Another affordable toy out there on the markets this year can be purchased at Macy’s. At $14.99, Skoodlez makes a great toy for your kids or a grab bag, and can be given to kids 4 – 12. The stuffed animal has weighed down hands and feet, so you can easy pose them and hang them.  The cool part is that there is a coin handing around the stuffed animals neck.  You take the code off the coin and use that to access the online world.  On the site, children are challenged to create their own stories.  There are three different settings, so you can taylor it to your child’s age.  Beginner is from 4 – 6, medium is from 7 – 9, and advanced is 10 – 12.  When they finish their story, they can share them Skoodlez community.  They can also print them out.

This makes the perfect gift for the kid who has everything.  The Everday Skoodlez line includes fifteen animals:  hippo, cat, dog, mouse, duck, lion, tiger, leopard, panda, bear, zebra, giraffe, monkeys, and elephant.  There is also twenty four holiday ones.  They is definitely something here for everyone.

Build A Bear has outdone itself this year.  I though they had some of the cutest stuffed animals before this year.  However, with their introduction of Hal and Holly Moose, they have truly outdone themselves.  These have to be the cutest stuffed animals they have.  You can dress them in holiday gear or even street clothes.  You get the book about them for free if you buy both (otherwise, the book is $15.99).   The book lets us know that Hal is a dreamer who wants to fly with Santa’s reindeer.  Holly is a inventor who is always there to help her brother on all of his adventures.  Like all Build A Bears, these are a high quality stuffed animal that will stand the wear and tear of your children.

If you are looking for a great holiday gift for the kids who has everything, Hal and Holly Moose definitely fit the bill!

As many of you know, Madison has been wearing glasses for almost two years now. She will be five in January, and I have to admit that getting her to wear her glasses has been a struggle. At least now she realizes that she can’t see without her glasses. However, sometimes she still tries to sneak around and not wear them. One of the things you can do is get Ficklets for your children’s glasses. Ficklets are eyewear charm huggers. Basically, they make your kids (and yours too if you like) want to wear their glasses.  It took me about five minutes (actually, I think it was less than that) to get these on Madison’s glasses, and she was extremely proud to show her Ficklets off.

Now, I got Madison the flower ones. However, they have all sorts of designs to pick from. They have everything from flowers to sports to shapes.  They even have a miscellaneous section that has lips and smiley faces!  These are definately cute and a great talking piece.  Kids will love these.  If you know anyone that wears glasses, then you definitely should get them a set of Ficklets.

Have you ever went to the Build A Bear Workshop?  If so, you will know that it is one of the coolest places around if you have kids.  It is seriously like watching magic happen as you watch your bear being made.  It is awesome that you can personalize it and everything.  However, when we moved from Aurora back to Chicago, I didn’t realize that we were going to be leaving our beloved Build A Bear Workshop.  I have no idea where one is now. That being said, there are a couple of ways for me to get my Build A Bear fix.

First, there is a celebrity auction going on right now! They will be auctioning off celebrity-built Build-A-Bear Workshop bears along with autographed copies of the Build-A-Bear Wii game. These bears and signed games will be on eBay’s Giving Works to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern California. The bears were built by celebrities like Tori Spelling & Dean McDermott, the Jonas Brothers, James Gandolfini, Melissa Joan Hart, Bonnie Hunt, Mitchel Musso, Meaghan Jette Martin and more.  This would definitely be a talking point for your house!

If that isn’t enough, Wii has come to the rescue for those of use who don’t like by a Build A Bear workshop!  They now have a game called Build-A-Bear Workshop® A Friend Fur All Seasons.  Up to four players can play and you can name, feed, and dress your bear.  You can even go on adventures with them!  This game is rated E for Everyone, so you can enjoy it no matter what age you are!  You can buy this game at places like Walmart, Target, and really any game retailers.  However, I have a great giveaway for you!  How would you like your own Build A Bear game?  Here’s what you need to do:

1. Leave a comment on this post.  Tell me what feature you think you’d like best about the Build-A-Bear Workshop® A Friend Fur All Seasons game.
2. Twitter about this contest. Please leave me your username so I can verify.
3. Stumble this post. If you don’t know what Stumble Upon is, please read Lori’s post at Blogging Cents. She explains it extremely well.
4. Add this post to other social media sites like Digg, Kirtsy, Blogging Zoom, Reddit, Propeller, Etc. (1 entry for each social network).

For 5 additional entries,

1. Blog about this on your blog. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.
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This giveaway will end on December 14 at 8:00 pm CST is available to US and Canada residents only. Good luck!

I remember K’NEX from when I was a child. I am so glad to see that my kids will actually be able to enjoy their toys too! They have expanded the ages that their toys are for, so I am excited to be able to show you (and review) some of their new product lines.

The Abby Cadabby Building Set is designed for kids two to five years old. It is a 30 piece building set. It also comes with a play and learn activity sheet.  This set has everything a little girl needs for for Abby. There is a tulle skirt and pink fairy wings. There is also a flowery wand and a pigtails.  I love the size of the pieces in here; I don’t have to worry about Madison’s little brother getting into this and trying to eat it.  Madison could easily put the set together.  This is very reasonably priced too — only $14.99.  This building set also teaches hand eye coordination, role playing, and cognitive skills.

This Elmo Building Set is super cute too. It’s for ages two to five. This is a 14-15 piece set that also comes with a sticker and activity sheet.  Though I have to admit,  my favorite piece of this kit is the fishtank.  I can’t get over how cute it is!  This is available in four fun sets:  Elmo with Dorothy, Ernie with his rubber duckie, Cookie Monster, and Oscar with Slimey the Worm.   What I love the best about this is that the packaging looks like Elmo too, and the pieces all fit back into it.  You don’t have to worry about losing pieces.  Pricewise, this building set is $10.99.

You now can also build a fleet of trucks or even an amusement park too! The Road Rig series has four separate models that you can get:  Semi Truck, Pick-Up Truck, Dump Truck, and Tow Trick.  You even get a guy to drive the truck too!  Now, you can combines sets to create new and bigger trucks.  If you combine all four, you can make a ten wheeled hauler!  The semi truck building set has a motor, so it does require 2 AA batteries.  This is for kids five and up.  I love that it comes with instructions and shows you how to build all these cool things.  This set will run your about $19.99.

This DoubleDare Dueling Coaster, I swear, was making my husband salivate. It is for 9 year olds and up, and I will even admit it is really cool. The set is over 950 pieces and even has a motorized chain lift! Two chrome cars and 32 feet of track are included too.  You basically build two seperate tracks with this kit and then you can race them.  This does take a bit of time to get set up.  However, when you do, it is worth every minutes.  This should be about $39.99 which is an excellent price for this.

K’NEX is one of those brands that we know and that we love.  I am so glad to see that they are still around for my children to enjoy them.  They truly have something for every age group now, and it really doesn’t matter if you are a boy or a girl.  You just need to have an imagination and be willing to have fun.