REVIEW – Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Princess Edition

REVIEW – Little Tikes Cozy Coupe Princess Edition

by | May 31, 2016 | Out & About, Play Time, Reviews, Summer Fun, Toys & Games

Now that the spring and summer seasons are on their way, we love nothing more than being outside and getting some fresh air. Erin LOVES to play and having nearly finished our garden renovation project that spanned most of the last 12 months, we finally have a space for her to play outside and bring her imagination to life. Having seen Erin play with the Cozy Coupe at her local playgroup, I was excited to be given the opportunity for her to take one for a test drive! 🙂

What is the Cozy Coupe?

The classic Cozy Coupe Princess Edition car features colours and styling specially designed to please every little princess. Complete with a working horn, a contained storage area perfect for toy travellers and an updated pretty look, your child will be ruling the road in style.

Key Features include:

  • Removable floor and handle on back for parent-controlled push rides
  • Specially designed colours and features to please every little princess! 🙂
  • Designed with a high seat back and storage in the rear
  • Special features like an “ignition switch”, real working horn and an open-and-close gas cap
  • Cozy rolls on rugged, durable tyres
  • Front wheels spin 360º allowing for multi-directional movement
  • Trailer and accessories sold separately.
  • Adult assembly required.

What are is the Cozy Coupe Princess Edition suitable for?

The Cozy Coupe is advertised as suitable from 18 months to 5 years.

How much does the Cozy Coupe Princess Edition cost?

The RRP of the Little Tikes Cozy Couple Princess Edition is £59.99. You can check the latest price here.

Buy now at Amazon

How many variations of the Cozy Coupe are there?

Little Tikes’ latest Cozy Coupe innovation has scooped a total of four industry awards in the past year, including Best Outdoor Toy at Toy Fair’s Best New Toy Awards. With over 10 variations to choose from, the Cozy Coupe is now the biggest selling toy car in the UK. It remains as iconic in the garden as ever with 1-in- 4 kids now driving a Cozy Coupe. Now in their 37th year of production, there is literally a Cozy Coupe to suit every child’s personality!

Our Experience of the Cozy Coupe

Erin was super excited when the delivery arrived, as a photo of the product was visible on the box’s exterior. She was very keen, and wanted Mummy to build it right away! This was perhaps our biggest stumbling block, as Mummy is not much a dab hand when it comes to “flat pack” furniture! The Cozy Coupe did require adult assembly, including a screwdriver and hammer. As this would have required a visit to the “man cave” shed, I decided to wait until Daddy got home, and had to find something to entice Erin from sitting amongst the larger parts of the product until he arrived! 🙂

cozy coupe

Does the Cozy Coupe Princess Edition require assembly?

There are quite a few parts to assembly, and therefore the process took around 30-40 minutes in total – although he did stop for a dough ball or two whilst working! 🙂 If you are buying this as a present for birthdays or Christmas, I would therefore suggest you don’t leave this to the night before, particularly if you want to a relaxing evening before the carnage begins! 🙂

cozy coupe

As soon as Erin woke up from a nap and realised that Daddy (her now hero) had assembled her new car, she couldn’t wait to get in. As Erin is nearly 3, we had assembled without the floor plate, as this was not required. Younger children could use this so that they are fully contained within the car when the parent pushes them along.

Erin didn’t need any guidance, and was quickly scooting herself all around the patio, turning the key in the ignition and beeping her horn. We love the finishing touches including the sticker Princess number plate, internal dashboards and the opening and closing fuel cap.

cozy coupe

What I love most of all about the Cozy Coupe is how it brings Erin’s imagination to life. Having watched her play on numerous occasions now, I have observed her drive to the shops, park in the “mum and baby spaces” (I must mention those a lot!) and say “we’re here!!!!”. She then gets out, goes for a quick walk and then returns to her car to go home.

She enjoys popping things into the back of the car in the storage section, whether it be her “big girl drink” or most recently some pegs of the washing line and then driving them to her destination. She even drove up to me the other day and stated she was Policeman Erin who had come to take away a monster that had got into our house. I have no idea where she gets the inspiration but I love watching  her little mind work! 🙂

cozy coupe

Occasionally we do get a “push me” plea, usually if she wants to go a little bit faster, and sometimes she tries to climb out without opening the door, to which I have to say no, but overall its been hours of fun playing in the garden, and I think she feels like quite the grown  up to have her very own car.

Her biggest concern was the car being left out in the rain, so she asked Daddy to put “her” in the shed until morning. She double checked this information two or three times (god forbid her interior gets wet!!) ;). I should add here, it is perfectly fine to get left outside, although I guess under cover  is best to protect from sun damage or prevent stickers from peeling off.

Pros of the Cozy Coupe

  • Spans a number of age groups, using the base plate and pushing with younger children, through to the self guided and feet control approach with older toddlers.
  • A number of “personalities” available to suit different genders and themes.
  • Attention to detail – little touches such as the petrol cap, key ignition and stickers.
  • Easy to navigate for the child and lightweight enough to be moved by the parent without pulling a muscle!
  • In addition, the Cozy Coupe is great for encouraging imagination and role play – kids will love being just like mum and dad in their very own car.

Cons of the Cozy Coupe

  • It can take a little while to put together – so don’t leave it until the last minute!
  • With only one side having a door, Erin sometimes tried to climb in and out of the other window, which is not recommended as could cause the car to tip. Some children I’m sure wouldn’t even try, but Erin being Erin, she always likes to be unorthodox! 🙂
  • Finally, at at RRP of £54.99 it is not a budget item, however, it is well made, sturdy yet lightweight and in my opinion is made to last, and therefore a long term investment. Occasionally the Cozy Coupes are also on offer more around the £40 mark, so worth snapping up when they are on promotion.

