With Carousel Toys Exclusively at Tesco #Ad
We’ve got the basket, the metal “bin”, the Swedish superstore, storage mega-plex and the floor – all covered/over-spilling/spewing Casper’s toys. The kid rivals Santa on the amount of toys he has, courtesy of carboot sales/hand me downs and doting grandparents, and yet he still only plays with the same ones again and again. With every new toy purchase, there’s the element of risk – sure, it looks rather alluring to the small, eager eyes of a toddler when it’s sheathed in shiny plastic, under the fluorescent shop lights – money is duly handed over in the hope that the latest amusement fodder will keep Cas busy long enough to sort the lights from the darks; but generally, the poor lump of plastic gets discarded with the dust bunnies and odd socks under the sofa after a mere 5 minutes of attention.
With Casper’s first Santa-aware Christmas around the corner, I started to worry that we’d just end up with more space-eating, money-decimating tut to fill our already overcrowded house. (If you’re thinking “hang on, but she doesn’t “do” Christmas presents?! Check out this recent blog post!). So, I turned to people in the know, with pre-schooler expertise coming out their ears – the lovely, patient ladies at his pre-school. It turns out Casper loves musical instruments, which, despite my grade 8 flute (oh yeah – can’t shoehorn that baby in very often!) we have none of due to the older boys erm (how to say this diplomatically?) lack of musical skills! It turns out he also has a penchant for police paraphernalia and zoo-keeping (lookout village people, Casper’s coming for your jobs!).
Armed with all this intel, when the team from Tesco offered up some of their Carousel range to try I jumped on them like the last turkey on the shelves come the 24th! I hadn’t heard of the Carousel collection by Tesco, but on closer inspection they’ve got an awesome selection of toys from wooden train sets (from £13) to mini-grand pianos (£34), wooden play kitchens (£50) to remote control sports cars (£30). It’s easy to see Tesco have considered the age suitability for all their Carousel items, categorising them online in age-appropriate groupings to make it easy to find the best pressies for your little one. But, one of my fave bits about Carousel toys is the price point – it’ll look like Santa’s won the lottery and had one too many sherries come Christmas day without the bank of Mum and Dad taking too much of a hit!
Cas’ Gift List
The Rockstar Electric Guitar (of course!) £10
They have the same one at nursery (in pink) and he’s distraught when he has to leave it behind every week, so we know this will be a winner! Plus the fact it’s still going strong having been battered by 30 pre-schoolers for the last 46 weeks is nothing short of a miracle, but says a lot about the longevity of the Carousel collection!
Police Breakout Set £35, Drive and Talk Police Car £15 & Rapid Rescue Helicopter £14
Above: Police Breakout Set £35
With blue flashing lights, working winches, lifts, rotating blades and a mini tanoy system – I don’t know about Cas, but I know Mr OG can’t wait to get involved with this fun on Christmas day; it might be tough convincing the bigger boys (and Mr OG) that they’re suitable for 3-5 year olds! The big buttons, easy to use functions and realistic noises make these police themed toys perfect pre-schoolers.
Above: Carousel Drive & Talk Police Car
Tip – you might want to get the Police breakout truck out the box before the mayhem of Christmas morning, as there’s quite a few stickers to put in the right places and clicking into place.
Ride Along Tiger £35
This is my favourite from the Carousel toy collection, hence we just couldn’t wait for Christmas day to give this one to Casper. It’s really sturdy (he’s taken to standing on it – don’t try this at home!) and beautifully designed. Perfect for heading off on jungle adventures, sorting blocks on the side and stashing loads of ‘treasure’ in the storage – what’s not to love?
Again, this is another one to assemble before Santa arrives!
This post was sponsored by Tesco who also kindly gifted us the above selection of Carousel Toys; as always, all opinions and comments are my own.
