Against our better judgement – they say you should never work with children or animals – we decided to get a bunch of kids in a room to help us review toys ahead of Christmas.
What ensued can only be described as mayhem. There were screams of excitement, tears (one girl ran so fast for the toys that she fell over, oops) and an argument over whose turn it was to play with one rather popular toy. But all in all, it was a good day... we think.
Our tiny testers reviewed some of the top predicted toys for Christmas, provided to us by Argos.
As an eye witness to the highs and the lows of this hour-long play date, I’ve given each of the toys a star rating, according to popularity.
Score: 5 stars
Remember Baby All Gone? (She makes it all gone.) Well, these toys operate in the same way – a small mechanism makes the pink cereal retract off the spoon when fed into the doll’s mouth, making it look like she’s eaten it. This made even the oldest children audibly gasp with glee and gave the adults a big hit of nostalgia.
This doll comes in lots of different collectible versions – with different foodstuff and accessories to boot. We had a few of them all at the toy testing and while they were all pretty popular, Dollatina (pictured above) won by a country mile.
Score: 4 stars
This was incredibly popular among the kids – and caused a few arguments. Maybe that’s because we only had one of them to review, maybe it’s due to how good a toy it is (we’ll never know).
It took a short while to work out how to set the toy up – fine if it’s Christmas morning and you only have one kid; a nightmare if you have lots of children asking you to help them with their toys (as we did).
The only reason this received four stars instead of five is because of the hefty price tag. But then again, the kids were hooked – is £100 worth peace and quiet? I’d say so.
Score: 4 stars
This was a true all-rounder. The youngest child in the room (who was still a baby) was just as obsessed, so too were some of the adults.
We did wonder, though, whether the novelty of the little booty shakin’ tune may wear thin come Boxing Day. Approach with caution.
Score: 3 stars
Can you believe it’s been 24 years since Toy Story first came out? If anything, it just makes me feel old. It’s good to know the magic still lives on – with the most recent movie attracting all ages to the cinema.
Our testing room was no different. The Buzz Lightyears (we had two to review) were hardly ever free from the sticky fingers of children – flying around here, shooting its wings out there.
Buzz proved a popular toy, as did Woody. Bo Peep, less so, which disappointed me as she really is badass in the fourth film. (If anyone fancies buying her for me this year, I’d be most grateful.)
Score: 1 star
A bit of a one trick pony, if we’re being honest. The way the Blume Dolls work is simple enough, you add a few drops of water to what initially looks like a flower pot and a palm-sized doll appears before your eyes (adults’ palm-size, not a kid’s).
Once the first kids had watered the doll, there wasn’t much left to play with. The dolls didn’t get picked up again. Despite the cute accessories she comes with. Go figure.