I've always noticed that many of the best baby and child products are invented by real mums and dads who are reacting to a problem that they have encountered that didn't have a solution. Well, a few weeks ago, I received an email from a new grandmother who had done exactly that.
She explained : "On becoming a brand new grandparent last year, I found that, not only was our home “child unfriendly”, but life is far too short to spend it held hostage to a lounge full of toys under foot - after all I had done my "bit" 30 years ago ! We, like a lot of people today, have wooden floors and whilst they look great, we found that they are not particularly "baby friendly" in the falling over area! As I make quilts as a hobby, a couple of floor quilts were made for Thomas, our new grandson. In fact several were made, as my mum has wooden floors too, but then I had to store them as well as his growing toy collection! One day I picked up the quilt with the toys inside and voila! The Tidy Time was born. After a number of editions we came to what you see on our website now, www.tidytime.co.uk."
They sent us one of their products to try out. When opened, it's a fairly large (approximately 90cm x 90cm) padded activity mat that is squishy enough to be lovely and soft for an immobile or crawling baby to lie on quite happily.
It took me a couple of attempts to fold it up correctly into a cube, but once you've got the knack, it's dead easy. The folded storage box measures 30cm x 30cm so it takes up a lot less space than the usual pile of toys in the corner or playpen used as a toy storage area.
As my children are out of the baby stage, they were more interested in using it as an activity mat on the table than on the floor. We put it on the table for some messy play and it made tidying up an absolute breeze - all the bits of soil, glitter and cut up fragments of paper could be transported to the bin then shaken outside with zero spillage, which is fantastic.
It also came in handy for colouring in without worrying about the ink going through to the table cloth.
Some of the hems are slightly rough but as someone who was keen on sewing and patchwork before I moved on to blogging, I actually like this homemade, slightly rustic look because you know you're getting something unique and made with love rather than mass produced. In fact, if you go to look at the website, you'll see that you can pick the unique combination of patterned fabrics that takes your fancy. They also have a "match your furnishings" bespoke service which could be quite cool too.
It's a lovely idea for a handmade gift that has a funky and functional side.
star rating : 4.5/5
RRP : £39.95
for more information : http://www.tidytime.co.uk
Disclosure : I received the product in order to write an honest review.
Other reviews you may be interested in :
No comments:
Post a Comment