Ila Security Personal Alarms

I remember (years ago!!) when I was a teenager I had a personal alarm that was huge and mainly ineffective as it was always stuck in the bottom of my bag, so last week when I had an e-mail asking me if I would be interested in reviewing an Ila product I was a little unsure! However in a recent survey by YouGov, 68% of women expressed a concern about their own personal safety so I figured I'd better have a look at their on-line brochure and soon discovered that they have some fabulous products.

There is a handbag charm that acts as a personal alarm and shrieks when you pull the chain. The hook is a compact mirror that unravels and can be hooked around your handbag to keep it safe or the Ila Sport which is the product I chose for them to send to me.  What I like about all the products is that they are fashionable and don't look like your traditional safety alarm. The compact mirror and the handbag charm come in a variety of patterns and colours including stars, flowers and black leopard print. What a refreshing change from the usual clunky tradition.

So as I said above, I was sent the Ila Sport. Not only is it a personal safety alarm but it also a pedometer which can count steps or distance travelled. It has a clock and a backlight on it as well and is perfect for running.  One thing that I always disliked when I was marathon training was running in the dark but I went for a run wearing this and did feel much safer. It's not only for joggers but would also be fab on these dark nights whilst walking the dog.

The alarm is LOUD, holy cow is it loud which is exactly what you need to scare an attacker away but I wouldn't recommend trying it at home! You can turn the alarm off as well when you are warming up or cooling down so that it doesn't go off unnecessarily. The Ila Sport retails at around £19.99.

For more information on the products please check out their website at www.ilasecurity.com Their products are available worldwide.  Look out for an Ila giveaway later this week :-)

Review - Tomica Big City Set, Aquadoodle Animal Sounds, Old McDonald Lotto and Crayola Mess Free Colour Wonder

As well as the box of toys that I donated to the hospital, Toy R Us were kind enough to give me two other boxes, one for Chick’s after school club and one for a local nursery.  This is me handing over the two boxes of toys to the Deputy Nursery Manager:

It also appeared with an article in the local paper.....cheesy, I know!

Here are their reviews:

Tomica Big City Set £39.99 - We felt it would be better suited for 1-2 children at a time, for in the home not really a large nursery group.  Disappointing that it only included 1 truck and 1 man that was really quite small.  It was fun to watch the tram go round the track and the children all really enjoyed playing with it.

Tomy Aquadoodle Animal Sounds £29.99 - Children enjoyed playing with it and liked how it made noises when you drew on it.

Old McDonald Lotto £8.99 – What a brilliant game, colourful and simple.  Children enjoyed playing it, fun and easy.  It also sparked conversation about the different things on the board.

Crayola Mess Free Colour Wonder Magic Light Brush £19.99- Needed one to one supervision, as needed to wipe brush after using each colour.  Couldn’t really leave child to play on own, more suited to 7/8 plus age.  They did enjoy seeing the colour appear though. 

All of the items above are available from Toys R Us. Don't forget to enter my competition to win a Remote Controlled Helicopter open until Friday, 3rd December.

GIVEAWAY - Radio Controlled Helicopter

This Giveaway is now closed. Please keep checking back for more great giveaways.

Seeing as it's nearly Christmas as well as the fact that our time being Toyologists in nearly finished, I thought I'd offer a lovely prize for one lucky reader. I'm sure that it would be loved not just by children but by many Partners too ;-)

This Silverlit I/R Z-Century is a four channelled radio controlled helicopter that apparently has superb stability. Not only can it fly up and down but can also hover and fly sideways!! Other info:

Superbly styled durable helicopter body design

Can be operated indoors in the smallest of spaces

Infrared 4 channel control

Authentic side flying

Gyro direction stabiliser 

Integral Lithium Polymer battery

Flight time: 10 minutes, Charge time: 15 - 30 minutes

Supplied ready to fly

Interested in entering? All you need to do is 'Like' Toys R Us on Facebook and leave a comment on their wall saying

'Adventures of an English Mum sent me and I would like to win her Silverlit Radio Controlled Helicopter Giveaway'

Simple huh?!?

This product is available to buy from Toys R Us at £39.99

* Closing Date is Friday, 3rd December 2010 at 5pm and I'm happy to send anywhere in the world!!

