The weather couldn't stop the busiest weekend of the year

Uk retailers have just seen the busiest weekend of the year, shoppers came out in full force despite the snow and ice. Staff at Lakeside Shopping Centre have said their top sellers include Transformers, Power Rangers and Peppa Pig toys. X Factor winner Joe McElderry's new single has been selling well, and as expected IPod's and computer games are in high demand.

£24,000 every second was withdrawn from ATM cash machines in the UK during December the 19th, making it the busiest day of month. With an estimation of £10.6bn being withdrawn from ATMs in the whole of December.

UK production leading the way for kids TV

Cbeebies is by far the most popular pre-school TV channel in the UK, with 95% of it's shows made in house. Cbeebies are currently enjoying a great amount of success with their latest home grown smash Waybuloo, a big part of the formula is that the adorable characters interact and play with real kids. There's a massive range of CBeebies toys, most of which are in high demand for Christmas.

Disney and Nick Jr are the next 2 kids TV channels of choice in the UK, both of which are trying to adapt to fit in with the current market here. Disney's latest hit is a UK made show called Jungle Junction, based in an imaginary jungle, the characters are animals on wheels. Disney are expected to give the Spider Eye production company a second series, and other UK productions are also set to follow.

Nick Jr have probably already made bigger steps towards clawing back some market share, UK home grown series like Peppa Pig, Roary The Racing Car and Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom, have helped increase the popularity of the channel.

Cbeebies is already in Australia and launches across the world via BBC Worldwide, channels in Poland and Latin America will soon be available. Cbeebies will have to adapt their shows to inherit the personalities of each country, new shows locally will also be produced.

Kids want presents, not time with mum and dad?

A new study has revealed that 13 million kids in the UK would rather get expensive Christmas present, than spend time with Mum and Dad. And they had to study this to work that out? I don't think these stats will surprise most parents, the bigger surprise to me and probably everyone else, is that actually 45% of kids in the UK would pick time with Mum and Dad over gifts.

Christmas fast approaching

As if you didn't already know, but it's only 17 days till Christmas! Here's a great website from Amazon that sells toys, books and DVDs for all the Cbeebies shows. A massive selection of products and the safety of knowing the world famous Amazon will get your presents to you in time. Good luck!

Cbeebies Toys

Peppa Pig Live Show Coming To Your Local Town

My son has been a huge fan of Peppa Pig for the last year, so I was very pleased to see the Peppa Pig TV series on tour in 2009 and throughout 2010. The show is about Peppa Pigs birthday and we can join Peppa, George, Suzy Sheep, Danny Dog and Emily Elephant at the party. Apart from some personal appearances this is the first time Peppa Pig has put on a real live show, with the demand so high for Peppa Pig Toys it was always going to happen. There's a large list of venues and dates to pick from, but hurry up because tickets are selling fast. I did however notice they are adding more dates to some of the venues due to the demand.

Waybuloo day at Hamleys, London

Today was the Waybuloo fun day at Hamleys toy shop in London, with story telling and demonstrations from the Waybuloo team. A nice selection of Waybuloo toys was on display and the kids was able to get creative with arts and crafts throughout the day. The Waybuloo display looked fantastic and all the kids enjoyed the entertainment, kids also got to take some Waybuloo toys and goodies home!

I must say I've visited many toy shops around the world, Hamleys has to be the best still, it's just a magical experience that both parents and children enjoy together. Such a wide range of toys and performers, I recommend it to anyone traveling to the UK especially with kids.

The selection of Numberjacks toys is adding up

Numberjacks has been on our screens since 2006, but it seems this year the kids tv series popularity has increased rapidly. With a nice selection of soft toys, dvds & learning books hitting our shops, it's clear that Numberjacks will be high up on the christmas list. Below is some suggestions for christmas presents, don't forget delivery on all orders over £5 is free.

Numberjacks: Counting Down To Christmas - DVD

Numberjacks Five - 10 Inch Plush Toy

All Numberjacks toys

In The Night Garden Intro Theme

My son never gets bored of this!

Wots these new toys in our shops?

No I didn't just write that title in slang talk, Wotwots is the latest pre school tv series in our shops. The series features two colourful aliens, Spotty Wot and Dotty Wot who travel round in a spaceship. The series originally on tv in New Zealand has now spread across the world, an instant hit with the kids. As expected a range of toys has hit our shops in time for christmas, at the moment limited to mainly soft toys, but the rest will follow in the next month or two.

