My oldest son is sixteen years old. We still have the personalized Veggie Tales CD that his aunt bought him when he was a toddler. All of my other kids have been envious of that personalized CD over the years. I was recently delighted to be able to review five personalized albums for my other children from SongsWithMyName.com. And my children? They were ecstatic to receive their very own personalized music albums.

The five albums we were sent included:

• Personalized Sing Along with Mickey, Minnie and Goofy
• Personalized Disney Princess Tea Party
• Personalized Elmo and Friends Sing Along
• Personalized Sing Along with the Veggie Tales
• Personalized Silly Songs with the Veggie Tales

I searched for ten different names on the website - the names of my children and my grandson. Many of our children's names are unusual, they're all three syllables long, but only one wasn't found. I wasn't surprised her name wasn't available, since it's a very unusual name. For her personalized CD, it was suggested we choose something like Sweetheart, Sweetie, Buddy, or another common nickname. Since she's six years old and we were getting the Disney Princess Tea Party album for her, I selected Princess for the name instead. She was a little disappointed to not have her name in the songs, but certainly doesn't mind being called Princess.

When you arrive at the Songs With My Name website, simply use the search button on the home page to search for your child's name. I quickly learned not to hit enter after I typed in the name. Instead, type the name, then wait a few seconds until the pronunciation options appear in a drop-down menu. Click on the appropriate pronunciation for your child's name, and a list of available albums for your child's name will appear. Not every name is on every album. Once you select an album, you can hear a sample of a song with your child's name included. At that point, you can choose a digital purchase or a physical CD, which will include a digital download.

We received the five CDs quickly, and they each played without any issues. The CD itself has a decorative label on it, and the thin plastic case includes a matching front insert with the track titles listed inside. We downloaded the digital MP3 files the same day we ordered, so the children were able to listen to them before the physical copies arrived. Each album includes a mixture of songs and dialogue using the child's name. Not every song includes their name, but the majority of them are personalized. The name insertion actually sounds quite natural, and we have marveled over how many different names had to be recorded to insert into the songs and dialogue.

When you view an album on the website, the list of included songs are listed at the bottom of the page. Most of the albums include a mixture of open domain children's songs, and songs associated with those characters. The exceptions are the Disney Princess Tea Party CD and the Silly Songs with the Veggie Tales CD. Disney Princess Tea Party album has all original music, with no additional children's songs or folk songs that children would already know.

• Silly Songs with the Veggie Tales contains seven familiar Veggie Tale silly songs and four other children's songs.
• The Sing Along with Mickey, Minnie and Goofy CD consists almost completely of folk songs and children's songs, with two familiar Disney songs and one new Mickey Mouse song we'd never heard before.
• Elmo and Friends Sing Along has a very similar mixture of songs as the Mickey Mouse one, only the songs are definitely geared for a toddler or preschool child.
• Three of the eight songs on the Sing Along with the Veggie Tales album are familiar Veggie Tale songs, but the rest are children's songs and Sunday School songs.

It doesn't bother our family that not all the songs are typically associated with the characters on the album. It's still exciting to hear the characters sing the songs and use our kids' names in the songs. This is also a fun way to introduce older songs to your children (e.g. Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Home on the Range, Hokey Pokey, and Do Your Ears Hang Low.)

We've thoroughly enjoyed listening to our personalized songs! Even my older children love watching their younger siblings listen to them. The teens point out every time their siblings' names are spoken. These personalized albums make good car trip music, dance time music, and clean-up music. They're perfect gifts for birthdays, Christmas, or an older sibling of a new baby. I especially like the idea of giving them as a big brother/sister gift when a new baby comes home from the hospital!

-Product review by April Elstrom, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, September, 2017