Magical Flying Tinkerbell Fairies are Fluttery Fun for Everyone!‏

   

InfoMommy is giving away 1 Magical Flying Tinkerbell on Twitter and one on Facebook! Giveaway ends mid-February 2015, so enter now! Good luck!

I love unique things, and the Disney Magical Flying Tinkerbell Flutterbye Fairy is definitely that! At first glance, this toy is geared towards girls. We don't care at all if our sons want to play with girl toys and/or vice versa. But now that my oldest son is in school, he thinks that girl toys are gross.  When he first learned that I was acquiring this toy for review, he was excited! And we joked with him, teasing "I thought you said 'girl' toys were gross?!" His response? Whispering.... "It's ok Mom, I'll just hide it under my bed when someone comes over!" LOL After trying it out, I really don't think he's going to hide it under his bed when someone comes over. I seriously think he would get his friends in on the action as he love, love, loves her! So much so that we sometimes refer to her as his girlfriend and he blushes. 

The toy is cool! It's practically a doll helicopter! It literally lifts off of the base similar to what a chopper would do. She will fly and you can "help" her to move up and down and around by putting your hand underneath her feet. She can sense your hand underneath her, so you don't need to physically touch her. You just need to place your hand a couple of inches under her feet and she will go up! 

To see a detailed video on how the fairies work, simply click here: Instructional Video.

The instruction sheet indicates that this toy is for indoor use only, as she will sometimes get "stuck" on the ceiling. While she's not physically attached to the ceiling, her head will float along the ceiling, and you have to push the base to get her back down again to re-launch her. After seeing this, I can totally picture her flying away on the person using it if they were outdoors and respect that recommendation completely. If you think that seeing a child's helium filled balloon floating away is heartbreaking for them, imagine what it would be like to have their Flutterbye Fairy fly off into the universe! It would be catastrophic to say the least, so definitely keep this one inside! 

As with many toys on the market, I would recommend monitoring your child while they play with it, as it is designed for kids 5yrs+. The packaging also advises to keep long hair tied back and away from the toy. It would be very hard to get your hair caught in this thing, as you would know it's coming near you. But I supposed if there was a younger sibling around who didn't know to block her with their hands, then the slight risk might exist. My toddler was startled a bit by it initially, but once he realized that we were ok with it and enjoyed it, he was fine and enjoyed it too. Once again, just like with most toys, monitor your child playing with it.

Once you open up the package for the first time, simply place six (6) AA batteries inside the charging base, which looks like a royal pillow. Turn the base on and put the fairy on it. The initial charge takes approximately 5-10 minutes, and subsequent charges take about 30 minutes or so. When you first put her on the base, the light will be red in colour. This means that she is charging. When the light goes out, she is fully charged. 

When it is time to fly her, be sure to do so in a decent sized room, free of any breakables.  Most of the time, she flies up and down. But there were a few times that she flew a bit off centre and seemed like she was flying away from you across the room. This makes for a good laugh, but if you have knick knacks or other breakables and this happens, it could knock them over. If she flies into a wall or other surface, she will stop flying and fall to the ground, where you can simply pick up her and put her back on the base to fly again. To bring her down once she's up in the air, you can press the base one time to get her to come down slowly or press it twice to get her to drop immediately. 

The toy seems pretty sturdy, and though sometimes a wing can get knocked off when she falls to the ground, they are very easy to re-attach. Once you get the hang of her and how she operates, it becomes easier to manage her so that she doesn't come crashing to the ground. If one of her wings do fall off, simply put it back on as shown in the instruction video, and be sure that it's pointing down, not up into the air.  

In my experience, within the last 7 days of use, you can usually get approximately 30 minutes of flying time before you need to recharge her again. For the week, we flew her about 1-3 times daily, meaning we charged her once to three times per day. With that flying time, our original AA batteries lasted for approximately 6 days. The more your child plays with her, the quicker the batteries will drain. Note: The instructions advise not to use rechargeable batteries in this product, and the regular batteries required to operate the toy are NOT included. So be sure to buy some and include them with the toy!

Overall, we love this toy. We all get a kick out of it! It would be nice at this price point if it came with the first set of batteries. I hope that their future generation fairies will require less batteries, as they can get to be expensive. Plus, you might typically have 1 or 2 extras lying around sometimes, but it's harder to come up with 6 batteries for the base unless you are prepared for that. I'd love to see them come up with a typical boy version as well. A Transformer, Spiderman or Ninja Turtle one would pretty awesome too! 

These Magical Flying Fairies retail for approximately $40-$45 here in Canada. The Tinkerbell Fairy in particular is sold exclusively at Walmart, but you can find other styles of fairies at other department and toy stores. I noticed in this week's Walmart flyer, that the Tinkerbell Fairy is on sale for $33.77. If you are planning on snatching one up, get it while you can save over $10! 

