Family Game: PenSilly – the silliest drawing game!

We were sent the PenSilly game for the purposes of this post. All images and opinions are our own.

If you’re looking for the daftest family game this year, then I think PenSilly is a serious contender. In previous years we’ve had Silly Sausage and Speak Out, and this is just as silly and just as much fun; making it the ideal game to play with the family this Christmas.

Family Game: PenSilly the silliest drawing game!

PenSilly is a super silly drawing and guessing game for all the family. To play, you pick up a description card and a subject card and try your best to draw them for your team to guess and win points.

To make things slightly harder, it’s against the timer and the battery powered pencil you use has two wobbly speed settings; which makes everything much harder and much funnier. There are over 5,500 drawing combinations, and it’s a game which depends on teamwork and as steady a hand as you can manage.

The PenSilly box contains;

1 PenSilly Pen
1 minute sand timer
75 Description Cards
75 Subject Cards
2 Erasable Markers
2 Drawing Pads

And you will need 3 AAA batteries for the PenSilly pencil.

Family Game: PenSilly the silliest drawing game!

The game is really simple to set up and play. Just put your pen inside the giant pencil, pick a description and a subject card, set the timer and you have to draw what’s on the cards whilst your team tries to guess the answer. It’s a bit like Pictionary, but completely bonkers.

The two speeds of shaky pencil make it so hard to draw, we managed pretty well on the slower setting, but the faster one was almost impossible; hilarious but impossible.

Family Game: PenSilly the silliest drawing game!

We all laughed our socks off while we played this game. It’s definitely a winner with us and I’m certain it’s going to be a huge hit with families this Christmas.

PenSilly is available from Smyths Toys Superstores and available to buy from Smyths Toys.

Top Christmas Toys: Anki OVERDRIVE Starter Kit

About this time every year parents start trying to second guess what their kids will ask for this Christmas. There are usually a handful of must have toys and parents end up queuing for hours to get what their children really, really want for Christmas. Well, I can save you the bother, because if you’re 8+ and you like cars, then you’ll be wanting an Anki OVERDRIVE for Christmas. Order now to avoid disappointment etc.

Top Christmas Toys - Anki OVERDRIVE Starter Kit

I first saw and played with an Anki OVERDRIVE last year and I’ve been waiting for my little ray of sunshine to be old enough for us to get one ever since. I knew that he would love it and more importantly, I knew both his Dad and I would too. This half term we’ve been putting the Anki OVERDRIVE starter kit (£149.99 on Amazon) through its paces to see if it is the ultimate gift this Christmas (spoiler alert – it is!).

The Anki OVERDRIVE starter kit contains 2 Robotic Supercars; 6 curved track pieces; 4 straight track pieces; 2 riser pieces; 1 four-car charging system and 1 tire cleaner pack. The starter kit is suitable for ages 8+ but under supervision, our nearly 7 year old mastered it in minutes.

Top Christmas Toys - Anki OVERDRIVE Starter Kit

Before you start it’s best to download the free Anki OVERDRIVE app onto a Kindle, Apple or Android device and plug your cars in to charge up. The cars take about 8 minutes to fully charge up, which then gives you around 20 minutes of racing action.

The track is really simple to set up and change about when you want to change your track format. The pieces of track are called ‘FlexTracks’. They are bendy, flexible track pieces which can go over bumps (like where your carpet meets a rug) without having to build up the level underneath. They click together really easily and have magnetic connectors which keep them in place. The magnetic connectors mean they can be easily pulled apart and reconfigured if you want to re-lay your track.

The cars are have artificial intelligence and are essentially self-aware robots. You set up your track and they drive slowly around it, memorising every twist, turn and bump; ensuring that when they race they can do it almost faultlessly. There are two supercars in the starter pack, but you can buy more separately if you want to.

Top Christmas Toys - Anki OVERDRIVE Starter Kit

To race the cars you need to use your smartphone or tablet. The cars are easily controlled using the app. The more races you win and the better driver you are, the more features the app unlocks.

The Anki OVERDRIVE is a fantastic bit of kit. The starter kit contains everything you need to start racing and you can always add more track and cars if you want to extend the fun. It’s not cheap, but we’ve played with it fairly robustly (the dog spent some time jumping on the tracks chasing the cars around). I’m hopeful it’ll survive the rigours of family life in our house.

As far as I can tell there are no downsides to the Anki OVERDRIVE, apart from racing obsession. The cars do occasionally skitter off the track, but you just clean the tires and they’re good to go again.

My son loved it, especially building the track and finding different configurations. My husband loved it so much I’ve found him playing with it in the middle of the night. If you’re looking for some family fun this Christmas, something a bit more dynamic than a board game, then you can’t go far wrong with an Anki OVERDRIVE!

