Impromptu Dance Parties with the #LGP5 | Giveaway

Keeping kids engaged is a full time job, and in our home, that role is alternatingly performed by Yashy, the Little Monkey’s school teachers, our nanny and myself, as well as our television, iPads, books, games, crafts, and toys. When I am in charge, I find there are only so many games of hide and seek or trips to our condo’s basketball court that I can make. Relying on TV and iPads is one of the ways I grab some time to work with the kids around, but these iPad requests can get out of hand, leaving me looking for new activities, and one of my favorites is put on some music, encouraging the kids to sing and dance.

Since a lot of the music I listen to seems to be expletive filled these days, I usually find myself taking requests. The Little Man always chooses Adele’s “Hello”, which he proudly exclaims is his “faaa-vor-ite” song. Fortunately, the Little Monkey has a slightly wider repertoire of song names, and so her requests alternate between “Shake it Off”, “Shut up and Dance”, and “Roar”. Happily obliging, I throw them all on. Inspired by the frenzy of movement these songs create, I am always trying to think of a few songs from my youth that will keep them moving. “Manic Monday” always goes over well.

Disclosure : This post is in partnership with LG but, as always, opinions are TOTALLY ours.

These sessions are quite fun, but we are adventurers. At home, I have a multiple speaker setup that can quite literally shake the room, but when we are on vacation, at the gym, or just hanging out on the rooftop, listening to music has rarely been an option. When we rented a cottage this past summer for Yashy’s birthday, I brought my bulky computer speakers along and had to plug them in next to the cottage, 20 feet from where we were sitting. It was then that I knew we needed a portable bluetooth speaker. When LG sent us the Music Flow P5, just days before we were due to leave for Sri Lanka, the timing was perfect. Being able to bring music on the trip was an exciting development and we’re just as excited to offer a speaker to one lucky reader!

During our first days in Sri Lanka, I started to put the speaker to use. Scorching hot afternoons in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s sprawling capital city, kept us housebound until the temperature started to cool in the evening. To pass the time, I pulled out the speaker, which is so small that it barely took up any of our coveted suitcase space, and started blasting “Shake it Off”, much to the kids’ delight. Over the next few days, we made this a routine, and when we finally left Colombo to explore the more peaceful and picturesque parts of the island, I loved pulling out the speaker to keep a soundtrack going. My favorite moment coming early in the trip when we had a large outdoor pool at the Blue Turtle Hotel near Yala, all to ourselves one afternoon. That hot, sunny afternoon poolside called for Bob Marley, and I was happy to discover that this tiny speaker was able to fill the courtyard with some of my favorite reggae tunes.

Bluetooth speakers are everywhere these days. A trip into Best Buy or a browse through the Amazon website reveals hundreds of options. At a suggested retail price of $149.00 CAD, the LG Music Flow P5 falls in the low to mid range on the pricing scale, which makes it a great value. Here are some details on the most important features of this speaker

Battery Life

The LG web site indicates that the Music Flow P5  has a 15 hour battery life, and I can confirm that the battery lasts for a long time. In fact, I didn’t have to charge it once on our 15 day trip. Given the number of phones and computers that we were constantly charging on a limited number of outlets, having a device that didn’t need to be charged was a relief.

Size and Feel

The speaker is quite small, only about 6 inches wide by 2.5 inches high. From that compact design, the speaker is able to output 10W of 2 channel sound. And 2 devices can be connected at the same time, allowing more than one person to handle the DJ duties. The speaker is heavier than it looks, but it has a sturdy feel that I really like. The range of colors available also makes the Music Flow P5 one of the most aesthetically pleasing bluetooth speakers.

Sound Quality

Within its price range, this speaker has better sound than a couple other bluetooth speakers I tested. I am always going to prefer listening to music on my home stereo or though a great pair of headphones, but for travelling and outdoor listening, I found the sound quality to be quite acceptable. Early last summer, I bought a different bluetooth speaker for a road trip but decided to return in because I didn’t like the muted sound quality. This speaker does still have a slight muted sound, Yashy perfectly describes it as sounding like the music is playing behind a very thin wall, but we are used to listening to music on a large, pricey sound system and so this is an unfair comparison. I found the bass level on the P5 to be excellent, and as I mention above, the speaker fills a large area. I’ll be keeping this one for sure!

Bluetooth Connectivity

I had no issues pairing the speaker and the connection didn’t drop once during the trip. To play music, I just had to open up my Tidal app and press play. I also installed the LG Music Flow Bluetooth app but wasn’t able to get it working. The speaker shows up in the app once connected, and the app then connects to my Apple Music library, but not to Spotify or Tidal. I was never able to play music through the app and so there may have been a glitch in the version I used. The app does show the remaining battery life but that seems to be its only useful feature.

Sometimes, kids just want to dance. And much to my delight, our Little Monkey has shown a big interest in music. I had not realized the extent of her love of music until our recent parent teacher conference, where Yashy and I went to find out what she likes to do when she is not with us. We were told she loves to draw, which we knew, and that she shows great focus during arts and crafts, which was not surprise. When her teacher informed us that she had leadership qualities, we were a little surprised. As an example, her teacher related how one afternoon, Little Monkey grabbed a toy guitar, jumped up on a block, and led several of her classmates through what must have been a very entertaining rendition of Katy Perry’s Roar. My love of music seems to have been passed down and I left the meeting as a very proud parent. All those music sessions are paying off. Now that the LG Music Flow P5 is here, I can keep those sessions going everywhere.  

LG has generously offered one of our readers an LG P5 speaker, so go on and enter for a chance to win one below!
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