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End-of-year Review Roundup

January 4, 2010 By

My New Year’s Resolution for 2010, as far as my professional life goes, is to stay on top of my emails and get my reviews done faster. I am the worst procrastinator on the planet, people.  I know I’ll never have zero items in my gmail inbox, but I am determined to get as close as possible.

With that in mind, I’m going through my inbox looking for anything I was sent to review that somehow got missed. And over the next few days, I’m going to post lists of them until I’m caught up.  If anything I post looks interesting, please click through to the sponsor’s site for more information. Thanks!

1. Buddy Tops Hats: Like getting a cuddly stuffed animal and a warm hat in one!  Buddy Tops come in Wolf, Bunny, Panda, Tiger, Dalmation, Chicken, Pig, and Lion. Long flaps ensure your child’s ears will stay warm. These would be fantastic as part of a Halloween costume, too. Price: (sale!) $19.95.

2. Caboodles: The makeup cases we used as teens are still around! The pink and black Classic Case has a mirror in the lid, two removable dividers and trays, and removable side panels that can hold your brushes, lipstick tubes, or lip liners. Also fun for little girls to stuff full of Littlest Pet Shop and Polly Pocket toys :) Price: $19.99.

3. The Jimmies on CD & DVD: This New York-based band totally ROCKS. Songs like “Bedhead” and “Cool to be Uncool” will appeal to kids, but this is no saccharine-sweet kiddie music. The Jimmies totally bring it with driving guitars and drums, you’ll hardly know you are listening to “kid music”. The CD “Make Your Own Someday” is available on the Jimmies’ site for $15 through PayPal, or download a digital copy. For 6 crazy-fun music videos and a 45 minute concert performance, pick up “Trying Funny Stuff”, also $15.00.

4. Playmobil‘s new Nautical Line: Besides being just plain fun to play with, Playmobil playsets offer kids a way to stretch their imaginations and solve problems creatively while they play. The new Playmobil Nautical Line is a fun way to teach kids about how scientists explore the deep sea and what they find there. The Deep Sea Diving Bell, Divers in the Tropical Reef, and Shark Diver playsets can be used as part of a science curriculum in a homeschool or classroom setting, and are also fun to play with! Prices: $12.99 to $21.99.

4. Obama Time Capsule Book: This beautiful hardcover book weaves together President Obama’s extraordinary journey to the Presidency with your own name, photos and thoughts. You make your purchase on Amazon.com, follow the easy instructions for personalizing the book with your name (I used our family’s last name), any thoughts you want to pass on to future generations, and a photo of your family, then your book is created and shipped to you.This is a limited time offer, so if this interests you, order one soon! Price: $34.95

5. Rada Pro Nail Station: Makes doing at-home manicures and pedicures easier with a padded rest for your hands or feet, an accessory tray that holds your supplies and swivels to wherever is most convenient for you, and a angled holder for your nail polish that keeps it tilted without spilling. The best feature in my opinion is the nail polish remover pump bottle. When you accidentally paint the side of your finger, it’s so easy to pump a little polish remover onto a q-tip or cotton ball without worrying about smudging any of your nails. Price: $19.99

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Hasbro’s Elefun & Friends Games- Scatterpillar Scramble and Giraffalaff Limbo

November 17, 2009 By

Hasbro has a new collection of five games called Elefun & Friends for younger kids, and sent us two of them for review. We’ve been having so much fun playing Scatterpillar Scramble and Giraffalaff Limbo! Either or both of these would be a terrific holiday gift!

Scatterpillar Scramble Giraffalaff

Scatterpillar Scramble looks easy enough when you first take it out of the box.  Using a pair of plastic tongs, pick up a colored ball and place it in one of his outstretched hands. But then you put in the batteries and turn him on, and Scatterpillar starts dancing, and wiggling, and getting the balls into his hands gets a whole lot harder!  Even my 13 year old said it was fun trying to pick up the balls with the tongs and get them onto his hands. Includes Scatterpillar body, base, 36 colored marbles, 4 tongs, label sheet and instructions. Requires 3 AA batteries (not included). For 2 to 4 players ages 4 and up. WARNING: CHOKING HAZARD-Small Parts. Not For Children Under 3 Years. Price: $19.99. Available from HasbroToyShop.com or in stores.

ScatterpillarBody

Giraffalaff Limbo is the hilarious bend over backwards game! Assemble the green support poles, clip on the leaves, and hang Giraffalaff’s bar from the highest set of leaves. The spinner says which of 6 moves to use to get underneath him without knocking him down- classic limbo, crab walk, crawl, giraffe walk, bend forward or backward. As you limbo, you’ll hear steel drum-type music. Knock Giraffalaff down and he erupts into hilarious giggles! Includes Giraffalaff plaque with 2 clips, 3 foam tubes, electronic module with support tube, 8 leaf bar supports, two 3-piece limbo poles, two bases, spinner and instructions. Assembly required. Requires 2 C batteries (not included). For 2 or more players ages 3 and up. Price: $27.99 Available from HasbroToyShop.com or in stores.

Giraffalaff2

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Calico Critters Costume Critters

October 28, 2009 By

CostumeCritters

If you aren’t familiar with them, Calico Critters is an entire world of animal-themed toys from International Playthings. Sold in sets, the adorable bunnies, raccoons, monkeys, pigs, dogs, cats, pandas, foxes, and more come in families of four as well as sibling twins and grandparents. The Calico Critters website is one of Kaitlyn’s favorites, take a look and you’ll see why.  I also get a kick out of how each animal family has a detailed story about their jobs and their favorite hobbies, like this:

Hopscotch Rabbit Family- Mother Heidi is a gym teacher at the Cloverleaf Corners high school and Father Harlin is a sports reporter for the local paper. Brother Skip and Sister Bell play high school soccer and enjoy hiking in the summer and skiing in the winter.

Just in time for Halloween, Calico Critters has released two sets of animals wearing their Halloween costumes! They sent me a set to review, which Kaitlyn absolutely loves. She already has the Calico Critters: Pigglywink Pig Family, and now she has Calico Critters Costume Critters – Frog and Lion to be their friends!  She’s already assigned a room in her dollhouse just for the Critters and had Frog and Lion tell the Pig brother and sister all about their costumes, SO cute.

WHERE TO BUY: I’d suggest if you want to buy the Costume Critters, call your local educational toy store. Ours has an entire nook devoted just to Calico Critters.  Amazon can ship them in time for Halloween but it would be expensive. Click the links in the previous paragraph for Amazon.  As toys for kids go, $19.95 might seem like a lot for two little animals, but I think Calico Critters are worth the money. They are well-made and would be a great gift for little ones! Imagine their surprise if they woke up Halloween morning and Frog and Lion (or Bunny and Chick, the other Costume Critters set) were waiting for them at their place at the table!

disclosure: International Playthings sent us Costume Critters with no obligation for this review. No other compensation was received.

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