Green Toys Play Sand Set Review & Giveaway (CLOSED 8/16)

Aug 9,2011 / By Maria / 24 Comments

I discovered the Green Toys sand play set when I was reading reviews on Amazon for another sand toy set, and a reviewer said this one was way better (I bought both, they were right.)

Although this is the only Green Toys product we have, I think they’re pretty awesome. Their products are made entirely in the U.S. and are made mostly of recycled milk containers! The toys are packaged with minimal (recycled and recyclable), corrugated cardboard. All toys are tested by independent, third-party (USA) labs, to show there are no traceable amounts of BPA or Phthlates. No toys have paint or exterior coatings and pass a crazy number of tests including Consumer Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA), Consumer Products Safety Standard Specification ASTM F963, California Prop. 65 restrictions on lead & cadmium, FDA regulations for food contact, Voluntary testing for no BPA (Bisphenol-A) and International standards EN71 and ISO 8124. Yeah, wow.

The package was easy to open. I just…opened it. There were no scissors, chainsaws, sweating or cursing involved!

The set includes a bucket, shovel, rake and sand castle mold. It retails for $21.99 and I know that sounds expensive if you’re ~~cheap~~ frugal like I am. However, I don’t even have the words to describe the quality. We’ve bought the $5 sets before, and you’re lucky if they last a few days. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Green Toys set lasted years and years. The pieces are thick and sturdy, and I bet you could dig in the garden without breaking them! Other toys split or crack if you try to dig at packed sand or step on them. Not these!

There is simply no comparison, even to the other spendy brand of sand toys I bought!

We took the toys to the state park, where there’s a man made lake and beach. My son just went to town and totally had a blast.

At one point a kid (total stranger) ran up, grabbed the bucket and said “can we borrow this?” I was honestly caught by surprise. I just said “uhh, no, this is a brand new toy and we don’t want to lose it.” In my head I was thinking “yeah kid, I know it’s awesome but get your own!” I felt really bad but my husband said he would have said no too!

Green Toys has been nominated for a Red Tricycle award in the Au Natural Toy category! The businesses with the most nominations become finalists, so if you think the Green Toys company is as great as I do, nominate them! It’s really easy, enter their name, URL, your email and city, and submit!

You can buy the set directly from Green Toys, from Amazon (affiliate link), or find a Green Toys retailer!

~~Giveaway: Green Toys is offering a reader their own sand play set! (ARV $21.99) Entries go in the Rafflecopter form below! You may view Rafflecopter’s Privacy Policy.~~

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BPA Free Eco-Friendly/Green

Bumkins Superbibs and BPA Free Playtex Toddler Utensils Review

Apr 14,2011 / By Maria / No Comment

My daughter turned 6 in February. When I was choosing baby stuff during my pregnancy with her, things sure were different. I feel like an old lady telling “back in my day” stories, but it’s true! Gender neutral stroller/pack & play/high chair choices were navy blue plaid or navy blue plaid. The number of gadgets and baby doo-dads have grown exponentially.

We also had no idea about BPA. We ended up pitching a lot of the stuff we had saved from her toddler years. Plates, bowls, cups, utensils… I didn’t know what the BPA status of the stuff was, and some of it looked odd after being stored in basements and attics so long.

I never did find a bib I liked for her either. I liked the pocket style bibs, and ones that were a bit larger, but nothing was quite right. Most just had a small square of velcro to close them, so they left a big gap at her teeny neck. The “wipeable” ones I had were some sort of vinyl, so most certainly chemical filled, and while they were not machine washable, they also had an edging of a cottony material, so they got filthy and were nearly impossible to clean!

I found these Bumkins Superbibs at ToysRUs. They seemed kind of pricey at $6.49 each, but they were on sale for $5.49. Bumkins also has smaller bibs, junior bibs, sleeved bibs, and super sized bibs. They are Lead Safe, PVC, BPA, Phthalate & Vinyl Free.

They come in lots of adorable patterns!

There is a lot of play in the closure, to fit your baby no matter what his/her size. I had picked up these two thinking that I’d get a few more if I liked them, but I didn’t need to! These are truly wipeable, machine machable, and hang dry in a snap. I can easily use the same bib all day and wipe it as needed.

