Happy Birthday Dear Peppa, Happy Birthday To You! (Peppa Pig - My Birthday Party and Other Stories (DVD))

Member Name: karalouk

Product:	Peppa Pig - My Birthday Party and Other Stories (DVD)
Date:	22/09/09 (121 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun and Entertaining for young children, great characters, good extras, nice length, well priced

Disadvantages: None

Peppa Pig is an animated childrens programme which is aimed at pre-schoolers and is created by Mark Baker and Neville Astley.

The programme revolves around a little girl pig called Peppa and her family - Mummy Pig, Daddy Pig and little brother George. Peppas friends and grandparents also regularly feature in episodes.

Each episode is just 5 minute long and a number of episodes are shown back-to-back when aired on television. Peppa Pig is regularly aired on Nick Jnr and Five.

My 2 year old is currently in love with Peppa Pig, so when we walked into HMV and saw shelves filled with £5.00 Peppa Pig DVD's we knew we wouldn't be walking back out empty handed.

I gave my daughter a choice of 4 different Peppa Pig DVD's and she chose one by the name of 'My Birthday Party and Other Stories'. The DVD proudly announced on the front cover that it had won a BAFTA for best pre-school animation, but I think my daughter was slightly more drawn to the big fat birthday cake and colourful lights!

Episodes (in order) include:

The Birthday Party - It is Peppa's birthday and she has invited all her friends round for a party where there is cake, balloons and even a magic show by 'The Great Mysterio' (Daddy Pig).

The Playground - Peppa, George, Daddy Pig and Peppa's friends visit the playground where there is a swing, slide and climbing frame. George manages to conquer his fear of heights.

Tidying Up - Peppa and George make a big mess in their bedroom and have to tidy it up. They make tidying more fun by playing boys v girls (Daddy and George v Mummy and Peppa) but keep getting distracted along the way. They eventually tidy their bedroom up but it's not long before it is a big mess again.

Frogs and Worms - Peppa and George are helping Grandpa Pig in his garden when they come across a butterfly. Peppa pretends to be a pretty butterfly, while George pretends to be a wriggly worm. In the end Peppa realises she likes worms and butterflies but she likes frogs the best.

Daddy Puts Up a Picture - Mummy Pig leaves Daddy Pig in charge of putting a picture of Peppa and George up on the wall. Things don't go exactly to plan as Daddy Pigs DIY skills make a huge hole in the wall. Daddy Pig, Peppa and George have to fix the wall and tidy up before Mummy Pig gets back home and realises what Daddy Pig has done.

At The Beach - Peppa and her family arrive at the beach. They all play in the sea and then the sand. Peppa and George bury Daddy Pig in the sand and put a hat over his head to stop his head from burning. Peppa and George decide to make sand castles before it's time to go home. They pack their beach towel, spotty ball, sunshade but are they forgetting something!?

Cleaning The Car - Mummy Pig complains at the state of the car so everybody helps to wash it. Sponge cleaning doesn't go to plan so they use the hose pipe instead. Before long the car is sparkling clean and they all go out for a drive. Mummy Pig announces they must keep the car clean from now on but fails to see the big muddy puddle infront of her!

Grandpa Pig's Boat - Peppa and George go out for the day on Grandpa Pig's boat. They run into Danny Dog and Grandad Dog (Peppas friend and Grandpa Pig's friend) on the river where there is instant competition between Grandpa Pig and Grandad Dog. They race their boats but Grandpa Pig's boat runs out of petrol and the two Grandads are forced to apologise to each other, before Grandpa Pig is towed back to shore.

Daddy's Movie Camera - A big parcel arrives in the post - what is it? A toy? A dinosaur? No, it's Daddy Pig's new movie camera. Everybody has great fun playing with the new camera, especially Peppa who enjoys imitating Daddy Pig on it.

The School Play - Peppas school is putting on a play of Little Red Riding Hood. Peppa plays Little Red Riding Hood, Danny Dog plays the Big Bad Wolf, Pedro Pony plays the Hunter and Rebecca Rabbit plays Grandma. You get to see all of the children practicing their lines and then get to see the final performance which all the Mums and Dads are very impressed by.

The extras on the DVD include 2 interactive games. The first game is called 'Learn your colours with Peppa!' which is very easy to operate, it fun for little ones and can definitely help with learning colours - the aim of the game is to click on different colour slodges, where the name of the colour is read out loud and a clip of Peppa Pig is shown where there is reference to that certain colour (eg. red car, orange carrot, yellow boots). The second game is called 'The tidy up game' and again is very easy to play - it might even make your child want to tidy up their own toys? The aim of the game is to click on Peppa and George's toys which automatically throws them back into the toy box (the funny noises also make my daughter really laugh for some reason). Overall I think these are very good extras (fun and educational), especially in comparison to many DVD extras.

The first thing which I like about this DVD is that in every episode they are taking part in every day activities (such as going to the park, tidying their bedroom and washing the car etc) rather doing crazy things, which children can understand and relate to really well. I also love the illustrations - they are so simple but manage to look so cute and effective.

All of the characters on the DVD are regulars from the show and are all very likable and easy for children to understand and relate to. Peppa Pig isn't naughty but she is very cheeky and sometimes a little bit bossy - I don't see her as a bad role model at all (except for the fact she's a pig!) which is lucky as my daughter has picked up numerous Peppa mannerisms and sayings!

My daughter really enjoys watching this DVD and always has a smile on her face when watching it - it has plenty of funny moments, which I think is crutial for keeping childrens attention (we also love the way they all fall about laughing at the end of almost every episode). The episodes are also quite educational in their own ways and can teach youngsters new things in a fun way.

I'm really pleased with the length of the DVD and the amount of episodes crammed onto one DVD. The length of the episodes is also perfect for keeping childrens attention and isn't too tedious for adults. It can also be very handy if you need to get a few household chores done - I sometimes put on a couple of episodes when I need to get the washing up done!

'My Birthday Party and Other Stories' is available from HMV, WHSmith, Toys R Us, Amazon.co.uk, Play.com, Borders and most big supermarkets, to name a few. It generally retails between £3.99 - £9.99.

Other similar Peppa Pig DVDs include 'Flying a Kite and Other Stories', 'New Shoes and Other Stories' and 'Piggy In The Middle and Other Stories'.

Overall I think this is a great DVD for all pre-schoolers and would even make a nice birthday gift (given the title of the DVD and the first episode).

Summary: Fun and entertaining. Oink!