A couple of weekends ago big man was invited to a toy testing session for Tesco held at RADA. I had no idea what to expect but as we had the afternoon free, I thought we would give it a go. The idea was that they were looking for children to review their top toys this Christmas to go on you tube. I have always fancied myself as an actress so was excited about having a look inside RADA itself (even if they were silly enough to turn down Ewan McGregor.) To be honest it was a bit of a disappointment. I was expecting something very grand, but instead got a normal looking building which seemed to have a lot of fire doors!

Anyway big man had a look at the toys on show and for me it was good as I could see what the toys were actually like before buying them!

Angry birds knock on wood was the game that big man chose to take in with him to the casting. It became apparent quite quickly that he wasn't really into describing in detail how the toy worked to the producer, more wanted to get on and play with it. Big man liked it. It is his favourite ipad game and it contained a catapult. I wasn't as keen. For a price tag of nearly £20 it is hardly value for money. It is made from plastic, not wood, and some of the structures seem near impossible for an adult to assemble let alone a five year old.

The producer asked big man if he would like it for Christmas? He was expecting a yes/no/maybe I imagine.

"Are the elves able to make green paint?" was big man's response. The producer looked confused. Luckily a lady behind piped up that the elves would be able to manage this and everything was fine!


Big man didn't make it to the final casting session but he enjoyed his day. Even better, was that as it was the end of the day we were allowed to take one of the toys that had been tested. We took the Fisher Price Bucky pirate ship, as I knew middle man would like it. Unfortunately, it was missing a couple of water cannons, but that hasn't made a difference to middle man who keeps saying "I love Bucky!" Now once again this has a huge price tag of £49.99. Generally I have a rule that toys are only really worth paying half the price. For the rrp it is expensive. It comes with Jake and sully, and the tick tock croc pops out one of the doors. However, if you, like me have a huge fan of Jake and the Neverland pirates, I can tell you they will love it. I was a little bit sad at how much middle man liked it, as it would have been a perfect Christmas present. His face lit up! So it looks like Captain hook and his boat are likely to be top of middle mans Christmas list.


Whilst I was there I also got to meet some lovely bloggers, Baby Genie, Actually Mummy and Merrily Me. Have a look at their blogs, they are great. Merry also has an online toy shop that looks great too. She stocks a wide range of Hama beads - something I am looking forward to getting big man interested in!