Barny's Little MN adventure: feedback thread NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

This thread is for the Mumsnetters who have been trying Barny – the delicious sponge bears with a hidden centre whilst on a little adventure with their DCs.

Here's what the team at Barny say:

“Barny wants to inspire kid's natural curiosity – whether it’s playing in the garden, exploring the local park or simply the little discoveries made whilst on an outing we'd love to hear about your little adventures with your family. Barny is a delicious sponge bear with a hidden centre that is available in four yummy flavours - chocolate, milk and now new apple or strawberry.

Barny contains no artificial colours or preservatives and is carefully baked with ingredients including wheat flour, milk, eggs and sugar. Individually wrapped for portion control and with a cardboard tray for convenience, Barny is a convenient tasty snack for little adventures! For allergies and ingredients please click here”

Thank you to all of you who are taking part.

Please add your photo(s) to this thread - we'd love to see what you got up to! Below are a few questions for you to answer but please feel free to add any other comments you have too.

1. What little adventure did you have with your family? What was the best part?
   

1. Was it easy to plan a little adventure?
   

1. What are the most important things to include when out on a little adventure with your DCs?
   

1. How important is it to have convenient, portion controlled snacks when on an outing with your family?
   

1. Would you buy Barny? (available in multipack 150g (5 x 30g) - RRP £1.69) If yes, why?
   

1. Where/when do you think Barny is most suitable for? (e.g. out at the park, days out etc.)
   

Every tester who adds their feedback to this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one MN tester will win a £150 leisure voucher which can be redeemed on a wide range of UK restaurants, hotels and holidays - including Haven, Bella Italia, Halfords and Legoland. Closing date for feedback - now extended to 18 July. T&CS here

Thanks and good luck
MNHQ

PS please note, your photos may be used by MN and Barny in advertising on MN and possibly elsewhere

[joolzy]

1. What little adventure did you have with your family? What was the best part? we went to LEGOLAND for the weekend

1. Was it easy to plan a little adventure? we had already planned this but took Barny along

1. What are the most important things to include when out on a little adventure with your DCs? something to give them a boost between adventures and an easy to transport convenient treat like Barny is ideal

1. How important is it to have convenient, portion controlled snacks when on an outing with your family? very, something well packaged to share out is great

1. Would you buy Barny? (available in multipack 150g (5 x 30g) - RRP £1.69) If yes, why? yes, I know my little ones will eat this product, as a treat and I happy for this to be part of their snack range

1. Where/when do you think Barny is most suitable for? (e.g. out at the park, days out etc.) anywhere really,easy to carry in handbag or a day out bag, my little boy has taken them in his packed lunch too.

[deels]

What little adventure did you have with your family? What was the best part?

we ventured out into the front garden to have a play in the sand pit.

1. Was it easy to plan a little adventure?
   

yes, especially as the weathers been so lovely lately.

1. What are the most important things to include when out on a little adventure with your DCs?
   

my phone to take pics lol, snacks and baby wipes.

1. How important is it to have convenient, portion controlled snacks when on an outing with your family?
   

very important and handy, especially if you are out longer than anticipated and little ones get peckish

1. Would you buy Barny? (available in multipack 150g (5 x 30g) - RRP £1.69) If yes, why?
   

i would buy as a treat now and again, however i think they are a little expensive.

1. Where/when do you think Barny is most suitable for? (e.g. out at the park, days out etc.
   

barny is suitable for packed lunches, general snack between meals and definately a good snack to pack when going on little adventures.

[treedelivery]

1. What little adventure did you have with your family? What was the best part?

Well, I gave a pile of them to my 9 year old and she shared them with friends when they all trooped off to the park to climb trees.

1. Was it easy to plan a little adventure?

Very - they are great girls and natural independent souls. They were well stocked with a snack and a very vital pen knife for whittling sticks.

1. What are the most important things to include when out on a little adventure with your DCs?

Snack, drink, sunblock for my pale girls and a jumper as mine always en up cold.

1. How important is it to have convenient, portion controlled snacks when on an outing with your family?

Well, I'm happy to dispense from larger packs and I'm not to keen on being charged an awful lot extra for individual wrapping. That said, it is nice to have an item that can survive being bashed in a bag.

