Fun Family Games from Tomy - Review

We love a good games night and with the evenings getting darker even earlier now, there is no better time to shut the curtains, grab some snacks and setup camp in the living room playing board games.

We have a good selection already but you can never have too many, so when we were asked to try out some new games from Tomy we of course said yes.

We were sent Pop-up Darth Vader and Greedy Granny, both perfect games for younger children and also if you just fancy a quick few games before bedtime.

Pop-up Darth Vader is based on the classic Pop-up Pirate, a game I loved playing as a child but with a new twist of one of my sons favourite film characters. The mini Darth Vader sits inside the barrel and you place tiny little light sabres in slits around the sides, eventually one of the light sabres makes Darth Vader pop up, sending squeals of laughter and slight heart palpitations through the three of us.


It even has its sound effects including the Star Wars theme, light sabre sounds and Darth breathing, it is lots of fun and great for any Star Wars fans out there. It is a great twist on a game loved by generations and is something children of today can relate to, I love it and so do the kids. It is one of those games that doesn’t take long to set up and can be played just a few times as a boredom buster.

Unlike the original Pop-up Pirate this version is only for three players, although this is perfect for us it may not be for everyone, it also requires an AA battery (not included) to play the sound affects.

Greedy Granny works in a similar way, you balance Granny’s biscuits on her tray and you have to spin a spinner with a number on it, you take a biscuit and then press a button next to Granny’s chair the number of times on the spinner, if you are lucky she stays asleep if you’re not she wakes up, throwing her biscuits everywhere and in a rather comical fashion her false teeth. The winner is the one to collect one of each biscuit without waking Granny up.

Greedy Granny is a really funny game with the same heart stopping finale of Pop-up Darth, you don’t know when she is going to pop but once she does it makes you jump out of your skin.

These games would make great additional presents for Christmas, the perfect something extra to play on Christmas Day and beyond.

Pop-up Darth retails at about £14.99 which is more than the Pop-up Pirate version but if you have a Star Wars fan then that little extra is worth it, Greedy Granny is £19.99, this is a little more than I would normally pay for a game, however, if you can find her on offer somewhere then she is a fab fun game which will have the family laughing out loud.

We were sent these items to form this review, all words, opinions and pictures are my own.

I Don't Speak French...

...I just try my hardest to teach my children the language of a country I love.

Today as I stood in the pet shop looking at the animals with my three year old daughter I wondered how odd I sounded asking my daughter what the animals were in French.

I am by no means fluent in French but as we go there on holiday most years I do try my best to speak the language or at least have a go at it.

Through my children I am slowly grasping more words and how to use the language, although my husband can speak it and understand it better than me his accent leaves a lot to be desired and on more than one occasion has been misunderstood.

Like with signing I always try to incorporate foreign language into our days out or even when at home? So I just wondered is it me? Do I sound like some crazy person or is it perfectly normal to practice in this way?

My son is currently doing La Jolie Rond after school and like with everything I like to keep at it at home too, we play French word games before bed, again so both the children and us adults can practice our French.

Would you look at me and think I was silly?

Today I feel rather patriotic!

Last night I was honoured to be one of about 60,000 people who got to watch the technical rehearsal of the Opening Ceremony for the Olympic Games.

Until last night I was sceptical and not excited, now I am full of patriotism and super thrilled to have been given such an amazing opportunity I will never forget.

Danny Boyle has done us proud and I will be watching tomorrow night for the extra bits we didn't get to see.

I really hope that the world see's this for what it really is, a celebration of all things British and the wonderful, talented and hard working athletes from around the world that will be taking part in the games.

I cannot show you any more pictures than this for now because we were asked not to spoil the surprise.

If you have the chance to watch it tomorrow then I can totally recommend it!