I am always on the lookout for the coolest nightlights and look what the awesome people at boon made for us?

In addition to its sexy space-age look, the glowing balls can be removed from the base and taken wherever you need a little light (just a little, the word on the street is that the balls off the base are not very bright). Once separated from the base the balls fade after about 30 minutes.

If you leave them on the base they can change color (there is a sliding thing on the base to change the color) or you can have it cycle automatically through all the colors. You can also set it to white (the brightest setting).

As you would expect from a great company like boon, the base and lights are all BPA-free, Phthalate-free and PVC-free. There is nothing electric in the balls (they are just made of a glow-in-the-dark plastic) so they never get hot. I love this for a baby gift for parents who are into design or trying to be gender neutral.  It doesn’t have to for a kid’s room – I think it would be great as a hallway or bathroom nightlight. Fun enough for the kids’ rooms and yet interesting enough for grown-up rooms too.

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Have you heard of the Vinylmation figures? They are these little (3 inches) vinyl toys inspired by the Disney theme parks and collected by many. I am newly enamored of them, I think they are adorable and I love the element of surprise.

When you order them you get blind box, meaning you don’t know which figure is inside, making collecting them all more challenging. Also, each set has a mystery figure, one that isn’t in the picture of the whole set. I love Vinylmation Muppets, as you know, but the other Disney sets are pretty cute too – perfect for a collector or just a fan of Disney.

Theme park Vinylmation

Star Wars Vinylmation:

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We recently saw the new movie, The Muppets (Loved It! Grown-ups and kids alike!). I am really hoping that this movie sparks a craze for all things Muppet.

If you, or someone you love, is crazy for a particular Muppet did you know that you can have you very own plush version? My longtime favorite, Animal, is pictured above. But of course there is also Kermit The Frog

Miss Piggie

Fozzie Bear (wakka wakka)

Gonzo (“What is Gonzo anyway? He’s a little like a chicken, but not much”)

and many more. They range in size from 15 inches (Fozzie) to 19 inched (Miss Piggie – she wears some serious heels, you know).

Muppets make everything better.

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Our kids love hexbugs. We have had the bigger spider like hexbugs, but they never get played with as much as the little hexbug nanos. ANd the only way I can think of to make the hexbug nano even more fun is to make it Glow In The Dark!

I think what makes the nano so much more fun is the way it moves. Since it’s only method of locomotion is through vibrating, it moves in an unpredictable path. You can buy play sets with paths and ramps for them to move along or race through. There are even glow in the dark “habitat sets.”

There is a small starter set

And a larger Hexbug glow in the dark habitat set.

I have to tell you that the best play space we have found for our hexbugs is one of those flying saucer style sleds.

We discovered this last year on Christmas morning, when the hex bugs were put in the saucers to keep them from getting lost and because of the concave shape of the sleds they automatically went around and around in circles. Very fun to watch, actually.

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Not just toy storage bins, but the most beautiful toy storage bins I have ever seen. And they are organic, did I mention that? Beautiful, organic toy storage. It is like a non-denominational holiday miracle.

They are made by 3 Sprouts, a small company made up of people with serious design street cred, and it shows. There are three different shapes and sizes, the Bin, the Box and the Caddy. The canvas is 100% organic cotton and the felt animals are made from recycled soda bottles.

The fox bin is pictured above, the raccoon bin below, but there are 8 different animals to choose from. The bins are are 17″ by 17″ and they are great for stuffed animals, laundry or dress-up clothes.

Next we have the 3 Sprouts storage box. Love the peacock!

The storage box is 13″ by 13″ by 13″. Perfect for LEGOs, cars, little dolls and action figures. Any little thing that you would like to scoop up and put on a shelf.

And then the caddy.

Oh caddy, I think I love you most of all. If you have a 3 or 4 year old you know about their love of putting things in bags and carrying them around the house. The caddy is perfect for anything that will be carried around like books, play food, hair accessories or doll clothes.

