Wicked Uncle is an awesome online toy shop, created not with the parents in mind but to help other relatives and friends buy presents for children. You'd think that with having my two boys and my two stepchildren that I would be a total pro at gift shopping by now, but actually I always end up a little flummoxed and often just buy something safe. For the last few months, all of Little N's friends have been receiving Play-Doh for their birthdays!
Wicked Uncle is more of a gift service than a toy shop. They have divided their toys by age and gender, so even with the most basic of information you should be able to find something suitable. And if you know a little more about the child, such as being into crafts, or loving outdoor play, you can also search by category.
Once you've chosen suitable presents you can use Wicked Uncle's gift wrapping service; this is really handy if you need to send a gift directly, or if you're just not that great at wrapping. They have ten different types of gift wrap to choose from, plus they'll send a handwritten gift card. And they'll even include a prefilled "Thank you" postcard. I particularly love this, as I think sending a thank you note is lovely and polite thing to do, and always encourage my children to send them.
To try the service for myself, Wicked Uncle gave me a voucher code so I could order a toy or two and see what I thought. Instead of filtering by gender, I just filtered by age, as I wanted to see everything that was stocked. First I filtered by age three and then I had a look through the options for age four. Little N isn't four until November but these toys seemed more suitable for him.
I love the variety of toys; there are so many exciting things available and I spent absolutely ages browsing. I'm certain that you could find something that even the pickiest of children would be happy with! There are lots of wonderful wooden toys and puzzles which I am really fond of, and I was really happy to see so many well-known and well-trusted brands like Melissa & Doug, Janod, Hape and Le Toy Van.
Eventually I settled on this Melissa & Doug Catch & Count Fishing Game and this Hape Sea Turtle Puzzle Maze. The fishing game is aimed at children aged 3+, so ideal for Little N's age group. You spin the spinner and then use the fishing rods to "catch" the correctly numbered/coloured fish. It's a great game for helping Little N with his numbers and coloured, but also helping both him and J with their balance and coordination skills.
The puzzle maze is aimed at children aged 2+, so for children slightly older than J who is now 20 months. With this game they use the magnetic pen to coax the coloured balls through the maze and into the turtle's coloured shell. I thought this would be brilliant for helping J improve his coordination and fine motor skills, as well as teaching him about colours. Little N loves it to, and it's a good game for car journeys.
I was really impressed with the service from Wicked Uncle. The selection of toys is fantastic, with a really wide range of prices and different types. And the speed of delivery was great - I ordered late on Tuesday evening and my order arrived by Thursday lunchtime. I will certainly be using them again in the future, I've already got my eye on a few more awesome toys!
I was given a voucher code to review the Wicked Uncle service.
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