“Mummy! When can we go on a train again?”
That’s the question I hear more often than anything from Master C. He is train obsessed at the moment and seems to like nothing more than us using the family railcard to go somewhere on the Thameslink line, mainly just so he can look out of the window and be all excited about actually being on a train. One of his favourite trips has to be to go just up the line to Luton, as he knows that once there there is a perfectly positioned Starbucks where he can sit in the window and watch not only the trains, but also the buses in the next door bus station too. It’s my little boy’s dream trip out!
We can’t always be out on trains though, and when we’re at home his toy train set still gets plenty of use (and Father Christmas may be about to help him expand his train empire further…) and at night he goes to sleep tucked up under a Thomas the Tank Engine duvet cover, often clutching in his hand a Thomas torch too – just so he “can see whilst asleep as the big light’s off”. It’s all incredibly cute!
It was lovely therefore to receive an email from Character World, who I met when I was up at Blog On back in September, asking if he’d like to review some of their Thomas the Tank Engine range. Now, if you have kids and haven’t heard of Character World – where have you been???
They are a wonderful company who aim to be “the number one licensed textile manufacturer, firstly in the UK and then across EMEA”. Now, corporate speak set to one side – what is utterly fantastic when you look at their website is the range of characters that they do bedding and other kids bedroom accessories for. Everyone from Thomas the Tank Engine, Star Wars and Spiderman through to Barbie, Peppa Pig and Lego Friends. Basically, if your kids want character bedding it’s a pretty safe bet to assume that Character World can meet your needs.
For Master C they kindly sent along a Thomas the Tank Engine duvet and pillow case set for his (toddler) bed, along with a Thomas fleece blanket, and best of all, a Thomas the Tank Engine beanbag. As soon as I saw the delivery man coming up the drive carrying a huge package I wondered if it might have a beanbag inside and I was delighted to see that it did. As a child a beanbag was something that I always wanted yet never had for some reason, so it feel a bit like re-living my childhood through my kids for Master C to now have one in his bedroom.
To say that Master C was excited when I presented him with all this would be an understatement. He wanted to put the duvet cover on his bed straight away (Mummy being one of those annoying sorts who insists on washing new bedding first…) and then when it was on his duvet he instantly got into bed, fully dressed, and told me he was going to sleep so he could be with his new duvet. I think that means he liked it.
I was pretty pleased with it all too. From a practical point of view, the duvet cover and pillowcase washed really well and the fleece blanket is perfect for going over his duvet on these colder winter nights. I’m also expecting that it will come camping with us next year, as Master C was always a bit upset that he couldn’t take his Thomas duvet camping with him in the past. This might be the solution we need.
As for the beanbag. Well, this might be his new favourite thing. I do need to work a bit on getting him to ask for help when trying to carry it up and downstairs (!) but he loves sitting on it in his room when reading a book, or plonking it right in front of the TV so he can sit on it and watch something. It’s also apparently a wonderful thing for climbing on and then jumping off in a slightly dangerous fashion. That’s boys for you though isn’t it?
Sometime in the next year I think we’re going to have to move Master C up from his current toddler bed, into a proper “big bed”. When we do I think the sweetener in the whole thing might be allowing him to choose his next set of bedding from Character World. The train obsession may well still be going strong by then, but even if it’s not, there are plenty of other ranges for him to choose from.
Disclaimer: We were sent the mentioned duvet cover set, fleece blanket and beanbag for the purposes of this review. All opinions remain my own. This post contains affiliate links.
Leave a Reply