We were sent the Anki OVERDRIVE Starter Kit for review purposes. All images and opinions are our own. Post contains an affiliate link.

Five Gorgeous Unicorn Gifts for under £10

If 2017 could be defined by a mythical creature, it would be the unicorn. This noble beast is so popular this year that I know Father Christmas will be stuffing his stockings with these magical horned horses. Everyone is into unicorns right? Right. So whether you’re buying for a small unicorn loving child, or the unicorn-crazy woman you got in the office Secret Santa, I’ve picked out five gorgeous unicorn gifts for under a tenner. You can’t say fairer than that!

Unicorn Gifts – One

This unicorn badge set (£7.50) contains not one, not two but three stylish unicorn badges. These are made with embroidery thread, stitched in bright colours and come with a gold badge pin. Pin them to your bag, coat or jumper, however you wear them you’ll make a real splash!

Unicorn Gifts – Two

For the girl (or boy) who thinks they have everything, it turns out they don’t. What they really need is a unicorn tape dispenser (£10) which comes complete with a roll of rainbow sticky tape. We’ve reached peak unicorn and I’m happy here.

Unicorn Gifts – Three

If a unicorn tape dispenser isn’t enough (what is wrong with you?), then the matching unicorn rainbow pencil set (£10) must surely hit the spot. Together these make up the unicorn stationery dream team. Don’t they? They must, surely.

Unicorn Gifts – Four

If you’re getting ready for a night out and you’re not wearing unicorn nail varnish (£7) are you even ready? This unicorn nail polish is full of rainbow sparkles confetti and promises give your nails the unicorn magic they need. All nails need unicorn magic don’t they?

Unicorn Gifts – Five

Lastly, if you’re taking notes in a meeting and you need people to respect you for the unicorn lover that you are, then you need this unicorn pencil and topper (£3.95). This cute white unicorn pencil topper complete with golden horn, fluffy pink tail and mane. Using this will ensure your work stands out while you scribble, sketch and scribe.

Please note these unicorn gifts are also suitable for children, but do you really want to share them?

Toy Review: Silly Sausage – the funniest reaction game

The first time I saw a Silly Sausage was when one of my friends spotted one in a toy shop and Instragrammed it in a tongue in cheek style. It is a bit of an eyebrow raiser and I did scoff a little at first glance. Then I got to try one and that bright orange plastic sausage quickly became a bit of an obsession.

Silly Sausage is the new super speedy reaction game from John Adams. The sausage is really easy to use, switch him on and wait for his instructions, but you will need to be fast. The aim of the game is to twist, shake, dip, stretch and poke him and to keep up with the sausage as he shouts out his commands.

Silly Sausage

Featuring ten fast paced reaction games, and three play modes – single, party and turbo; Silly Sausage is suitable for solo or competitive play. Silly Sausage made its debut at a family dinner for the small boy’s birthday over the weekend and everyone wanted a go.

As you can see from our video, Silly Sausage is fun to play with solo…

The higher the level, the faster the sausage goes, so your reactions have to be super-fast in order for you to keep up with him.

There are three different games to play –

Chipolata – a speed and reaction game
Banger – a pass and play reactions game
Jumbo – Memory and reaction game

And there are three modes – single, multi play (party) and super fast play (turbo). I liked the “Chipolata” game, which suited me, a solo speed and reaction game.

I’d be naive if I didn’t acknowledge that a lot of people are a bit nudge-nudge-wink-wink about it, but it is completely innocent. Any Carry On style connotations go completely over the kid’s heads and it’s just the adults who sit quietly smirking.

There will be the minority of people who find the sausage too noisy for them. As the music speeds up it could get on your nerves a bit, but bah-humbug to them. You can’t adjust the volume, which may be a problem for hearing impaired people. You do have to be careful not to cover the speaker with your hand or you would miss the instruction.

Silly Sausage will power down if he’s not been played with for a while. If you need to wake him up you just poke the button on his belly. He needs 2 AA batteries and they seem to last a good amount of time (we’ve played with him for days and he’s still going strong).

Silly Sausage

Silly Sausage costs around £19.99 and is available from all good toy shops and in online stores such as Amazon. The game is suitable for ages 7+ but my boy who has just turned six had no trouble at all with it. Smaller children with smaller hands might struggle a little.

I am not underplaying it when I say I really love Silly Sausage. I think it’s hilarious and I’ve always enjoyed playing fast reaction games. For my money, Silly Sausage is the best and funniest game this Christmas!

Disclosure. We received the Silly Sausage Game for the purposes of writing this review. All opinions and images are our own. Contains Amazon affiliate links.