You can learn more about the full Little Tikes Cozy Coupe range on their website here – http://www.littletikes.co.uk/cozy-coupe-reg-classic-30th-anniversary.html

Disclaimer – We were sent this Cozy Coupe free of charge for the purpose of this honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

REVIEW – Quut Alto Beach Toy

REVIEW – Quut Alto Beach Toy

by | Mar 14, 2016 | Reviews, Summer Fun

We recently came across Quut Alto, and it made quite a statement during playtime!! My children love playing in the sand, and so this Easter, despite not having a holiday as such, I was keen to enable the kids to build a sandcastle or two, even if it was only on UK shores! With the nearest beach being almost 2 hours away, we decided to head down to Stafford Park and their mammoth outdoor sandpit, and the kids got stuck in, using their new beach toy from Quut.

About Quut

Quut was built by Pars Pro Toto, a Belgian Design agency with more than 20 years experience in designing and engineering innovative products and attractive brands. Their integrated team have 24 kids between them, and therefore have first hand experience of the existing poor quality beach toys on the market, that offered no emotional commection or excitement. They decided to create their own – a range of real, durable and clever designs that offer fun and beauty for both kids and parents to enjoy.

Quut are committed to designing and developing new beach toys for families to enjoy, launching one new product each and every year.

There are currently 6 toys in the range, each one offering a unique, fun and interactive approach to playing in the sand (or snow!). Yes, Quut toys not only make great beach toys, but also offer an alternative approach for playing the snow, making them a great product for all seasons!

All Quut products are BPA, Phthalates and latex free and are recyclable.

The Alto product from Quut retails for £14.99  – read on for our full verdict!

Our Experience

I road tested the Quut Alto with my two children Lucy, 8 and Charlie aged 5.

The Alto is a three part toy inspired by professional sand builders. It consists of three brightly coloured containers that slot inside each other, making them compact and easy to pop into the car, whilst taking up limited space. The containers can be filled and stacked on top of each other, before removing them all in one swift motion by pulling the bottom container upwards. The three containers all then stack in to each other, leaving behind an impressive and firm structure that even the most competitive of sandcastle builders would be proud of!

Having watched the video online on Quut’s website, I was keen to see how easy it would be for my children to figure it out, and what they would make of this alternative building experience!

quut alto sandcastle toy

Lucy, being slightly older, understood the concept and appreciated the importance of packing the sand in tightly to achieve a better result, whereas Charlie, being 5 wanted to go a bit quicker and therefore his result wasn’t as good – when he rushed and lifted the 3 pieces up, some of the sand crumbled.

They found the various steps in the building process relatively easy to follow, as per the photo below:

quut alto building sandcastle step by step

Whilst Lucy probably could have lifted them up on her own, Charlie would have struggled, so it was nice to watch them both working together to remove the product and see their anticipation when revealing their sand tower underneath!

The Quut Alto caused a bit of a stir at the sandpit, with other mums watching my children play, and showing an interest, having never seen anything quite like it before. They too felt it was a really good idea and felt for the older children Quut Alto could make a model with more pieces to make an even higher tower. A real conversation starter, it ended up with my children playing with the Alto with a group of other younger children whilst I chatted to the parents! Lucy enjoyed showing some of the younger ones how to do it, feeling like a bit of a pro!

If we had to suggest an improvement, we felt it would have been good if each part had a number written on it, so that younger children could pay attention to which order they should use them.  The reason for this is when I watched 2 younger boys (about 4yrs old) playing, they kept trying to put the smallest piece straight on top of the biggest, missing out the middle one, which obviously didn’t work quite so well!

Overall we had lots of fun with the Quut Alto, and think it would go down well with any children who love playing in the sand. Where as a bucket does have other uses, the Alto is somewhat limited to castle building, however we loved the fact it can be used in the snow as well, so that when Winter arrives, the igloo and castle building can continue in cooler climates!

quut3

Pros:

  • Takes up limited space in the car as fully stackable, unlike the more traditional individual sand buckets  (great for family holidays where space is likely to be very limited!)
  • Bright colours and fun design appealing to children and adults!
  • Really works – quickly and easily creates some quite impressive structures!
  • Allows children to work together with friends or siblings to remove the alto and reveal their masterpiece!
  • Made sandcastle building a lot faster than having to continually fill and turn, fill and turn. As such, this means that children will have time to build an impressive castle even during a limited time visit to the beach!
  • We love that it can be used for snow building too, meaning it doesn’t just have value during the summer months!
  • Unlike traditional buckets it doesn’t have a bottom, so no relentless tapping and patting required to remove the sand!
  • Can also be used in smaller sandpits – anywhere where there is sand!

Cons:

  • Younger children may struggle to get to grips with the Alto straight away.
  • For younger children, or children that are an only child, they may need adult support to remove the Alto structure from their sandcastle creation. In our opinion the Alto works best for siblings or groups of friends to play together.
  • At £14.99 it is obviously more expensive than some basic bucket and spade toys which can be bought on a lower budget – however, we felt that for the uniqueness of the item, and the fact that it was a fun gadget for those who love playing on the beach, it was worth paying a little extra.

You can learn more about the Quut Alto and see their full range of beach toys on the Quut website here