Review: Pinypon Dolls & Toys

Lydia, my 5 year old, first saw Pinypon dolls during a cartoon that she was watching. She had to pause the show to find me so she could show me these neat little dolls.  So, when we had the opportunity to check them out and share them with  her friends, she was thrilled!

Pinypon dolls are unique in that all their pieces/parts are interchangeable -- including their expressions!  Each doll has 2 different expressions, all you need to do is pop off their hair and put it on the opposite way and you'll see their fresh face.

Lydia is quite the social butterfly at school, and was so excited to invite a few of her friends over to play with the toys.  We planned our party for after school, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.  I had even arranged to pick her up with 2 of her friends so they could come to the party, and other moms were bringing their daughters after school. About 45 minutes before school let out, the school called me about Nate (see earlier post about his stay in the hospital - he is still out of school and we are waiting for a pediatric neurologist appointment next week.)

Thankfully, I had everything set up before that phone call, and my sweet mom lives next door, so I checked all 3 girls out of school a bit early and dropped them off with my mom.  She led them in the play of the toys, including the really neat Pinypon - Caravan Playset.  My mom said the girls had a great time, and really enjoyed taking the dolls apart and putting them back together with different acessories. I later talked with one of the moms, and she said she thought they were pretty neat!  We had a caravan to give away at the party and she took it home and has played with it almost every day since.  Lydia has also had a great time with the toys!

With all the confusion, there weren't pictures of the party itself, but Lydia did a video review of the toys:

I think this would be a fun toy to find under the Christmas tree this year!  You can find them at Amazon, as well as local retailers.  You can also check them out on Facebook.  They share great offers, giveaways and information about the toys on their page.

*Disclosure: In exchange for sharing the toys with local friends, and providing an honest review, I received toys from Pinypon and MomSelect. All opinions are my own, and no additional compensation was provided.*

Moshi Monsters Bobble Bots Review

It's neat to be known as the neighborhood mom who gets all the cool toys to check out.  This time, we received a box of Moshi Monsters Bobble Bots and Bobble Bots play sets  to try out and share with our friends.  Many thanks to MomSelect and Moshi Monsters for letting us get an early look at these fun toys!

Colin compared them to Hexbugs -- because they move around randomly -- but they aren't as creepy as bugs. They're small, cute pegs with various colors and faces that wiggle around.

We opened up 3 of the stores and the kids thought it was neat that they could be all hooked together.  A border around the edges ensured that the Bobble Bots stayed on the street, and they wiggled in and out of the Ice-Scream! Store Playset, Gross-ery Store Playset and the Bizarre Bazaar Store Playset. I liked that each of the playsets included a Bobble Bot.

The kids just thought they were funny, and had a good time watching them and rearranging the accessories that came in the playsets.   I think they'd make cute Easter Basket toys.  I know the moms that were over liked them better than the Hexbugs, but the older boys preferred Hexbugs (mainly because of the gross-out feature).  The  younger kids definitely had fun and did a lot of free play with the small bots.

There is also an online component that is included with each toy.  My kids don't spend that much time online, so they haven't checked that out yet.  The sets all have codes that unlock content at www.moshimonsters.com.

As you'll hear in the video made by Colin and Lydia - the only downside is that they are a bit noisy.  Overall, all the kids that played gave these toys a "thumbs-up!"



You can find these toys at major retailers, as well as Amazon.com.

*Disclosure:  I received a variety of toys from MomSelect and Innovations First Labs to share with other families through a toy party and provide a review.  No additional compensation was received.  All opinions expressed are my own and my kids'. *

Review: Ice Cream Zhu Zhu Pets

Did you know that Ronald Reagan declared July "National Ice Cream Month" back in 1984?  I confess that I love ice cream and so does my family!  The kids were excited when these adorable new Zhu Zhu pets landed on our doorstep, thanks to Cepia and Mom Select.  Not only were the new pets adorable with their bright colors and patterns, but the ice cream shop was precious!  My favorite was the ice cream truck, complete with a hat for the Zhu Zhu driver. 

(Secret time:  When my boys were little, I always told them the ice cream truck was a "music truck" and said how wonderful it was that they drove around sharing music in the evenings.  In my defense, the ice cream trucks that drive in our area are not as cute as the Zhu Zhu one, nor as normal-looking as the ones I remember from childhood.  It's an old, beat up van that looks pretty creepy.)

All the kids had fun playing with this new set, and Lydia had a few preschool friends over one afternoon to try them out as well.  They all declare them cute and fun.  They had the fun a while back, but my kidney problems delayed the review.  Here's Lydia's video review:



You can find them at all major retailers, including Amazon. They would make a great gift for a summer birthday child, or for anyone who loves ice cream!


Disclosure: I received the ice cream set and Zhu Zhu pets from Mom Select and Cepia to facilitate this review.  No additional compensation was provided.

Review: FyrFlyz Toys

Little League season ended for us last week (well, except for playoffs) and the boys' coach invited the team to a local pizza place to celebrate their season.

The boys all tried hard, and learned more about the game.  We didn't have a very successful season, but I think they all had fun -- and that's an important part of sports play.

Thanks to Mom Select, I was able to give all the kids & their siblings a toy that is new to the market!  I think that FyrFlyz will be a hit!

The toy is fairly simple -- 2 LED lights in the middle of 2 strings with finger holds.  Simple sometimes is best -- as these toys light up and kids can twist and spin them to make fun, colorful patterns.  These are the best outdoors at night -- they are better than sparklers since you don't have to worry about burned fingers!  (you only have to worry about tangled strings -- but even when they get tangled, it's not difficult to straighten them out.)

The kids had a great time and declared them a very cool toy!  I handed out the toys while the kids were all seated, and they were up and playing as soon as the FyrFlyz were out of the packaging.  Thankfully, we were in a room by ourselves as the kids got pretty animated and loud. 

FyrFlyz will retail for less than $10 and will be available nationwide in September.  If you are in NYC or Phoenix, you may be able to find them sooner.

We captured a video of the toys in action --



*Disclosure: I received FyrFlyz toys from FyrFlyz and Mom Select to share with the team & to facilitate this review.  No additional compensation was provided.  All opinions are my own.*

Review: Kung Zhu Pets

We had an absolutely wonderful afternoon with some new friends and their children. We invited them over to play with Kung Zhu pets.  (You might remember last year when we had the chance to introduce Zhu Zhu pets to our friends. I was thrilled (and grateful) to be asked to throw another party by Mom Select.)  My boys worked hard for a couple hours this morning putting all the tracks and pieces together, then 9 kids were here having a blast playing with the mechanical hamsters and a ton of their gear.

These new Zhu Zhu pets -- the Kung Zhu pets -- are definitely geared to boys (although I'm sure there are plenty of girls who will think they are cool, like my Lydia!) They are split into a ninja group and a special forces military group -- complete with armor, tanks, weapons and battle arenas.

Every single kid in attendance (ranging in age from 3 to 11) thought the pets were very cool and were excited at the chance to play with them. The squeals of excitement filled my house, and made it obvious that everyone had a great time.  These definitely get a thumbs-up in our house.

My only complaint is that the play sets are very large. We don't have the space to leave them set up, and it definitely takes time to put them together and take them apart again. I think the pets themselves are wonderful, though! If you had a big playroom (thinking of my cousin's house when we were kids and the entire basement was a playroom) then that wouldn't be an issue.

After the noise of the party, Colin took the opportunity to show how the play sets fit together and worked with the pets.



*Disclosure: I was sent Kung Zhu pets and play sets by Mom Select and Cepia to faciliate this review and share the toys with some of our friends. No other compensation was provided.  All content is my own.*