As a parenting blogger with two young daughters aged 8 and 5, it’s fair to say this household has more than its fair share of toys! The girls absolutely love playing together, whether it be with character playsets, plush toys or games and we absolutely love being able to review new release toys on the market.
We have however become more conscious about our purchasing decisions of late.
Whilst at times there is no avoiding plastic (and let’s face it your purchases are often at the mercy of your child’s favourite toys), we always make an effort to pass on toys after the girls have outgrown them so they can be loved by other children. In an effort to be more eco friendly and look after our planet, we are also trying to avoid purchasing toys that waste unnecessary single-use plastic – opting for toys that are made from more sustainable or recycled materials instead. There has been a real shift over the last couple of years, and it’s great to see that toy manufacturers are taking climate change more seriously, swapping out traditional packaging and materials for more eco-friendly choices.
One such example is the new ECO Range from Character UK, a range of adorable soft cuddly toys that are of excellent quality and made with 100% recycled materials. We were lucky enough to be sent a few items from the range to check out with the girls. Here’s how we got on!
Cocomelon and Blippi Eco Plush
Suitable from 18 months, these cute and cuddly character toys are super soft but unlike other plush characters toys on the market, they are made entirely from recycled materials and sustainable packaging to help reduce waste.
Recycled products often get misconstrued as being low quality – but these are absolutely not. To be totally honest with you, you wouldn’t know the difference from a regular teddy when it comes to the plush itself – they are just as snuggly as other plush toys we already have.
Measuring around 8” tall, these soft toys are ideal for cuddling up to at bedtime or taking out and about on road trips. The character syles vary, but include two of Neve’s favourite characters – Blippi and Cocomelon.
Unlike some other toys whose packaging includes lots of plastic clips, ties and coated cardboard, the packaging of the ECO Plush range is made from sustainable FSC® certified cardboard, which can be put in the recycling after use.
Other character lines in the EO plush range include My Little Pony, Barney and the Teletubbies.
A great gift for Earth Day
The girls absolutely loved the ECO Plush toys, and as a parent, it’s always reassuring to know that your purchase decisions aren’t having a negative impact on the planet.
Not only were the toys super soft and cuddly (having stayed with Neve in bed every night since) but the girls loved the addition of a small green leaf emblem that was stitched onto the toy – a great little reminder that their new friend was eco friendly too.
I love that the packaging for the ECO Plush toys stand out on the shelves, making it really easy for parents to pick out an eco-conscious choice when they head to the shops. At £9.99 each, I also think that the pricing is fairly in line with other licensed character plush toys in-store; so you’re not having to pay over the odds just to get a more sustainable toy.
Overall, don’t really think you can go wrong with these – sure to be a big hit! If you’re looking for an eco friendly gift for a child this Earth Day, check out our sustainable wrapping options below too! 🙂
You can learn more about the range at Character UK and pick up the EcoPlush toys from Smyths Toys here with an RRP of £9.99 each.
We all have daily routines that we all carry out without thinking. Whether it’s your afternoon smoke break or picking up plastic bags at the supermarket, we all have habits that are harmful to the environment. By making small changes to these daily routines we can create more eco-friendly versions of the things we love.
Using Recyclable Bags Instead Of Plastic
By taking a tote bag with you every day, or investing in reusable bags, you can avoid using plastic bags that land in landfill sites and clog up our environment. However, it’s important to use these bags regularly, as many people view tote bags as fashionable so will buy them but not use them, causing valuable resources to be used ineffectively.
Buying A Refillable Water Bottle
You go to the supermarket, you buy a bottle of water, you throw the bottle away. Every day you might do this even a couple of times without thinking too much about it. But buying a refillable water bottle will inevitably save you money, be far more environmentally friendly than all those water bottles, and additionally keep your drink cooler for longer. Do the same with hot drinks and buy a thermos to reuse again.
Eco-Enhance Your Daily Vices
Everyone has their one (or more) weakness, but these aren’t always environmentally sustainable. If you have a tendency to buy a chocolate bar once a day, avoid buying these and switch to pre-prepared tupperware box snacks, like home-baked cookies to get your junk-food fix. Likewise with smoking. Rather than using standard cigarettes, did you know you can get e-liquids? You can still enjoy your daily vices, but with a positive, environmentally friendly twist.
