Drinking with Makka Pakka! (In The Night Garden Makka Pakka Sports Bottle)

Member Name: i_am_joy

Product:	In The Night Garden Makka Pakka Sports Bottle
Date:	23/02/09 (141 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to hold and drink from, reasonably priced, secure closure

Disadvantages: Filling hole is slightly too small in my opinion

Although my 20 month old granddaughter is the real In The Night Garden fan, Makka Pakka has acquired somewhat of a cult status in my older granddaughter's school. It was for this reason that I jokingly bought her this sports bottle for Christmas, never believing for a minute that she'd actually use it but surprisingly it was a real hit and she now takes the bottle to school every day with some juice or pop to consume during the day.

I have since bought the baby one as she has been drinking out of a cup for a while now and both me and her mum thought she'd cope with one of these sports bottles as the spout isn't too wide and made of a gentle plastic.

The bottle is an unusual shape, almost triangular with the flat area at the front having a large picture of Makka Pakka which looks nice and friendly and a good representation of the character from the tele. I find this shape is easier for the baby to hold rather than the other chunky round sports bottles my daughter keeps in the house, she can hold this one with one hand for a short period by gripping it along the shaped area at the back of the bottle. Granted, she needs two hands to actually pick it up and angle it enough to drink from but I definitely think the clever shape of this one is encouraging her to hold her drink like a big girl rather than having to almost wrap her arms around a wider bottle to keep it from dropping.

To fill the bottle you need to unscrew the cap and use the rather small hole, I find this hole fine when filling the bottle with Robinsons squash but it's very awkward to fill with carton juice or those glass bottles of HIPP baby juice which has a very wide neck. I make an awful mess particularly when trying to fill the bottle with Sainsbury's fruit juice as they have those awful plastic closures and the juice always spills down the carton, bottle AND work surface.

The sports cap is easy to drink from and the juice comes out at a steady pace. Obviously this isn't essential to know for an older child, but at 20 months this bottle could easily have been no good for my granddaughter is the drink had come out too quickly or too slowly. As it is though it's perfect, and universally perfect too as all three of my granddaughters' can easily drink from this bottle and they range in age up to almost 13! The drinking end of the spout pulls up and down as normal for this kind of drinks bottle, it's very smooth and easy to do though and even the baby has just worked out how to open and close it herself. Despite being so easy to open, the cap once closed is very secure and will not come open in your bag, my older granddaughter tells me she's never had a problem with hers leaking into her school bag and she's such a clumsy child that this in itself is a miracle!

I bought this one from Woolworths and it cost me £2 in the sales, you obviously can't get in from here anymore but Amazon sell the exact same bottle for £3.45.

Summary: A lovely looking sports bottle that your little one will love.