Happy National Tea Day

How will you be celebrating National Tea Day today?

Did you have pretend play tea parties as a child? I have fond memories of playing tea party with my sisters, our stuffed animals and dolls. We would put on fancy hats and white gloves as we sat at our child size table and chairs with our backs properly straight. Then, taking turns, we would carefully pour our pretend cups of tea. Some just had to have a dash of warmed milk. (little Becky’s tea cup)  Best of all, was always  passing the real biscuits.

Tea parties are excellent learning opportunities offering a way to practice introductions, social talk, and general etiquette.

Other benefits of a tea party is that pretend play is strongly linked to language, narrative language and abstract thinking. Examples of pretend play are: playing dress up, playing store, playing house, pushing trucks and cars .

You can encourage children’s love of pretending by supplying story ideas and raw materials. Their rich imaginations are one of children’s greatest learning tools. The more you incorporate pretend play, the more they’ll learn.

Now wouldn’t this be an ideal day for setting up a pretend tea party?

One of our favorites is this wicker basket with the essentials for a tea party at home or on the go.

Breastfeeding Doll

Would You Buy A Breast-Feeding Doll – What is Your Opinion?
There are a lot of strong arguments in favor of breast feeding, but not every parent would find playing at breast feeding an appropriate activity for his or her youngster. What are your views on this?

A Spanish toymaker known as Berjuan has developed a breast-feeding doll that comes with a special halter top its young “mothers” wear as they pretend to breast-feed their “babies.” The halter top has daisies that cover the little girls’ nipples and come undone just as easily as the flaps of a nursing bra would.

The doll — called Bebe Gloton, which translates as “gluttonous baby” — makes sucking noises as it “feeds.”

We have not found this doll available on the US market, so at this point we are not carrying it. We do have many other lovable dolls available for you. Your opinions will be appreciated on this pretend nursing baby doll. Do you think that this doll is one that we should seek out and carry?

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We do have some strollers and buggies for pushing your dollies in style.

With its wide pink and brown stripes here is the most trendy stroller by Juicy Couture. ! A huge fashion statement for little girls and their dolls.

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Three dolls can go for a walk at the same time with this pretty pink and white polka dot stroller for three.

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This classic wicker doll buggy has been a favorite for little girls for decades across the globe from France to America.

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Little Bobby’s first steps are assisted as he takes his Buddy Bear for a ride in the European  Red Push Buggy.

Halloween Hiccup for Sleigh Loads of Toys

8A.M. Putting Halloween aside for a day and it’s Ho, ho, ho and it’s off to work we go. Not another Sunday Fun-day at Totally Kids for me, but a long day’s mission at the mart. Tweets from @santa__claus with his daily count down, leaving only 82 nights till Christmas Eve sent us to the Upper Midwest Gift Market in search of the seasons latest and greatest toys.

Starting the day out at a buyers breakfast and meeting Devon’s MIL Karen, reinforced the factoid that men often times marry women much like their mothers; spunk is certainly a shared trait with those women.

Molly and Me was the first stop where it was Tween Heaven, not for toys, or boys, for that matter, but to die for hippest decor to deck out any wanna be tween, tween or teen room.

What girl wouldn’t want this flashing disco ball with a music function? Plug in your iPod or MP3 player and rock out to your favorite tunes. The lights flash to the beat of the music. Then, when ready to unwind, it functions as a night light.

Science 2010. Possessing an uncanny sense of balance, the Hexbug Nano can even flip to its feet and zoom forward when turned on its back! When  coming into contact with an object in its path, the energetic insect will switch directions and scury away on a new path due to its persistant random behavior. What’s more, each HEXBUG Nano is assigned a unique serial number and point value system that owners can use to register their Nano online, earn points by answering quiz questions about great scientists in history, achieve levels in an online game that requires players to use scientific principles to build their own virtual Nano, and hunt for rare creatures with the highest point values. This we think is a great scientific find. What ages do you think would find this Hexbug Nano Starter Habitat a must have?

Any Pinkalicious fans on your list? Madam Alexander has created a soft cloth 18 inch Pinkalicous doll for 2010 that is pink, pink and did I say pink? We also found Goldilicious dressed in her iconic Medieval princess dress.

Sleigh loads of toys for good boys and girls will all be available at Totally Kids fun furniture & toys. The day ended with tired legs and aching feet, but mission accomplished. Now with  Santa’s count down tweets we are ready to help with everyone’s list.

Remember,  that there are little elves aka personal shoppers waiting to assist helping you find just what you are looking for. Plus as always there is FREE gift wrapping on most toys.