Last Minute Gift Ideas from Spin Master!

Whether you are shopping for a boy or girl, Spin Master is the creator of some of the seasons hottest toys!

If you have a little lady that you're buying for, you may have seen Zoobles on your list this year. Brand new this season, Zoobles sprung to life and grasped the attention of many girls ages 5-9.  (In my opinion, Zoobles are like Bakugan's for girls.) Super cute, and absolutely adorable, these brightly colored animals have their own play sets, and can also be purchased in single or multi-packs. They each have their own funky name, most which correlates with the type of animal they are. When play time is over, flip down the Zoobles and they look like a little ball, making the animals portable and perfect to pack up and bring to Grandma's house! These cute toys start at about $5 and are available online and in all mass retailers.

Liv Dolls are also among the list of many little girls this holiday season. Liv Dolls are realistic looking dolls (more conservative than Bratz, and more "up to date" than Barbie), that girls last year made one of the hottest toys of the season. This year new fashions, styles and accessories are putting Liv Dolls back on the frontline of fun and fashion. With 14 points of articulation, posing these natural divas is super easy for kids 5 and up. Even my nieces (9 and 12) like Liv dolls because of their fashionable styles, and interchangable wigs. These dolls retail for approx. $20. Additional accessories are also available.

On many boys' lists this season you'll find Air Hogs.

The brand new Air Hogs Hawk Eye helicopter is a revolutionary 'copter that blends the boundaries between flight, aerial videography and digital media. 

This video helicopter is the first of its kind, and can capture up to 5 minutes of video or hundreds of pictures while flying high!

It retails for approximately $65-80, and is perfect for kids 12 and up!

Another popular toy from Air Hogs is the Moto Frenzy remote controlled motorcycle. Catch air while performing high-flying indoor stunts, just like your favorite Motocross Riders. This micro R/C has a built in rear-gyro stabilizing fly wheel that lets you carve the sharpest turns, navigate the tightest courses, and always keep upright! The suggested retail value is approximately $25, and is appropriate for kids ages 8 and up.

Bakugan is back again this year, and at the top of the list is the Bakugan Dragonoid Colossus. Load your season 3 Bakugan Battle Gear together with the Dragonoid transformation hub, and watch him auto-transform into your most powerful Bakugan monster. This product retails for approximately $30 and is geared for kids 5 and up.

Kids ages 2-4 will enjoy Moon Dough, the new magical molding compound that never dires out. It is soft and marshmallow- like, cleans up easily and is great to use to develop fine motor skills. Purchase indvidual containers or play sets like this cute barnyard. Moon Dough retails for approximately $3 and up.

Dairy Queen Blizzard maker is a great addition to any young cook's collection. Make our own DQ treats with this machine. It comes with everything you need to make delicious Dairy Queen treats including ice cream mix, toppings, spoons, and a cup. This product is recommended for ages 4 and up and retails for approximately $30.

Hedbanz is a hilarious new game geared for kids or the whole family. Everyone else knows what the cartoon illustration is on your head except for you! Whether your card is a food, animal, or household item, it's up to you to use deductive reasoning to narrow it down and try to figure out what it is on your card. The suggested retail value is about $15 and is recommended for players 6 and up.

Check out these great suggestions as well as other fun items at Spin Master now.

Special thanks to Spin Master for providing 4BabyAndMom samples of some of these products this holiday season.

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Spin Master Toy Review for Boys and Girls!

Some really great toys and products found their way into our homes this holiday. SpinMaster, a Canada based toy company, manufactured a good deal of the items at the top of most wishlists: Bakugan, AirHogs, Tech Decks, and Moonsand--just to name a few.

SpinMaster has some great items for kids of all ages, and some were included as top holiday toys by Toys "R" Us, K-Mart, Toy Insider, Time To Play, Fun Fare, Oppenheim Toy Portfolio, NAPPA (National Parenting Publications Awards), New York Times, New York Daily News, Forbes and Bloomberg.

Recently, Spinmaster gave us the amazing oppurtunity to review some of their new products, and my family was totally impressed by what we found. The items we recieved were the Daniella Liv Doll, Flick Trix Finger Bikes, and the Pix O's Super Home Studio.

