#AD – Samples sent for review – contains affiliate links*
Erin has always been a huge fans of surprise reveal toys, and now 2 and a half, Neve is following closely in her footsteps. Both are big fans of BABY born dolls and creative play, so we were very excited to learn about the NEW BABY born Surprise toy from Zapf Creation that has hit the shelves this Easter after a successful launch in the US.
Aimed at children aged 3 and above BABY born Surprise is set to be the new craze and combines collecting, unboxing and surprise toys in one. BABY born Surprise comprises of cute baby characters dressed in swaddles, with over 10 surprises to discover with each one. Just like unwrapping a present, children will love unboxing and unwrapping their baby to reveal their adorable features hiding below!
We were lucky enough to get our hands on some BABY born Surprises prior to the release so the girls could put them through their paces. Here’s our verdict!
The BABY born Surprise is much smaller than a traditional doll but larger than other surprise reveal toys on the market, about the size of a large mango when removed from the plastic casing (they may require an adult’s assistance with this bit).
The first ‘reveal’ is to unfold the outer layer of the package by untying the ribbon bow and opening out the wrapping to reveal the baby lying inside. The first layer is a large BABY born sheet which can helpfully be reused as a blanket for other larger dolls or simply to wrap the characters back up again should the girls wish.
There are 12 different BABY born Surprise characters to collect, and each baby character is bundled up in an adorable snuggly swaddle which is made from super soft fleece materials. The designs vary from an ice cream cone to a unicorn, and there are a couple of mermaids designs thrown into the mix too! If your children are anything like mine, the unicorn and mermaid varieties are going to be extremely popular and definitely make the wish list!
When you open up the outer wrapping, you will reveal a small blind bag and your character lying fast asleep in their swaddle, in our case, we revealed a peas in the pod type design which was very cute. The swaddle is easily opened and closed with a velcro fastening, meaning even younger children can pop the baby in and out of her swaddle easily without assistance. The BABY born Surprise baby initially has it’s eyes closed and in order to revel the eye colour you need to use water in order to ‘wake’ the baby.
The eye colour reveal is a one time only activity, and we found that using a baby wipe worked quite well or alternatively you can dip some tissue in water. There is a make up like layer over the baby’s eyes (almost like a paint / foundation type substance), which was easy even for small hands to remove. As you wipe the outer layer away, your babies eyes, and their eye colour are revealed below (looks like we missed a teeny bit on our baby below!).
Once you have revealed the eye colour, unwrap the swaddle to reveal their unique hair style. Again each BABY born Surprise has a variety of different hair styles ranging from a small tuft to a full head of adorable curly hair!
The next surprise is to find out the gender of your baby. Open up your surprise blind bag to reveal either a pink or blue bottle inside. We were lucky enough to get one of each!
Each BABY born Surprise doll has their very own colour change nappy, each with a unique design which appears when their nappy is wet. In order to reveal the design, you must first feed them water to make them pee. This involves sucking water into the bottle, popping the bottle in to the baby’s mouth and squeezing to empty the contents. I have to admit there was a bit of an art to this, and one of our babies pee’d pretty quickly whilst the other needed a bit of shaking and encouragement for the water to come out. If your child is impatient like mine, another option is to simply pop the baby into water, as the reveal happens much faster that way! 🙂
Each character has a birth certificate which comes with fun surprise games to play as they reveal each surprise, and helps children to learn more about their characters name, birthday, star sign and favourite food.
Overall the girls have really loved the BABY born Surprise dolls – Neve in fact so much that she has insisted on taking her baby upstairs to bed with her and have her lie down next to her bed in her little swaddle, and loves carrying them both around with her! The BABY born Surprise dolls are a great alternative to Easter eggs, and at pocket money prices are a great way of treating your child to a doll without having to invest a huge amount! That said, with 12 different characters to collect in series 1 and a collectors sheet, I can imagine the girls will want to try and collect them all.
BABY born Surprise dolls are available from Amazon, The Entertainer, Smyths Toy Stores, Argos and all good toy stores and retail at £11.99 each.
Pros of the BABY born Surprise dolls
- Lots of stages to unwrapping and interacting with the baby
- 12 different babies to collect
- Small sized doll / pocket money prices as opposed to larger more expensive dolls.
- Fun interactive elements to ‘reveal’ and learn more about the baby – prolongs the play time and makes them a little bit different to other surprise toys on the market.
Cons of the BABY born Surprise dolls
- From a parent’s perspective, the wee’ing part in order to change the colour of the nappy was a bit of a faff, and for us we found it easier to simply wet the nappy to reveal the pattern.
- You can’t tell which one of the 12 characters from the outer packaging (as you would expect from a surprise reveal toy!) but as a result you may find you get a few duplicates which could be frustrating. That said, children may be able to swap with friends prior to doing the eye colour and opening the blind bag, as they will see in the very early stages of the reveal if they already have that particular doll.
Baby born Surprise Giveaway Bundle!
Fancy winning a bundle of 3 Baby born Surprise dolls for your children to unbox themselves? Which characters will they get?? Enter using the giveaway link below.
Our standard giveaway terms and conditions apply. UK entries only. Giveaway opens 14/8/19 and closes Sunday 25th August 2019 at 11.59pm. Good luck!!
*Disclosure – we were sent BABY Born Surprise dolls in exchange for our honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own*
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