Mamas & Papas was probably the first baby shop I went into when I found out I was expecting O. A store had recently opened in The Trafford Centre and I found myself wandering around there excited, and a little overwhelmed, with how much choice there was. Our first purchases for O were made from there, a beautiful multi-coloured blanket and a couple of teddies, which are now living in G’s room.
After that first visit I was in love and spent hours browsing the Mamas & Papas website. Our nursery furniture was chosen from there and it was decorated in their Gingerbread range. O came home from the hospital in one of their beautiful tiny snowsuits.
After being such fans of Mamas & Papas the first time round, I forgot about it a little when preparing for G. Possibly that is because we didn’t need too much and I think I saw Mamas and Papas as more of a shop for the “big” things.
For some reason I had forgotten to think of Mamas & Papa’s for the more everyday items and it wasn’t somewhere that came to mind when I thought about buying toys. Whilst I may look at them if I’m in the shop I wouldn’t go out of my way to look for toys there.
I absolutely love wooden toys for children, and after browsing their website I chose to order the Babyplay Teaching Clock and the Babyplay Wobbly Stacking Tower. O had a wooden stacking tower as a baby but over time the pieces have gone missing so a new one would be perfect. It’s such a classic toy. When it came I was really impressed with the quality and the colours, I especially like the spotty ring. G is a little young for it yet but I can see him playing with this for hours in a few months time.
The Babyplay Teaching Clock has been a complete winner in our house. I chose this with my biggest boy in mind to help him learn how to tell the time with a real clock. The clock is lovely to look at but is also bursting with features. Obviously it has numbers, but I liked that each number was a different shape and colour to help younger children with shape recognition. The shapes are attached magnetically to the clock meaning that pieces aren’t going to go missing when the clock isn’t being played with but also means that it isn’t too fiddly when matching the shapes up. The fingers can be moved round and we have already spent a few hours teaching O how to tell the difference between the hours.
It is already a new favourite in our house and I think it will be for years to come.
As well as they toys I also chose a couple of items from their clothing range. I always think of Mamas & Papas as occasion wear for kids but they do a really great range of basics and everyday clothes too.
I picked out a plain cream t-shirt and grey knitted cardigan. With Autumn and Winter coming up I find cardigans are much more useful for babies than jumpers as they can easily be layered, plus they look really really cute. I liked that the clothes range had a nice mix of bright and more neutral colours. G already has quite a lot of clothes in his wardrobe (probably too many if I’m being honest) and so I thought these would mix and match well with the clothes he already has.
The long sleeve t-shirt is lovely quality and I liked the small detail in the corner. Like I mentioned above I’m a sucker for a cardigan and this one is gorgeous. I’m already wishing the cooler weather here so he can wear it, although I did order 3-6 months so it will be a few weeks until he fits into it.
I was definitely guilty of thinking Mamas & Papas was more for the big baby purchases but they have so much more to offer than that, and next time I pop to the Trafford Centre I’ll make sure I head in for a good nosey round (plus I already want the cardigan in navy too).
Disclosure: I was sent a £50 Mamas & Papas voucher for the purpose of this review but all thoughts and opinions are my own.