Only 2 more weeks before Christmas is here! Most Presents are bought the Christmas Tree is all nicely decorated and its time to write some Christmas cards ready to be sent out too! For every child the festive period and of course Christmas itself is a very magical time and as a parents you try to make this special time of their childhood as amazing as you can! I have been asked by the Portable North Pole if I would like to try to create a very special personalised video message which is delivered directly from Santa through a smart phone or tablet to show to Finn & Molly-May. PNP brings the magic of the North Pole Village to life and lets kids be kids a little bit longer as they see real-life Santa’s home, the magical reindeer’s, and the hustle and bustle of the elves!
You can choose between a Video Pass for £7.99 which includes unlimited premium videos for unlimited kids as well as the reaction recorder or the Magic Pass for £10.99 which gives you unlimited videos and calls for unlimited kids as well as the reaction recorder, bedtime stories with Santa (there is a new one uploaded ever week!) and HD download of all your videos and reaction recordings! On the App you can choose a password to protect the Parents Corner so the children can only Santa’s Messages (which includes the videos you have created) and they can take funny sElfies this is pretty handy if you have an older child who is inquisitive and can read already. On the website you an also find a tap (on the bottom left) which will guide you to Santa’s Village which is full of videos, activities like quizzes & colouring pages to download, stories and also some of Santa’s secrets for your little ones to discover and you can meet the villagers who live with Santa.
With the videos you can personalise things like Santa addressing your child by their name, mentioning their age and if there are going to nursery or school and he is also opening the little one’s Big Book (which even shows the child’s picture which you can upload) where Santa keeps details on every child in the world. The best thing is PNP have a reaction recorder (which only works with the PNP App) where your phone camera records your child watching the video message from Santa.
And here are some moments I manage to capture of both the children watching their videos (apologies for the slightly blurry one of Finn but his impression was just amazing when he spotted himself in the Big Book):
Although Portable North Pole’s products are largely aimed at children during Christmas time, there are free and Premium videos from Santa for grown-ups, for birthdays and also new this year, to groups of people, such as in childcare and preschool, for a total of 16 different video scenarios to choose from.
PNP has also launched a new line of toys and plush dolls this year. Their current toy line includes award-winners like the Do-Good Elf, the Magic Elf Door and Karameli the plush baby reindeer and lots of other lovely items which are available to buy at John Lewis. Each and every toy also includes a special code that will give you access to an exclusive personalised video.
We have been sent the Do Good Elf who has a very cheeky grin! All his lovingly (velvet-y) detailed Elf clothes are removable and washable and he comes with a Passport from Santa’s Village as well as some Christmas Elf stickers. His arms and legs can be bend into different positions too. You also get a code for 4 Personalised video messages to watch with your child. I have to admit I am not a huge fan of Elf’s, I find them a little bit creepy (especially in connection with that Elf on a Shelf thing which is doing the rounds for a couple of years now) but I have to admit I am warming to this one I guess it does help that he has a rather adorable face and feels very soft and squishy and you know what he isn’t my Elf and as long as the kids like him that’s all that matters (and he is only staying for a month before he is being send back to the North Pole for another year)!
He has already been on a few adventures with us including the one where we went to a Heathland to cut our very own Christmas Tree (can you spot him helping Finn cut down a tree?):
Molly-May has called him ‘Elfie’ and she has already took him along to her preschool’s ‘show and tell time’ to meet all her friends! She and Elfie sat down together last week to write the all important letter to the big man himself and he came along to her Ballet Christmas Party too:
What we thought about the Portable North Poles Video Services & the Do-Good Elf:
It is amazing to watch the kids get so fixated by the magic that is Santa and as you can see by their reactions in the video and the pictures I manage to capture they where absolutely delighted by the video! I would recommend to check before you press the play button for the video that your child doesn’t cover half the camera with their fingers! It might be a good idea instead of letting the child hold the phone to put it on a stand or hold it yourself instead or maybe even let them watch it on a tablet. If you are showing more than 1 child a video consider that you can’t recorder their reactions whilst the first reaction recording is uploading which normally takes around 10 minutes.
The video itself is great and both the kids loved Santa calling them by their name and mentioning their age and that they go to preschool/school and Finn was very amazed to see his picture pop up he cant wait to receive some more videos from Santa to see if he made it on his nice list and which present Santa ‘might’ bring him (you can even add a picture of the present to appear in the video)! What I was slightly disappointed with that Santa did not manage to spell Molly-May’s name so I had to do with Molly instead. I know of another friend whose daughter is called Saffy Rose and he only manage to say Sophia Rose despite her trying to write it on various different ways. I also though the logo of PNP at the end of each video isn’t really necessary and might bring up questions for older children Finn who is 7 did ask me what the 3 letters stand for so I had to make something up. Another positive thing I liked is that the Magic Pass is valid for 10 month so you can use it for everybody’s birthdays next year too, I have already set my reminder to do so!
Lets talk about Elfie the Do Good Elf as I mentioned above despite me not being a huge elf lover I thought he was pretty alright he retails at £20 but considering what you get with it plus if you are an Elf on the Shelf Lover you can have lots of fun with him! I absolutely adore the look of his fluffy mate Karamelli the baby reindeer and Okida the husky puppy who are both priced at an affordable £10 each! The new Portable North Pole range has got something for everyone from Santa’s Magic Key, a 24 sleeps till christmas Story book to a Good Deed Jar and prices range from £5 (for the Magic Bauble Surprise) to £20 (for the Good Deed Elf). I will most certainly be using the Video Service again next year because I think it’s a wonderful thing!
PNP has kindly given me a special 20% code for the Magic Pass for all my readers so you can create some magic for your children too! To redeem the promo code, you need to create an account at the Portable North Pole website and then at the payment cart apply the code: PNP7BLG20 to get the discount!
I leave you with a little video clip of both the children watching their personalised video message from Santa for the very first time! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I have been asked by the Portable North Pole to trial their Magic Pass video services for reviewing purposes, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Comments (1)
You have a beautiful family, loved looking through these pictures. Christmas really is a magical time of the year.