Don’t Keep Buying New Clothes
Do you have a tendency to buy a new top every time you have a loose thread or torn seam? Rather than shopping, try learning a new skill and bust out the needle and thread.Take out your daily online shopping habits and apply this to other items, too. If something is slightly broken, try to fix it with superglue or even enlist a handy relative to teach you some repair techniques
Turn Off The Tap
When you’re brushing your teeth, it’s so easy to leave the tap running. But turning it off in between brushing can cut up to 13% of your energy bill. Leaving the tap running while brushing your teeth is the same as flushing 8 pounds of water down the drain. Turning the tap off will maintain water conservation and reduce your carbon footprint. Try to do the same when washing your dishes as well to conserve your money and help the planet.
Changing these little things you do daily will help you create a more sustainable lifestyle that will ultimately reduce landfill waste, plastic usage and improve water conservation if everyone did it. Why not pass these tips on to friends and see your sustainability circle grow this 2020.
Why is the UK so bad at recycling? No really. Why?
Over the Christmas period I saw something that made me feel completely and utterly ashamed to be British. I have friends that live in Sweden where there is just 1% of waste going to landfill, and then I see this….
The weekend after Christmas, and not only is this a vulgar visual representation of just how much waste was produced over the festive period, but it highlighted just how many people clearly a) haven’t got a clue when it comes to recycling or b) just simply just don’t give a damn when it comes to looking after our environment. This isn’t recycling – this is fly tipping and it’s completely embarrassing.
Whether or not the people who left that rubbish knew that they were behaving inappropriately isn’t clear, but chances are even those of us who *think* we are recycling positively are probably making some rookie recycling mistakes. Here’s my low down on some of the recycling mistakes you might be making (and trust me when I say I’ve made them too!). It’s only over the last 12 months that I’ve really started paying more attention to what waste our family produces, and I’m ashamed to say I’ve probably made all of these recycling mistakes at one point or another!
Not rinsing your plastic – As easy as it may be to shove your ready meal packaging straight into the recycling pile, items covered in food waste are likely to be rejected. The same applies to a greasy pizza box – whilst the odd mark is not an issue, a wet and dripping box wont make it through. For ready meals and clear plastic food trays – give them a rinse / wash in the sink before you add to recycling.
Not declining the receipt – In most cases, with low value purchases or the purchase of perishable items – what do you actually do with your receipt? Throw it in the bin? Screw it up into a ball in the bottom of your handbag? Pop it in the recycling bin? Did you know that many receipts aren’t recyclable? Many receipts are printed on shiny paper or coated in Bisphonol A or S. Opt for e-receipts if you really need one, or decline one altogether. (That said, some of my local supermarkets still print them and discard them even when you say no which kind of defeats the object!)
If in doubt leave it out – adding a non recyclable item or dirty greasy items to a batch of recycling can actually cause the whole batch to be declined or sent to landfill. Unless your sure, hold it back until you are!
Choose your stationery wisely – those of you who know me well will know that i am a bit of a stationery addict, but its not as simple as popping it in the recycling when your done. Sticky notes for example, as much as they can be helpful for keeping on track of your to do lists, aren’t recyclable unless you remove the sticky strip. Biros and plastic pens can’t go in the normal recycling (TerraCycle collection points will take them) and neither can envelopes with windows (unless you peel away the window and recycle the paper.).
Crisp packets and baby food pouches can’t be recycled by most Council service collections, mostly due to the metalised or coated plastic which makes it hard to separate – again TerraCycle have specialist collection points which are willing to recycle these products. Save them up and take them along. I am in the process of applying to be admin for a TerraCycle recycling point in my local area and will keep you informed when (if) I get accepted!
Removing tops from bottles / crushing – there is a lot of debate about this one and probably the most common recycling mistake but mainly because the messages have been so mixed – do you keep the bottle lids on or off? According to recent research, you should remove the bottle lid before adding to the recycling bin, flatten the bottle to remove air and liquid and then replace the top. Leaving the bottle uncrushed and with a lid can cause liquid to remain in the bottle and also makes them much heavier (filled with air) meaning the machines cant process as effectively.
