Spirited Mama

Living a SPIRITED life filled with wanderlust, emotions and everything in between

Category: Christmas

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Stuck on what to buy this Christmas? Here’s Hasbro’s TOP TOYS & GAMES for 2019

Stuck on what to buy this Christmas?

Christmas is only 13 days away! And I haven’t bought anything yet! Normally, I would have been patting myself on the back by now with everything being bought and hidden away from the kids. Last year, I still went to the shops on the 24th of December for last minute errands. Did I like it? Yes. The shops were not too busy and I was in and out in a flash with my purchases. Will I chance it again in 2019 to brave the shops on 24 December? I’m not entirely sure as this long weekend would be the ideal time for some Christmas shopping.

Hasbro’s Top Toy & Games Suggestions for 2019

Hasbro, one of the largest toy, game and entertainment experience companies, has released their anticipated 2019 list of suggested toy and gifting solutions including a wide range of ‘stocking fillers’.  Hasbro’s commitment to creating the world’s best play experiences ensures there is something for everyone – from fun family activities to active play, imaginative play, creative play and so much more.

Here are some of Hasbro’s 2019 best sellers:

Joshua is beside himself because according to my 10 year old son, You can never have too many NERF guns! There is an exciting range of Nerf blasting options on offer:

  • The Nerf Trilogy DS-15 toy blaster has ejecting shells to heat up your Nerf dart-blasting action. Unleash a triple-dart blast with this Nerf N-Strike Elite blaster that shoots 3 darts at once from each shell.
  • The Nerf Fortnite AR-E blaster, inspired by the blaster used in Fortnite, is the only way to play Fortnite in real life. Drop into indoor and outdoor Fortnite action with this motorised, dart-firing Nerf Elite Fortnite blaster that features two flip-up sights to help you align your shot and an acceleration button to power up the motor.
  • Go into battle with the bolt-action Nerf Rival Helios XVIII-700 Pull back the bolt to prime the blaster and unleash rounds at a velocity of 30 meters per second. The bolt placement can be customised to accommodate right or left-handed battlers.

Transformers are Noah’s thing! I mean, I have never watch so many Transformers movies, over and over and over on repeat all day! At this rate I just want to get him the Bumblebee 🙂 but I can’t find stock!

  • Transformers War for Cybertron: Siege plunges fans into the epic fight to survive on the final day of the Autobot and Decepticon battle to control Cybertron. Build the ultimate battlefield with Transformers War for Cybertron: Siege toy figures with customisable weapon configurations.

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  • On the Transformers Cyberverse animated series the Allspark can harness incredible new powers, including the power to convert Earth vehicles into Spark Armor: battle-ready gear that allows them to fight in new places and in new ways. Kids can collect assorted Spark Armor figures (each sold separately) to discover more exciting characters from the Cyberverse series.

 

  • Imagine teaming up and battling the Power Rangers’ toughest enemies with these Power Rangers Beast Morphers Action Zord figure assortment (which include: Beast-X Megazord and Beast Racer Megazord). Standing 25 cm tall, and with the included accessories, these action figure toys are ready for action against any foe.

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  • Young fans of the Disney Frozen movies will love the Frozen 2 Singing Elsa and Anna Fashion dolls (each sold separately). Each doll includes a Frozen 2 inspired outfit, press the button on the bodice to watch the dress light up and hear a snippet of an original song from the Frozen 2 movie. Sing along while imagining scenes with Arendelle’s favourite sister duo. Kids can take magical Frozen adventures on the go with the Fold and Go Arendelle Castle portable playset. Inspired by Disney’s Frozen 2, this castle set has two floors of fun that fold up and fun accessories are included to decorate the rooms.

