Tumball - the nerve wracking, bead stacking game

Tumball is the new nerve wracking game from Megableu that the whole family will enjoy. The idea of the game is to take turns placing beads onto a cluster of suspended hanging balls without bringing the whole precarious lot crashing down!

The contents includes a base, arm and hook that are easily put together and dismantled. A ring with seven hangers attaches to the hook and the coloured beads are pushed onto the ends of the hangers. There are 24 white beads and four wands that are used to place the beads.

The beads are divided between the players who take turns to position their beads onto the balls. You need a steady hand and nerves of steel as you place your beads. If any drop, they are added to your collection. The first player to get rid of all their beads wins.

It takes a lot of concentration to position a bead through the hangers and into a space where it won't bring the whole lot down. If you tremble, the balls will tumble!

We all enjoyed playing Tumball together. I loved the fact that Freddy had as good a chance as winning as his older sisters or me. It definitely tests your dexterity, nerve and fine motor skills as you position the beads, and it is always a bit of a shock when your turn causes the hangers to shake, separate and bring all the beads crashing down. It's a clever little game that is really quite addictive as your strive to get rid of all your beads first and build the biggest stack on top of the balls.

The game is for 2 to 4 players aged 5+ and is £17.99 RRP.  It's a great Christmas gift idea and will a fun game to play together over the Christmas holidays. Find out more at www.megableu.com/uk/tumball


        

Robinson's Fruit Creations #GrownUpSquash

The Robinsons name is synonymous with fruity squashes, which have been loved by kids for generations. Now Robinsons have introduced a range of squashes with the adult palate in mind. After investigating new food trends, they have come up with some exciting new combinations and tweaked some family favourites, reformulating them for a grown-up market. The Fruit Creations range is even more fruity, less sweet, more adventurous and more exotic, containing twice the fruit content for more mature taste buds to enjoy.

Each serving of Fruit Creations contains no more than 10 calories with no added sugar, no artificial colourings and no artificial flavourings. Each glass helps keep you hydrated. For anyone who doesn't enjoy drinking plain water, Robinsons Fruit Creations is a great alternative.

I received a bottle of new Crisp Apple & Elderflower Barley, which is a more sophisticated squash flavour. The delicate elderflower and crisp apple combine to create a refined drink, brimming with fruitiness.

The drink is very refreshing with a crisp fruity flavour followed by a note of floral elderflower. It's definitely good for us grown-ups who want a soft drink that isn't too sweet. It makes it easy to stay hydrated during the day. My eldest daughters both enjoy having this as an option when they are home, so I'll definitely be keeping a bottle in the kitchen from now on!

Look out for the Robinsons Fruit Creations and new fruit cordials in supermarkets.

Give the Gift of a White Christmas with Insta-Snow

We're singing songs about dreaming of a white Christmas. There are images on Christmas cards portraying snow covered landscapes and carrot nosed snowmen. However, most children in the UK  have never actually experienced a white Christmas. Most Christmases in recent memory have been pretty grey and damp without the magical addition of a sprinkle of snow. In fact the last time we saw snow on December 25th was seven years ago.

This year, we can all enjoy the excitement, fun and magic of snow thanks to Insta-Snow. Winner of the Science Toy Awards 2017, Insta-Snow creates the magic of real snow, with the added benefit of teaching STEM skills. Insta-Snow’s unique super absorbent polymer changes its state from a dry powder to a big, fluffy and moist snow-like consistency. It’s science, but with added magic!

You simply add water and the powder expands to 100 times its original size, fluffing up like real snow. Just without the chill!

Insta-Snow doesn't melt or dissolve and so it lasts for ages. When it dries out, you can add more water to enjoy the fun all over again.

At just £3.99 for a single pack it makes a great stocking filler, guaranteeing a white Christmas for your little ones this year, whatever the weather! It's also available in a 100g jar for £7.99.

Find out more at www.trendsuk.co.uk/insta-snow.

A Vegan Lunch at the Toby Carvery

At this time of year, we are all busily preparing for Christmas, which is rapidly approaching. Christmas shopping can be exhausting, especially when fighting the Black Friday crowds for a pre-Christmas bargain. So a good lunch after hitting the town is a well deserved treat.

Toby Carvery invited me for a post-shopping lunch at my local Telford restaurant. With the Christmas decorations, the seasonal menu and the Christmas tree, there is a festive atmosphere - perfect for enjoying after a spot of Christmas shopping. I invited my parents and my sister Paula to join me for a morning of shopping for the grandkids followed by a meal and they eagerly accepted the invitation.

We were seated at our table and offered drinks straightaway and then looked at the menus. We had worked up quite an appetite from shopping!

The menu for the carvery includes a section for vegetarians and vegans. The fact that a carvery, such as Toby offers these options is really impressive. I wish all chain restaurants could take a leaf out of Toby's book and make their menu accessible for those of us who choose a meat free diet. There were several options that we could pick from including the meat-free carvery, grilled aubergine stack and root vegetable roast.

