The Winner Of The Le Toy Van Tea set is......

I am delighted to announce the winner of the gorgeous Wooden Toy Shop Le Toy Van Tea Set is.........

A huge congratulations, this really is an adorable prize.

For those of you who missed out, don't worry, the wonderful team over at Wooden Toy Shop run lots of fabulous competitions and giveaways, so keep a regular eye on their facebook page and follow them on twitter. 

Thank you all for entering and a huge thank you to Wooden Toy Shop for another fantastic prize!

Karen x

Win A Le Toy Van Tea Set

You might have seen a few weeks ago my girls got the opportunity to review a Le Toy Van Tea Set from The Wooden Toy Shop.

It was a definite hit in this house, the girls absolutely loved it! We have enjoyed endless cups of pretend tea and strawberry tart ...delicious!

Fortunately for you guys, I have now been given the chance to give one away as a prize to one of my very lucky readers.

This really is a fantastic prize and would make an excellent Christmas present. Its a gorgeous bright red, white and aqua blue colour which makes it ideal for both little girls and boys too. Made to last, this tea set will bring hours of fun and encourage imaginative play in your little ones.

To Win:

Simply head over to the Wooden Toy Shop Facebook page and like it. While you are there just leave a quick message telling them you were sent by me and come back here to tell me you have done it. Don't forget to leave me a way of contacting you if you are the winner.

For extra entries you can:

1. Follow me by GFC or if you do already, try networked blog or twitter
2. Like my facebook page
3. Tweet the following "I really want to win a gorgeous Le Toy Van tea set with @wouldliketobe and @WoodenToyShopUK http://bit.ly/vmVOYH"

Just be sure to leave a separate comment for each thing you do.

This competition will run until 7pm Monday 7th November 2011.

Many thanks to the Wooden Toy Shop and good luck to you all.

Karen x

Review Of The Le Toy Van Honeybake Tea Set

The very lovely people at the Wooden Toy Shop have kindly sent us the Le Toy Van Honeybake Tea Set  to review.

Le Toy Van Honeybake Tea Set

My regular readers will know that we love all things pretty and girly in this house and this really is a beautiful tea set fit for a Princess (or Princesses in this case).

The set includes  2 cups and saucers, a spoon, tea pot and tea bag, a milk jug and cake all presented on a lovely tray. It really is gorgeous. The colours are pretty and vibrant and the pieces are well made and sturdy/ heavy compared to some of the plastic/ flimsy ones I have seen. Although we have only had it a few weeks I can tell it is going to last. 

Not only is it nice to look at, it has captured the imagination of my eldest (aged 3).  I could watch  her play with toys like this for hours. We have enjoyed dolls tea parties, teddy bear picnics and of course Mummy and Daddy have been made endless cups of tea and enjoyed fresh strawberry tart. Its wonderful.

Here are a few pictures of my girls playing with it:

Although is says for age 3+, Rosie is only 15 months and happily plays with it too. She enjoys copying her Sister and even plays along drinking a nice cup of pretend tea:

If they wanted to add anything it would be a sugar bowl but this may have been intentional to not encourage children to take sugar.

We love it and give it a huge 9/10. Another fantastic traditional wooden toy from Wooden Toy Shop.

Karen x

Musical Instruments Bring The Family Together

I am a great lover of old fashioned wooden toys and if there is a choice between wooden or plastic I would always go for the wooden ones. I was therefore thrilled to be approached by Wooden Toy Shop to do a toy review.


Bamboozled by the huge array of beautiful wooden toys, I decided to show my eldest daughter the website and let her chose something herself to review. She immediately selected the John Crane Tidlo Musical Instruments. Not a huge fan of noisy toys, in the past I have always refrained from buying this type of toy.  However, we do go to a music group every week which both girls absolutely love so I decided to give in and said "of course, great choice."

This 14 piece Wooden Musical Set costs £28.79 and includes:

• 1x Tambourine
• 2x Castanets
• 2x Maracas
• 2x Paddles
• 2x Rhythm sticks
• 1x Scraper
• 2x Bells
• 1x Triangle

When they arrived I was thrilled to discover that they come in fantastic box which has a magnetic lid and a shoulder strap. This is a great selling point and should be perhaps included in the description. It is perfect for keeping them nice and tidy. After all you wouldn't want toys like this to be thrown in the bottom of a toy box! They are gorgeous, traditional wooden instruments and are very well made. They were also very well wrapped too so arrived in perfect condition.

They are aimed at children 3+.  While Poppy fits the age bracket, Rosie is officially too young. However, having been using instruments like these since she could hold them in the music group, she knew exactly what to do and couldn't wait to get them out. I think you can tell in these photos:

This has been a fantastic toy for us to trial and the whole family have had fun doing it. Check out this short video clip to see how much this box of gorgeous wooden instruments has brought the family together:

If you are holding back on buying musical instruments because you think they are too noisy, don't.  These are perfect and bring hours of fun to the whole family. We love everything about them. I am so pleased I gave in to my little girls and would definitely recommend them to others. They get a massive 10/10 from us. 


Karen x