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  • Baby Alive Happy Hungry Baby loves to eat. Mix baby’s food with water to make doll food that looks like the real thing. When you give baby her spoon, she opens wide and really eats her doll food. She also giggles, moves, and asks for more. With over 50 sounds and phrases, this sweet baby doll makes feeding and changing time feel oh-so-real and fun for little mommies and daddies. The Baby Alive Snip ‘n Style Baby is ready for you to brush, trim, and style her hair. Brush baby’s fringe with her interactive brush and watch it grow then hold the interactive scissors up to baby’s fringe and pretend to trim and watch the fringe get shorter! Includes 35+ sounds and phrases, and 12 hair accessories to style baby’s hair for any occasion.

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  • Play-Doh continues to captivate kid’s imaginations. Picture a land of colourful dreams where unicorns poop Play-Doh ice cream. Meet Tootie, the hilarious unicorn ice cream maker who loves to create silly Play-Doh sundaes. As she dispenses Play-Doh colours this unicorn toy makes laugh-out-loud sounds and even changes her facial expression.  There’s no stoppin’ the poppin’ fun with the Play-Doh popcorn maker toy, which includes everything you need to make creative Play-Doh popcorn masterpieces. Crank pretend popcorn into the 3 bucket sizes and mix it up with silly snack mixes. Add fun play food toppings like pretend pretzels, crazy candy, and more with the candy-themed stamps and moulds. Don’t forget to squeeze in some silly syrup or butter with the syrup tool.  Little chefs can go pizza crazy with the Play-Doh Stamp ‘n Top Pizza Oven.  Stamp a pizza crust in the oven, then go wild creating and customising with the variety of tools and moulds included. 

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  • Potato Head Movin Lips is an interactive talking toy, that’s fun and entertaining for kids as well as adults. Just attach his mouth and press the buttons, his lips synchronise to wacky songs and some funny phrases.

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GET YOUR FAMILY TIME GAME ON WITH A WIDE RANGE OF GAMES TO SUITS ALL AGES FROM HASBRO GAMING

 

  • Meet MONOPOLY – a self-made investment guru, who is here to celebrate women trailblazers in the first game where women make more than men. Instead of buying properties, players invest in groundbreaking inventions and innovations made possible by women throughout history. From inventions like WiFi to chocolate chip cookies to space station batteries, MS. MONOPOLY celebrates everything from scientific advancements to everyday accessories. In the MS. MONOPOLY game, women get a higher payout at the start of the game and more money when passing ‘Go’, but who you are is up to you!

 

  • Monopoly Fortnite – in this thrilling Fortnite inspired edition of the Monopoly game, players claim locations, battle opponents, and avoid the Storm to survive. The gameplay, design, and components of the board game include elements inspired by the video game including Fortnite locations and loot chest cards. Instead of Monopoly money, players earn Health Points (HP). Like in the Fortnite video game, the last player standing wins!

 

  • Make Monopoly Cheaters Edition board game a favourite go-to game for game nights and other fun get-togethers. Lean into those iconic (yet unspoken) Monopoly moments in which rules are bent, money is borrowed, and funny business is welcomed. Fake a die roll, steal some bills from the bank, and even skip out on rent. Complete a cheat to get a reward but fail a cheat and pay the consequences. The pretend handcuff unit that may leave players “chained” to the board is a fun addition to the game.

 

  • The Connect 4 Shots game combines the gameplay of the original Connect 4 game with fast-paced, competitive excitement. Two players at a time race to get four balls of their colour in a row to win. Kids can also practice solo to prepare for a future Connect 4 Shots matchup.

 

If you’re looking for stocking filler ideas:

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The Monopoly Deal Card Game is all the fun of the Monopoly game in a quick-playing card game. It comes with 110 cards including Property Cards, Rent Cards, House and Hotel Cards, and Wild Property Cards and ideal for on-the-go fun.

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Have a blast with Play-Doh Colour Burst, it’s the classic non-toxic Play-Doh compound with an innovative way to mix and play. Use the roller or your hands to squish and blend the two colours together for a cool marbling and blending effect and watch the colours swirl and change before your eyes.

