Mr Frosty Choc Ice Maker Review - Is It One For Santa’s List?

Mr Frosty is certainly a throwback. In fact he was on my own Santa list in the 80’s, and my poor parents’ arms would despair having to crank the handle on the back of him, in his older incarnation, to dispense some slivers of ice into a cup for me, those were the days! 

I’m pleased to report the Mr Frosty of 2018 is much more hassle-free, and the Mr Frosty Choc Ice Maker is one product that parents won’t be dreading seeing on the Santa list this Christmas. It costs £12.99 and you can buy it from Asda or Smyths.

We were sent one to try out this week, so we gave it a whirl. The kit contains lolly moulds to freeze yoghurt lollies, and a lovely little igloo which you then use to melt chocolate to coat your frozen lollies. It’s very cute and a fun idea to make with your kids over the Christmas break too.

This blog is a bit of a “how to”  also in case you are thinking of buying the Choc Ice Maker, hopefully I can give you some tips and tricks.

I found a great hack was to buy Frubes, the yoghurt that comes in straw like tubes for packed lunches. Not only are they freezable, but they are perfect to snip off the corner and pipe into the snowman mould, rather than try to spoon regular yoghurt in there. A whole box of Frubes is never more than £2.

The lolly mould is like an ice cube tray, but it’s a flexible silicon one, which has good points and bad points. The good point is that once your lollies are set they are very easy to pop out, whether they be yoghurt, like we made, or solid chocolate, or anything you freeze. The downside is that the mould once filled with yoghurt is still quite floppy, so when I tried to carry it over to to freezer some of the liquid spilled. I would suggest putting the mould on a flat tray and putting the whole thing into the freezer like that. Also don’t underestimate the size the mould takes up with the lolly sticks protruding out, you need quite a bit of space in the freezer for it. Measure it out before you start so you don’t get caught out with a armful of yoghurt lollies and nowhere to put them like me!

The yoghurt freezes quite quickly, and is very easy to pop out of the moulds, and the roof of the igloo doubles up as a stand for your lollipops, which is so handy. You then melt your chocolate coating in the main igloo part in the microwave, and coat your lollipops. 

We found this part tricky, there must be a knack to it, but the shape of the snowman disappeared completely for us! It still tasted delicious anyway. We added some sprinkles and decorations, and you could add fresh fruit or any other decorations to make the pops a healthy snack. 

The clean up is very simple, I just put everything in the sink with hot water.  

We definitely want to try out some other recipes. Smix wants to try some solid chocolate lollipops. I want to try some other flavours of yoghurt in there, maybe add chopped up mini mallows or Nutella.

Would I recommend it? Yes, if you enjoy kitchen crafts it’s a fun one that you will do more than once, it’s easy, not much clean up required, doesn’t take up much storage either. Would make a nice gift too. Add it to the Santa list. 

Zoingo Boingo: The Flexible Fun Pogo Toy That Tempted Smix Away From His IPad & Out to the Garden!

This week we received the new Zoingo Boingo pogo toy from Flair toys, a spin on the traditional pogo stick with a bouncing ball base and bungee cord handle which allows for more movement and the ability to do more tricks than before. With the weather finally picking up it was the perfect time to tempt Smix outside and off his iPad to learn the skill to 'boinging'.

The Zoingo Boingo is suitable for age 8 and up, so Smix is exactly the target range. The toy comes boxed, and you have a guide to inflate the ball base to prepare it for use. This is where we had a little trouble. Initially we inflated it as much as it could be inflated, which made the ball base quite hard and with no give. This was our mistake! Do not over inflate the ball, it doesn't need to be like a football, allow some give in it and it's a LOT easier to get the hang of pogoing on the Zoingo Boingo. Allow for it to be a little 'squidgy'.

One side of the footplate has a lip, put your foot on this side to start

Around the ball base is the foot plate, and you'll see one side has a little lip. This is the side you put your first foot on, then tip, balance and bounce. Smix got the hang of it very quickly (now we had fixed the over inflated base problem) and within the first session he could do 17 bounces in a row.