Coffee cups are very hard to recycle – so take along a reuseable one! Only 1/400 cups put in recycling actually get recycled due to the thin layer of polytheylene which is added to make them waterproof. In an attempt to encourage reusable cups – Starbucks and Costa now offer 25p discount for bringing your own, and Pret recently upped this to 50p. Save yourself some money and reduce your waste simultaneously!
Wrapping paper – A huge amount of wrapping paper gets thrown in the recycling bins every Christmas, but the reality is, a lot of it can’t be recycled. If it is covered in foil, glitter or a shiny finish, then chances are it can’t be recycled. Scrunch test – if it stays in a tight ball its ok to go in the bin, if it springs back then its sadly one for landfill. More sustainable present wrapping options here.
Batteries absolutely should NOT go in the recycling or standard waste bin and need to go to a designated electrical waste collection. My local supermarket has a battery recycling tube, or even better, opt for re-chargable batteries instead!
This may be obvious, but based on the sight I was met with this Christmas apparently for many its not – don’t put your recycling in a plastic bag – the contents wont be emptied out and the whole bag will go to landfill. And if the bins are full, take it home with you and go back later! If you are plannign a bit of a spring clean, a house clearance or are likely to have lots of mixed bulky items why not consider skip hire? Using a reputable company (as opposed to a man with a van advert on Facebook!) means that your waste gets processed correctly, avoids landfill where possible, and doesn’t end up getting dumped down a country road once the fee has been taken!
I’ll admit it, recycling and reducing waste is a little bit of a minefield, and I wish everything was a bit more clear to make it easier for us all, but one things for sure, we certainly need to start paying a bit more attention and prevent recycling mistakes as our future generations are depending on us! I’m learning as I go, but am proud at how much we’ve reduced our family waste so far!
#AD – This post is in collaboration with Midcounties Co-operative
When it comes to tackling single-use plastic and plastic free living – are you doing enough?
Last March, I took part in the Make 1Change campaign with The Midcounties Co-operative – an initiative launched to encourage their co-operators, customers and employees to join the fight in reducing the use of single-use plastics and provide shoppers with information to help them make informed decisions. I was challenged to collect all the single-use plastic we generated over the course of week to see if I could be making better choices and help tackle climate change.
When we first embarked on the challenge, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but we gradually gathered up all the bottles, yogurt pots, food trays and wipe packets we emptied during the week. When sharing the outcomes on the blog, I will be honest and admit that I was pretty embarrassed – the amount of single-use plastic we created as a relatively small family of four was insane, and the quantity really shocked me.
I really had my eyes opened to some of the concerns around single-use plastic (including the 300 million tonnes of plastic we generate EACH YEAR as a nation) and at the end of the campaign I visited The Midcounties Co-operative website to learn about the changes it was making and make my pledge on how to tackle and reduce our single-use plastic consumption as a family. Since that day, I am proud to have gone on to make lots of positive changes to our lifestyle and purchase decisions and am confident that if we were to repeat the challenge today, the amount we generated would be significantly reduced.
Could you be doing more to reduce your single-use plastic and attempt plastic free living?
When I shared my findings with my friends, family and followers, a lot of you agreed that you were equally concerned about the impact of single-use plastic on our environment. However, with busy lifestyles, family commitments and hectic work schedules, many of you said that you’d love to do more but didn’t know where to start or struggled to find the time to invest into tackling climate change.
This November, The Midcounties Co-operative have launched the next steps of is 1Change campaign, aiming to change the perception that TIME is a barrier to making a change. Appropriately titled 1Change in 1Minute, the aim is to prove that saving our planet does not need a significant time investment, and that you can actually make some very quick and easy changes that can have a huge impact.
Actions can often speak louder than words, so check out my Saving the World in 60 Seconds video below to see some of the steps I have taken to manage our family’s plastic consumption and take a step closer to plastic free living.