I am going to ask you to remember Christmas morning and all the new toys and the feeling you get every year when you look around and wonder where the heck you are going to put all these toys. My advice? Get a bunch of toy storage bins now and be prepared. Or give them as gifts to friends who are going to end up with more toys than they have places to put them.  You will be their hero.

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So we ordered the boys Star Wars LEGO advent calendars a while back because they always sell out before October (although you can still get them for the actual price, so they must have made a whole lot more this year or something). But what to get for The Princess who, while she can swing a light saber as well as any older brother, isn’t actually as enamored of Star Wars as they are. I searched for the perfect girly toy based advent calendar and I found it: The Playmobil Unicorn Fairy World advent calendar.  Seriously you say? Yes, seriously. Behold the Unicorn Fairy World awesomeness:

It is practically a Double Rainbow in a box right there and she will love it. It comes with 24 little boxes, each containing a Playmobil piece.  It also comes with a backdrop that can be played with once all the toys have been open or hung on the wall with the toy boxes attached and ready for opening.

I considered getting the Playmobil Christmas in the Forest advent calendar because I think all the little animals would be great to play with once the set is all open.

But then Remo reminded me that the other one is a Unicorn Fairy World and I knew that was the only option.

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I can’t say enough great things about the How to train your dragon books by Cressida Cowell. They are funny books sure to please any kid interested in dragons or adventure. And since I always like to give books and toys together, they make perfect gifts. There are a bunch of playsets that go along with the How to train your dragon movie.

There is a Dragon attack set

and a Flying dragon set

and my favorite, the bucket of dragons set.

There is also a really adorable mini talking plush night fury dragon.

It is only 5 inches tall and it talks, which would be a deal breaker for me (I have issues) but isn’t a problem for most people. I actually kind of appreciate it when great books are made into movies because then I can count on matching toys to go with the books as presents.

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Looking for a little something spooky for Halloween? Have a LEGO obsessed kid with an October birthday? This is a custom set made by Ender’s Ark. They ordered all the pieces directly from LEGO and then put together this charming headless horseman set.

LEGO also has a variety of Halloween themed minifigs, always a popular choice.

My favorite is the zombie minifig.

I love that he looks worried, like he feels relly bad about wanting to eat your brains.

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We have a bit of a stuffed animal storage problem at Chez Toy Report.  The fluffy overpopulation is reaching problem status.  There is a huge wooden chest filled with stuffed animals upstairs, boxes in the attic, an empty duvet cover filled with them downstairs, and all the current favorites on the beds, of course. Now, I would be happy to thin the herd but the boys switch favorite animals all the time and we periodically go on hunts for stuffed teddy bears or bunnies or brown puppies or whatever is needed. They would certainly notice and be distraught if they disappeared forever. I have done extensive research on storing stuffed animals and I have determined that there is only one truly good solution, the Boon Stuffed Animal Bag.

Stuffed Animal Storage AND A Bean Bag

That’s right, you jam all your stuffed animals into this plush and fluffy bag, zip it up and suddenly you have a fun chair and storage spot all in one.

Click here for the detail and size specification on the stuffed animal bean bags.

I am dreaming of them as the answers to all my problems. I think the single green one is cute, I may have to acquire one to see just how much of the plush menagerie fits inside.

The genius of these bags is that you end up with functional bean bag type seating in addition to stuffed animal storage. The bags zip open and animals get stuffed inside, but there are see through panels in the bags making it easier to spot a a favorite if needed.  Of course, having imaginative kids, there are always some unreal concerns here.  There are certain plush animals that really do not belong together.  You cannot put the plush manatee and plush seal in the same bag as the stuffed shark, and woe be to the parent who packs the tiger plush together with the plush bears.  You may wake up one morning to find a bag full of shredded fluff and stuffing.

Stuffed Animal Storage In All Sizes

Heck, there is even an awesome three section version as well.  That looks to be the perfect sized Boon bag for lounging around, but it might take up too much space in most living areas.

