Mickey Mouse Shorts Messenger Bag

Subway kids has a number of Mickey Mouse Shorts inspired messenger bags! Each one is about the size of an ipad and has a super cute Mickey and Minnie image printed on the front. On the inside, along with your Subway meal, you'll also find a fun puzzle.

The bag is not super sturdy but will hold enough snacks and toys for a day trip or a day camp.

I believe the images come from scenes from these episodes:

• Croissant de Triomphe
• Tokyo Go
• O Sole Minnie
• Third Wheel
• The Adorable Couple

Painting and Decorating Easter Eggs

Easter means time for lots of egg decorating and coloring!  This year I picked up a few kits to try.

The first kit is from the dollar store. The egg clamp and spinner caught my eye and I was instantly intrigued. I've always found it hard to color all the way around the egg without getting paint all over the hands.

With this kit, you simply snap in a egg into the clamp and then paint away. It even comes with a paintbrush and paint! What a deal!

I found that the clamp works best with medium or small eggs. My jumbo egg barely made it. In fact, my second egg cracked while trying to squeeze it in.

The paint wasn't the greatest. I had to mix it up a bit to get deeper colors. And the brush was pretty bad too. It was thin an stiff and I believe I splattered more paint outside of the egg than on the egg...I would use a different paint and brush next with this kit to make painting less frustrating.

The second kit is Dudley's Roll It kit. It is about $5, which is a good deal for all the pieces it came in. The kit came with a paint tray, 6 colors, 6 rollers, and a bunch of egg discs to elevate the egg from the table.

This kit was a lot of fun. The rollers were easy to use and really allowed you to spread the colors around. I was able to wash the rollers and the tray after using it so that they can be used for another paint project.

What's really nice about this kit is that you just start painting. Most other kits need you to dunk the egg in a cup of coloring first then wait for it to dry before you can decorate it. With small kids, who has the patience to do that! Give them a white egg and they can start rolling! My girls had half a dozen eggs finished in no time.

I'd advise that you also get the egg scissors, really good for picking up wet eggs :)

Watch the videos below for a demo of each kit!

My Little Pony Series 2 Fashems

Fashems, fash'ems, mashems, mash'ems are cute and squishy rubber/plastic toys. They are made as collectable figures for a number of popular characters including My Little Pony, Disney Frozen, Disney Princess, Doc McStuffin, Hello Kitty, Littlest Pet Shop, Sofia the First, Ninja Turtles, Marvel, Disney Pixar, Disney Planes Fire & Rescue, Disney Planes, Angry Birds, Flappy Bird, Marvel Avengers, Transformers, Furby and WWE.

You can get them in sets or individual surprise capsules. I've found that they're super hard to find in regular stores and much easier on Amazon or on eBay. In the stores, either they get snatched up the moment they hit the stores or I'm just not looking at the right places.

I got some My Little Pony Fash'ems and after opening two of them I was hooked. I wanted to collect the other 4 ponies in the set. So I got 7 more Fashems, thinking those were good odds to get the 4 to complete my set. Unfortunately I was only able to get all the ponies but one! Darn, now I'm on the hunt for the last one!

Watch the video to find out which one I'm missing!

Play-Doh My Little Pony Cutie Mark Creators

The Play-Doh My Little Pony Cutie Mark Creators set by Hasbro is a fun set to take along on trips. The set comes with 2 ponies, Pinkie Pie and Princess Twilight Sparkle, 2 stamping options, and 4 small tubs of Play-Doh.

For younger kids, I recommend that they just fill in the areas on the pony to give them colorful manes and tails. Simply take the playdoh and fill in the space.

For older kids, they can use the pony as molds to create then swap the play-doh on opposite sides of the ponies to show the designs. Take the playdoh and fill in the space on both sides. Then using a larger piece of play-doh, remove the play-doh in the spaces. Flip the play-doh and put it back into the space on the opposite side of the pony. Now you can see the design!

Either way is fun and you get to customize the colors of the ponies!

I got mine at Amazon, but you can find it at almost any large toy or department store.

Watch the video below to see how it works!

Frog Life Cycle Play-doh Surprise Egg - Evie's Toy House vs. Magic Toys ...

Fun Keroppi play-doh surprise eggs that teaches the life cycle of a frog.

Starting from the tadpole, the two legged tadpole, froglet with tail, froglet with short tail and then the adult frog.

Calling all Hello Kitty Fans!

xoxo Hello Kitty Best Friends - all included items

I found this adorable set while browsing the toy section at Target. What caught my eye was that this Hello Kitty had much longer arms and legs than what you usually see on a Hello Kitty doll.

The doll is about three inches tall and comes with a number of accessories. A lunchbox that opens and closes with a snap. An apple that fits in the lunch box. A small blue mouse. A 'toy' Hello Kitty. A backpack clip that attach the doll to the zipper of your backpack. Finally, a surprise item in a blind bag.

The quality of each item is very good. All items are hard, but the doll's head is firm rubber with a soft texture. The arms and legs of the Hello Kitty doll are movable, but the figure doesn't sit very well as the dress gets in the way of the legs fully moving to a sitting position.

xoxo Hello Kitty Best Friends in box

I picked up mine at Target, but it can also be purchased at Amazon along with a few other styles.