The Single-Use Plastic “Quick Wins”
My video highlights just a small selection of sustainable “quick wins” – the steps you can take to reduce your single-use plastic consumption with very little effort or time investment.
Some of the quick ways we’ve reduced our single-use plastic include:
Buying loose fruit and vegetables – Many fruits, vegetables and fresh produce items come in small plastic trays and wrapping which inevitably get discarded into the recycling the instant you consume them. By making the switch to loose fruit and veg, you can instantly prevent another piece of plastic entering our waste disposals.
Buy in Bulk – Not only is it often a more cost effective way to shop, but buying regular use items in bulk quantities can also help reduce the amount of plastic wrappers, bottles and bags that enter our recycling. We now look out for bigger boxes, larger packs and refillable bottles and opt for washing detergent that comes in boxes rather than plastic containers.
Buy a bag for life – and make sure to reuse it – Since the introduction of the carrier bag charge, we should all now be taking along our own carrier bags / re-useable bag options when carrying out our weekly food shop. Either invest in a canvas or fold away carrier (an ideal space saving option) or buy a bag for life, putting it straight back into your bag once you’ve unpacked so it’s ready for the next time you shop. And if like many families, you have a massive quantity in your cupboard under the sink – go and pop some in the boot of your car now! GO!
Re-use or Re-purpose – Our kids love craft, painting and creative projects, so when we do have plastic in our home, I make a real effort to reuse or re-purpose it before it is eventually sent to be recycled. With so many awesome plastic bottle hacks on Pinterest, there are lots of fun ways to reuse these items around the home, and we have a lot of fun in the process too!
Check before you throw – An obvious one perhaps, but do you really pay attention to everything you throw away? Before you discard something, take a moment to check if it can go in the recycling instead. If you’re unsure, most councils provide a handy print off guide you can display next to the bin!
It’s a wrap – We’ve previously been guilty of using a lot of foil and cling film to house our sandwiches for lunch, but options such as brown paper or bees wax sandwich wraps are a far more sustainable alternative, with the added bonus of being able to write a little message if you’re feeling sentimental too.
Bring your own cup – Whether it’s that morning coffee during your work commute or a hydrating H2O to get you through the day in the office, don’t forget to bring your own reusable cup. There are loads of great BPA free, silicone, husk or stainless steel anti-spill travel cups on the market now, with many coffee outlets giving discounts if you bring your own.
Be straw savvy – Ask yourself if a straw is really necessary (we have got mouths after all), but if your gin just isn’t the same without being sipped through a straw, or you need that super cold drink from the fridge, the stainless steel straws are a great option too. The girls love having these with their drinks at home and are just as fun but without the guilt.
Donate to charity – With two young children at home, I’d be lying if I said we don’t have a large number of plastic toys in our home (although we’ve been investing more in wooden toy options recently too). When having a clear out, I pack up and donate toys to our local charity shops, meaning that instead of being thrown away, they go to a new home for another lease of life instead.
What are The Midcounties Co-operative doing to help?
The Midcounties Co-operative is actively taking steps to protect our environment, with a target to reduce waste in its operations by 20% by 2022, whilst maintaining its current 99% recycling rate – something which alone would divert 3,000 tonnes of operational waste from landfill.
By 2020, as part of the 1Change initiative, The Midcounties Co-operative is also aiming to eliminate all single-use cups from in store coffee areas, eliminate single-use plastic straws and cutlery and are also enabling customers to bring their own containers for products from its meat and delicatessen counters.
A huge step last month saw The Midcounties Cooperative launch compostable bags in 115 of its food stores, a step which helps remove roughly 3.1million bags per year from circulation nationwide. These new bags are fully compostable within twelve months, which is a SIGNIFICANT change from their predecessor.
By working with its customers, partners and the local community, including working with schools on its ‘Plastic is Not Fantastic’ programme, The Midcounties Co-operative is aiming to help us all make more sustainable choices and protect our environment for future generations.
So what will YOU do to take a step towards plastic free living?
