I know some people aren’t big fans of the whole ‘Father Christmas is watching’ tack when it comes to getting the children to behave but I’m afraid it rather does do it for me.

Maybe I’m a big meanie? But I don’t think so. I’m usually soft as anything when it comes to the children, I just find a gentle reminder now and then seems to do the trick!

Jimmy has been an absolute monkey of late. He won’t tidy up his toys and is frequently hitting Florence when he doesn’t get his own way – and by that I mean a go on her iPad as and when he demands. I’ve found reminding him about Father Christmas coming and only delivering stockings to well behaved boys and girls has been making him stop and think. For me this works and ok, so I can’t use it all the time but having it in the hand is certainly, well, handy!

The other day, for instance, we had an hour long crying session when I refused to let Jimmy play with anything else until he put his cars back in their box. I stood my ground and refused to give in but it was an HOUR of crying.  While it’s almost certainly the right way to deal with it, we don’t always have the time and that old C’hristmas is coming’ routine works much quicker – when we have school to get to I see no reason not to throw Father Christmas in the ring!

And now I’ve found an even better plan! One which uses Father Christmas but in a really sweet way and one which can all come good in the end after a warning or two!

It is, of course, The Portable North Pole service which is is back for 2015 and this year it’s even better than ever!

Last year we used the service for the free messages they offer. You can go on line and upload your child’s pictures along with information about them and get a FREE personalised video message from Santa, you can add five personalisation per video message and you don’t have to pay a thing but… There is a Gold Pass you can buy which is absolutely awesome and means that you not only have unlimited messages to create but you can arrange phone calls too.

We’ve been using the new pass, which costs just £9.99 and as well as the heart warming videos (which are super sweet) they offer ‘naughty list’ messages as warnings too. Now I’m not SO mean that I’d send my children a video from the big man telling them they are on the naughty list but a little nudge that they’re NOT quite on his ‘nice list’ yet is right up my street!

Luckily Florence doesn’t need such a message so to begin with I sent her a fun message all about her and letting her know that Santa is pleased and a little video for Jimmy to let him know it was still undecided… I appreciate this could be upsetting for some children but believe me, Jimmy took it like water off a duck’s back but definitely took note and started to tidy his toys – HOORAY!

With fifteen personalisation included per premium message it really does make it super bespoke for your child and my two showed me how magical it all is when their eyes lit up! Florence started off by saying ‘It’s not the REAL Father Christmas though is it?’ and then within seconds was totally involved. It really is SO real!

It’s brilliant because you can bespoke it with absolutely tons of options and Father Christmas spoke directly to Jimmy while looking at his book showing Jimmy he knew his house and what he likes and asked him to be good about tidying his toys – Just what I’d wanted. Florence’s first message talked about her love of crafts and showed a picture of one of her creations even!

We have already had a couple of videos each because there are six different types and we’ve had a phonecall too. I’m also going to make Florence a birthday message (something else offeredd with the Gold Pass) because her birthday is over the Christmas period on New Year’s Eve. We will definitely have a few more videos in the run up to Christmas and some phone calls too which are very easy to organise and lots of fun. I even had Father Christmas send my husband a video asking him to learn how to use the toilet by himsef for a fun joke because you can then share them on social media.

There’s a special video we will have on Christmas Eve and obviously Jimmy will get a video at some point to say he’s on the ‘nice list’ or at least I hope he will! He’s certainly making great strides to do the things he’s been asked and I know it’s all down to the videos.

The phone calls have ben just as magical as the videos believe it or not. Florence got hers first and was so thrilled. She answered all the recorded questions and then Father Christmas responded beautifully… It was amazing how well it worked. We also had one for Jimmy when he was being particularly difficult and instantly he started to behave after the little warning. So, to reward him Father Christmas called back immediately to say how proud he was… I’m very impressed!

What do you get with the Gold Pass?

• Unlimited premium video messages – up to 15 personalisations per video
• Unlimited calls from Santa
• 1 free HD download to keep your special video from Santa

It’s worth knowing that for your £9.99 fee:

• PNP donates 5% of all online sales to 40 children’s hospitals across the world – 4 based in the UK
• Further content is available such as online games, birthday and Christmas eve messages and even Portable North Pole Greeting cards which are available from Tesco and can be sent with a special personalised video message which is accessed by a unique code sent with the card

I love the service and am going to really enjoy using it! Will you join me on Twitter next Thursday to find out more about the Portable North Pole? There’s going to be a Twitter frenzy on Thursday 3rd December from 1-2.30pm. There will be lots of chances to win great Christmas gifts plus unique codes to access the Gold Pass bundle and as you know, I highly recommend the Gold Pass!

I was asked to use the Portable North Pole Gold Pass service for the purpose of an honest review.