We’re excited to announce that we have joined the Chad Valley Play Panel and will be reviewing a variety of toys from this range in the upcoming months, starting with today’s review of the Chad Valley “Babies to Love” Lily Interactive Doll.
150 years old, the range of over 400 Chad Valley toys is exclusively available at Argos and the majority of toys are for babies, toddlers and younger children. The really special thing about Chad Valley is that all the toys are designed and developed purely with play in mind. That’s it, just pure play and imagination!
To celebrate joining the play panel, Chad Valley are also going to give a special prize to one of our Diary of the Evans-Crittens’ loyal readers, so look out for the competition being launched in our next post.
Chad Valley “Babies to Love” Lily Interactive Doll
Setting Up
This lovely Lily Interactive Doll comes in a rectangular box so is nice and easy to wrap up as a present for Christmas (can you tell I hate wrapping odd shapes?). It is also quick and easy to open without the need for untwisting hundreds of twist ties. I liked this simple packaging as at Christmas with four kids, Dave and I can often see a lot of twist ties and screws that need to be removed to get to the toy and it can become frustrating for both us and the eager to play kids. This doll is easily removed from the box by unlooping the elastic on the neck and taking the dolls feet out of the only two twist ties needed.
The Lily Interactive Doll requires three AAA batteries which I was pleased to see were included with the toy. However, as our doll was left “On” because it had a “Try Me!” option, we actually had to replace our batteries immediately, so I’d advise you keep some batteries and a screwdriver ready just in case if you purchase this doll (it’s always a good idea to stock up on batteries before Christmas and birthdays anyway). I was pleased that once I’d replaced the batteries, it was working and ready for Isabelle to have a play.
First Thoughts and Play with the Lily Interactive Doll
Isabelle was delighted as soon as she saw the doll. We have bought dolls for all our kids to play with over the years as they’re important to develop their nurturing skills. She gave her doll a big hug and was fascinated when she discovered the doll was interactive too.
The doll has ten interactive functions to make play more realistic. It also comes with a bottle and a dummy which naturally brought about the discussion that not all babies have dummies or bottles. In our home only Danny did as he was a tube and bottle fed special care baby. The older three kids have all seen me breastfeed their younger siblings, but as Isabelle is our youngest, she has missed out on that and I want her to grow up knowing both breastfeeding and bottle feeding are normal.
Lily makes a suckling sound when given her dummy and bottle. She giggles when you touch her cheek.
She makes sleeping noises when you rock her to sleep.
Pat Lily on the back to burp her after her feed.
Her soft body means she’s very cuddly!
She’s also easy to undress and dress and also wears a hat to keep her head warm (there are other outfits available to buy too).
She chats to you when you press her belly.
She says “Ma..ma..” when you press her left hand. Izzy did ask why she didn’t also say the sounds “Da..da..” as well.
The best thing about Lily is her infectious giggle when you “tickle” her toes! You have to press the foot more than tickle, but this is such a lovely realistic sound.
Isabelle said she “really loves and loves and loves” her new dolly. She has named her Lily Phillips!
Isabelle’s Review
Isabelle has kept her doll with her since she was given it. She has said that the only way they could make this doll better would be to sell it with a baby carrier so she could carry it easily. I explained to her that these can be bought separately and we already have one she can use anyway.
Other Accessories
There are other dolls and accessories available in the Chad Valley “Babies to Love” range. There is a pram, a pushchair, a sleep, feed and travel set, an outfit set, a nursery centre and a potty. I think it’s great that there are a variety of well priced accessories to buy.
Overall Review
The Chad valley “Babies to Love” Lily Interactive Doll is great quality and an affordable priced doll. She is the perfect size for little ones to handle. She has lots of useful, thoughtful features, such as the dummy attached to her play suit so she can’t lose it and everything you need in the box so she can begin play straight away with the option to buy more accessories if you want.
I’d like to see an interactive boy doll available too and also more choice of colours in the range but she really is a beautiful doll who will be loved for years.
Chad Valley “Babies to Love” Lily Interactive Doll is suitable for children aged 2 years and above and usually priced at £24.99 (at the time of writing the doll is priced at £19.99 on a 20% off offer).
We were sent this doll for the purposes of review as we are members of the Chad Valley Play Panel.
Pin this post for later:
Lily Philips
Is a belle named her dolly lily philips
Is a belle named her dolly lily philips
Isabelle named her doll Lily Philips. Beautiful name !