So, what will you do with your 1Changein1Minute? Time really doesnt need to be a blocker to plastic free living and there is so much you can do in just 60 seconds to help reduce your single-use plastic. Head over to The Midcounties Co-operative website to make your 1Change pledge! I hope the above has given you some inspiration on the quick wins you can take.
Imagine the impact on our planet if we all made just 1Change!!
*This post is not sponsored but does contain affiliate links*
As a family, we are making as many small steps as we can to be more sustainable, and change to more eco-friendly alternatives where possible including eco friendly gift wrapping, more sustainable purchases and reducing plastic. After working on the Make1 Change campaign last year, I have continued to take steps to reduce the amount of single use plastic we consume as a family, and the impact this has had on the amount of waste and recycling we produce as a family has been pretty significant.
With Christmas fast approaching, I have been looking into more sustainable eco friendly gift wrapping options and attempting a few more eco friendly gift wrapping methods for presenting and wrapping gifts. People don’t always realise this, but wrapping paper and Christmas crackers cannot usually be recycled, normally because they covered in plastic, dye, foil, glitter or sticky tape and have a shiny texture, meaning that last year Britain threw out 108 Million rolls of wrapping paper! And for what?Those 5 minutes where the children rip it all open to reveal the gifts inside, only for it to all be gathered up into a black sack and thrown straight into the trash. It’s completely unnecessary.
Here are my ideas for plastic free wrapping paper alternatives for a more environmentally friendly and sustainable Christmas!
Eco Friendly Gift Wrapping
Furoshiki Wrapping
Furoshiki is a Japanease art of wrapping gifts, food or other items using cloth – traditionally in a lightweight square piece of material such as silk. Unlike wasteful wrapping paper, the fabric wrapping can be used again and again so produces zero waste, and the Furoshiki wrapping techniques are very easy to achieve – not requiring a great deal of skill at all. You dont need to be an oragami or craft expert, just be able to tie some basic knots!.
Here is an example of a simple box I wrapped using a square scarf, but essentially any pieces of lightweight fabric will do the trick! Why not visit some local charity shops to see if you can find some cheap scarves or pashminas which you can use in golds, reds and greens? Furoshiki is really simple, but very effective and you can really experiment with different colours, styles and designs. Be warned however, start searching for Furoshiki techniques on YouTube and you could end up down a rabbit warren where time will pass by in a blur!
The example below of Furoshiki eco friendly gift wrapping is by far as perfect as it could be, but took me literally two seconds to create, and not a piece of plastic tape or wrapping paper in sight, and absolutely zero waste.
Create your own Christmas Wrapping Paper
My girls absolutely love a bit of festive craft, and getting the kids involved in making their own wrapping paper is not only a fab half term or weekend activity, but is a far cheaper and more sustainable way to wrap your Christmas gifts too.
Using a roll of plain recycled brown paper, and a small potato, simply create a potato stamp by cutting a potato in half and cutting into the desired shape e.g. Christmas Tree or star. Add some paint or natural dyes into a dish, and ask your children to dip and stamp onto the paper. Leave to dry and then repeat as required.
Its worth saying here, whilst you may want to add some sparkle to your designs, avoid the glitter, unless you can get hold of some biodegradable options which whilst a bit more expensive, are not going to end up in our oceans!
The finished effect is really simple but looks great, with a really natural yet warm and festive feel when they are all piled up together under the tree.
Reusable Linen Bags
Another option which the kids can help to design, is to wrap gifts using a reusable linen bag. Not only do they make a handy gift bag for your present, but once unwrapped, the bag can be folded up and stashed into the recipients handbag to use when they are out and about, as a great way to reduce single-use plastic usage when at the supermarket or local shop.
We bought these eco friendly gift wrapping plain canvas bags from Hobbycraft, which the girls designed using stamps and fabric paints. You can create statement quotes or fun printed designs and the opportunities are pretty endless. My family love receiving personalised and home made gifts, so knowing the they are using something that the girls have designed themselves would also create an element of sentimental value too!