The texture of the material is perfect, it’s not so slick that something like yogurt will slide right off, and the pocket does a great job of catching food that misses the old mouth! We have been using these bibs for well over a year now and they still look brand new!

I bought the Playtex Toddler Utensils at Target for $4.19 for each set of fork/spoon. They are BPA and Phthlate free and are ergonomically shaped so they are easy to hold.

The spoon is shallow, almost flattened, so it makes it really easy for the baby to get the food off of the spoon. The forks have a little bit of a scoop to them, so they are easy for babies to use, since the poke food with your fork skill takes some time!

They are also dishwasher safe (WOO HOO) and have held up wonderfully!

FTC compliance: I paid normal retail prices for the above items. I was not compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own.

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Thermos Funtainers Review

Nov 9,2010 / By Maria / No Comment

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My daughter started Kindergarten this year, and though she ate lunch at preschool 2x a week Jan-June, they served water there, so I didn’t have to send a drink. I was looking for something re-usable and BPA free to send her to school with this year.

I did pretty much all of my back to school shopping at Target (love that store, but very, very dangerous for my wallet!) and found these Thermos Beverage Containers. They have a stainless steel interior, double wall vacuum construction, silicone straw, and non-slip base. They hold 12 ounces of liquid, are dishwasher safe, easy to open (but also easy to open accidentally!) and will keep drinks cold for 12 hours.

When I bought this, I didn’t know any of that. I knew it was BPA free and my daughter liked it!! On the first day of school I sent her with a thermos of water and a little bit of ice. After 8 hours, this is what I found:

Wow, it still had ice in it! It really did keep it cold!! This worked swimmingly for about two months. Then one day I went to unpack her stuff after school, and her lunch box, bookbag, and everything in it (including a library book) were soaking wet. She claimed that she closed the top, but I wasn’t so sure. I sent her with it again the next day and this time everything was soaked again, including the special class Tooth Fairy Bag, complete with 2 more library books!! Thankfully, it was just water, but still. We tried keeping it in an outside pocket of her bookbag, but then she was forgetting to take it to the lunchroom. So, we’re still working on a new solution, and I have a different bottle to review as well.

I also bought her a Funtainers Food Jar so I could send her with leftover soup, mac & cheese and so forth. before I sent her with anything, I wanted to test to make sure the TherMax® double wall vacuum insulation really worked.

I put hot water in the thermos, closed it up, and took the temperature of the water to see how it retained the heat. I checked it after 4.5 hours:

and again after 6.5 hours:

It has worked really well. When I send her with something hot, I make it just a bit hotter than I would if we were eating it right away, then close it up!

The regular price of both of these at my Target was $13.99 each, but I got them on sale for $12 each. Just a few packs of juice boxes would add up to that quickly!! We’re still using the thermos at home sometimes; if I could get her to stop chewing on the straw it would be perfect!

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BPA Free Eco-Friendly/Green Review

Munchkin BPA Free Dinnerware Products Review

Sep 9,2010 / By Maria / 7 Comments

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Since my kids are pretty far apart in age, all of the dishes and such we used when my daughter was little are nearly 5 years old now. Not only did we not know about BPA then, but some of the stuff was looking a little worse for the wear.

I went hunting at the best place ever, Target, and these Munchkin products caught my eye. I didn’t buy everything at once, but each time I looked for something new, my eyes seemed to go to Munchkin again.

The first thing I bought was the 2-pack of snack catchers, which were $4.49 at Target.

They have a soft lid, which is secure and easy for little hands to reach through. The handles make it easy to hold. The only spills we’ve had were because my son shoved his fist in, then turned it upside down!

It”s hard to see here, but there is a place on the bottom to write your child’s name!

It holds 9 ounces of snacks. The first time I used it, I grossly underestimated the amount of snacks he would eat, LOL!

Next, I bought the plates, cups and bowls.

The cups and bowls were $2.99 for a pack of 5, and the plates were $3.79 for a pack of 5 (also at Target.) They are again, BPA free and dishwasher safe. While I’m not totally loving the pink & purple for my son, they have a gender neutral fishy pattern on them.

The curve of the bowls make it easy for little hands to hold it in place while scooping. My son gets excited when he sees the bowls because he thinks it’s yogurt time!

