Buying presents for kids is not always an easy task, whether that’s for your own child, for young relatives, or for school friends. You don’t want to get something they’d already have, or that will just gather dust lying unused, and if you are buying for a child that’s not your own sometimes it can be hard to decide what will be appropriate especially if the child is the opposite gender to your own, or a different age group.
Wicked Uncle is a great place to browse when you’re stuck for present buying inspiration, as you can buy a good variety of kids toys and gifts and they have handy tools to help you see options by age, gender, or categories like creativity or adventurer if you have some idea of the type of route you want to go down.
We were given a £40 budget to select and try out some toys from the website. As there are plenty of very reasonably priced items on the site, I managed to choose 3 items within that budget and all of them have been a hit with my kids (and me!)
I ended up selecting toys from the Brainiac category, as I find these type of games are really engaging for my kids. It’s great to see such a good selection of these type of toys on the Wicked Uncle site, for all ages of child. It took me quite a while to choose because there were so many other tempting options there too. One of the great things with Wicked Uncle is that it does stock brands which are not always found in your high street toy shops, so you can come across new products and hopefully choose something cool that the giftee hasn’t seen before too!
The Riddle Racker game that I chose was a brand I hadn’t come across before, and they seem to be quite new. This game was a huge hit with my kids, so I’m really happy to have come across them and will be looking out for other versions of this to be released in future. It’s a quiz game with rhyming riddle cards, and when one is read out, each of the children has a little white board to put their guesses down on. If they get it right, they get to answer a quiz question on the same theme.
The questions in this version of Riddle Racker are all about mythical creatures, and I chose it particularly with our 7 year old in mind as he is interested in dragons and anything of that nature. He did really well on the riddles and was the winner in our house, and was really pleased with himself. It was such a good choice for him! But the bonus was that the rest of the family had fun joining in with this too – even the 2 year old managed to get a couple of the easier ones, and there were a few that were even tricky for us parents so you get a good mix of difficulties in there. This game is £7.95 on Wicked Uncle, which makes it an ideal price for kids birthday party presents too.
You get a magnifying glass in the pack to help you see the answers, both for the riddles and the questions, and there are 50 riddles and 100 quiz questions in total. There is also an animal Riddle Racker available on Wicked Uncle, as well as this version.
With my youngest in mind, I selected the Three Little Piggies game from Smart Games, which has also been a hit as she’s spent a long time playing, and come back to it again and again. Smart Games products are fantastic especially as they can be done with just one player. With my youngest at home during the day while her older brothers are all at school, a one player game like this is something great for her to work with. This is a simple logic game, which helps introduce preschoolers to logical thinking and problem solving. It’s themed all around the popular fairy tale The Three Little Pigs, and comes with a book to introduce you to the story before playing the game.
To play the game, you have a challenge book with two types of challenges – day or night time, and you have to place the houses and the pigs so that they fit each scenario. Each of the challenge types starts out easier, and then progresses through three difficulty levels so the game can grow with the child as they get better at solving the problems.
This game is 21.95 on Wicked Uncle, and there are other Smart Games products available for various ages and difficulty levels. This one is recommended for age 3-6 and I have my eye on the Snow White version for N once she’s a little older (Recommended for 4-7)
The last game I chose was something that could be shared between the children. BrainBox games always go down well, we have a few different themes at home but the Science theme is something we don’t have, and a great way for them to learn while having fun.
7 year old R enjoyed remembering the information ready to answer the questions, or challenging us parents with it! Whereas for N because she is younger (2), these cards work really well with a slight rule tweak so she looks at the card while answering the questions. For all of the kids, I found they did learn new facts and information while playing so that’s a win:win from the parent’s side too as I love to encourage them in that.
This game is another very reasonably priced one at 10.95 on Wicked Uncle.
We love all of these products from Wicked Uncle. Their website made it very easy to select appropriate toys and games that will be well used and appreciated.
Once you’ve selected your gifts, if you’re sending it directly to a child such as your niece or nephew then you can add gift wrap and a card or message of your choice at the check out too.
Visit Wicked Uncle to see their full selection and have a good browse!
We were given store credit in order to review, and given freedom to select the items we wanted to feature.
Did you know Wicked Uncle also has a USA website? Click here to find out more.
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.