Newspaper Wrapping Paper
If it’s already going in the recycling, why not wrap your Christmas gifts using old newspaper or magazines instead of shop bought wrap? Using fabric ribbons and natural decorations you can still make newspaper gift wrap look really festive, but unlike traditional wrapping papers which are often covered in glitter or made from a shiny paper that isn’t able to be recycled, the newspaper is 100% suitable to be reused or recycled without waste. Obviously chose the section of newspaper wisely – no one wants to be thinking about Brexit on Christmas Day or reading about a celebrity boob job gone wrong – have a quick scan first to make sure your content is age appropriate too!
I loved adding some personalised calligraphy tags on recycled brown parcel tags, and using some natural decorations such as dried orange peel and miniature pine cones to finish off the look, but again the creative opportunities are endless!
More Sustainable Gift Wrapping Ideas
The next thing to bear in mind for eco-friendly gift wrapping, is do you really need a physical gift at all??
At Christmas it can be all to easy to get dragged into spend lots of money buying ‘things’ for the children to unwrap, and this level of consumerism is bad for the environment because children simply get too much which increases the amount of waste. When I consider all the gifts I buy the girls, then add in the grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins, and the amount we accumulate is way more than we need, and far more than they can play with at any one time. Buying too much at Christmas inevitably leads to more waste, more land fill and more strain on our already struggling recycling services.
Toy Subscription Services
Toy subscription services like Whirli are a great option for more sustainable presents – where children borrow toys instead of buying them new. You buy an ever changing toy box, and when kids get bored, they can send the toys back and swap them for something new. Not only does this save money for the recipient from the normal RRP, but reduces waste, allows them to try out items they might not otherwise buy, and reduces the amount of plastic (packaging and product!) going into landfill too.
Whirli recently won Gold for the Best Subscription box in the Junior Design Awards and is hugely growing in popularity, with new and current toys being added all the time – you can see the full range of toy options here. I reviewed Whirli back in April, and loved it so much that I now pay for it myself. The girls love it when the “Whirli man” arrives with their new parcel and everything comes assembled and ready to play!
Sign up to Whirli using my referral code ZDO4SV9L and you will get £5 or 15% off your first payment, whichever is greater! (Affiliate link)
Gift Experiences
Whilst ‘things’ are always nice to open, don’t underestimate the importance of gifting experiences. Not only can these be sent as e-vouchers (which produce zero waste and don’t need to be wrapped or recycled), but they are also more likely to create memories that will be cherished far longer than your average toy or gift. Spending quality time with your loved ones instead, why not explore options such as an afternoon tea, segway ralley, trip to the cinema or taking your daughter to her first concert?
I’ve booked tickets for Erin to go to her first ever concert this year, and I know it is something that we both will really enjoy.
I hope you have found these ideas helpful for a more eco-friendly and sustainable Christmas.
If we can all do just a little bit to help reduce our waste and single use plastic usage, it would make a massive impact on our environment and help protect the world for future generations.
Do you have any other eco-friendly gift wrapping ideas? I’d love to hear them!
Have you heard of the Whirli Toy Subscription box yet? As Mum to two daughters, and a parenting and lifestyle blogger, this house has seen more than it’s fair share of toys. Some toys become long term hits, getting dragged out and played with every other weekend, creating hour after hour of imaginative play long after they are first unwrapped from the (usually copious amounts of) packaging. Others inevitably get forgotten about fairly quickly. The novelty wears off, or something new and exciting comes along that means some toys get forgotten about, put to one side, or simply surplus to requirements. I’ve seen Toy Story, and trust me, I get allllll kinds of guilt about the toys that are left to gather dust whilst they look down on the latest new addition with jealous glares. We had been looking at more eco friendly toys and sustainable toys to try and prevent the amount of waste and money we spent unnecessarily.
It appears we’re not alone. According to research from the team who invented the Whirli toy subscription box – children receive on average £350 worth of toys each year, with many toys getting neglected after just 4 weeks. Sadly many of these toys end up being thrown away – resulting in lots of plastic being sent straight to the tip.
As a family we have recently developed a bit of a one in one out policy, meaning that every time a new toy comes into the house, we donate another, sending it off to our local charity shops so that another child can play with it instead. Although this helps a little, I have recently been looking into ways to reduce our plastic consumption and become more sustainable as a family. After all, the amount of waste we create as a nation is pretty shocking, and this is my children’s and their future generations lives that I need to be taking care of.