My only real concern is that we have three children and I’m not sure I can invest in three separate bags so everyone can have their own. I am tempted by the triple bag, but I’m not sure how if three actual children could sit on it together.    It would solve the issue with large stuffed animals fitting in the smaller bag though.

This is absolutely the best stuffed animal storage I have ever seen, and boy are there some terrible options out there. I’ll tell you about the unpleasant alternatives later.

UPDATE: We finally got our orange Boon Trio bag (the one pictured on the right) and it is awesome!  It holds more stuffed animals that I ever imagined.  Click here for the details on the Trio.

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I know! Coolest thing you have seen all week, right? LEGO has come out with alarm clocks in the shape of some beloved minifigs. My personal favorite is the Darth Vader mini-figure alarm clock, pictured above. But following at a close second is Buzz Lightyear mini-figure alarm clock.

The clocks are quite a bit bigger than a standard minifig, measuring 8 inches tall. The Buzz Lightyear one may be extra cool, because you set the time and alarm by pressing the buttons on his space suit.

Nevermind, I may love the Yoda mini-figure alarm clock most of all. Who doesn’t love Yoda? To snooze the alarm or light up the clock display, you press down on his head.

The minifig alarm clocks all have moving arms and legs, just like a real minifig, so they can sit or stand or hold things.  They also have Woody, Anakin, and Storm Trooper alarm clocks.

Trust me, whether for a birthday present or just a Back-to-school-please-get-up-on-time-in-the-morning present, you can’t go wrong with these LEGO mini-figure alarm clocks.

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There are quite a few pirate books out there, they are perfect for young pirate fans (and in celebration of International Talk Like a Pirate Day!)

My absolute, hands down favorite is How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long.

It follows the adventures of young Jeremy Jacobs who goes off with pirates to help them bury their treasure. He enjoys some of their pirate ways more than others (No Tucking!) but in the end decides to make it back home in time for soccer practice. Just as wonderful is the sequel, Pirates Don’t Change Diapers.

For picture books, my other favorite is Don’t mention Pirates by Sarah McConnell.

Follow the adventures of young Scarlet Silver and her family as they discover their true calling in their ship-shaped house.

For older kids you can’t go wrong with Pirateology.

A huge compendium of facts, stories and legends about pirates this is sure to be enough information to satify any swashbuckler interested in learning more about pirates. It includes information about knot tying, flags, sailing and boats and, of course, marauding.

My favorite pirate themed book is Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Scott Pearson.

It is a retelling of Peter Pan, but with more action and mystery and it is certainly as swashbuckling as it is possible to be. There is a whole series, and I recommend getting the first three to start, because they are addicting!

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Continuing our celebration of International Talk like a Pirate Day, we shall explore our pirate dress up options.  I love this Alex Pirate tent. While it isn’t technically dress-up, it does provide a home base for the pretend play that goes along with dress-up. And have you seen it? Adorable!

As for dress-up clothes – I like this pirate costume from Melissa and Doug.

Perfect for a little buccaneer. If you will be dressing more than one pirate, you might want to invest in this Pirate dress-up treasure chest.

It has a variety of costume pieces, so there is something to make everyone feel like plundering something.

And, lastly, what may be my favorite pirate toy of all time:

This dress up pirate doll from Manhattan Toy.

I just love him! You can button and zip and tie and buckle him and then undo it all and start all over. He is certainly the most adorable buccaneer I have ever seen!

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Happy International Talk like a Pirate Day! (It is so a real thing. The internets are never wrong!) In honor of this most festive of holidays, I am declaring this to be Pirate Week  here at The Toy Reporter.

We will open the festivities with the best pirate ship toys.

My favorite (and the one we actually own and has been played with by just about every child who has ever been in our house) is the Plan Toys wooden pirate ship.

It is simple, beautiful, well made and sturdy wooden pirate ship. It has a few pirates, a little boat, an alligator, treasure chest. Everything you need to play pirates. This one is suitable for preschoolers, not just the big kids.