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Blast into big fun with the Nerf Microshots Fortnite series of collectible, mini-sized Nerf toy blasters. Blasters in this assortment include replicas of the FORTNITE TS blaster, FORTNITE RL blaster and FORTNITE Llama blaster, inspired by the iconic purple pinata loot box used in the popular video game.

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Look out for the Lost Kitties Mice Mania milk carton singles, which comes with a mouse or kitty figure, meme stickers, two hidden accessories and a collector’s sheet. Store the compound in the resealable carton so you can keep discovering over and over again.

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Kids can image new adventures with their favourite rescue birds-in-training with the Top Wing Single Figure Assortment. Each poseable 7-cm figure is ready for action with five points of articulation and includes a snap-on ‘wings’ badge that kids can wear (figures sold separately).

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The 15-cm Power Rangers Beast Morphers figures feature multiple points of articulation and design. With the included Morph-X key, kids can imagine unlocking hero powers in the Beast-X Morpher toy (sold separately).

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The Marvel Figures assortment includes classic Marvel design. With these action figures kids can create scenes from the Marvel Universe or imagine their own incredible adventures. This assortment includes Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man and Thor.

Hasbro products are available from leading retailers including:  Takealot.com, Makro, Toys R Us, ToyZone, Toy Kingdom, Game and Checkers.

Hope this helps you find some Christmas gifts and stocking filler ideas!

Have you bought your gifts and stocking fillers yet? Or are you on my bandwagon…I haven’t bought anything yet *yikes*

Spirited Mama

x

**Disclaimer: We were gifted some stocking fillers from Hasbro. Images were supplied too. 

 

It’s Play Day..so “Let them play”

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Let them play…Those words still hover in my mind since the #PrimaTopToys event where the top toys were revealed for the Festive Season 2017! What a fun time the adults had playing with the toys. We got to let loose our inner child without worrying about what others would think of us oohing and aahing over kids’ toys. Let’s be honest, as a parent if you are not convinced will you really buy your child a particular toy?

Prima Toys is one of Southern Africa’s leading importers and distributor of toys and games; bringing the world’s most famous toy brands and characters to children across various African countries

I remember one of my first dolls was a Prima Toys doll, a gift from my father’s friend who I think at the time worked for Prima Toys….I wish I had a picture of her.
I’m not a typical girl who played with dolls but I do remember that doll…
Being at the event evoked an emotion, at the time I couldn’t put my finger on it. Whilst playing with the toys in the goodie bag, I remembered the doll and how that doll was a Prima Toys product.

Funny how destiny or fate works…who knew that many many years later I will cross paths with Prima Toys again.

I’m definitely a boy mom and I love the toys as much as Dudie. Troll at this stage is too little to comprehend what is happening. But, he is besotted with his Teletubbie, PO. He giggles and even has a soundbyte of the actual Teletubbies music.

Dudie, obviously, raided the goodie bag I received. He loved the toys BUT that Ben10 Omnitrix was his favourite….until I showed him the hamper that I won…Gracious, that child’s eyes were ready to pop out his head. Why? Because there was a Ben10 Omnitrix Deluxe in there. He wears an Omnitrix on each arm…

And he had just seen the TV ad a few days prior to teh event and really really wanted one. Well, that was me getting the Mom of the Year award from Dudie. Granted, my status might not last long, as any parent knows you can go from hero to zero in 2 seconds flat, but I’ll revel in it for now.

The phrase, “Let them play” has constantly been on my mind. As parents, we are so busy with life/work/kids/etc/etc and sometimes we forget to stop and just be present. Similarly, we forget to just let our kids play. And to play with our kids. Dude and I have had the discussion that it seems lately we have been in “survival mode”. We have consciously made a decision to stop and have at least one “play” session per week night. Weekends are more chilled and we all get to have down time. It’s the weekdays with school/work/extra murals that consume our time.

So Thursdays are reserved for “play” in the evening. Tonight we will play 🙂

Happy Play day!

