The Asda Glow in the Dark Skeleton Costume is a cheap outfit that does what it says on the box. It might have been more exciting with a few accessories, but you can always buy those separately. We certainly found it very practical to wear it’s good value for money.

The Woolworth’s Frankenstein Costume is a great value, child-friendly and effective-looking outfit. Its near tantrum-free design is a real winner and whether you’ve got a little monster – or you simply want to make one – this should be a great addition to the halloween chamber of horrors.

For enjoyment expressed by the small people, the BBC Audio 3rd and Bird – The Muffin Express and Other Stories CD is the current No. 1. Bigger people might find that it grates. But then again, there aren’t that many children’s CDs that don’t.

It’s Thomas, and small boys will love it. Whilst they probably won’t choose to listen to the BBC Audio Thomas & Friends – The Little Old Engine & Other Stories CD over an actual read of the Thomas books, it could certainly help while away 1 hour and 15 minutes of a long car journey. In my ideal world I’d have bought it together with the books so we could look at the books together and then I think they would be keener to listen to it in the car.

The Woolworths Vampire Costume is a budget buy with a lot for your money, but by no means the most spectacular costume I’ve seen and the quality is very disappointing. The pointy-eared headpiece and the cape are definitely the highlights of the set. But that’s only if you can persuade your toddler to keep them on!

I can’t believe the Aldi Children’s Halloween Costumes were only £5.99 each! Amazing value. I don’t think they’ll last until next Halloween but the girls sure will have fun with them this year.

I can’t think of any little girl who wouldn’t want one of these fluffy, original creations, the Halloween Pumpkin Tutu is the perfect present for any Princess or pumpkin worth their tutu and you’ll struggle to get them dressed into anything else!

Sure, the Kiddymania Medieval Princess Outfit is a little pricy, but the quality shows. I think this is well worth the money. If you have a little one like mine, with an active imagination, then this costume will be a big hit. I’m going to mention the quality again because I think this dress is exceptional – it looks like it will withstand some pretty serious Medieval play.

I’d definitely recommend The Adsa Pumpkin Fancy Dress Outfit if you’re looking for an outfit for a 2 year old or under. You’ll get lots of growing room and it’s certainly cute enough to make your little one the star of the night! I also felt it was great value for money for the price.

The Snazaroo face-paints and Special KX kits are safe and easy to apply and – importantly – wash off easily. We were careful not to get any onto clothes, but I would imagine it would be quite straightforward to remove. And you can perform miracles of healing in a matter of minutes to the fake injuries sustained in an evening’s trick or treating. All in all, these kits are a couple of halloween essentials. Just remind me to disconnect the doorbell.

If you’re looking for a high-quality costume that won’t fall to bits, the Kids Army US Pilot Jumpsuit is for you. And it doesn’t hurt that my son looked completely, utterly adorable in it. Highly recommended.

The Kiddymania Dinosaur Dressing Up Outfit is something kids can play in for several years, which is a rarity among Halloween costumes. Little S can also testify that this is a GREAT costume for perfecting your roar in!

The M&S Pirate Skeleton Kids Halloween Outfit looks great once it’s on, but it is a little bit fiddly, and the fabric was definitely thinner on this than the other two outfits we tested. This is also definitely a party outfit, not a going out outfit – it’s thin and it’s October – who’s wearing cropped trousers at this time of year? Lunatics, that’s who.

The Disney Peter Pan Outfit is a bit more expensive but something your child should get lots of use out of. Younger children will need help getting the trousers on. Buy a size up, and you’ll get more wear – it’s easy enough to roll up the trousers around the waist if they’re too long.

The Tesco Skeleton Kids Halloween Costume is really great value for money outfit and more substantial than some supermarket offerings. Definitely my favourite from the Tesco range this year.

The Playmobil Pirate Island Superset is a nice addition to a pirate Playmobil collection, but the base is a little limiting. I’m also possibly weirdly liberal, but I found it kind of amazing how many weapons two pirates need – daggers, swords, guns and a cannon?

The Playmobil Go-Kart Race Compact Set is a nice little set, and inexpensive enough to make a good present for a birthday party, as you don’t need any other Playmobil sets to be able to play with this set.

The Playmobil Playground Set is a really great toy that’s perfectly pitched for children aged 4 and 5, who enjoy pretend play around schools, playtime, making friends. There are some lovely items, and the quality is very impressive, with each piece strong enough for robust handling by pre-schoolers.

For us, the Playmobil Expedition Ship would be an expensive set as it’s mostly used as a bath toy – and there are far cheaper bath toys around! But if you have a child who is keen on boats and fixing things, this is a nice set, which is fairly robust and has some nice details.

The Playmobil Take Along Knights Battle Chest is one of the more disappointing Playmobil sets and I personally wouldn’t recommend it. I think it’s quite small – I’ve seen much nicer wooden castles, which you could play with using Playmobil or other figures, and which would probably last longer and stand up to a bit more rough handling.

The Playmobil Ambulance is a great value set considering how much play value it has. Nice and sturdy, and it really encourages imaginative play. As an added bonus, it introduces the idea of kids getting knocked off bicycles, so we’ve been chatting about road safety, too. Totally recommend this one.

The Fisher Price Rainforest Jumperoo is good fun for little tots with lots of variety for fun, stimulating play. But the novelty soon wore of for us, making it an expensive choice for such short term use.

Eric Carle’s ABC Game is a nice visual way to have fun with the alphabet (and some strange animals). However at £14 I would have expected the pieces to have been a bit more substantial and robust. The whole thing looks so lovely it’s a shame it’s been let down somewhat by ‘cheap’ counters and a spinner than only just spins.

The Naturally Playful Storybook Cottage Playhouse is a dream playhouse for any child, full of fantastic features and sturdy and big enough to last a long time. However, you might need to smile sweetly at the Grandparents to afford the hefty price tag!

Travel Brain Benders are just so darn infuriating. That’s about it really. They made us angry. I wouldn’t mind, but the ones we were testing were at the ‘easy’ end of the tricky spectrum!

The VTech Push and Sing Tricycle is not an expensive toy, but I expected more from a name like VTech, and I think it’s really not something that will be played with for hours on end. Could do better!