Baby Joys Reviews

And Matching too! Recently I received two items from Alphabet Alley, a company who make Christian toys for kids.  First things first, I don’t really understand their name, I thought it would be educational toys, a learn the alphabet or learn to spell curriculum, or something related to the alphabet! But no, they just have toys, semi-educational toys, but just toys.  Besides the Go Fish! game and Matching game I received they make blocks, puzzles, and magnetic play sets. My impressions of the products themselves were a bit mixed.  The products were both cute, really cute. The matching game had sturdier pieces then most cardboard games, but it was still cardboard. The Go Fish! cards were also cute, but not really special in any other way. They weren’t super sturdy, they weren’t some unusual size. Really the products are just cute products. If you want your kid to ONLY play with bible items, then they may be good options for you. I like the matching game because it is simply animals, ark, and rainbow, so even non-Christians will be able to play with cute figures.

It bugged me also when I took the Go Fish cards out of the box and found that the box is several sizes to big, and there is a cardboard insert holding them in. Not only is this wasted resources, but storing them is a nightmare. You have to either fit them all in the insert, much to annoying and hard for a child,  or have them rattling around the box.

My general impressions is that they are cute, fun games. To me the prices are  a bit steep. The Go Fish game is $7, just to much to me when similar items can be found just about anywhere for just a few dollars, or even at the dollar store. Their Match games are from $11-15 depending on the number of tiles (a 24 tile set, 12 matches is $11) is really expensive when I know I bought Memory for $7 at Christmas and it includes 72 tiles!

So to sum it up Alphabet Alley DOES have cute toys, and the memory tiles are sturdy, but the prices are steep.  If you want Bible toys, then I recommend it, just be prepared to pay for it.

Recently I found out about a MAJOR issue for toys and other childrens products, and it greatly affects quite a few of the products I feature here, and buy for Blu. A Safety Act has been passed that will require quite a few changes for toys and childrens products, good for mass produced items and items made in China, but VERY VERY bad for small toy makers and cottage industries! Many many small toys makers will be forced to go out of business. Many of the shops I have featured, the old lady down the street that handmakes toys for extra money, and that guy that sells great handmade wooden toys at local festivals will all be forced out of business!

Please go to The Handmade Toy Alliance to see what you can do before it is to late!

If this passes and goes into affect without changes made to the requirements we will have no choice but to buy the mass produced toys we try to avoid!

To celebrate our new president an old friend of ours is offering a great deal! Buy any Obama Tees from baby Candy and get 15% off! Offer expires on 11/30 so hurry and order now! My favorite is the “Ready for a Change.”  Just go to Baby Candy’s Site and when you check out enter “ObamaBaby” at checkout as a coupon!

A few posts ago I talked about The Old School House Magazine, now I wanted to share with you their new fall promotion.  If you zip over to the site, you can subscribe for one year of the magazine and get 6 free gifts (not downloads people REAL gifts!) If you hurry you have a chance of getting their “Homeschooling with Heart” totebag as an extra free gift. (Available to the first 1000, the information about the bag will disappear when they are all claimed.)  So if you didn’t subscribe already now is a great time to shimmy over there and check it out. $39 buys you the magazines and free gifts!

I know you’ve seen them, the “versatile” changing pads. The flimsy little vinyl covered pads with a pocket that are supposed to be oh so amazing and portable to change your baby. I’ve seen them everywhere and thought they all sucked. They contain the worlds tiniest pocket that you’d be lucky to fit a newborn sized disposable in. They were flimsy and thin with little to no padding and cheap vinyl covering or stinky plastic. Yuck! THEN I found the Pocket Changer from Baby Goin Places. This changer is  awesome! One side is a thick cushy towel and the other is a nice decorative fabric. The fabric side has two pockets for diapers and wipes. Now like anything it’s not really designed for cloth diapers. BUT I found that you could easily lay one or two prefolds on top of the towel before folding it, then put a cover in the pocket, so it still can hold the essentials without having to carry a bulky diaper bag.

Now if you already purchased to car diaper bag I reviewed before  this goes hand in hand with it. If you have the diaper bag already loaded and in the car, you can easily put just one diaper in here and carry it inside when visiting a friend for dinner or going grocery shopping with your still unpredictable baby . If necessary just run to the car later for a reload. Or use this as a cushy changing pad when changing baby on the back floorboard of the van!

The quality of the Pocket Changer is awesome. So thick and cushy, well made, wonderful fabrics.  I think the towel side uses a nicer towel then any towel in my house! It is by no means a cheap thin towel.  The size is nice to. It’s much larger then other pads I’ve seen.  My Blu is a BIG boy, he just turned 17 months but is moving into 3T clothes! It’s hard to find something for diaper changing that actually goes under half his body, but this does! It doesn’t go head to toe, but had more then enough length for keeping him clean and cushioning him.

Check out the website for the Pocket Changer and more great products (stay tuned for another review of their blankets!) you can custom order one, OR buy a premade from their Etsy store! Only $23.50 for a premade.  This changer is definitely better then any other I’ve seen!