Pass the Pigs Review

Pass the Pigs started life as 1977's Pig Mania!, itself an adaption of a dice game named Pig which had been around for decades. Eventually the publishing licence was sold to Milton Bradley and the game was rebranded as Pass the Pigs. Today the game is produced by Winning Moves and available in regular, big, giant, and party versions.

The concept behind it is pretty simple. You roll the pigs and, depending on how they land, score points. The more acrobatically they land, the more points you score. For instance, both pigs landing on the same side will net you 1 point, but if you manage to get two in the 'leaning jowler' position you'll bag yourself 60 points. The first player to reach 100 points is the winner.

Although I had heard of the game I had never actually played it, so I didn't waste any time when I was given the chance to review it on the blog. Marianna has been itching to play it ever since it arrived - over a week ago! - but all of the adults in the house managed to come down with coronavirus and she had to make her own entertainment in front of the television until we felt better again.

It's not been much fun but, thankfully, we've had it pretty mildly and are now nearing the end of quarantine. That made it time for Pass the Pigs!

We tried out Big Pigs first. The pigs are quite large, like a pet toy, and even make a loud squeaking noise when you squeeze them. I think the Big Pigs are best suited to summertime in the garden or parties as their size means you need more room to throw them. Marianna loved flinging them about the place though, especially when she eventually won the game.

After that we roped nanny in for a game of the classic version. The small pigs needed much less room, though Marianna's exuberance in throwing them meant rescuing them from under the sofa on more than one occasion! It was really good fun, all the same, and we got pretty invested in it - adults and children alike.

What I really liked about the game is how easy it is to play, making it absolutely perfect for young children. You don't need a board, so you don't have to supervise the moving of counters. You don't need to teach any special skill before you start, and there isn't any fiddly mechanism to set up. You just roll the pigs and off you go.

If it's all children playing you might want to simplify the scoring system to enable them to keep track, but for a grouping of adults and young children I am completely sold on Pass the Pigs. It's going to be our new go to game above even Snakes & Ladders and Buckaroo. 

Pass the Pigs is available from the Winning Moves website. The original version is £9.99, while Big Pigs and Party Pigs retail for £14.99 each. Signing up to the newsletter will bag you 10% off your first order too. Once you have the game you can join in the fun on social media using the hashtag #PassthePigs and share all your best moves.

Have you ever played Pass the Pigs? What did you think of it?

*We were sent the games to review, but thoughts and opinions are all our own!*

Nipper Cards Review

We were asked a few weeks back if we would like to review Nipper Cards, a deck of positive affirmation cards designed to help children talk about their feelings. As Marianna seems ever more disposed to apparently causeless tantrums I was really excited to give them a go.

Designed by Janthea Brigden of Nipperbout Event Childcare, the cards themselves are lovely quality. There are 13 vibrant animal designs, each with 4 affirmation cards based around the animal's theme. Dolphins, for example, are a 'breath of life' while horses represent 'power and wisdom' and hummingbirds 'joy and love of life'. My favourites are the 'dreaming' lizard cards. :)

The instruction card in the deck reads: "Each card has an animal that represents a quality - and each animal has four messages which reflect both sides of that quality. The opposite of fear, for example, is courage. Often the things we most dislike about others are in ourselves, and the qualities we most admire are those we already have. Shuffle the cards, and ask the child to pick one card. Find out how they feel about the card they have picked. Talking about, and naming feelings, enables children to understand their emotions and learn to balance them."

We jumped straight into it and Marianna picked out a horse card which read 'I am wise and caring'. Then proceeded to have a massive meltdown of a tantrum over it. (The cards, thankfully, were tough enough to withstand her attempts to crease a few into obliteration.) Clearly a different approach was needed! 

Next time I got the cards out we simply played snap with them, first matching animals and then numbers. This proved much more agreeable and we played a couple of games before I gingerly introduced some discussion about the messages on the cards. Marianna was a little more willing to engage with them this time, but I didn't push for anything too involved.

Since then we have used the cards a few times to play snap and I've asked Marianna to pick out her favourite cards which we have then discussed. She still tends to get quickly frustrated with being asked to talk about the messages, but I think that will change as she gets older. I've spent some time looking through them and have actually found them really helpful for working through some of my own emotions - mostly my fears about all the things I'm doing wrong, etc. 

I think these cards have the potential to be incredibly useful, both as conversation starters and a tool for self reflection, and as Marianna gets a little older I hope she will engage more fully with them.

The cards are available on Amazon for £9.99.

Mini Mart: Dolls Flowers

Supplier: Dolls Flowers
Website: Etsy Store 

Products:

Super realistic 1/6 scale flowers and greenery. Seriously, the flowers weren't the purpose of my order but I couldn't resist getting a daisy (£5.20) to check it out. The detail is amazing! I'd love to get a whole bouquet one day.

My main reason for ordering, however, was the retro style wooden chairs (£9.20) the seller makes as a sideline. I've been meaning to get a couple of chairs for the kitchen ever since I swapped out the Sindy set for a table by Sixth Scale Studio. It only took a year... I love them so much though; they're excellent quality and really true to scale.

Post and Packing:  £7.50 from Russia. Shipping took about six weeks and everything was very well packaged, including a little free gift of a milk jug. ♥

Morgan & Cwtch Giveaway!

