really happy with the playsets and keeps playing with them.  The only slight problem I have with them is that there are loads of little bits which could easily get lost, and there's nowhere to store them, so I've had to supply him with a box to keep them in.  Also, the accessories are very small so I've had to make sure to keep them out of the way of the Bug.  At 18 months old pretty much everything goes in her mouth!!  But other than that I think these playsets are great and would thoroughly recommend them.

One Boy, very happy with his new toys!  Thomas and the penguin aren't included in the playsets but appear wherever my children are!

I didn't realise you could connect them up with tracks so just connected the 2 playsets together!

I was sent the playsets for the purposes of this review but no financial incentive was given.  The opinions within this post are my own.

Xia-Xia Hermit Crab and Confetti Cottage - Review

We were recently sent the XiawXia (pronounced Sha-Sha, as confirmed by my daughter!) Interactive Hermit Crab and Confetti Cottage to review.


There are currently 4 crabs available as shown below and we received the orange one in the bottom right hand corner of the picture.

These are really cute little creatures which scuttle forwards and backwards when you squeeze their pincers.  They have a little sensor which tells them when they've run into something, so they change direction.  It's scuttling caused mass hilarity in our household as it ran about all over the place. They reminded me a little of the wind up toys that I had as a child, although these run on batteries.   


Each crab comes with a 'micro friend' which lives inside its shell, but can also perch on a little peg at the front of the shell.  The shells are interchangeable between crabs and there are separate shells available to collect so a little girl into collectables would really enjoy these, assuming that more characters become available.


The crabs can also be turned off, so they don't wear themselves out running backwards and forwards when they're not being played with.


Confetti Cottage is a sturdy little house which the crabs can live and play in.  It has a main compartment and something like an attic.

Confetti Cottage

It is also a good way to carry the crabs around, and has a 'front' door and a 'back' door.  However I really struggled to get the full sized door open - there is nothing really to grip on to to pull it down.


I was really impressed with the sturdiness of the cottage.  Unfortunately, the attic part is a little tight to get the crabs in and out of, and when my daughter was trying to get her crab out, one of the pincers snapped off.  I was surprised and disappointed that it broke so easily, basically within a few hours of playing with it.


The micro friends were really cute but easily losable and a bit of a worry when you have tots around - my 15 month old would easily have put it in her mouth and choked on it or swallowed it, and my 5 year old who helped me review this isn't that careful about where she puts things.


The crabs retail for about £9.99, which I think is a little pricey for what they are, taking into consideration how easily the crab broke and as Confetti Cottage also retails at around £9.99 - I would happily buy more if the crabs were around £5 but I can't see me paying around £10.  The shells on their own retail for about £4.99, which again, I would be prepared to pay up to £3 for.  Personally I think they've got their pricing a little bit wrong but we are pretty new to collectables so I'm prepared to be corrected!


Despite the couple of problems we had with it, I still love this toy - the crabs are so cute!  I imagine they would also keep a cat entertained for a while!  I hope the problems I've highlighted are addressed as with a lower price tag and a slightly more sturdy tag we would definitely be buying more.  Even if just for me to amuse myself with!




We received one crab and the Confetti Cottage for the purposes of this review - no other reward was given.  The opinions given in this post are my own.

Meet the Bumblejums Book - Review

I was sent a Meet the Bumblejums book and CD to review.  It was written by Des Shanahan and illustrated by Mike Collins and Oliver Akuin.

The brief for this book is:

The Bumblejums are a family of 4 characters who look out for the world they live in. They live together, work together and of course play music together! Jem, Jon, Jay and Jo - each with special powers, help those around them make a brand new day and a brand new way. Despite all of their environmental, planet saving activity, they have time to write and play their tunes! All work and no play is not the Bumblejum way! 

My children are 4 and 2 and I could barely get the book out of the envelope before they whipped it off me!  The book is lovely and bright and really appeals to small children.  The characters are easily recogniseable and help the children to learn more about the environment.

This initial book is basically an introduction to the characters.  We meet them and find out what they do, we learn about their house and how they spend the day.  Nothing really happens but I think there will be more of a story in more books to follow.

As a parent I loved the fact that each page has a short rhyme - no long prose.  I love reading rhymes to my children, somehow its softer and more calming.  Each page had lovely pictures and my 2 year old was quickly identifying each character.  I look forward to reading more of these books with my children.

The only downside about the book is that it is stapled together which means the pages can be (and have been!) quite easily pulled out.  I feel a slightly stronger design is needed for young children, particularly mine, the Destroyers of Books!

The CD had very folksy music - it reminded me of something from the 70s.  In fact one of the songs did sound like Rolf Harris!  But again it was very calming music, it wouldn't excite the children but they could listen and sing along to it.

You can find out more about the Bumblejums at the Bumblejums website.  The website has a link to their blog with fun Ecotips and also their store where you can purchase the book and CD.

The book is available for £5.99 and the CD for £6.99 although it does state that the music is available on MP3 from Amazon and iTunes.

The book and CD were given to me for the purpose of this review but the views expressed in it are my own.