The cups are also perfectly shaped for little hands to hold.

They do leave a little red mark on his forehead though. Tee-hee!

So lastly, I was looking for a hard spout, BPA free sippy cup (preferably insulated) since until now, we’ve just been using Born Free soft spout cups.

I thought this Munchkin Sippy was a little spendy at $9.99 for a single 9 oz. cup, but it’s insulated, and it’s actually stainless!

I was a little disappointed to learn that it isn’t dishwasher safe, but the design is simple, and a quick wash in soapy water gets it clean & ready to use again. Really, that’s good since I don’t need to have multiples to use while others are in the dishwasher.

It doesn’t leak, if you remember to put the valve in (not naming names, ahem!)

Munchkin makes tons of products, and I’d definitely look to them next time I’m searching for something!

FTC Compliance: All items featured in this review were self purchased at normal retail prices. All opinions are my own.

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BPA Free Eco-Friendly/Green Review

Boon Flo Review

May 14,2010 / By Maria / 4 Comments

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Boon, Inc. is a company that makes great, affordable, BPA, phthalate and PVC free products for babies and kids, and donates 10% of their profits to charity.

If the name sounds familiar, you may have seen the Boon Frog Pod.

We’ve been using ours for over a year now and we still love it.

They have “odd ducks” (hee hee) and other bath items that are completely PVC, BPA and phthalate-free. Another product I’ve seen in stores and loved is their countertop drying rack. So unique and fun, but still no PVC, BPA or phthalates. They have snack containers, utensils, plates, bowls and sippies that are also sans the nasty stuff.

I have to point out their animal bags. We have weeded my daughter’s stuffed animals dozens of times, but they keep breeding. I keep threatening to let hunters in here to thin down the herd, LOL. This is just the most awesome idea. Ingenious!

The last thing I want to show you before I actually get to the review is the Flair High Chair. It has a sleek, modern design, pneumatic lift (really!) and a seamless seat. As you may have already guessed, yep, no BPA, PVC or phthalates.

OK, so Boon sent me the Flo water deflector and protective faucet cover with bubble bath dispenser. In our old house, we had the little guy pictured below covering the spout in my daughter’s tub. It won’t fit on the faucet in this house. I didn’t worry about it too much since my daughter is 5 and my son is still using the baby tub, but he will be taking baths in the “big tub” soon enough, and I need a cover!

The Boon Flo is way better because not only does it have soft materials to cushion from bumps, it actually creates a waterfall to help you rinse hair! We use a cup to rinse hair now.

It also has a spot for the shower diverter, so you don’t have to take the cover off in order to use it.

It has a spring activated grip that makes it easy to install and remove. I was really excited to install it and let my daughter test out the bubble bath dispenser.

Augh!! It doesn’t fit! I guess this weird freakin’ 90 degree angle faucet has doomed me.

On a side rant, I am still peeved that I even bought this faucet. I loathe the stupid thing. Not only do covers not fit on it, but as you can see, it looks perpetually filthy with water spots. Who wants to clean their faucet with appliance cleaner? Not me! Guess who did just that right after taking the picture. Yep, me!

So, why did I buy it? Well, we wanted a set that had variable pressure and temperature (in previous homes we’ve owned, you could go from cold to hot, but on full blast only) and had a satin nickel finish. The *(&((*^ in the plumbing department at Lowes basically said I was a sucker and a snob for wanting to buy Moen, which is what we have everywhere else in the house (except the laundry room, which is Kohler and actually brushed stainless, not satin nickel.) I caved and got this. It was less expensive, yes, but our Moen satin nickel faucets are a lot nicer and we have no problems with them, despite what he said. >:-(

Back to the subject at hand.

I put it on the best I could, and it works well enough for what I want it to do (protect little noggins.) It’s such an awesome product with the “waterfall” feature, the ability to put the bubble bath in and let your kids push the button to dispense it, along with the easy access to the shower diverter, sleek looks and easy installation.

I love Boon’s affordable, safe and quality products and I love their commitment to giving back. Check out Boon’s Blog, Boon’s Facebook Page and follow Boon on Twitter to keep up on all the latest.

Thank you Boon for sending me the Flo at no charge. The complimentary product in no way affected my review! All opinions are always my own.

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