Jungle Speed Review

On Saturday nights my family usually has a family game night. Some of our favorite games are card games such as Rummy, Uno, and Go Fish. They are easy enough for KiKi, my five year old, to catch onto but challenging enough to keep my husband and I entertained as well.

Recently I was sent the game Jungle Speed to review with my family. It is a card based game that requires a keen eye and quick hands. The premise of the game is to flip over your stack of cards and if your symbol or color matches (depending on what is wild at the time) another players card, you have a duel and try to grab the totem that is sitting in the middle of the table before the player with the matching card.

The Totem that you need to be quick enough to grab during duels!

My oldest daughter, LaLa fell in love with this game the first time we played it and demands to play at least one hand during family game nights now. KiKi at first had a bit of difficulty playing the game because the rules are a bit more complex than other games we had played in the past. However with a few hands she caught on fairly well but I still had to keep a close eye on her to make sure she was grasping the rules.

LaLa grabbed the totem!!

This game is available in both the UK and the US.

Enjoy the cheese-tastic advert below.

Overall we found this game to be quite fun and will be added into our rotation of games to be played during our family game nights. I am sure with a few more family game nights that KiKi will be less frustrated with the rules and love the game just as much as LaLa does.

Lite Sprites Review

I recently made a rule around my house that I am no longer buying toys that just sit there and do nothing. In other words, if the toy is just going to sit around and collect dust, I'm not going to waste my money on it. The same goes when I accept toys to review. When I was contacted to review a line of toys called Lite Sprites by WowWee I was a bit skeptical. I did however let LaLa see the advert attached to the email and let her decide if she would like to review the toys. Of course the advert was magical and spellbound LaLa and she insisted that she absolutely had to review the Lite Sprites. Then she went and filled her sister in on the plan as I wrote back and said that we would like to review the toy.

When the package finally arrived (nearly busting at the seams),my girls were chomping at the bit to explore the fantastic world of the Lite Sprites. Each sprite was pulled out of the box with gasps of delight. It was a bit like Christmas morning in my living room that afternoon. We received all five Lite Sprites Brooke, Meadow, Astra, Bleak , Prisma (who comes with the Lite-Topia Wand) and the Tree of Lite in order to review these toys.

The real test of this product of course was to see how long it would keep my kids attention. For a parent I think that is testing the true value of a product. I can say the Lite Sprites definitely kept my children busy for more than five minutes. In fact, the night that they opened the Lite Sprites they played with them until it was bedtime and then before bed they each picked the Lite Sprites that they wanted to take to bed with them. The next day when they came home from school the picked right up where they left off playing with the Lite Sprites and played with them for a few more hours. Any child who comes to my house is shown the Lite Sprites excitedly. LaLa even coaxed my best friend back to the bedroom to show off the Lite Sprites. The reaction from my best friend was "Those are really good!" She is just like me and really critical about the toys she spends her money on.

Each Lite Sprite comes with it's own little pod that can be hooked to the Tree of Lite

This is Brooke one of the Lite Sprites sitting in a pod

All the Lite Sprites attached to the Tree of Lite

KiKi and LaLa playing with the Lites Sprites and Tree of Lite

I do have to say after a month of having them, I am rather impressed with the Lite Sprites. Although it took me a few tries to figure out the Lite-Topia Wand and how to capture colors from anywhere (yes, anywhere) and then send the colors to the sprites, my children caught on quickly. The Lite Sprites can also send colors to each other. Then the naughty sprite, Bleak, can steal the colors and leave all the Lite Sprites white. LaLa especially likes Bleak.

LaLa using Bleak to steal the color from the other Lite Sprites

Using the Lite-Topia wand to capture a color

The only problem I actually had with the product is that the Lite-Topia Wand and Tree of Lite didn't come with batteries included. This was a bit only a bit inconvenient because I had to make the girls get their shoes on and run up to the corner store to buy batteries before they could properly play with the Lite Sprites. Overall though I can say my children have really enjoy this line of toys. They are still playing with them a few times a week and in my book that is pretty good.

Lite Sprites have the retail price of £14.99 for each individual sprite, Prisma and the Lite-Topia Wand £29.99, and the Tree of Lite £39.99. Lite Sprites are suitable for children age 4-8.

A Review of the Zippo Handwarmer

One of the things that my family looks forward to every year is the beginning of the spring the start of what we like to refer to as "fire season". This is the time of the year where we fire up the bonfire in the back garden, invite our friends over and have a great time chatting and theoretically solving all the worlds problems in one evening. Nearly every year, my husband and I do I trial run by ourselves, always entirely too early in the season and freeze our backsides off. We had this years trial bonfire on my birthday and although it had been unusually warm for February, it was still really cold outside.

I took the opportunity however to use and review a hand warmer that I had been provided by Zippo. The Zippo Hand Warmer is made in the same high quality metal that you would expect out of a Zippo lighter. It is very sturdy and does not feel like it would fall apart with multiple uses. There are several warnings in the instructions, such as to only use Zippo lighter fluid in the product and not to keep the hand warmer on one part of the body too long. At first, I must admit I found it a little disconcerting that I would have a flame in my hand. However, the flame is kept under control in a metal housing and then slipped into a nice fabric pouch to protect your hands.

In order to get the Zippo hand warmer to work properly, you must follow the instructions provided exactly or as I found out, it will not work. Once I went back and actually read all the instructions (I have a tendency to jump the gun sometimes), the hand warmer sprung to life. The fear of having a flame in my hands disappeared as the toasty warmth warmed my hands up quickly as I sat outside in the chilly weather.

The only complaint I have about the hand warmer is that the Zippo lighter fluid is not provided with the purchase of the warmer, it comes separately. I would however definitely recommend this product for those of my readers who are the outdoorsy type. If you enjoy camping, early spring gardening, or long walks in the chilly English weather I would definitely have this in my gear. It is a bit more expensive than the disposable hand warmers, but it is reusable and will last for years with proper maintenance.