Mom’s favourite, even though I have NEVER managed to get all the colours in the right order! But I will keep trying 🙂

Spirited Mama

Disclaimer

This is not a sponsored post. Opinions and views shared my own.

This Christmas…

 

It’s starting to look like Christmas

It’s starting to look alot like CHRISTMAS in the Spirited Household. Albeit, we were 12 days late with putting up our tree…I am just happy that it is finally up. We are counting down the days to Christmas, only 11 more sleeps…For the past 7 years we have been home for Christmas. It all started when Dudie was baptised on Christmas Eve during the midnight mass, 24 December 2009. Granted he was too young to remember any of it but from that Christmas eve we have been attending midnight mass every year since. It is our very own tradition. And this year will be no different. Every alternate year we have family with us and this year was supposed to be “the family” Christmas.

This Christmas

Well, things changed during 2016 and even though we will share Christmas with two family members, it just won’t be the same because Mamma won’t be at our table… Mamma loved McDonalds and upon returning home from midnight mass Dude always used to buy McDonalds meals for everyone. We would open our gifts and eat McDonalds until 2am sometimes 3am. Even Dudie would be wide awake by the time we get home from mass.

We were toying with the idea of just dining out this year BUT for us Christmas is about the joy, the laughter, the togethernesss, all of us cramming into our little kitchen to cook amazing dishes to be served on Christmas day. We will spend ALL day cooking on the 24th of December, only to take an afternoon siesta so that we can be fresh and bright eyed for midnight mass. We generally only wake when the sun is high up in the sky and the room gets too hot to sleep in. We always skip out on breakfast as we just had McDonalds at 2am. Normally, we are ready to eat our festive feast by lunch time, which could range anywhere from 12pm onwards. Even our dogs sleep late on Christmas morning.

This Christmas will be different. But this Christmas we will remember the good times and encourage new traditions and memories and remember those whom once shared that table with us.

What are your Christmas traditions?

Spirited Mama

x

Currently in Spiritville

Currently update:

Last night Dudie received a certificate at his prize giving…drum roll..for MERITORIOUS ACHIEVEMENT IN MATHEMATICS in Grade 1. Whoa! this kid only told us that we needed to attend and that he will be getting a certificate. No clue what for. Nada. He was mute about it. He is such a modest child. We are SUPER proud of him. Of course we had to celebrate and at his request for Sushi, we tried out the newly revamped Ocean Basket @MenlynPark. Wow, lovely. We will be back soon. We were a bit stuffed so we agreed that we could do a special dessert over the weekend.

The other night, I was getting so hot so I woke Dude in the wee hours of the morning to ask him to switch on the aircon. He happily obliged, switched the aircon on and went back to sleep. The next morning he says “WTF, why did you wake me to put the aircon on?” My response – The remote is on your side… He says he’s going to put a glass of water on my side and wake me during the night for a drink…

We are torn between slaving away behind the stove to cook Christmas lunch or whether to dine out this year. For us it is the preparation rather than the actual eating of the meal that is our festive spirit!

We only have 10 weeks left before we are a family of four.

Mom, Dad, Dudie and the resident alien. Need to give him a spirited name as he cannot be the resident alien forever.

Today is the 1st of December. Tonight we haul out the Christmas tree and transform our home into a festive place. We will be indulging in chocolate and of course Christmas carols. The countdown to Christmas has finally begun, even though I have not done any Christmas shopping. We have been very pre-occupied with the resident alien but even his nursery isn’t done. I haven’t bought everything that I need or want…

Oh, and I still haven’t packed our hospital bags.

My pet peeve for December – Dude wants to go away for an impromptu weekend. In December! He does this every year and every year I say well then YOU find a place to go to because people book a December getaway a year in advance. Any suggestions? Will have to be in Gauteng though as I don’t want to venture too far from my Doctor or hospital.

Here’s to 2016 Festivities!

Spirited Mama

 

Year end drain and winding down…

Can you feel the Year End drain?

