Wednesday 16 November 2016

Brick 2016 Review

Brick 2016 Review


If you have been reading for a while you might remember that last year we had a really good day out at Brick Live. As you can imagine I was very excited to be invited back to attend the 2016 show and is was great knowing a bit more about what to expect this time.

We arrived a little while after the show had started and got in very quickly. We were immediately greeted by some amazing LEGO- there was Halloween LEGO set, a huge Scooby Doo, loads of train tracks, villages and Lottie's favourite- a huge Beauty and The Beast set. We spent ages looking at the amazing things the master builders had made and then went off and started joining in the fun  ourselves.






We made LEGO houses to put on the map of the UK,  designed cars to test on the speed ramps, joined in with making a Giant pumpkin and a huge mosaic picture, all before diving into the huge LEGO pits to build whatever we wanted.


That painful moment when you stand on a LEGO brick!


We then moved to the back of the show were all the stalls were and where we discovered the most amazing LEGO model ever- a massive copy of a DFDS ship-it was awesome! I asked the lady if they were going to make small versions to buy but she thought they wouldn't be able to - I really hope the do though. They could sell them in the ships restaurants and reception and it would make our journey to France go much quicker.


Once we had admired the ship and done some colouring we went to have a look at what the retailers were selling.

There was literally everything a LEGO fan could ever want to buy- t-shirts, jewellery, limited edition LEGO sets and even LEGO bedroom furniture!

There were some really amazing things there though- we really liked the 3D Funky Faces people who can make you a LEGO version of yourself- these were awesome. They looked like they should feel squidgy but were actually hard and are proper LEGO people. We are definitely saving up for these!

I also loved the Base Ace 3D Play Platforms which we mentioned last year- I had been saving my pocket money so I was finally able to get a set. This is such a great way to play with LEGO figures and vehicles and lets you create allsorts of games- I have had some amazing battles with mine! I am hoping to convince my sister to spend her pocket money that she has saved on a different set and then we can get an extension kit to connect the two... but I don't know how her LEGO friends characters will survive against an invasion from my Stormtroopers!


My awesome Base Ace 3D Play Platform
It was nearly time to go home but there was just enough time for Lottie to go and learn a dance routine with the LEGO friends, which she loved doing.


Being 'photobombed' by the LEGO Friends!

Once again BRICK was an awesome day out- we all had fun, played lots, built loads and came home with some fab stuff too! If you get chance to go to the next one it is a great day out for LEGO fans of any age.





Wednesday 9 November 2016

Ready, Steady, Dough Swirly Whirly Sweets Review

Ready, Steady, Dough Swirly Whirly Sweets Review


We had quite a busy half term but at the end we were all struck down with coughs and colds and decided to have a quiet day at home doing Arts and Crafts. This can sometimes be a bit tricky as it can be difficult finding something we can all do together with me being 8, Lottie 5 and Sam being a toddler who is keen on wrecking things.

The Entertainer must have known though because at lunchtime there was a knock on the door and a large parcel arrived- the lovely people there had kindly sent us a big Ready, Steady Dough Swirly, Whirly Sweets set to review.




I hadn't played with this sort of thing for quite a while but Lottie was keen we got started straight away so while Mum put Sam up for his nap I got the instructions out and started putting it together. It was really straightforward to set up and I had it ready in no time so we were soon able to get started using the set.

The main sweet machine allowed you go push the dough through and it turned a thick tube of dough into a neat balls, you can do it as plain or we preferred to mix it togethed make them multi coloured. You can then leave these as ball shaped sweets or use the presser to make them into sweets that are like a box of chocolates.


After this we used the icing piece which made a long straight very thin piece of dough- we like this because if you kept putting dough in before you pulled it off you could make it really long! We used these long pieces to wrap together and stick on the sticks to make lollies. There was also plates and knives in the set so you can make your own design and set them up.

 


I think the set would make great Christmas present for children slightly younger than me- I enjoyed it far more than I expected to and found it quite fun to roll out dough and make shapes, but my sister absolutely loved it. When Sam woke up he joined in too- he was too heavy handed for the sweet machine as we were worried he might break it but he loved rolling the dough and using the icing bit so I think this set is perfect for 3 to 6 year olds but will also be enjoyed by children who are both younger and older.

Thanks The Entertainer, we had a lovely afternoon trying the Ready Steady Dough Swirly Whirly Sweets set and actually all managed to play together without arguing!