Our summer holidays are in sight and I am getting excited about the prospsct of some sunny weather and some fabulous family time. After last year, I am less excited about travelling there.

So how do you keep your little ones entertained on the plane or in a car? Last year I thought Lego was the answer.

What was I thinking?

Tiny pieces all over the place. Me crawling around the cramped foot space of the plane looking for the vital part of a speed boat! In this particular case Lego was not the answer.

What could possibly go wrong with sticker books? Well with my brood it tends to be a case of middle man gets upset because he cant get the stickers off himself. Baby man gets upset because he wants middle man's stickers instead of his. Big man gets upset because he wants some attention and Mummy gets upset because she is having a meltdown over some sticker books! I have now given up on trying to be a perfect Mum, and have accepted that everyone is a lot happier watching a DVD or playing apps on my phone.

But how much do you spend on a DVD player for travelling? We bought an all singing, all dancing DVD player for the car, thinking it would see us through many a holiday and days out. Sometimes I think we forget we have kids! Middle man broke his screen first by kicking it until it fell off the seat headrest. I am not sure what big man did to his but it no longer has sound. Was it worth paying a fortune? No.

MoneySupermarket kindly let us have a new budget DVD player to see cheaper gadgets can live up to their more expensive counterparts. So far it seems great. It doesn't attach to the car seat, but as middle man will only kick it down, then it is probably safer on the lap of big man. The picture and sound quality is fine and you can put your headphones in if you wish. The battery life is 2 hours which is fine for a short haul flight or car journey. It comes with a remote too, but I really don't see the need for it, just another thing to lose. As far as I can see it is a great budget buy, and I shall be packing it in my hand luggage when we go away later in the summer. We can take a few films for the children in the mornings and some for us in the evenings.



What is your best budget buy? Do you have all the top gadgets or have you found the cheaper alternatives to be just as good?




I was given the DVD player by MoneySupermarket in order to write my opinion and the post will be entered into a competition where there will be one winner of £1000 to put towards their summer holiday.