1. Would you buy Barny? (available in multipack 150g (5 x 30g) - RRP £1.69) If yes, why?

I might. If it were on offer and if I knew I had a busy time coming up. However, I found they tasted over sweet and almost had an oily & bitter slant to them. I also feel 9.5-ish grammes of various types of suger per Barny is a bit too much especially as my children would want more than one. They aren't a filling snack so that's a huge hit of sugar for almost zero slow release energy. Note the sugar provides around half the carbohydrates.

1. Where/when do you think Barny is most suitable for? (e.g. out at the park, days out etc.)

I think days out on the hop. I might consider having something along these lines in the car for emergencies but I'm afraid it wont replace a bannana and a piece of chocolate.


Thank you for letting us try them though!! :-)

[treedelivery]

Apologies for various typos!!

[HannahLI]

1. What little adventure did you have with your family? What was the best part? We went on a little adventure out looking for strawberries to pick and harvest - this seemed like a great adventure to have with Barny as one of his flavours is strawberry. It was really fun learning which ones we should be picking.
   

1. Was it easy to plan a little adventure? yes very easy, we just grabbed our shoes, a drink and a snack and off we went.
   

1. What are the most important things to include when out on a little adventure with your DCs? Lots of fun, interesting things to see and very hands on approach - for my two they have to be touching and doing!
   

1. How important is it to have convenient, portion controlled snacks when on an outing with your family? Im on the fence about this one as it depends on where we are going as to whether I take snacks or not, but I do like being able to control how much they eat more because I don't want them not to eat their lunch because they have eaten too many snacks! I would usually dispense from a bigger pack though and on the whole thats ok too.
   

1. Would you buy Barny? (available in multipack 150g (5 x 30g) - RRP £1.69) If yes, why? Most of the time no, my kids found them a bit spongey and too much to eat in one sitting (they are 2 and 4) and they were asking for fruit instead, I also think they are a bit expensive and 5 as a number doesn't really work for us for sharing. However I would consider them if we were going out for the whole day to put in the car as the packaging meant they didn't get too squashed.
   

1. Where/when do you think Barny is most suitable for? (e.g. out at the park, days out etc.) Days out for us where we don't know whats ahead, I think for smaller trips we plan around meal and snack times.
   

I hope you like our picture and thanks for letting us try them.

[DonutWinners]

1.What little adventure did you have with your family? What was the best part?
We played in the back garden and had a picnic. The best part was the gorgeous weather!

2. Was it easy to plan a little adventure?
Very easy. With the weather being so lovely, we were able to take a blanket and our lunch outside.

3. What are the most important things to include when out on a little adventure with your DCs?
My dcs always seem to be hungry and thirsty, so we always ensure we take snacks and drinks on all little adventures.

4. How important is it to have convenient, portion controlled snacks when on an outing with your family?
It was convenient to have an individually wrapped cake bar, but it wasn't hugely important.

5. Would you buy Barny? (available in multipack 150g (5 x 30g) - RRP £1.69) If yes, why?
No. Unfortunately my children were not very keen on the Barny snacks. Ds ate a couple of the chocolate ones and thought they were ok, but my dds didn't like them at all. I thought the chocolate one was ok, although a little too dry, but none of us liked the jam filled ones.

6. Where/when do you think Barny is most suitable for? (e.g. out at the park, days out etc.)
Barny would be suitable for a trip to the park or on a full day out, providing the children like this snack.

[Sixgeese]

1. What little adventure did you have with your family? What was the best part? We had a ramble in Epping Forest planned, but as the children succumbed to the sickness bug at the weekend, we had to have a mini picnic on the way home from school instead.

1. Was it easy to plan a little adventure?

Very easy, we live near a forest and only required a minor detour on the way home from school.

1. What are the most important things to include when out on a little adventure with your DCs? Hats, sun cream, water, snacks and plenty of patience.