Liv Dolls

Liv Dolls are Spin Master’s most talked about new toy this holiday season. The next big thing to shake up the doll aisle, Liv dolls offer a unique new combination of amazing design, fun wig play, high end realistic looking fashions, and great online content at a very affordable price. Liv dolls most popular features include:

• 14 points of articulation for greater poseability (versus an industry standard of 5-6) --This is one of the coolest things about these dolls. They can move and pose; your child 's imagination won't need too much help making this doll come to life. My daughter and I had alot of fun posing her for her rock star photo shoot.
  
• · Easy to change wigs so girls can instantly switch hair styles and colors, or even cut and style their doll’s hair--It is super easy (if you read directions . . . if not you will attempt to do it wrong repeatedly until you read the directions and realize how simple it is) Aside from the hair being gorgeous and feeling like real hair, the best part is that it is removable. Unlike the dolls of my childhood, who were forced into uneven bobs and rat nest ponytails, Liv dolls hair is easily remedied. She comes with two looks, more are purchasable separately, or she has a short do that can never get ruined (it's part of her head).
  
• Insert glass-like eyes --Another way to tell these dolls apart from your standard doll. Their faces are stunning, mostly thanks to these glassy eyes. They really make this doll look amazing. I also like the fact that these dolls look like different characters, they don't all look like the same exact doll in different outfits. Each of the four are unique in looks and in personality. Online, each doll has their own "space" and you can change outfits, read her diary, watch videos' and play games with your Liv Girl!
  
• Detailed, realistic fashions--And they aren't under-dressed, if ya know what I mean! No super short and revealing ensembles. The girls wear sneakers and leggings and look like fashion forward teens but are appropriate for a young girl to admire. This is a real selling point for me, I love that they are not dressed in a way that makes me want to sew doll clothes to cover them up.

Flick Trix Finger Bikes

Spin Master continues to be the leader in extreme sports play with its re-introduction of Flick Trix, the

original die-cast finger bike! With exclusive licenses from companies like MirraCo, Hoffman, Haro, Fit, GT, Mongoose, Redline, Hutch and more, these bikes are all about authenticity! Flick Trix also have a
patented front brake play feature and interchangeable parts like wheels, pedals and grips. Each bike
comes with realistic handlebars for display, or kids can install the included “trick bars” to make it easy to
pull real BMX stunts with ease. Ages 8 and up.

--My son flipped over these, he was already in love with Tech Decks (the finger skate boards) and wasted no time ripping into the package and creating some mini bmx's. His words:"The coolest thing about these bikes are that the chains and pedals really work just like a real bike!" My son is ten, and I think the age limit is pretty accurate. There are some very small pieces ( ie: bolts, nuts, washers) and a younger child may lose them before they had the chance to play with the bike.

PixO's Ultimate Design Studio

The Spinmaster Pixos Ultimate Design Station allows young children to make a wide variety of two- and three-dimensional sculptures and designs with no ink or mess. Designed for kids age four and older, the PixOs Ultimate Design Station is a clean and easy way for children to explore their artistic sides as they create original sculptures. Ages 4+

--Remember those old molds that you placed the cylinder plastic beads on, then lined with wax paper and ironed? Once they melted the beads stayed together in whatever pattern you had created with the beads? PixO's has taken that fun craft and improved on it by making it safer. No ironing. No plug. No heat. Just place, spray with water, and let them air dry.

The PixO's Ultimate Design Station came with everything you needed to get started. Beads in 6 bright colors, a handy compartment up top that keeps them organized and releases them one at a time, the handy PixO Placing Instrument that makes picking up and placing a breeze, and a built in drying fan that dries them quicker. PixO's are a great gift for just about any person under the age of 100 and over the age of 4. (Definitely something you'll want to do with your kids. It will be fun and save a mess.)


The products mentioned above were provided to me, at no cost, by Spin Master LTD. I did not accept monetary compensation for reviewing or writing about this experience, and all opinions expressed are my own.

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