Watch the video for the unboxing.

Play-doh Disney Princess Mix'n Match Ariel, Cinderella, Snow White with Sparkle Compound

These individually packaged Disney Princesses are perfect ideas for prize boxes, Christmas stocking fillers, and Easter baskets.

Each package comes with a Disney Princess, a dress that is removable and swappable with other Disney princesses. It also comes with two small tubs of sparkly glitter Play-doh.

To design, you simply take the Play-doh and fill in the spaces in the Princess dresses. When you are done, you can use the stampers on the bottom of each Princess to stamp and create accessories.
I purchased my online at Amazon:
Ariel

Cinderella

Snow White


Aurora

Jasmine

Rapunzel

Unboxing - How to Train Your Dragon 2 - Toothless Power Dragon Toy

Perfectly sized for lots of role play. Toothless is Hiccup's dragon and companion. Hold Toothless in one hand and squeeze his hind legs with the other hand and you can get his wings to flap. His wings make a flapping sound as he flies.

Toothless' front legs move so that he can be positioned lying down or standing. He comes with ice attachments on his wings that can be snapped on or off.


This is a great addition to any How to Train Your Dragon toy collection. I purchased mine at Target, you can get one at Amazon.

Watch the video for the unboxing!

2015 McDonalds Happy Meal BARBIE - Complete Set

Super nice Barbie Happy Meal playset from McDonalds. There are 3 dolls to collect, a guitar that plays music, a horse, and a car.

The Barbie dolls are good size, about half the size of a regular Barbie doll. It's pretty well made and has hair that you can brush. The only drawback with the dolls is that the arms don't move. They are in a permanent parade wave position.

The guitar plays a short snippit of music, loudly. It doesn't fit on the dolls so it's more of a standalone toy.

The horse is very well made. The Barbie dolls can be balanced to sit on top of it but they fall off pretty quickly. I'd recommend using another type of doll to play with the horse.

The car has room for 2 Barbie dolls to sit in it, it comes with a number of stickers so that it looks pretty nice afterwards.

In all, I think this is a super fun set to collect!

Check out the video to see them all.

2015 McDonalds Happy Meal Team Hot Wheels

This is the 2015 set of McDonalds Happy Meal Hot Wheel collection.

The brightly colored plastic cars are each a little different. Each include small details like flames and racing stripes. They are painted on so they will not easily scratch off.

 Pull the car backward and then let it go to see it zoom away. It's great fun to race two or more of them.

DINOSAUR Sight Words with Surprise Eggs

This sight words video is for preschool or pre-primer age students. It goes over 6 sight words including up, and, red, one, we, and it. The words are repeated frequently and spelled out so that learners can see and hear the words multiple times. Each word is also on a play-doh surprise egg with a surprise inside.

After reviewing each word, we ask the learner to find the word. Once it's found, the egg is opened to reveal the surprise. Check out the video with your little one!

Kracie TonTon Undokai 3D Animals Candy Kit

Kracie TonTon Undokai Candy Kit

I came across a candy set at my local Japanese market this week. The Kracie TonTon Undokai 3D Animals Candy Kit uses edible Play-doh to put together two animals that compete with each other in a sporting event.

The animal and sporting event is a surprise. Upon opening I found that I got a penguin and a wolf and they are to compete in a track and field race. The animals were easy to put together and within minutes, they were ready to race. Watch the video to see who wins!

This kit is a lot of fun because you get to build it, play with it and then eat it. The edible "Play-doh" feels and tastes like taffy. The animal head and body is a bit firmer and the yellow body pieces are soft and easily molded. The candies actually taste quite good good. For $2.19, it's an awesome deal and a fun Easter basket filler.

I do not see Amazon selling this particular kit, but they do sell ones similar to it also by Kracie. Listed are a few.

Kracie Popin' Cookin' DIY candy kit gummy animals 

Popin' Cookin' DIY Nerunerunerune Candy Paste Soda Flavor by Kracie 

Gummy Tsureta - Long Long Gummy Cyandy Grape Flavor

BLIND BAGS - Hello Kitty, Care Bears, Littlest Pet Shop and more!

Growing up I've never heard about blind bags, also known as surprise bags. I think it's a relatively new thing as I'd like to think I'm not that old. I knew about baseball cards and such but the only surprise toys I knew about came in cereals and Cracker Jack boxes.

I loved Cracker Jacks for the tiny prizes inside. Blind bags are like Cracker Jacks but better! I never kept any of the Cracker Jack prizes, but the blind bag figurines are usually well made and very cute to display and play with. And at $3-4 each, it's not too expensive and a fun treat to collect all the different characters.

Join me in opening 5 blind bags mini figure collectibles from Care Bears Series 1, Hello Kitty Series 1, Littlest Pet Shop Series 2, Disney Doc McStuffins Doc's Toy Friends, imaginext series 3. I wonder what we'll get!