1. How important is it to have convenient, portion controlled snacks when on an outing with your family? Hungry children are grumpy children (at least in this house)

1. Would you buy Barny? (available in multipack 150g (5 x 30g) - RRP £1.69) If yes, why? 5 in a pack isn't a good number for us (have three children) and I think they are expensive for a snack product, I have bought the chocolate ones in the past as they are often on offer for £1 a pack which is a more sensible price. The children aged 9, 7 and 5 all like the chocolate version and the youngest two like the jam one too. However it is definitely not an every day treat, just a once in a while and I find them a little dry. If I was buying cakes for the whole family I wouldn't buy these.

1. Where/when do you think Barny is most suitable for? (e.g. out at the park, days out etc.) A good day out after lunch treat where every you go.

[Bigspring]

1. We went to Warwick for the day and Barny came along, but was first sampled in the car as she was hungry!
   
2. Very easy to plan adventure
   
3. Most important things to pack are drinks, snacks and wipes!
   
4. Really important to have portion sized snacks as was needed with our trip in the car!
   
5. I like the idea but my children really didn't like them so I would not buy again!
   
6. An out and about snack

[AndHarry]

1. We went to the beach, a street party and for a treasure hunt in a forest. The whole weekend was great fun - the best bit was seeing how much fun the DC were having!
   

1. Very easy. We'd planned the first day already but the product test gave us a prompt to plan something fun for the Sunday too.
   

1. Baby wipes, sun cream, hats, water and something to eat.
   

1. It is important. The children spend long days at nursery and want something to eat when as soon as they get in the car!
   

1. No I wouldn't, sorry. I wouldn't buy anything for the DC with sugar as the first ingredient - if they're going to have cakes I'll make them myself!
   

1. A special treat.
   

I can't add photos right now but I will when I'm not on my phone.

[Keepcalmanddrinkwine]

1. What little adventure did you have with your family? What was the best part? We took Barny on a train journey. This is always a hit with my lot. We'll do something else next weekend. The children really enjoyed the Barny cakes. They liked that each bar had a different picture and we all thought they tasted good. I liked the filling as I hadn't really looked at the packaging so hadn't realised there would be extra chocolate.
   

1. Was it easy to plan a little adventure? I never struggle to plan adventures as even the most routine things can be made exciting.
   

1. What are the most important things to include when out on a little adventure with your DCs? To remember snacks and drinks. The moment we set off everyone is hungry. And coffee for me.
   

1. How important is it to have convenient, portion controlled snacks when on an outing with your family? Quite important, but I can make a picnic from whatever we have in the cupboards usually.
   

1. Would you buy Barny? (available in multipack 150g (5 x 30g) - RRP £1.69) If yes, why? Yes, I have bought some at the special offer price of £1.
   

1. Where/when do you think Barny is most suitable for? (e.g. out at the park, days out etc.) I like the individually wrapped cakes but they are high in sugar so a bit too treaty for lunchboxes. They are not as bad as lots of things though, so we'll have them from time to time.

[umiaisha]

1. What little adventure did you have with your family? What was the best part? We went for a day out to the coast, with picnic and nets/buckets for crabbing!
   

1. Was it easy to plan a little adventure? yes
   

1. What are the most important things to include when out on a little adventure with your DCs? change of clothes, wet wipes, lots of food, snacks and drinks, blankets and something to amuse them in the car.
   

1. How important is it to have convenient, portion controlled snacks when on an outing with your family? very important - if I open a whole packet of biscuits or cakes my children will keep badgering me to finish the lot!
   

1. Would you buy Barny? (available in multipack 150g (5 x 30g) - RRP £1.69) If yes, why? no. great idea but unfortunately mine weren't that impressed with the taste.
   

1. Where/when do you think Barny is most suitable for - picnics, lunch boxes, after school snacks

[Fillybuster]

1. What little adventure did you have with your family? What was the best part?
   

We had an after-school mini-Olympics in the garden, using slides, ropes, tyre swing and tunnel to form the basis of the events.

1. Was it easy to plan a little adventure?
   

Yes - the girls planned it on their way home from school

1. What are the most important things to include when out on a little adventure with your DCs?
   

Water, snacks, tissues, wipes and a sense of humour :)

1. How important is it to have convenient, portion controlled snacks when on an outing with your family?
   

It's not essential (we can share if needed) but it does make life so much easier, and I do prefer not coming home with something making crumbs in the bottom of my bag because didn't finish a full-size whatever-it-was between us.

