Christmas Gift Ideas for 2017 Review
Reviewed by Jayne Wiggins
As a crazy Christmas lover I have been excited to review a number of gift ideas for Christmas 2017.
The first item I received was a simple little game by Blue Orange – “Rings Up“. Retailing at £12.99, from what2buy4kids.co.uk, with an age recommendation of 6 years +, this rapid observation game has a number of different options to make it accessible for a range of age groups.
The youngest player is encouraged to turn the first card and the winner is the person who manages to stack the plastic rings onto his/her thumb in the order shown on the card. The winner then turns the next card and so the game continues until a player has collected 7 cards. It seemed so simple as I explained the rules to various children, but when the pressure was on to win, finding the correct coloured ring proved difficult for the oldest of us!
As a busy childminder and mum, I am always looking for new ideas to keep children occupied and learning, whilst waiting for dinner/travelling in a car or simply relaxing after school. The first option we tried was the recommended game where players stack the rings in the order given on the shiny cards. “This is awesome” – F aged 6 and “this is fun” – B aged 7, were two of the honest answers given by sisters who managed NOT to fight! (It is worth it’s weight in gold if it can contain a sibling disagreement!) From the older children (aged up to 13) who upped the game with a harder recommended version, to the youngest (aged 4 and 5) who played the simple version, this well packaged game was a hit. The makers even recommend how to play the game without a table making it mobile and useful on long car journeys as well as at home.
The biggest surprise for me came when testing the game with my 60 year old father who had recently had a stroke. The hand to eye co-ordination needed to play the game supported his recovery with fine motor skills, colour and number recognition and general speed work. All skills which are essential to growing children as well.
So if you are looking for a great value gift this Christmas for young children to much older children, you couldn’t go far wrong choosing this game (and with the speed of this game you can still enjoy those Christmas parties without being pulled into a game which takes you away from the action for too long!)
Value for money, flexibility, age range and general fun appeal, 5 out of 5.
If you are looking for something a little more arty, you could try the Superhero Colour in Cape by Selfie Clothing Co. A soft fabric mix of polyester and viscose, the cape comes wrapped in a poster box with instructions wrapped round the box, a set of fabric pens and a paper practice sheet.
Not suitable for those under three due to the small parts (pen lids,) I offered this to two of my 7 and 9 year olds to colour in. My first disappointment was that the instruction suggested using the ‘lining paper in-between your garment to prevent bleed through’. The obvious flaw to this is that the double layered garment is sewn shut with no obvious way of adding the lining paper between the layers. As such, sadly the colouring DID bleed through to the other side of the garment.
This didn’t stop the children from abandoning the colouring and simply wearing the garment. Racing around in the cape a number of children did enjoy a good amount of time pretending to be superheros!
After ironing the garment and giving it a wash, the colours have held though the children have not wanted to finish colouring it it, preferring the ease of colouring on paper.
The packaging is flashy but didn’t offer the promise of what the children were expecting. I was pleased with the safety of the Velcro fastener to prevent strangulation as the children ran with this cape around their necks, though I couldn’t say it kept the children entertained for too long.
Retailing at £25 it was a little too pricey for me, however, looking on their website there is a more affordable option of a colour in top for £15. It’s great to see quality items made in Britain and the fabric and quality of workmanship was certainly worth noting, but for me this gets a 2/5 only for pure imagination use rather than the colour in option.
My final gift idea was for the much younger age range – an aqua Christmas baby grow, retailing at £19 by Frugi clothing. If you enjoy indulging babies as they celebrate their first Christmas, and also have a love for environmental issues, this is a great little gift idea. The price tag is perfect for this super soft item with a washing tag down the leg instead of annoyingly at the baby neck line.
100% organic cotton bearing the Soil Association organic logo I was delighted with this little number. Aged 6 – 12 months it is a generous size with easy to undo poppers down the front and both legs, making getting in and out for quick nappy changes easy. You have to feel this to believe how soft it is, a quality which has been retained after a cool wash. The quaility of the stitching has left no itchy loose edges to scratch at babies and shows a jurability which will far outlive this baby’s first Christmas.
Arriving in it’s own re-usable fabric carrier bag, this really does appeal to the envronmentally aware. Credentials include the Global Organic Textile Standard as well as the Soil Association, so conciences can be clear this Christmas!
Patterned with festive polar bears, reindeers and arctic foxes, with a red trim, this really is a truly festive way to get your Christmas shopping started. After wrapping this little beauty you then have the re-usable bag to continue your shopping spree or pile those much loved Christmas gifts inside for delivery!
Delivery packaging was perfect with charges ranging from free on orders over £60. The additional shopping bag makes it even better value for money, but for indulgent design, workmanship and supercute factor this is definitaly on my shopping list this Christmas with a great big 5/5!
What’s Good To Do will be reviewing lots of Christmas Gift Ideas this year, and you can read them all here and get some gift inspiration.