Last January we reviewed the lovely Morgan's Magic Moon by Christopher Parry. I was sold on the striking illustrations and the smooth flow of the rhyme, and Marianna was thrilled by the idea of a red headed protagonist with a small canine sidekick - just like her and my mum's dog!

So, today, I'm really pleased to be able to share a review of the next book in the series, Morgan & Cwtch. Cwtch, the name of the story's super cute dog, is a Welsh word for which there is no literal translation, but is basically a cuddly, snuggly kind of a hug.

As I said last time around, I absolutely love the stylized illustrations and the bright colour palette used by Jordan Brown. I am notoriously picky about the artwork in children's books - quietly swapping out books for editions with subjectively better illustrations is practically a full time hobby these days! - so that's no faint praise.



As for the story itself, the blurb sums it up well with: What do you do when there's fish at the window and you are under the sea? You open the door and begin to explore. Follow Morgan and Cwtch on their underwater adventures and how they come to the rescue of one of their new friends. This is a delightful children's story about helping others in need.

The story is easy to follow and, like its predecessor, the rhyme flows easily off the tongue - so important when a faltering syllable might seem like nothing until you've had to read a story twenty times over. I love that the central message is about helping others too. It sets up an easy in for further discussion without overly hammering the point home.

This time around Marianna was even able to join in with the reading; I really liked that Cwtch the dog's speech was highlighted with large letters - it provided the perfect starting point for Marianna to chip in and sound words out. The layout and text are both attractive and clear, which make it a joy to read even with little fingers wanting to trace out your progress.



Marianna says: I liked it. My favourite bit was when they met the mermaid. And I liked the dog because he was really nice. He reminded me of Molly.

To pick up a copy for yourself, head on over to gwales.com where softcover copies are available for £4.99. Alternatively, fill out the Gleam widget below to get up to five chances to win one:

Morgan & Cwtch Giveaway

Personalised Bottle Labels Review

A few weeks back I was sent a personalised Prosecco bottle to review. As I had the personalisation done in Anthony's name it seemed only fair that he do the actual reviewing! :)

Anthony:

It was only a little while ago that you couldn’t go to any event without being offered a glass of Prosecco, networking event, business lunch, or at anything to do with the arts, you were guaranteed to get a complimentary glass of Prosecco. Prosecco was the In Drink, although I couldn’t help but think that most of the cheap stuff you got handed as you walked into whatever function you happened to be at that week has a resemblance to grapes that had been fermented in battery acid.

So when Jessica handed me very own personalised bottle courtesy of Personalised Prosecco I was slightly taken aback, the design of the bottle was actually rather elegant and it was slightly novel to my own name printed on the a bottle, but as someone who is no stranger to decorative booze I would quite happily have had the bottle on my shelf as a conversation starter, and may well keep it.

However to my mind the proof of a good drink is in the tasting, and I’ve mentioned before my experience with prosecco has tended to lean more towards the severe heartburn type. But my fears proved to be completely unfounded. What was apparent from the first sip of this bottle was a crisp and clear taste that wasn’t overpowered by its own alcohol content. It had a real freshness to it that surprisingly hit the spot as a thirst quencher, which isn’t something you find with many wines. And what may be unique in my experience with prosecco is that you could actually taste the grapes that it came from. Personalised Bottle Labels has really got themselves a great product.



Me:

I think this is such a cool gift idea, especially as even after drinking the contents glass bottle are great for displaying all kinds of stuff. (My favourite is sticking in one of those sets of fairy lights with the batteries in a plastic 'cork'.) The labels are professional quality, and there are tons of different options to choose from, up to and including adding photographs. Although we reviewed prosecco, Personalised Bottle Labels actually offer everything from port to vodka to champagne, and with regular sale events and discount codes on top of already good prices you can pick up some real bargains.

They also sell personalised bottles giftboxed with a newspaper from a particular day, or chocolates, or a rose, etc, making it a perfect gift for any occasion.

Mini Mart: Sandie's Little Gems

Supplier: Sandie's Little Gems
Website: Ebay Store

Products:
Great selection of handmade 1/12th scale haberdashery and paper products, like bunting, Christmas decorations, and tiny pretend cross stitch sets. I bought one with little orange flowers for £2.30, measuring tapes (5 for £1.50), air mail envelopes, and the cutest paperchain for £2.85. I would never have the patience!



Post and Packing:You only pay postage for one item; the discount is applied automatically.

Mini Mart: Mini Bazar UK

Supplier: MiniBazarUK
Website: >Ebay Store

Products: If there's a type of miniature I can never resist, it's books, magazines, comics, and other ephemera. I must have tried out almost every supplier in the UK by this point, and quite a few from further afield! These caught my eye a while ago and I kept telling myself I did not need more 1/12 scale comics. But these are thread bound. And retro. And I'd never seen The Phantom in miniature before...

So, I gave in, and brought home three awesome comics. The print quality is good, with enough detail to see the smaller panels, and they also came with a free gift of some cover only contemporary magazines. As I've still not put my 1/12 house together, the 1/18 scale pose Skeletons stepped in to model the merchandise. :)

Post and Packing: Combined shipping is on offer if you request an invoice. Ebay refused to let me for some reason, so, in the end I just went ahead and purchased anyway. The seller got in touch to ask if I wanted a refund or an extra comic, which was really nice of them!