1. Would you buy Barny? (available in multipack 150g (5 x 30g) - RRP £1.69) If yes, why?
   

I will almost certainly buy the chocolate ones again - the dcs weren't so keen on the strawberry flavour. They seem reasonably sensible (not too sugary, not too unhealthy etc) and a little bit more filling than some of the fruit-based snacks we usually buy.

1. Where/when do you think Barny is most suitable for? (e.g. out at the park, days out etc.)
   

I think we'll use them quite a bit: they're a really good size for a quick after-school snack on the way to ballet/cubs/swimming etc, as well as for family days out when we always need 'a little something' mid afternoon :)

Thanks again for selecting us to take part!

[ThomasRichard]

Photos from our product test.

Thanks for letting us take part :)

[ThomasRichard]

Well that's odd. Sorry!

[Zuzi]

1. What little adventure did you have with your family? What was the best part?
   

We took Barney swimming.

1. Was it easy to plan a little adventure?
   

We go every Friday so we took him along.

1. What are the most important things to include when out on a little adventure with your DCs?
   

Plenty of snacks! Wipes and spare pants ...

1. How important is it to have convenient, portion controlled snacks when on an outing with your family?
   

Snacks can be literally life saving. If they are portioned, it is easy and convenient

1. Would you buy Barny? (available in multipack 150g (5 x 30g) - RRP £1.69) If yes, why?
   

We know Barney as Brumik from our holidays in Slovakia and Czech Republic. Have been buying Barny for some time. Happy he's arrived in the UK. Will definitely buy.

1. Where/when do you think Barny is most suitable for? (e.g. out at the park, days out etc.)
   

Anywhere!

[TheAfterDark]

1. What little adventure did you have with your famil? What was the best part?
   

We went on our first ever camping adventure. Loved all of it - especially getting away from from our city life, being outdoors all the time, making new friends.

1. Was it easy to plan a little adventure?
   

Yes..used mumsnet a lot to help with reviews etc.

1. What are the most important things to include when out on an adventure?
   

Drinks and snacks.

1. How important is it to have convenient, portion controlled snacks?
   

Very important, and so easy that these are individually wrapped.

1. Would you buy Barny?
   

Yes. We plan to go camping again soon and will definitely buy Barny. Unlike many other snacks we brought camping, they did not melt, tasted good.

1. Where us Barny most suitable for?
   

Any days out, packed lunches, after school snack.. Anywhere in fact!

Thank you

[rupert23]

1. What little adventure did you have with your famil? What was the best part?
   

we went to the local park and took barny and a picnic

1. Was it easy to plan a little adventure?
   

yes the boys planned it

1. What are the most important things to include when out on an adventure?
   

food and drink and little kid friendly snacks like barny

1. How important is it to have convenient, portion controlled snacks?
   

very important my boys loved them

1. Would you buy Barny?
   

yes my sons both enjoyed them and they were a good addition to the picnic,handy too as individually wrapped

1. Where us Barny most suitable for?
   

days out/lunch boxes/picnics snacks for car anywhere really, nice size tasty and most of all the boys really enjoyed them
thank you for letting us try them

[MrsPixieMoo]

1. I'm very pregnant so we had planned a picnic in the garden, but the rain meant it became an indoor picnic. It didn't make it any less fun.
2. Very easy. We have them often.
3. Snacks, wipes, spare clothes, Wellies for puddle jumping and sun cream.
4. Really important.
5. We would. We all thought the Barnys we tried would be lovely to have again.
6. He's good for days out, days in and for lunch boxes.

I'm having trouble posting pics on the app. Have asked HQ for help.

[DesperateHousewife21]

1. What little adventure did you have with your family? What was the best part?
   

We went to the park and the beach.

1. Was it easy to plan a little adventure? Yes it was a spur of the moment plan.
   

1. What are the most important things to include when out on a little adventure with your DCs? Lots of space for them to run around and explore.
   

1. How important is it to have convenient, portion controlled snacks when on an outing with your family?
   

Very!! I always have to take snacks where ever I go so this was very handy.

1. Would you buy Barny? (available in multipack 150g (5 x 30g) - RRP £1.69) If yes, why? Yes, the size is just right and the kids love them!
   

