PlayMonster Steps up STEM Offerings and the Play Experience This Holiday (Review) (Holiday Gift Guide)

My 8 year old daughter loves anything to do with learning. She is a very hands on child, and loves to build and create. She is very interested in STEM activities (Science Technology Engineering and Math). I was asked to review two popular STEM play sets from PlayMonster.

PlayMonster is a toy and game company that believes in the power of play to make a positive difference in people’s lives.  This holiday, they bring increased motor power and play-friendly dolls to the award-winning Roominate line of building sets, while the My Fairy Garden line brings children imaginative, fantasy, open-ended play with garden play sets that allow the nurturing of real plants.

Roominate is an award-winning line of complete building sets that are designed for girls in order to bridge the gender gap in STEM.  Named as one of The Toy Insider’s STEM toys of 2016, the line was started with one simple mission: open up possibilities for girls by showing them that creativity and engineering are fun.

PlayMonster improved upon the highly successful Roominate line by increasing motor power and creating unique building pieces and more play-friendly dolls! With all sets, girls can build the creations shown, or use their imagination to create their dream project! It’s fun for them to “Think it, Build it and Switch it on!”

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Emma’s Townhouse—Build a tall townhouse, or a wide one, either way you can design a colorfully modern home! Use the included motor to build a ceiling fan, or anything you can think of! Includes Emma doll and her pet pig Hodgkin. Ages 6+. SRP $29.99; Available at Wal-Mart, Toys “R” Us, Barnes & Noble.

What’s cool about the Townhouse?

  • Design your townhouse vertically or horizontally
  • Arrange the food, tools and toiletries, along with the stickers, or add your own accessories and artwork!
  • Bring your creations to life with the circuits and a motor!

Contents

  • 5 Panels and 10 Columns
  • 72 Building Pieces
  • 2 Discs
  • 2 Roof Pieces
  • 2 Shutters
  • 1 Flower Box
  • Axle
  • Motor
  • Battery Box
  • 27 Food and Home Accessories
  • Sticker Sheet
  • Wallpaper Sheet
  • Emma Doll
  • Hodgkin the Pig
  • Guide

 

Review:

Alison was super excited to receive this! She loves dolls, and loves doll houses. She took this right out of the box and started building immediately. The really cool thing about this play set is you don’t have to just make a town house. You can make so many other things such as different type houses and rooms! She used the motor to make a really cool fan in one of the rooms! I love how this play set gets her thinking and using her imagination to build.

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Freya’s Magical Cottage™ — An adorable flower pot that’s a welcoming fairy home where Freya entertains friends and tends to her garden! The set includes the flowerpot cottage with opening doors and terrace, tray, cottage furniture, toadstool, Freya the fairy, her friend, and gardening accessories and tools.  SRP $24.99; Available at Wal-Mart, Toys “R” Us, Outset.

Grow Your Own Magical Garden! 

My Fairy Garden™ is the first of its kind: a toy that’s also a real, live garden! Children love kits that allow them to grow plants at home; it gives them a connection to nature and a sense of satisfaction at having nurtured a living thing. My Fairy Garden takes it to a new, exciting level by allowing children to interact with it as part of an enchanting play set! Children plant the quick-germinating seeds, and care for their garden, all while setting up and playing with adorable fairies, woodland friends and accessories! It’s a great collectible line for children ages 4 and up!

An adorable flower pot that’s a welcoming fairy home where Freya entertains friends and tends to her garden! The set includes everything needed to set up a play area: flowerpot cottage with opening doors and terrace, tray, cottage furniture, rooftop trim, toadstool, Freya the fairy, her chipmunk friend Hazel, and gardening accessories and tools. Also included are soil and quick-germinating seeds to get your garden started! Children can add other flowers or plants if they want, too! It’s a fun growing and play set!

Ages 4 and Up
Contents: 2-Piece Flowerpot, Tray, Toadstool, Umbrella Table, 2 Chairs, Seed Packet, Soil, Watering Can, 3 Gardening Tools, Freya the Fairy, Hazel the Chipmunk, Leaflet

 

Review:

Gardening is fun for all ages, so this would make a great gift for a birthday or as a holiday gift. Making this garden was fun and easy, and it even comes with cute furniture to put inside or outside of the garden. I even enjoyed helping my daughter put it all together. The cool things about this is you can even add your own flower seeds. This will last for years and years to come.