Happy fluttering y'all!

***** These views are mine, and mine alone. As with anything, you are responsible for assessing whether this item and/or activity is safe and suitable for your specific needs. InfoMommy does not make any warranties of any kind, expressed or implied, and assumes no responsibility and/or liability for any actions taken as a result of this blog post.*****

The Wahl Home Barber Kit is Clipperiffic!‏

   

I'm always looking for ways to save money, and haircuts are one of them. Many people are not confident cutting their own child's hair. I was the same way, until I tried cutting my oldest son's hair with clippers out of necessity. He had to have stitches in his scalp as a preschooler, and had become scared of haircuts, no matter if the barber used scissors or clippers. So eventually I figured I would start doing it myself. At least that way I wouldn't have to pay $10-$20 for a haircut that had him fighting and screaming, and having everyone in the building staring at us while doing so! 

So the 1st time we tried it at home, I had gone out and purchased a relatively cheap clipper set. I also bought a dollar store stuffed giraffe that had fine longer hair on it and presented it to him in advance. I told him that he could "cut" some of the hair off the stuffed animal with the clippers every time we completed a haircut.  (Now I'm sure that that manufacturer probably just choked on their coffee, thinking that that's not good for the clipper blades, which would be right, but I had to do what I had to do at the time to help him get over his fears!) That did help to alleviate his anxiety about getting his hair cut and was a good motivator for him. 

The first few times I stuck to a regular buzz cut because I was scared to try anything else. But eventually I became more confident in using the clippers and started to experiment with the different sized guide combs. I got pretty good at creating a haircut with the different guides, and I was glad to be pocketing money instead of spending it at the barber. Eventually, even my husband trusted me enough to have me cut his hair too! 

I liked my old set of clippers but they were getting dull after about 3 years' use. So when I started looking around for a new set, I discovered the Wahl Signature Series Home Barber Kit. What caught my eye specifically about this product was the cordless touch-up trimmer. Most clipper sets come with the clippers and the smaller trimmer, but the Wahl Signature Series Home Barber Kit was the only one that I had come across in Walmart or other department stores that also included a mini trimmer in addition to the smaller trimmer.  I found the typical small clippers that come with most sets to be helpful for trimming and shaping around the collar area, but not so good for around the ears. Especially when it's a child's head you are working on. The mini-trimmer was something I had always wanted but had not been included in my original clipper set bought a few years back. It's essential for trimming around little ones' ears.

The Home Barber Kit contains a multi-cut clipper, a personal trimmer with a detail head and reciprocating head, a cordless touch-up trimmer and a soft storage case.  You also get 2 hair clips, barber & styling combs, a small mirror, a small spray bottle, a small cleaning brush, oil for the clipper blades, scissors, a cape, and instructions. There are also 12 guide combs. You will find sizes 1 through 8, along with the standard left ear and right ear tapers, an eyebrow trimmer comb and an ear trimmer comb. (Note: both small trimmers require AA batteries.) 

Once out of the package, you have to oil the blades on the clippers before their first use and after every couple of cuts. I set to start cutting my youngest one's hair and was impressed with how smooth it cut. Maybe I was used to cutting with an older set of clippers that had trimmed a stuffed giraffe's long hair a time or two, LOL, but I was happy with how smooth it cut. I then moved on to my oldest and then to my husband. I cut 3 heads of hair, one right after the other, and it worked great on all three types of hair.

This Home Barber Kit is sold exclusively at Walmart Canada and retails for $39.96. You can find a variety of other Wahl brand clipper styles and sets at stores like Canadian Tire, Sears, Personal Edge, Target Canada, London Drugs, etc... but I personally love this particular set! You cannot beat the value! You could get a maximum of about 3 haircuts at a barber, or get at least a year's worth of haircuts for the same cost. And you don't even need to leave the house! And if their self-sharpening, high carbon steel clipper blades, which claim to stay sharp longer, last for a few years, you're laughing with extra money in the bank! 

The only thing I would change about this clipper set, is to improve the quality of the mirror itself by making the mirror bigger in size and improving the clarity of its reflection. It would also be nice to have a barber brush included. 

I say give this clipper set a try! If you are not happy with it or have any concerns with it at all, please contact Wahl Canada at 1-866-787-9245 or email fbrown@wahlcanada.com. Happy clipping! 

***** These views are mine, and mine alone. As with anything, you are responsible for assessing whether this item and/or activity is safe and suitable for your specific needs. InfoMommy does not make any warranties of any kind, expressed or implied, and assumes no responsibility and/or liability for any actions taken as a result of this blog post.*****