To get your own, try your local Wal-mart, Target, Walgreens and other retailers. Most of the larger retailers carry a few types. Otherwise, try Amazon or Ebay. Amazon is a little pricier but you don't have to hunt for the specific series you want to get from a store.

I've listed a few popular ones:

Littlest Pet Shop Series 2

Hello Kitty

My Little Pony Collection 2

Shopkins Shopping Basket

Care Bears

Imaginext Series 1

LEGO Minifigures Series 12

Fisher-Price LittlePeople Klip Klop Belle

The Fisher-Price LittlePeople Klip Klop Belle is a fun toy for all Little People and Disney Princess lovers out there.

It is a durable, non battery operated horse that klip klops it's way down the included ramp with just a small nudge. The ingenious engineering behind the grooves underneath the horse and on the ramp is what makes this toy so fun.

The horse trots down the ramp with a klip-klopping sound at a pace that is neither too fast or too slow.

The single princess set comes with one princess on a horse (non removable), a ramp and a food trough. If you have additional princesses you can snap the ramps together to make a taller and longer ramp.

For even more fun you can also add the sets that come with even longer ramps for your princess to ride down.

For kids who are not into the Disney Princesses, there is also a Mike the Knight set.

The following are offered as part of the Fisher-Price LittlePeople Klip Klop collection:

Fisher-Price Little People Disney Princess Klip Klop Stable

Fisher-Price Little People Belle's Klip Klop Cottage 

Klip Klop Cinderella Vehicle (push along toy, does not work on the ramps or on the stable and cottage)

Jasmine 

Cinderella

Belle

Ariel

Cinderella and Prince

Ariel and Prince Eric

Mike the Knight Klip Klop Arena Playset

Evie

Mike

Watch the video to see it in action!

Where to find Kinder Surprise Eggs in the United States

If you've watched any surprise egg videos on YouTube, you will find that most feature chocolate Kinder Surprise Eggs that contain a cute little toy inside.

Kinder Surprise, Kinder egg, Kinder Joy, Maxi eggs, or Kinder Sorpresa by Italian brand Ferrero has been banned in the United States by the FDA 1938 Act. The act bans "the sale of any candy that has embedded in it a toy or trinket".  This is due to the fear of choking if the person eating the item does not know there was a toy in it.

Kinder egg capsule next to 9v battery.

I can see how in some cases this might be valid. But in the case of the Kinder Surprise egg, the toy is encased in a plastic yellow capsule. I think it would be very hard to not notice that it's made of plastic.

So for now, to find and buy Kinder  Surprise eggs, you will have to travel abroad. And because it's banned, make sure to open and consume the chocolate before you re-enter the States, or it may be confiscated by the TSA.

Because the ban is on the sale of Kinder Eggs in the United States, it is legal to purchase. You can purchase and have the Kinder eggs shipped from various suppliers abroad or find them on Ebay (which usually are sellers from other countries). The prices are marked up and you have to pay shipping. But it's somewhat reasonable and worthwhile for this special treat. So if a trip to Canada or Europe isn't on the calendar this year, this is a good option.

But wait! There is also an alternative. The ChocoTreasure. ChocoTreasure made a series of modifications to their surprise eggs so that it is legal to sell in the United States. The toys are a little bigger, they do not contain small plastic pieces, and the toy capsule is modified so that it can be seen from the outside of the chocolate shell.

Below you can see the comparison. As you can see, Choco Treasure toys tend to be in one piece. Kinder egg surprises may contain additional pieces to put together.

Pink Choco Treasure capsule and toy on right. Orange Kinder egg capsule and toy on left.

Choco Treasure isn't as popular as the Kinder Surprises so I have not seen them in many places. So far I have seen Choco Treasure in dollar stores like Dollar Tree. But it is March and close to Easter so it may be a seasonal item.

You can buy Choco Treasure on Amazon also, it's cheaper than Kinder eggs so it might be a good option.

Finally, you can watch a video of Hello Kitty ChocoTreasure eggs to see what prizes and surprises can be found inside.

Fisher Price Little People A to Z Learning Zoo Playset

The Fisher Price Little People A to Z Learning Zoo Playset is one of the best Little People sets you can buy from Fisher Price. It comes with 26 animal figures, one for each letter in the alphabet, a zookeeper, car, food cart, two fences, a fun interactive waterfall, cave, swing and a playmat with voice and sound effects. That is 27 figures, a car and other accessories!!

When you press on the playmat for each letter, you will hear the letter, the animal name, and the animal sound. The animals are perfectly sized for small hands to grab and hold and the expressions on each animal is so cute. My kids usually don't play with the playmat but they have endless fun with the animals themselves, taking them places, putting them in buckets, and feeding them.

The animals in this set are not compatible with the newer Little People Zoo Talkers. The animals will not be recognized or activate the sounds in the Zoo Talker set. However, the Learning Zoo comes with 26 animals while the Zoo Talkers come with only 3 animals and you need to purchase the rest separately. I also think the zoo talker animals are more realistic and thus not as cute. What do you think?

Learning Zoo Hippo

Zoo Talker Hippo

I purchased my set at Amazon. 

You can see the set in action in the video below.