Should Santa Give Your Kids BEADOS?

It’s so hard to know, when you’re reading a sponsored post, whether or not the author genuinely likes a product or not. Well not only do I really, truly, honestly and genuinely like BEADOS, I can prove it.

When I was a kid, my father spent a day hunting for a special Christmas present for me which he thought every boy would love – a pop gun. You know the ones which worked on air pressure and shot a cork on a string at unsuspecting Aunties. Mum didn’t want me to have it, but Dad insisted. Which was why he was having to find it.

And on Christmas Day he waited eagerly for me to unwrap it and let out a ‘Whoop!’

He’s still waiting.

“What about this present which Santa got you?” he apparently asked me, while Smug Mum watched on. She was about to get smugger.

“It’s nice,” I said, giving the gun a dismissive glance while continuing to play with something else, ” but I think Santa can give that to another little boy.”

That was the last present my father bought for the kids, I suspect saving himself a lot of money.

I think we’ve all felt that stabbing pain you get in your bank account when you buy the kids a present for Christmas and they don’t want anything to do with it.

Which is probably why I now judge the success or failure of a toy on just one criteria above all others. Price I care about, obviously. Value for money crosses my mind. The noise factor comes into play, certainly.

There are dozens of questions I ask myself. Will it annoy me? Does it require frequent battery changes? Do we have space for it in the kids’ rooms? Is it safe?

All valid considerations.

In fact, on the safety front, BEADOS kicks a few goals for us. There’s no bottles of carpet-destroying glue required, no curtain-cutting scissors involved and no vinyl-destroying heat guns necessary. When their dexorous little fingers have arranged the colourful beads in as creatively satisfying a manner as their imaginations can come up with, they simply spray a little mist of water onto them and let the wonder dry. My kids have made rings, butterflies, dangly things and ugly things.

And all so easy a child could do it.

By themselves.

Which is the main thing I want to know: will the kids be able to play it by themselves long enough for me to nap on Christmas and subsequent afternoons?

If, like me, you want a present which will entertain, enthral and encourage (the kids to leave you alone), this could well be your answer.

Not only did my kids play happily with these products for an hour while I wandered around them taking photos and seeing what the product is all about, three of the four continued to play with them right up until dinner. The only reason the fourth didn’t was she went to a friends home for a sleepover: but she took a couple of sets with her and I’m told the two girls played quietly with BEADOS there for three hours!

That’s three hours plus of not sitting in front of a screen. Three hours plus of chatting and laughing. Three hours plus of being creative and using their minds, and coming away with something to show for it.

Which is why, despite having some ten sets sent to our kids for the purposes of this blog post and review, I went out this week and bought even more sets of BEADOS for Christmas.

It was that or a pop gun.

But seriously, if that’s not some sort of glowing recommendation, I don’t know what is.

For more ideas, check out the BEADOS website

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“Raising a family on little more than laughs.”