Today, I was lucky enough to attend an event hosted by toy-makers Hasbro – their annual “Christmas in July” event, showcasing the toys which are likely to be on some of our little ones’ Christmas lists this year. Held on one of the hottest days of the year (in a strange church in the middle of London), it certainly felt a little surreal to be talking about Christmas – but neither of my boys seemed to mind!
Rather than blathering on about what I saw, I thought it would just be easier to share some of the photos I took of Robert and Freddie testing out the toys. Both found plenty of toys that they loved, and Robert added at least two new items to his Christmas wishlist (yes, he has already started compiling this!). It was lovely being invited (thank you, Hasbro!) and it made for a fun afternoon out.
Robert tries out the Nerf “N-‐STRIKE ELITE RAPIDSTRIKE CS-‐18 BLASTER” (how’s that for a mouthful?!), which spits out 3 darts per second. Thankfully, both boys enjoyed collecting the darts up after just as much as using the gun! ven Freddie had a go – though he wore a very pensive expression on his face while he used it. I like to think he was weighing up the pressure of warfare… I don’t think this one’s for sale, but I couldn’t resist posing with my new buddy Darth. He kept kinda quiet – I think he was intimidated by my immense blogging skillz… The Star Wars “Anakin to Vader” figure was pretty cool – it’s basically a dress-up doll, with added bells and whistles. You can turn Anakin in to Darth by putting his various clothes and helmet-bits on – and as you do, it changes his voice, breathing and even the colour of his lightsaber. COOL! Robert spent a LONG time playing with this one – it’s the Angry Birds Star Wars “Telepods Star Destroyer”, and it links up to the upcoming “Angry Birds Star Wars II” game, which is coming out soon. Robert loved knocking all the blocks down, and added this one to his Christmas list pretty swiftly… Another Angry Birds Star Wars game, this one based on Jenga (and good old Darth Vader’s head, clearly) – it’s a bit cheaper than the Star Destroyer, and just as much fun, according to Robert. I’m sat watching Iron Man as I write this post, so it seemed appropriate to include this cool pairing – the mask has little missiles that fire from the temple, and the glove shoots foam discs (for quite an impressive distance!). Despite all the fancy electronics, popular brand names and Apple-product link-ups, Freddie enjoyed the Play-Doh most of all – some things never change!
A big ‘thank you’ to the good folks at Hasbro for inviting us along!