Barbie Malibu House - Review

Our house feels like Barbie HQ at the moment! Along with all the other Barbie stuff Isla already owned she was very happy with the addition of a Barbie Malibu House, which is derived from the web programme, Barbie, Life in the Dreamhouse, something Isla has watched on YouTube a fair bit recently. 

Even Thomas and Friends were welcome at Barbie's pad....

As I was on my own with the kids when the house arrived I was charged with putting it all together. I'm not really a natural at doing that kind of thing but with very little stress and maybe only a couple of bad words muttered quietly, I did it in just under an hour - including getting all the stickers on and asking the kids to stop moving the pieces untold number of times..... 

The house has 6 rooms for Barbie and comes with some fixed furniture and other pieces of furniture that can be moved from room to room. The main bedroom also doubles up as a shower room with the clever use of a bed that you can stand up to become a shower and wardrobe. There are lots of small pieces in the set, food, drinks, items for the fridge as well as a tiny iPad and remote control. I would say if you have any really small children in the house, be wary of these pieces. Fortunately this isn't a problem for us. 

The staircase section of the house has an aquarium pillar going through the middle to which you attach your Barbie. Using the pulley system, Barbie can take the staircase to access the upstairs areas. I have found this a bit tricky to use, it needs to be a smoother ride for Barbie and seems to take a bit of effort for Isla to work and she is 5.

(Doll not included)

One of the upstairs rooms is equipped with a holder that you can hang on the wall to put your iPhone in so Barbie can watch herself in episode of Life in the Dreamhouse!

From a parents perspective I like that it folds up quite compactly. We live in a two up two down and with the kids toys gradually taking over the house, it was good to know that we can tidy this away quite easily. 

There has been some great imaginative play going on since the Barbie Malibu house arrived and the Barbie dolls have been played with a lot more than they did before we had it! I have to say I don't know many girls who wouldn't love this for Christmas, just maybe get Father Christmas to deliver it already constructed, otherwise you'll have one impatient recipient on the big day.....

Recommended for children aged 3+
RRP £99.99

We were sent the Barbie Malibu House free of charge for the purposes of this review.

Chelsea Flippin' Pup Pool Playset - Review

For a few months before we were sent this playset Isla had seen it on TV adverts and had mentioned it repeatedly when asked what she'd like for Christmas, so I know that it's something that will appeal to many girls in her age group. What's not to love? Puppies - tick. Waterplay - tick. Barbie related - tick! Look at her face when it arrived....

The set comprises of a pool, diving board, slide, Chelsea doll, 3 puppies, a dog bed and little towel. One of the pups is designed to flick over and do a somersault at the end of the slide. This is so simple but looks effective. The slide has a catch at the bottom and the puppy hits it and flips over, catapulting her into the pool! The other two puppies are squeezy and squirt water from their mouths so they can have a water fight with Chelsea who also has a dolphin water feature to squirt water from!

Isla, Noah and Cousin M all enjoyed some time at my parents last Sunday playing with this toy. Water play in the house can be a bit tricky but with a few towels down there wasn't too much mess and in the summer it will be perfect for the outdoors and will go nicely with the Barbie swimming pool we already own.  

This set really would make a fantastic Christmas present for any fans of Barbie and also any little brothers who particularly like to stick their Disney Cars in the pool for swim too! 


Recommended for Children aged 3+
RRP £22.99

We were sent the Chelsea Flippin' Pup Pool Playset free of charge for the purposes of this review. 

Getting Rid of The Dummy!

This week something big happened. Isla kicked her "Nummy" (her name for it) habit! It was a day that I couldn't see coming at all and it was meant to happen a year ago - Father Christmas was meant to take it in exchange for presents but it never happened, he was too busy delivering presents to stick to his guns on that threat. I remember in the early days of this blog writing about her Gummeeeee (as it was then called - it's gone through a few names changes!) and how at the age that Noah is now, she would call out in the night and we'd have to go in and replace it 5+ times). In recent times we'd whittled the dummies down from having about 8 in circulation to this one lone yellow number, that used to have a frog motif on the front. Isla would occasionally refer to the frog, saying sadly, "there's no frog here now Mummy". The number of times that we misplaced this one dummy and turned over the whole house trying to find it I couldn't count.

Dummy use was only for bed time and that had been the long standing rule for a good while. She had a dummy at nursery that she would use at nap times there, but that mysteriously got 'lost', yet she wouldn't struggle to nap there, so I felt that this was proof enough that the dummy was no longer needed - she didn't *need* it to get to sleep. I kept suggesting to her that she was a big girl and that she didn't need her nummy anymore, but with a glint in her eye she would always say "I do Mummy, I need it".

This week however the situation was taken out of my hands and Isla came to me with Nummy and told me it had a hole in! This was obviously making it a bit less effective and also from my point of view we couldn't keep using this thing with a hole in it - it would be a germ breeding ground (if it wasn't already). So I said as much to her and she looked slightly perturbed, but she didn't get really upset and whingey like she had in the past so I pressed the point that it couldn't be used and then the real clincher came when I said that if she gave up Nummy she could have a Barbie. Well that was that - Nummy was handed over and there was no argument. I couldn't quite believe it, I'd seized the opportunity and the habit was over.

AND YES I RESORTED TO BRIBERY. AND IT WORKED! I'M NOT ASHAMED!

She was pleased as punch and as luck would have it she went to bed that night without Nummy and was happy to wait until the morning for the presentation of Barbie! We had a Barbie in the cupboard which was one of her Christmas presents, it was a pretty inexpensive one and for the sake of getting rid of the Nummy it made one happy little girl and one happy mummy. I'm pleased that it's gone now as I knew that she was getting way too old for it and also I was sure that the dentist wouldn't be impressed. Although I am going to admit to feeling a small tinge of sadness as it was the final frontier of babyhood. The last thing that baby-fied her. Every evening in her pyjamas she would sit watching a bit of bedtime TV, with a cup of milk and her nummy and Sheepy and I'd hear her occasionally suck suck suck on it. Nummy has hardly been mentioned since, only to say that she's a big girl now and she doesn't need it and that the babies need it now. Go Isla!