*The following features gifted products but the opinions are all my own*

I have to admit that I was not a Star Wars child. In 1999 one of the Star Wars films came out and I recall vividly that my uncle took me and my sister to watch it at the cinema with his then wife. We went to the Showcase that I take the boys to now. We got popcorn, something fizzy and were transported to another world.

It was what it was. It was very intense for a 7-year-old. I probably had no idea what was going on, but I was engaged for most its hour-and-a-half run time. I say most because I was quite distressed when I clocked that my sister had disappeared. I was reassured that she had just gone to the toilet, but it turns out she only lasted for the first half an hour and had left with the woman that can no longer be named – waiting for us to be done.

I didn’t watch another Star Wars film after, and I can remember being shamed at school for not being excited for the 2002 and 2005 films that followed. It’s just not me and the shaming just pushed me away further. I was too concerned with wrestling at the time to find the space to understand this whole other world too.

But for my boys – I see that a wide variety of characters really resonate with them. One minute my youngest only wants to see Pink Panther, the next he only cares about Peppa Pig, the next it’s a Blippy thing. He’s all over the place. My eldest is similar and has gone through phases with Pete from Mickey Mouse’s Clubhouse, Johnny from Sing and Edge from WWE over the past 12 months.

While I love to share the things I’m into with them, I can’t deny them the chance to indulge in a world just because it’s not my flex. And so that’s why I thought a great gateway was with two of the most recognisable Star Wars characters in stretchy form.

First things first – the Chewbacca looks great. There’s great detail in the face and body. The boys couldn’t help but want to test exactly how stretchy it is, pulling it around their room, down the stairs and attempting to tie the limbs in all kinds of different ways. To be honest, when the boys were done with it, that’s exactly what I wanted to do too!

The Stretch Stormtrooper is just as much fun. The helmet is well-made, the fist hands make for great handles to yank it about and it’s literally down to your child’s creativity to figure out what to do with it.

Note that unlike some stretch figures, every aspect of these (other than the head) can be pulled, prodded and played with. That includes the torso. Once you’re done getting your stretch on, the figures always revert back to their original shape and size.

Christmas is coming up soon so if you’ve got a young Star Wars fanatic in your world, here’s just a little inspiration for you.

I’ve got Chewbecca in the giant size. For the larger figures you can also get Darth Vader and Jabba the Hutt.

The Stormtrooper is in the scaled size. Others in that range include a suitably sized Darth Vader, Boba Fett and C-3PO.

All of the stretch figures are available from Smyths Toys.