When I heard about Whirli toys – a new toy subscription box service / toy library that allows children to enjoy, return and refresh their toys regularly, I thought it sounded absolutely amazing, allowing the girls to experience the joy of something new to play with, without the inevitable wasteful disposal of something else.
Whirli Toy Subscription Box – what you need to know
The Whirli toy subscription service looks to revolutionise the way in which parents shop for toys. Whirli believe that it’s better value to swap and not shop, and follow the mentality of Get, Play, Give and Repeat, helping parents de-clutter, regain lost storage space, and reduce the number of toys that inevitably end up in landfill. Whirli is a fun sustainable toys community, where you can pick, enjoy and swap the eco friendly toys your children play with as part of your subscription.
If you fancy giving it a go you can use the Whirli Toys Discount Code to get 20% off new subscriptions – NEW20 (valid until December 2023)
How does the Whirli toy box subscription work?
1, Choose your toys
Pick the toys you want from a huge variety of toys on their site – the toys are easily filtered by recommended age, category and brand, making it easy to find something specific you might be looking for.
In this house we’re huge fans of wooden toys, so I really enjoyed having a little explore of the wooden toy options to add to the girls toy box. We chose the Grimm’s Rainbow, Le Toy Van Honeybake Ice Lollies and the Melissa and Doug Rainbow Balance toy.
Each toy has a token value (approximately equal to £1 RRP) and depending on your subscription package, you get a fixed amount of tokens to exchange for toys each month. All subscriptions come with flexibility to choose your toys and to swap them at any time. What’s more, if you decide to keep a toy for 9 months without swapping it, you can keep it forever!
2. Delivery
Once you have made your selections (which to be honest is the hard part as there is lots of choice!), the Whirli toy subscription delivers your selected toys to your door (to any mainland UK address) in a fab reuseable and sustainable canvas bag. The toys aren’t brand new – so no battling to remove them from the over generous hoards of plastic packaging, but are all in excellent condition and full working order, having been triple checked and cleaned before sending.
3. Swap
When your children start to lose interest, simply return them and swap them for something else! Here comes the huge benefit of a toy subscription model! When they are returned to the team at Whirli, the toys are checked and steralised ready for another child to enjoy should they be selected again for play.
Whirli toy subscription plans start from £12.16 per month which gives you access to around £80 worth of toys at any one time. There are 4 subscription tiers available depending on your family size and the value of toys you wish to receive. The premium subscription – The Toy Chest – retails at £35 per month, but comes with a whopping £240 worth (approximately) of toys to select from.
4. Repeat
The girls have absolutely loved playing with some new brightly coloured wooden toys from the Whirli toys selection, and it is great piece of mind to know that if they lose interest or stop playing, I can send it back to Whirli and exchange it for something else.
What are is it suitable for?
Whirli is suitable for all ages – from newborn toys and toys for toddlers and preschoolers, all the way through to toys suitable for school aged children ages 5-8 years.
What toy brands do Whirli offer?
As you might expect, many of the brands featured in the Whirli toy subscription are from sustainable and ethical brands, with a real focus on Montessori, wooden toys and screen free fun. Here are just a few of the brands you can find at Whirli:
I think the Whirli toy subscription concept is absolutely fantastic, and in a world where we all have to do our bit to try and reduce our carbon footprint, this feels like a huge step in the right direction. If you have children who go through phases of favourites when it comes to their playtime, Whirli is a great option to allow them to experience a wider range of toys without the hefty price tag, with a Whirli subscription working out up to 9 x cheaper than buying things new at RRP.
You can learn more about Whirli toy subscrptions including the types of toy subscription packages available and frequently asked questions over on the Whirli website. To get 20% off your subscriptions, use the code NEW20
*We were given complimentary tokens for Whirli in exchange for our honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own*
Hi, I’m Lucy, a thirty something mum of two from Birmingham. A memory maker, tradition keeper, stationery addict and Mr Men fanatic. HR Advisor by day and sleep deprived Mama by night!
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