SO many of us are feeling that year end drain. I know I am and I know my family is too. Gone are the days when Dudie couldn’t wait for Santa to bring him an alarm clock – you know cos he started big school in 2016 (grade 1) and this clock would help him get ready for school every day. Yeah right! This Mama, aka Santa, stepped in and blessed him with an alarm clock. For the record that ship has sailed as the novelty wore off so quickly. No matter how many alarms were set, if he was tired he just would NOT get up. Fuck the alarm clock and all. He will not get done. He will moan and be difficult with each and every task staring him in the face. Until I lose my shit – then we argue and then he says Mom you’re being rude….the joys of parenting.

Winding down for the year end

Whilst we face this year end drain and frantically trying to tie up loose ends, it is also the most wonderful time of the year. We are preparing for the festivities, for Christmas. The festive season is upon us. A time of joy, laughter, lazy days spent around the swimming pool…and lest we forget the final weeks before the resident alien arrives. This will be our last Christmas as a family of 3 because next year we will have another little boy joining our table.

My advice – cut yourself some slack. The kid made it through the year unscathed. And tonight we will shed a silent tear of pride as he owns that stage at his prize giving ceremony. We only have 3 days of grade 1 left. Go on have a drink or eat some cake cos I’m #30weekspregnant remember…10 more weeks…Somehow, I have a sneaky suspicion that the resident alien will arrive earlier. Let’s hope it’s not too early.

Happy festive prepping. We need to finish the baby nursery.

Spirited Mama

P.S. This morning conversation with Dudie

Dudie: Mom can you pray when you are dead?

Me: I don’t know, I’ve never been dead.

The morning after Christmas

It is just after 1am and I’m vegging out on the couch waiting for my washing machine to finish its cycle… I washed 4table cloths.  I cleaned the kitchen, mopped the floors and packed away all the food, read squeezed everything into the fridge as I’m worried it gets too hot and the food will go off.

What an awesome Christmas we had. We started with midnight mass at 23:00, Church need at 12:30ish, on route home Dude stopped to pick up McDonalds for us.  We had McD’s and champagne at 1am. Dude, my gran, her sister, myself, and all whilst Dudie slept. We played Christmas music, laughed, ate,drank, face timed family, and eventually got to bed just before 3am. Dudie script into our bed in the wee hours of the morning, I was too tired to notice. We eventually got up after 7, did a “just wing it” breakfast and proceeded to Finish the food.

We had gammon, leg of lamb, beef roast, chicken, seafood, oxtail,veggies, salad, etc…. Oh and ice-cream, trifle and cake….cupcakes too. All for 6adults and 3 kids. What a feast we had. And how delicious it was. We laughed and had champagne, tequila coffee, beers, savannas, water, juice and sodas…. We played dominoes, shared memories created new new memories too. This was definitely a very special Christmas for all f us. One that we will talk about for a very very very long time to come.

im having a leftover cheese burger and a glass of milk. Going to hang out my table cloths and then I’m off dreamland as I know it won’t be long until Dudie wakes up. That child does not sleep later than 7:30am…..

i do hope that you all had a blessed merry Christmas.

Spiritedmama

xoxoxo

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My package arrived. Whoop whoop!!!

So I got my package from Santa’s little helper, aka lovely lady who partook in the secret Santa bloggers party that Charlotte arranged. Thank you so much, Lady. I was all over that package. I have managed to contain myself but today I will web using my gift. And of course acting my Turkish delight. (My Grandfather loved Turkish delight, and we used to sit together sharing his sweets. This brings so much fond memories back. Thank you a millio times. You have no idea of how happy you have made my heart. Also my gran is arriving in 1hour. So I will be sure to tell her about it. Maybe she have some sweets too) This is what I got: imageThe package was addressed to Spiritedmama1, so firstly Dude thought it was his book from Leisure Books, then I said that it’s my gift! He said so how will you prove it’s you. Luckily the address matches perfectly on the receipt in my ID. And I kinda had to explain to the lady why it is addressed in my pseudo name. The big reveal:

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I got my Ipad 4!!!!!!