Dodo Pad Diary

I’m sure that most of you remember how much I loved the academic year planner from Dodo-pad!! In fact, I loved it so much that I have a worn copy full of scribbles hanging on my kitchen wall and one by my desk at work. Well, now I have discovered the 2011 Dodo-Pad Diary or as Lord Dodo describes it.....a combined memo-doodle-engage-diary-message-ment book.

It’s the same bright colourful design with each A5 page being a week and the opposite side of the page being for doodling, pictures, quotes, phone numbers and any other info you may need. Each page is decorated with a different theme and pictures. For instance July 5^th in 1686 was the publication of Isaac Newton’s Principal of Mathematics and the quote by Magnus Pyke is:

If it squirms, it’s biology;

If it stinks, it’s chemistry;

If it doesn’t work, it’s physics;

If you can’t understand it, it’s mathematics

My favourite quote is from TE Lawrence on reading Lady Chatterley’s Lover:

“Surely the sex business isn’t worth all this damned fuss? I’ve met only a handful of people who care a biscuit for it”

Obviously not a major part of the swinging sixties there huh?!

If you are looking for a different Christmas present this year instead of the same dull old diaries I thoroughly recommend that you check out the Dodo website and look through their ranges! I’ll be buying these for my cousins who are at Uni.

The diary retails around £11.50 and is available from the Dodo website, John Lewis, Waterstones and WH Smith.

Play That Tune

This game is just so much fun!!! It comes with a plastic musical piano floor mat and we were fighting over who would get the first turn!! You get 50 'tune' cards with it and I really like the mix of music.....nursery rhymes, pop songs and classics like 'Happy Birthday'. It was good as it meant that both Chick and I knew some songs!  The cards are really clear so could be used by any age and it's pretty simple to pick up.

You are supposed to use the timer and play the notes actually in a tune but seeing as we are both tone deaf we didn't bother with the timer. There are also score cards which would work better in a family group! As there are just the two of us and Chick can't co-ordinate between looking at the cards and playing the notes it doesn't look like so much fun in the video but we are taking it to my Mum's at Christmas for the whole family to play!! I look forward to watching my 81 year old Grandma play Lionel Richie ;-)

I would definitely recommend this and Chick likes it too but it would be better with more players! Available from Toys R Us for £19.99

Reviewed as part of the Toys R Us Toyologist programme.

Review - National Geographic Land & Sky Telescope

I imagine you've gathered by now that we are Science Geeks in the Brooks household so imagine our joy when this beauty arrived in our last box. The National Geographic land and sky telescope is perfect for Chick's age because it's simple to put together and really lightweight. It also only costs £12.99 which is an absolute bargain!

Chick is quite lucky in the fact that not only does she have one set of Grandparents but we're very close to Nelly's family so we get her Parents too who Chick calls Grandpa and Nanny. They have an awesome cabin on the river so when we went there at the weekend Chick wanted to take this with her and let Grandpa help he find stuff. This is them trying it out....even in the cold and rainy night:

They both had good things to say about the Telescope but because the weather wasn't so good Grandpa is coming around tomorrow night for a star gazing session!! Bless him!!  

If I was being fussy the only downside would be that it didn't come with a star gazing book which of course was the first thing that Chick wanted to do with it but generally this gets a huge thumbs up from the whole family!

Don't forget to check out Toys R Us on Facebook to see all the other Toyologists review and some fabulous ideas for Christmas!!!

Review - Barbie Glitterizer Wardrobe

This Barbie Glitterizer Wardrobe is ideal for budding fashionistas! From the new movie, Barbie A Fashion Fairytale, this fabulous playset adds glitter and sparkle to your doll’s outfits, accessories and your own personal items in 3 simple steps! Basically you put stickers onto the clothes etc, put them in the Glitterizer and hey presto they come out all sparkly!!  In the set there is the wardrobe, a Barbie, a couple of outfits, stickers and of course lots of lovely  glitter!

I gave this to Chick as her main birthday present and she absolutely loves it. We were lucky enough to have been sent lots of Phillips batteries alongside the toys so I didn't need to worry about remembering them!!

The glitter does get absolutely everywhere and we were sparkling more than vampires in the sunlight but I guess that's part of the fun! Chick has added glitter to lots of her Barbie accessories!! It only comes with a small pack of glitter but you can use any kind.

This retails at £49.99 but is still on sale at Toys R Us at the moment. It's quite expensive but I was going to buy this as her main present anyway!

Chick says: I think it's very glittery and Barbie looks really stylish but it needs some more outfits!