The Zoingo works best on grass or pavement, and as you'd imagine isn't suitable for indoors on carpet. I'm just happy to get Smix outside at last and off his iPad! The Zoingo Boingo will be on sale  via Smyths Toys for £24.99 or you can purchase now on Amazon.

WWE Construct & Destroy Building Sets

These WWE Stackdown construction sets (let's just say it, Lego, isn't it?) are perfectly priced to stockpile for birthday presents for class friends' this year. Smyths' Toys have the sets in their mix and match, two for £15 range, which is even better than their £9.99 RRP.

Michael is almost seven and a Lego novice, but found the set easy to build by himself with the instructions at hand. He's never caught the wrestling on tv, but it still caught his imagination. So much so that when I flicked through the Christmas toy catalogue this morning, I found he has each of the other sets circled heavily in black Biro! 

We were disappointed however that the snake doesn't 'leap' out of the cage at the wrestler, like it seems to suggest on the packaging. Still, a thumbs up for this toy.

Here are the other options. 

Aquabeads Not Just For Girls!

Michael, like most kids his age, has been Loom Band crazy the past few months and loves anything creative. We received the Aquabeads Jewel Starter Set a couple of days ago and he's already made dozens of little creations. The packaging is very girl-orientated, but boys and girls alike should love the ease of making little models.

I was pretty pleased with the mess-free element of the beads too. You don't need an iron, or heat, the beads stick together with a small spray of water. After drying for an hour you can lift the beads off and they'll stay stuck together. 

Michael loves them and already has requested I buy him more beads! 

You can connect with Aquabeads on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to share your child's creations.

You Too Can Become a Ninja Turtle!

Back again with some new releases from the Flair Turtle's range. The Ninja Combat Gear dress up set is available in each of the Turtles' colours with respective weapons. Michael was very excited about this, and has spent a lot of time in front of the mirror with his mask on this afternoon!

You better believe my husband and I have tried it on too, we were fans the first time around! 

Our second review surprise was the Leonardo from the Sound FX figures range. The 5.5 inch figures each say a range of phrases, activated when the arms or legs are twisted. A novel factor in the design means if you hold the limb, you can stretch out the length of the audio that plays. Great for battling the baddies. Incidentally, Shredder is available in the Power Sound FX line up too. All these are available for £14.99 each on the Flair Store.

Savvy parents, there's a Turtles film currently being made, by Michael Bay, which is released in October 2014, so it might be wise to beat the rush and stock up on bits for next Christmas when Turtles will be even more popular. 

The Turtles' Pop-Up Pizza Anchovy Alley Playset for Your Little Ninja

Anticipation in the Smyth house is at fever pitch, with four days left until Christmas. This morning we played with the Turtles' Pop-up Pizza play set, which needed reviewing at just the right time. My son played with the little sewer set for literally hours. 

Now I've got to admit this, when I saw this set in the shops before, priced at £24.99, I thought that was a bit steep for what it was. However according to my son it's amazing, and the hours of non-stop play prove me totally wrong.

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Another plus point is it's totally quick and easy to set up. No fiddly building or batteries needed. It folds flat so it can come along in the car to aunty's or granny's house over Christmas time.

My husband and son both love Turtles, so they dressed up in their new Christmas onesies for the occasion (available at Asda).

We also received a Mutagen Ooze Turtle to review. I've mentioned this ooze before, it looks like a carpet ruining nightmare, but actually has a strange consistency that doesn't stain or make a mess. So I wasn't horrified to see more arriving!

These retail around £9.99 and you can buy extra pots of ooze which come with one of four tiny turtles inside. Any of these products would make a great last minute pick-up present for a kid aged 4-10, girls too- I loved Michael Angelo when I was little and had his toy figure.

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Trash Pack Series 5: Even Grosser Little Stocking Fillers than Before

Trash Pack series five is here. Our kids' version of our generation's Boglins and Garbage Pail Kids, the Trash Pack are sold in 'blind bags' or sets of five. The new releases come in their own yellow toilets, which my son found hilarious. He's at the anything gross is awesome stage, so we will be asking Santa for a sprinkling of Trash Pack blind bags in his Christmas stocking. Available in Tesco, Toys R Us and Smyths.