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. 

All the Details for Saturday's Grand Opening of NI's First 'The Entertainer' Store- The Toy Shop With a Heart

Location of The Entertainer- Castlecourt, just at the top of the escalators inside the front door, opposite Debenhams, beside Starbucks

This Saturday (13th August),  The Entertainer Toy shop add to their 130 strong, UK-wide stores by opening their first NI branch, in Castlecourt in Belfast. The Grand Opening on Saturday morning at 9am, is sure to be an exciting day, with costumed characters in attendance for photographs between 10am and 3pm. Lego's ninja pair Lloyd & Kai will be welcoming kids through the doors, as well as Star Wars favourites Chewbacca & Darth Vader, I'm sure there will be more than one parent wanting a snap with them too!

There will be balloons, demos and a free Lego gift with Lego purchases (while stocks last). If you fancy getting there early, then you might be one of the lucky 35 first in line. They will all receive a surprise voucher each, ranging from £5 right up to one lucky person winning £100. 

Ok, so who is 'The Entertainer'? Why do I call them the toy shop with a heart? And what makes them different to any other toy shop? 

The chain is family owned, with the first store opening just outside London in Amersham 35 years ago. One thing very different about the stores is they don't open on Sundays- they want their staff to have that day for family, and they have stuck to their guns on this even when it meant certain shopping centres were less reluctant to let them open there. But it's admirable that they've not budged on what they believe, and with expansion ongoing it proves you don't have to always bend on what you think is right just to please others. 

They also have a very clear social conscience. 10% of ALL their profit goes to charities, specifically children's charities. That totalled just under a million pounds last year, donated by the chain. They are the very first high street store to enable you to 'round up' your payment to a pound, with the difference being given to charity, when you pay by card. You may have come across this when paying on eBay or Dominos before, so if your total is £13.45, the card machine will give you the option to round up to £14 and the 55p goes to charity.  Here in NI that charity will be the NI Hospice, so it's local money for local kids- a big plus.

Also on Saturday morning at 830am there will be a trolley dash for Autism NI (I have always wanted to watch a trolley dash but the thought of doing one myself terrifies me!) 

What about the store itself? What makes going to The Entertainer better than going to Smyths, or Toys R Us? Well from our sneak peek tour round the shop, it has to be one thing most obviously- price.  

As Rebecca from Head Office showed us round the bright, colourful store I kept stopping at the unbelievable prices of some of the stock. Of course your Lego, Playmobil etc is similarly priced to other stores, but for example there were little boxes of craft games for a couple of pounds or even £1, bigger than Poundland toys and perfect for party bags or stocking fillers. 

Glitter activity bucket only £4, other games £1

Braiding games £1

In fact Rebecca told me The Entertainer specialise in pocket money toys, and trying to keep things under £25. They locate branches in towns and cities, rather than the trend of out of town shopping, and like to see the store as a treat to take your kids to when you've dragged them round shopping where you wanted to! Smix will certainly be more keen next time I want to visit Debenhams anyway.

Kids will love The Entertainer more than other toy shops as they like to have lots of the toys out of their packaging so you can test them out, or have a play. Anyone of a certain age will remember the pleading at our parents to please take us to the Early Learning Centre, to get in the one Cosy Coupe, little red & yellow car they would have out on display. That would be the highlight of the shopping trip, wheeling yourself around ELC with your little feet flying. Well The Entertainer is going to be like that- but for our kids!

Wubble Bubble demo- it's now on Smix' birthday list (p.s. It's £2 cheaper in The Entertainer than on Amazon) 

They cater from newborns up

They also pride themselves on trying to be very quick to pick up the latest trends. They tend to be first to the market with crazes like Loom Bands, Moshi Monsters & more currently Shopkins, Pom Pom Wow and Bunchems. 

There has been a big trend of making Pie Face videos for YouTube, the game where a spring loaded hand with whipped cream on it is passed around in a messy version of Russian roulette. Rebecca told me the game has actually been out for 11 years, but thanks to YouTube it's outselling brand new to market games. The Entertainer have the real thing, but also some similar alternatives, like 'Splat!' for half the price at just £10. You can even buy the cream in store- I found that really amusing for some reason! I think I'll be getting one of these for Christmas 2016 in the Spence household.

You can see from my photographs there's a very clear pink & blue divide to the in store decoration. I subscribe to the notion that toys are toys and for all, so I had planned on asking them why they have a 'girls' section' and a 'boy's section'- then I noticed that absolutely NOWHERE does it say 'girls' toys' or 'boys' toys'- so it was actually my own brain jumping to conclusions, when in reality there is no gender labelling in store, and boys can shop in pink if they want and vice versa, without being labelled the opposite. 

£10 Ever After dolls

The store itself is designed to be easily navigated by pram, with slightly lower than usual stands so you can keep an eye on your child if they are excitedly running around. Another plus for busy mums and dads, is their 30 min click and collect service. Go on The Entertainer Toy Shop website, find the item you want to buy. Check it's in stock and reserve the item to pick up in store. 