If you want to go all out, I suggesting this KidKraft Pirate Ship.

Like everything KidKraft makes is it well made and amazingly detailed. I love how the sides open, making this almost a ship-shaped doll house than just a pirate ship toy.

I also really like this Playmobil pirate dinghy.

It is perfect if you want something smaller, or to add to an existing pirate set.

Don’t forget to talk like a Pirate today! Hoist the main sail! Swab the decks ye landlubbers! Or you can just say “Arrrrgggghhhh!” a lot.

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I have found that my older kids are suddenly refusing anything that they think is for little kids, and sadly this includes lunch boxes with adorable animals on them.

For older kids, I thinks these waste-free lunch kits from Kids Konserve are perfect. They come with a recycled cotton lunch bag (in a tasteful print, nothing little kiddish about it), a stainless steel water bottle, two stainless steel snack containers, a sandwich wrap and a cloth napkin.

Perfect for your recycling minded kid or anyone who feels they have outgrown their adorable robot lunch box (sigh).

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I just can’t stop with the animal themed lunch bags! I love these insulated bags by Dabbawalla. They are made of an insulating neoprene material that has met the stringent Oeko-Tex standard for fabric safety and they are sewn in a factory using fair labor practices – you can feel good about buying these lunch bags.

Dabbawalla makes adorable animals, like the monkey seen above or this ladybug.

They also have other cute designs, my favorite of the non0animal designs is the apple bag.

They are big enough for a whole lunch and a water bottle – a great way to carry your lunch!

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Honestly, if you want to look your very best it’s not too early to start thinking about that Halloween costume.  And if you have a little Harry Potter fan in your house, you might want to pick up a Griffyndor scarf and tie set to go with your Harry Potter glasses and wizards cape while they are still in stock.

The 8th and final Harry Potter movie came out last month, and unless you are one of the few people left on earth who has not read the books, you’ll be hard pressed to avoid the films.  Honestly, the last one was really the best so far but if you haven’t kept up with the story so far, the last Harry Potter movie certainly isn’t the place to start.

So if you want to make your own Harry Potter costume this Halloween, here are all the pieces you will need:

Harry Potter Tie:

Griffindor Scarf:

Harry Potter Glasses: Gryffindor Robe:

Harry Potter Wand

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The fine folks at the LEGO Group have stealthily released this years Lego Advent Calendar, with a small amount showing up at one online location already in the middle of August.  If you’re VERY lucky, they might still have them in stock here.

So you think it’s too early to be worrying about getting your own 2011 Lego advent calendar this Christmas season?  For the past few years LEGO has put out two holiday calender sets here in the US, one generic City one and one special one.  And each year, the special one sells out quickly way before the holiday season.  The City one is typically sold out by mid day on Black Friday.  Don’t believe me?  Check out this post from two years ago at the height of the recession:  Lego Advent Calenders Sold Out – Told You So!

Seriously, if they have one in stock here for under $45, buy it today or regret it later.  There is an excellent chance the Star Wars Advent Calendar will be gone by October.

And you know what?  They never come back.  Lego makes a limited advent calendar run every year, since there is only a demand for these during the holiday season.  There are eBay sellers that stock up on them each year and sell them at a hefty profit for $60-$100 a pop.

Star Wars Lego Advent Calendar

This year Lego has put their powerhouse Star Wars brand on the calendar and included a couple of great minifigs.  Pretty much the only place to get a Yoda minifig in a set was to buy the $85 Assault Tank set, and Chewbaca wasn’t easy to come by either.  Not only are both of them are in this set, but Yoda is dressed as Santa Claus!  You also get a mini X-Wing, a mini Millennium Falcon, a mini Slave One (that’s Boba Fett’s ship for the non-Star Wars geeks out there), a Tie Fighter, an Imperial Shuttle and more.   If you have a 5-10 year old boy, don’t miss this one this Christmas.