So Christmas came early, for me 🙂

I di some research, and by chance a gentleman mentioned yesterday that the stock of the Ipad 4 will be arriving next week as they only have two units left. So in a mad rush to get home, the boys and I were off to Menlyn to hunt down this Ipad 4.  And luck was on my side. They had received stock earlier and was ready to sell them.

So my Dude got me one. Isn’t she a beauty? I love it.

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To say that I am happy is an understatement. I am beside myself! ANd thank you to the lovely ladies for giving me their comments when I was still unsure…. This morning Dudie and I had a tussle over MY Ipad. I calmly reminded him that it was in fact MINE and that he is allowed to used it under my or Dude’s supervision.

Next stop, buy Leappad 2 for Dudie so that he can leave my Ipad alone. I have convinced Dude that Dudie NEEDS a Leappad 🙂

Happy Friday Folks.

Spirited Mama

I only got to work at 12:45 today. I’m not kidding. I will not tell you why but it was time well spent with Dudie, impromptu cake shopping, dashing into Woolworths food market amongst other adventures… Let me go spread out the cake on the tables as I am so ready to lick that chocolate frosting off the cake.

I will be on leave from today and I can’t promise that I will blog over this festive season as it is also holiday for me too. But if there is blogworthy material you will definitely read about it here.

If anyone knows where I can find accessories for the Ipad 4 please let me know. I couldn’t even find a case….

A gift is on the way…

Somewhere, out there…. a gift is on route to a lovely lady… Until I received the name, aka the lady who will be the recipient of Spirited Mama’s gift, I did not know that she existed. That she blogged. That she was a career woman. A wife. A mum…etc etc etc. Thank you Charlotte, for organising an awesome Secret Santa, and for introducing me to new peeps, even if just in the blogosphere….. And sorry for not complying with your rule of sending off the gift by 10 December.

Maybe, if I’m in your city again, I’ll ring you up. I do hope that it makes your heart happy…

This is on the way:

Secret santa wrapped

Ok, so at the Post Office they removed your little card, as they said it would be less enticing to unwrap borrow your gift. Your message was ” I do hope that the little items in this box makes your festive season a little brighter”

Spirited Mama

And in all of the festivities, I got two gifts for Dudie

Dudie gifts

I have 2 gifts for Dude and 1 other for Dudie at home that needs to be wrapped ASAP! I do love this time when I can shop and get gifts and wrap them and make things pretty…

Spirited Mama

P.S. If anyone is in need of someone needing to do their shopping with YOUR money, I’d be happy to take care of it for you. I can’t guarantee that you will get anything but I WILL spend YOUR money…

P.P.S ONly 4 working days left… I’m going to push my luck and ask for a day off on Friday. I wanna take Dudie on the Gautrain 🙂

Middle ear infection, tattoos and lazy days

I haven’t blogged in a while. Life has been busy and fun and sometimes challenging…

It’s been crazy at work. I been off with Middle ear infection, i do have ear issues, and I’ve gotten a new tattoo…. Finally, I’ve been wanting it for 3 yrs but just never got around to doing it. Could’ve been that I was scared but I must admit it wasn’t half as bad as what I remembered from the first time.

I will post a pic soon. I have to run as I see a storm coming and I’d like to get Dudie and be home before the storm comes round.

So have a happy weekend. We’re suppose to go to a “Carols by Candlelight” picnic tonight but I’ll have to watch this weather. Won’t be carolling in the storm!

Spirited Mama

P.S. Tomorrow is the 1st of December!!!!! We get to put up our Christmas tree!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can’t tell you how excited I am. I didn’t think that I could hold out until now but finally tomorrow we decorate our house.

When do you put up your tree?

P.P.S We started our own traditions. Last year was our first Christmas alone, just the three of us. That was the plan but now it seems that my Gan and her sister will be joining us! Whoop Whoop. Those are two of our favourite people in the whole world.

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