We all opted for the Portobello Mushroom Bullseye Tart. As we are vegan, we asked our server what vegetables were suitable for us. She consulted with the chefs and came back to tell us that the cabbage was glazed with butter and the mash contained milk. However, the chef offered to make us our own mash and unglazed cabbage, which would be brought to our table when our mains were ready. This was a really nice touch that we appreciated very much.

From the carvery deck, we were able to have stuffing, peas, parsnips, carrots and roast potatoes. We then added some of Toby's vegetarian gravy. The mash and cabbage was brought out at the same time as our mains. Everything was piping hot and well prepared.

The mushroom tart was delicious with a whole Portobello Mushroom on a tasty savoury, mushroom sauce in a rich, crimped pastry case. The vegetables were all lovely, fresh, well cooked and delicious. We had a huge plateful each and all thoroughly enjoyed it.

Even though we were pretty full, we simply had to sample the vegan dessert from the menu - a chocolate and cherry torte. It was rich and dark and studded with juicy cherries. A nice combination that was nicely served with a drizzle of chocolate sauce.

Overall, we were very impressed with our meals and the price of around £10 a head for two courses is great value for money. The accompaniments to our main course were plentiful and we liked being able to help ourselves to what we wanted. The staff were all friendly and the chef who did us the extras was especially kind, making sure we were happy with what he'd made for us. It was a great experience and we enjoyed refuelling ourselves ready for our next round of Christmas preparations!

Check out the website at www.tobycarvery.co.uk.

Elves Behavin' Badly are Getting Ready for Advent

December 1st is just over a week away! That means that my friendly resident elves will soon be getting up to some naughty antics to celebrate the countdown to Christmas. This alternate advent idea promises to be a lot of fun and will definitely entertain Freddy, as he discovers what the elves have been up to the night before.

The Elves Behavin' Badly are getting a bit excited about the prospect of their stay with us here Inside the Wendy House. They are already starting to get up to mischief and are planning their exploits for month ahead.

They've being busy checking out the catalogues choosing Christmas Presents for their list to Santa.

And Elfie has been taking Selfies, getting ready for her social media debut on December 1st!

We're going to have so much fun with our elf house guests this year. They will make the countdown to Christmas more creative and inject some laughter into our mornings. Find out more about the Elves Behavin' Badly at www.elvesbehavinbadly.com.

No More Fading to Grey with Surf Perfect Black

Surf has a new formula specially designed to keep your dark clothes looking like new for longer - Surf Perfect Black. As someone whose wardrobe is predominantly black, I was really interested in this new product. Black clothes usually ends up fading to grey, but Surf Perfect Black ensures dark clothing retains its colour better and for longer. Fragranced with Midnight Orchid and Lily, it comes in both super concentrated liquid and bio-capsule formats. Laundry is clean and fresh, and the product is effective even when used in cold washes.

It's good to see a laundry product designed especially to care for your darks, to help avoid the dreaded fade! I'm hoping to buy some new black jeans this Christmas and hope I can keep them looking black instead of them turning grey. Dark jeans are definitely the worst culprit when it comes to laundry fade, so if I can stave this off I'll be impressed.

I must admit that part of me kind of wanted the liquid itself to be black! But no - it's a normal white colour. It smells really pleasant with its floral scent and so far it's doing a good job of making my washing clean and fresh. It's nice to have a formula designed specifically for my dark washing.

Surf are urging customers to display their darks online in the #SurfPerfectBlack challenge!

Surf Perfect Black is available to buy in selected Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury's stores for an RRP of £5.50 for a 25 wash liquid or 20 wash bio-capsule.

A Magical Start to Christmas at the Intu Trafford Centre

Today we were invited to the Intu Trafford Centre to watch their Magical Christmas Parade. Arriving before the parade began, we had the chance to meet the stars of the show in a private meet and greet. Freddy loved seeing Peppa Pig, Bing & Flop, Shimmer & Shine, Marshall & Skye, the Minions, PJ Masks and Branch & Poppy. There is something so magical about seeing the children interact with their favourite TV stars in real life! We had a really nice breakfast, juice and coffee supplied by Leon, which was much appreciated after our early start.

We were then lucky enough to be able to watch the parade from the VIP enclosure at the side of the stage in the Orient. There was a procession of the characters alongside dancing princes and princesses, jugglers, drumming soldiers, stilt walkers, ballerinas, dancers, Father Christmas and his elves.

The all singing, all dancing performance ended with a magical blizzard of snowflake confetti, which was really lovely.  We left feeling very festive after our wonderful morning at the intu Trafford Centre.

Afterwards we got to do some Christmas shopping and get some lunch. The Christmas lights made the experience very sparkly and festive.

Check out what is happening at the intu Trafford Centre this Christmas at intu.co.uk/traffordcentre.