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Each of these items would make great gifts for the holiday season. Any young girl would love them!

 

 

 

*I received complimentary samples of the above play sets in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own. 

 

Marijean

My name is MJ. I have two wonderful children and work part time as well as volunteer at my children's school.

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Stretch & Sniff Scen-Ties Hair Ties Review (Holiday Gift Guide)

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My 8 year old daughter is really getting to be the fashionista. She loves fashion and style, and that includes hair accessories. She always wears the cutest headbands and hair bows. She loves to wear her hair in pony tails or braids. I was contacted by a company that makes really cute scented hair ties, and I knew that Alison would love to try them out.

WHAT ARE SCEN-TIES?

SCENTIES are a fun twist on a very common existing product – elastic hair ties. The twist is that we have fragranced ours with fun, attractive scents for girls like bubblegum, strawberry and cotton candy. We’ve also added a tiny fabric tag to each elastic. When the wearer tugs the adorable little tag the scent is emitted from the elastic. This makes our SCENTIES the first in a category for children we like to call TOYCESSORIES – an accessory that is also a fun, interactive toy. Go ahead and give Scenties a try – Stretch ‘em, Sniff ‘em, Wear ‘em, Share ‘em.

SNIFF ‘EM

Scent is one of the most powerful of our five senses. Smelling a fragrance can evoke a wide range of emotions in people. We use innovative technology called microencapsulation to add fun, savory scents to our SCENTIES. We’ve started our  collection with kid favorite scents like Strawberry, Cotton Candy and Bubblegum.  All of our fragrances have been created to comply with The International Fragrance Association Standards.

SHARE ‘EM

After conducting some focus group research last summer it became apparent that SCENTIES are both a collectible and tradable item. Girls were willing to share their SCENTIES with each other and equally interested in holding onto certain special scents to keep just for themselves.

 

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Scen-Ties are available in 3 different scents. Bubblegum, Cotton Candy and Strawberry. Each pack is $5.99 and includes 6 hair ties in each pack. When I took them out of the box I immediately could smell the scents. They smell so good! My daughter was super excited to take them out of packaging and try them out.

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She loves all of the scents. They smell so sweet and yummy. Alison loves to wear them as bracelets or in her hair, she loves to wear a couple at one time and combine scents. These hold her hair all day, and are made to not break. I have very thick hair and these hold my hair in a pony tail fine. She is very excited to take some to school and let her friends try them out.

These Scen-Ties would make awesome stocking stuffers for the little girl (or grown girl) in your life. These would be very cute also tied to a birthday present. The possibilities are endless.

You can purchase Scen-Ties by clicking here. 

Connect with Scen-Ties: Facebook and Instagram

 

*I received the mentioned Scent-Ties in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own. 

 

Marijean

My name is MJ. I have two wonderful children and work part time as well as volunteer at my children's school.

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3DLIGHTFX 3D Deco Lights Make the Perfect Holiday Gift!

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3DLIGHTFX 3D Deco Lights are the perfect gift this holiday season. They have a full range of comic book, super hero, Disney Princess, sports and car lights that look as though they are popping right out of the wall! They are cordless battery operated and cool to the touch so you can place them any where in the room! Your kids will loves having these in their rooms and they’re also the perfect editions to a den, family room, man’s cave or office! It includes a crack sticker so it looks like it really is breaking through the wall!  Find all of these amazing products here: Target and Target.com .

 

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Marijean

My name is MJ. I have two wonderful children and work part time as well as volunteer at my children's school.

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Beautiful Jewelry from Powder and Jade (Holiday Gift Guide)

 

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I love Jewelry, and I am always giving jewelry as gifts to friends and family during birthdays and holidays. I was contacted by an Etsy shop called Powder and Jade to review one of their beautiful necklaces.