1. Where/when do you think Barny is most suitable for? (e.g. out at the park, days out etc.)
   

Really anywhere...Ive taken them to friends houses, nursery, the beach. Basically when ever we go anywhere!

[StillNoFuckingEyeDeer]

1. What little adventure did you have with your family? What was the best part?
   

We walked the gruffalo trail in the local forest park, looking out for the characters from the gruffalo and exploring the rest of the trail (there are lots of other permanent features on the trail apart from the temporary gruffalo bits). The best part was finding all the characters.

1. Was it easy to plan a little adventure?
   

Very easy. The forest is fairly close to where we live & there's plenty to explore there.

1. What are the most important things to include when out on a little adventure with your DCs?
   

Snacks and drinks! Plus a changing bag for the baby and sun cream/jumper as appropriate.

1. How important is it to have convenient, portion controlled snacks when on an outing with your family?
   

Very. The children get hungry when they're active and it can be difficult and expensive to get an appropriate snack whilst we're out and about.

1. Would you buy Barny? (available in multipack 150g (5 x 30g) - RRP £1.69) If yes, why?
   

Probably. As an occasional treat.

1. Where/when do you think Barny is most suitable for? (e.g. out at the park, days out etc.)
   

Anywhere really, but I'd probably save them for active days.

[mumsbe]

1. What little adventure did you have with your family? What was the best part?
   

We took barney to family fun run at school and had a fab day. The best part was when everyone had an ice cream

1. Was it easy to plan a little adventure?
   

Very easy to plan an adventure as long as you organise everything the day before then you can just get ready and go

1. What are the most important things to include when out on a little adventure with your DCs?
   

Snacks are an important part of a day out as it gives the kids energy and stops any grumbles

1. How important is it to have convenient, portion controlled snacks when on an outing with your family?
   

Very important as kids are always hungry and if they are having regular healthy snacks then there are less grumbles

1. Would you buy Barny? (available in multipack 150g (5 x 30g) - RRP £1.69) If yes, why?
   

Yes I would its a lovely presented little snack and the kids loved them

1. Where/when do you think Barny is most suitable for? (e.g. out at the park, days out etc.)
   

I think Barny is a lovely little picnic snack and its individually wrapped which is nice and easy when preparing packed lunches for days out or picnic. When I gave them to my daughter and little boy they were definatley smiling

Thanks for choosing us for this we had a lot of fun

[vj32]

1. What little adventure did you have with your family? What was the best part? We went to a local wildlife park. The best part was my son asking questions and talking about the animals, their habits, appearance etc as he has had problems in the past with his speech.

1. Was it easy to plan a little adventure? Very easy, we know the park and go there a lot in the summer.

1. What are the most important things to include when out on a little adventure with your DCs? Suncream, drinks and snacks, a picnic, change of clothes and changing things for the baby, phone, money, pushchair... almost endless list of baby and pre-schooler stuff!

1. How important is it to have convenient, portion controlled snacks when on an outing with your family? Important, because it can be difficult to find small sized treats when we are out. Having small portions also reduces waste.

1. Would you buy Barny? (available in multipack 150g (5 x 30g) - RRP £1.69) If yes, why? Yes we did when they were on offer for £1 recently.

1. Where/when do you think Barny is most suitable for? (e.g. out at the park, days out etc.) A picnic at the park or other place that's a whole day trip. I think the packaging and cake is good for hot days like we have had recently where the other alternative we often have which are the mini packs of chocolate biscuits would not have fared so well! Its not something we would have for a snack at home but good for days out.

[bobbles2]

1.we went to Scarborough and played on the beach, we went to have a teddy bears picnic and the best bit was that it was warm and sunny
2.yes it was very easy to plan and easy to pack and fit barnys in.

1. sun cream,spare clothes, picnic which was easy finger food
   
2. very convenient because the more little snacks the children get the less llikley they will be starving by tea time.
   

5.yes i would buy as not only did the ids enjoy them they are perfect size for lunch boxes and picnic treats.
6.picnics, packups

[AnnMumsnet]

Two snaps from MrsPixieMoo

[MrsPixieMoo]

Thanks Ann