You can find more details on what’s in the Star Wars set here.

City Lego Advent Calendar

Yeah, there is also the City version of the Lego Advent Calendar.  Sorry, but I’m so darn excited about giving the boys the Star Wars version that I just can’t even get interested in the City one.   It has a tree, it has Santa, it has a guy ice fishing.  Honestly, it’s a really good christmas calendar, just like Lego puts out every year.  Your kids will likely love it.  BUT DOES IT HAVE YODA?  HECK NO!  It’s not even available yet, but you can pre-order it for September 1st.

You can see more details on the City version here.

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On a beach vacation but it won’t stop raining? Well aren’t you glad you packed a few cooperative family board games to pass the time? We love the game pictured above: Sand Castles by Family Pastimes. It is a cooperative game, meaning that players are rewarded for working together toward a common goal, instead of trying to beat each other. This makes it an ideal game when there are children of various ages involved – fewer hurt feelings than a typical game of Sorry, and there is strategy involved meaning the kids actually use their powers of reasoning and conversation to figure out each move. Not a bad thing in the dog days of summer vacation!

Another great family game is Blokus. The game is best when played with 4 players, and there is serious strategy involved with how you place your pieces to try to fit them all in, so this is probably best when all kids are 6 and up.

And if you are really stuck inside for a good long time you can’t go wrong with a classic – Monopoly. It is a classic for a reason. There is more math and strategy involved than you remember – so this is probably best when all the kids are ages 8 and older. Remo and the boys recently has an epic, week long game of Monopoly and the kids loved it. Just don’ t try to squeeze in a game quickly, the game takes just as long as you remember. But if you are stuck inside during a rainy weekend or a heat-wave, consider a good old fashioned board game as a way to entertain the masses.

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Tired of all those cheap beach toys that break the first week of summer? I long ago decided that when it comes to sand toys, quality is more important than quantity. I have since found that a lighter beach toy bag (that can be easily carried by each kid) is a great thing too. My favorite high-quality beach toys are made by Spielstabil. Their sand play backpack set is really everything any child needs for playing at the beach or in the sand box. And it comes in it’s own handy dandy backpack – making it easy for kids to carry on their own (because don’t you have enough to carry?).

If you are looking for something smaller, the above Spielstabil sand play set is perfect. It comes in its own tote bag, again perfectly sized to be carried by your child. Can you tell I am tired of carrying everyone else’s sand toys to the beach?

Need something pink? Well, they have this Spielstabil frog set (not really sure why it is called that, there don’t seem to be any frogs involved), also contained in it’s own tote bag.

The Spielstabil toys are made of a super strong plastic, they toys we have from them have lasted for years without breaking. Not so much our cheapo beach toys we have gotten from random discount stores. This summer I finally threw out all the broken and cracked beach toys and we have been so much happier with fewer, but better quality toys.

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Getting bored playing a near infinite number of Angry Bird levels on your smart phone?  Longing for the satisfaction of knocking things down in real life that just can’t be replicated on a screen?

Well look no further!  Now there is an Angry Birds game you play in the real world.

No, I’m not talking about the guy who spent 10 hours building a playable Angry Birds cake.  While it is completely awesome, 10 hours of cake building for 2 minutes of fun is excessive in my book.  Check it out first:

In my day, we did things differently.  Toys came first.  Books came first.  Then they took the popular ones and made movies and video games out of them.  And they did it over and over and over again.  Transformers, Strawberry Shortcake, and Smurfs all started as toys that became popular and then spawned decades of TV, video game and movie crossovers.  They’re still milking them today with an entirely new generation of kids.

Now, it’s turnabout time.  Angry Birds, the insanely popular smart phone time waster, has been turned into a real life game, completely with blocks, pigs, birds, and a little slingshot like flinger. When virtual bird destruction just isn’t cutting it anymore, go real.

Click on the picture below for more details on the game and how to play:

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