 

Powder & Jade: Gift Jewelry with a Personal Touch

About the Shop:
We’ve spent the last few years carefully designing jewelry that are perfect to give as a gift. We combine these pieces with the cutest, most thoughtful quotes we can think of/find in order to create gifts that you and whoever you give it to you will truly love. Each piece is handmade in our shop here in Boulder, CO and carefully packaged. We have been relentless about finding the best suppliers in order to source the highest quality materials at a reasonable price. If you have feedback, please let us know – we are always trying to find ways to bring more value to our customers.

About the Owners:
Powder & Jade was started in 2013 by husband and wife team Auri and Andrew Penner. Auri had started making jewelry as a hobby while in college, and at the same time Auri and Andrew decided that they wanted to start their own business and work for themselves — they decided to try selling Auri’s jewelry creations and Powder & Jade was born. After many, many design changes, they started offering simple, minimalist gift jewelry that people seemed to love.

They have been able to rent a studio space and are now joined by Katie Beglin, who runs the day-to-day operations, and several other amazing employees who help get the handmade jewelry into your hands. Auri currently works on new designs, does photography, and handles business strategy while Andrew starts a shoe company.

We also own 3 other Etsy jewelry shops:
forthemaids.etsy.com (specializing in bridesmaid jewelry)
pennerpearls.etsy.com (gorgeous pearl jewelry)
burnthoneyjewelry.etsy.com (bridesmaid jewelry for everyday wear)

 

I was able to review one piece of Jewelry. It was a tough decision since everything on the site is beautiful! I do love Anchors, so I decided on this cute Tiny Anchor Necklace.  It is so tiny and dainty, I just love it. It looks so nice on!

 

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Tiny Anchor Necklace

• A dainty silver cubic zirconia anchor pendant on sterling silver chain
• Gift-wrapped with note in box and name tag on outside of box

MATERIALS
• Sterling silver chain and findings (not just plated – perfect for sensitive skin)
• Cubic zirconia and rhodium plated over brass anchor pendant

SIZE
• Pendant is 9mm x 8mm
• Length: 18 inches – if you want a different length (between 14″-20″), let us know at checkout (length modeled is 18 inches)

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You can customize each box with a saying they offer, or make your own! This makes the gift so special and unique. They offer jewelry gifts for everyone, this would make a great teacher gift from your child with a personalized note! The prices are very reasonable (my necklace was only $22) and the reviews are amazing. Definitely check it out for your next holiday gift purchase!!

They are offering a discount: 

GET 10% OFF ORDERS OVER $100 WITH COUPON CODE: TENOFF100

 

 

Connect with Powder and Jade: Etsy Shop and Facebook 

*I received the mentioned necklace in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own. 

Marijean

My name is MJ. I have two wonderful children and work part time as well as volunteer at my children's school.

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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Featurette

ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY arrives in theaters everywhere on December 16th!

 

 

Cast: Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed, with Jiang Wen and Forest Whitaker

Director: Gareth Edwards

Producers: Kathleen Kennedy, Allison Shearmur, Simon Emanuel

Executive Producers: John Knoll, Jason McGatlin

 

SYNOPSIS:

From Lucasfilm comes the first of the Star Wars standalone films, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” an all-new epic adventure. In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves.

 

BOILERPLATE:

From Lucasfilm comes the first of the Star Wars standalone films, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” an all-new epic adventure. In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves.

 

“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” is directed by Gareth Edwards and stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed, with Jiang Wen and Forest Whitaker. Kathleen Kennedy, Allison Shearmur and Simon Emanuel are producing, with John Knoll and Jason McGatlin serving as executive producers. “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” opens in U.S. theaters on December 16, 2016.

 

Like STAR WARS on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/StarWarsMovies

 

Follow STAR WARS on Twitter: https://twitter.com/starwars

 

Follow STAR WARS on Instagram: http://instagram.com/StarWarsMovies

 

Follow STAR WARS on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/starwars

 

Visit the official ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY website: http://www.starwars.com/films/rogue-one

 

ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY arrives in theaters everywhere on December 16th In RealD 3D and IMAX 3D!

Marijean

My name is MJ. I have two wonderful children and work part time as well as volunteer at my children's school.

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