This is a godsend at Christmas time and saves traipsing round half a dozen stores trying to locate that one most-wanted item on Santa's list. Reserve it, pick it up- easy. 

Now this touch I absolutely adore. The till points in The Entertainer have little wooden steps so your child can climb up and pay for their own item should they wish to do so. How cool is that? 

Finally I couldn't finish this blog without a word from Smix. What did he make of the new toy store chain? 

He liked how bright the store was, and that he could play with the Wubble Bubble. He said the labelling of the departments was good because he could easily read which section was which, and where to go to find certain toys. He noticed if you were in one section and didn't like anything, there was always something in another section you did like. He loved the choice from the pocket money stands, but he would like to see more Playmobil in store.

Sadly we can't make the grand opening by the mayor of Belfast on Saturday morning, but do tweet me if you go and let me see what's going on (@rudedoodle) With the Belfast store creating even more local jobs hiring for Christmas this Autumn, and plans to expand throughout NI, let's give The Entertainer a warm welcome this weekend.

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.

Little Live Pets, Tweeting In a Toy Shop Near You

The second wave of Little Live Pets have hit toy shops for spring 2015. http://www.character-online.com/products/Little-Live-Pets/Birds/ 

We were sent the mother and baby owl in neutral white & purple. The birds are also available in pink or blue, but refreshingly this slightly more 'girl orientated' toy is being marketed for both boys AND girls age 5+ 

Michael loves this sort of toy, and thought it was very cute as the mother and baby tweeted to each other. The mummy owl also has a repeat back feature where you can record your voice. Of course kids being kids the owl was soon chirping about bums and poos, but that was always going to happen!  

The birds sing together and have dozens of different tunes. You may notice our baby owl looks a little bit worse for wear. It seems that my parents' wire fox terrier dog took a fancy to baby owl too, and he got a little chewed! 

The mother and baby owl Little Live Pets set retails around £17.99, so it's a little bit too pricey for a birthday gift for someone else's child. However if you have an animal lover at home, most boys & girls would love to receive this as a present. 

The Ugglys are a Pack of Rude Dogs!

The Ugglys, a selection of mangy looking puppet pups, are one of those toys parents just don't understand. When we received our's (lovingly nicknamed 'Stinker') I thought it seemed like one of those presents they beg for but only play with for ten minutes and never touch again.

I was wrong. 

Michael hasn't stopped playing with this thing all weekend. It's basically a hand puppet that makes foul noises. Burps, farts, bizarre sound effects  and even a buzzing blue bottle noise. The novelty comes in the form of a little, twiddly knob on the dog's collar, this controls the pitch of the sound effect. 

If there is one suggestion to make the product better, I'd request a volume knob too. 

There are different breeds of Uggly, and they retail at £29.99 A great puppet if your daughter or son loves gross out humour. 

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. 

Heroes in a Half Shell They're Back!

Turtles are back. As a person born in 1980, I grew shouting, "Cowabunga, dudes!" in the playground. Santa brought me the figure of Michael-Angelo, he was my favourite because he was funny. It's a little weird to think that in 1987 or so the supermarkets didn't even stock pizza in Northern Ireland, now in 2013 you can eat like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

And in 2013 a new generation of boys & girls are getting to know the pretentiously named, reptilian foursome through a swanky CGI series broadcast on Nickelodeon. This also mean shelves of TMNT figures appearing, and if you have a husband like mine, it means some very excited Dads in the toy aisle reliving their youth. 

 Flair sent us a Pizza Flining Mikey and Mutagen Ooze Ralph to play with. Guess who was the most excited by the post that day.

The Flinger range, You load Michael-Angelo with pizzas in a post box in his backpack, and when you roll him across the floor they shoot out. Easy to load for a five year old by themselves, not fiddly like Pez or anything. Son thought it was very cool.

Daddy was allowed to play with the slightly smaller Mutagion Ooze Turtle. This one has a back pack that loads with ooze goo that comes with the figure. You can also buy tubes of replacement ooze in toy shops. My initial reaction was, oh dear, I'm going to have give the review a negative point on this, no parent wants to bring gooey mess into the house. Even when my husband was loading it into the back of the Turle my mind was already half way to the kitchen for a cloth to clean up the inevitable mess.

Weirdly however, whatever its made of, doesn't leave residue or mess. I'm saying that after cleaning it off wooden floor, carpet rug and out of a bad (or a good) shot that landed in my son's head. It kind of bond to itself and picks up like a solid. So I'm giving the ooze a thumbs up.  

Father and son have played with the Turtles all day, apart from the two hours he was at his friend's birthday party, from which he returned with his face painted as a Turtle. I think they have snared another life long fan. 

Toys available from Smyths, Tesco, Toys R Us and all other good stockists.