Buy direct from The Wotwots Amazon shop, free delivery on orders over £5.00

Buy WotWots SpottyWot Soft Toy

Buy WotWots DottyWot Soft Toy

Hot Toy: Princess Peppa Pig Peppa's Palace

One of my predictions for this years hottest christmas toys is Peppa Pigs Princess Palace, my niece recently got this for her birthday and she hasn't stopped playing with it since. The palace comes with some really cute accessories including 2 thrones, 2 beds, stairs and a bath. This toys is recommended for ages 3+, you can buy it direct from Amazon with free delivery:

Peppa Pig Toys - Princess Peppa Pig, Peppa's Palace

Waybuloo Toys in stock

Nok Tok, De Li and now YoJoJo & Lau Lau are all available to buy from Amazon, after a long wait to get our hands on them they are finally here, well in time for christmas. The next question on my mind is what else will be out for christmas? Bedroom accessories like bed covers and lamps are high up on my wish list, my son would also been very keen on a Waybuloo back pack. Which reminds me of this cool Amazon kids backpack shop.

Delivery from Amazon is free

Waybuloo Toys - YoJoJo

Waybuloo Toys - Lau Lau

Peppa Pig Theme

Peppa Pig is still one of my sons favourites, he went over kill for a while, but after a little break he is back loving Peppa and George like before.

Here is the intro theme :)

Waybuloo Intro Theme

Just thought I would post this up, my son watches this on repeat! Waybuloo is really taking over with the pre school kids at the moment.

Waybuloo is top of the tots

The hottest pre school tv series on tv right now is Waybuloo, featuring 4 main characters, Nok Tok, Lau Lau, Yojojo & De Li. The dreamy location is a place called Nara, where the Piplings play and take part in Yogo (similar to yoga). The first batch of toys have hit our shops and then pretty much gone straight of the selves, the demand for these cute characters is high. With christmas fast approaching, parents be warned, you could be in for a tough ride if you want your little one to unwrap Waybuloo on December 25th.

Here are a few links to some popular Waybuloo products, you can get them direct from Amazon, orders over £5 are free.

Get Waybuloo Nok Tok direct from Amazon
Get Waybuloo Yojojo direct from Amazon
Get Waybuloo DVDs direct from Amazon

I will keep you updated on new products that are coming out next month.

Latest In The Night Garden DVD

The new In The Night Garden DVD is out (23rd March 2009), Look at That! features 5 episodes of pre-school entertainment. Follow Iggle Piggle, Upsie Daisy, Makka Pakka and the rest of the Night Garden characters on new fun and wonderful adventures.

The five episodes on this DVD:
Igglepiggle’s Tiddle
Makka Pakka’s Piles of Three
Where are the Wottingers?
Mr Pontipine’s Moustache Flies Away
Too Loud Tombliboos

Amazon currently have this in stock for £8.68, which is a saving of 33% (£4.31). Amazon also offer free delivery on orders over £5 at the moment!

Buy In The Night Garden: Look at That! [DVD] From Amazon

Peppa Pig for the Nintendo Wii

Peppa Pig the game on the Nintendo Wii will be out on 31st of May 2009, well hopefully! The release date has already been put back a few times. My son is Peppa Pig mad and has just about every Peppa Pig toy going (the grandparents spoil him), we also have a Nintendo Wii in our house.

Now the big question, who is this game aimed at?

Peppa Pig the tv series is aimed at young kids from the ages of 1 to about 5, my son is 2 and half. I've had a little go on the Wii with him and to be honest he just wasn't ready, we played bowling, after a few goes he kinda understood that we was controlling what was happening on the tv, but would be totally unable to get the concept of holding and more so aiming the Wii remote himself.

My son is my first and only child, so every day I'm learning about what a child of his age is capable off, in recent months he has rapidly progressed and is picking new things up all the time. So maybe real soon he will be able to take full advantage of a Peppa Pig game on the Wii.

Besides these points, I very much look forward to purchasing Peppa Pig the game. Even if for the minute it is just for me to play and him to watch!

I found information about the Peppa Pig game at http://www.kids-television.co.uk
You can order the game from this amazon Peppa Pig store: http://astore.amazon.co.uk/pig-peppa-21/detail/B001EO6K1Y