The latest and greatest in gadgets, gear and goodies
Happy Star Wars day, everyone! May the 4th be with you!
As a nudge to the iconic phrase from Star Wars, “May the force be with you,” May 4th is dubbed Star Wars Day. While many hardcore fans are celebrating with Princess Leia cupcakes and Hot Dog Lightsabers, I thought I’d share just a few of the latest Star Wars goodies, starting with some of Hasbro’s upcoming toy launches.
Time flies when you’re having fun, and especially if we’re talking Elmo and the gang.
Sesame Place, the Langhorne, PA-based theme park, is celebrating 30 years this year. The only theme park based entirely on NKT fave and the award-winning television show, Sesame Street, will open its doors tomorrow for the season.
After a day of exploring fabulous toys, last night I had the chance to indulge in an evening of pampering at the Hot Mom to Be Handbook book signing event held at Paul Labrecque Salon and Spa in NYC. Written by Jessica Denay with a foreword by Trista Sutter, The Hot Mom to Be Handbook is described as being a fun, tongue-in-cheek guide to maintaining style and fabulousness while defying the stereotype that often goes hand in hand with motherhood.
I love getting dressed up just as much as the next girl, but as a mom who embraces working in yoga pants all day and opts for ponytails in lieu of fancy up dos, I could have used this book during my pregnancy as a reminder to keep the balance.
It might be raining and dreary here in NYC today, but I’ll be headed to Time to Play’s Spring and Summer Showcase, where Chris Byrne and Jim Silver, two of the biggest industry gurus, will be spotlighting this season’s hot toys. If you can remember way back to last fall, I attended the fall showcase, where we learned about their holiday picks.
Must Have toys from the 2009 Holiday Season
Even though I just did Toy Fair a little over two months ago (and am still reeling from all of that information), I am a big fan of the Time to Play showcase. It’s an intimate event where media representatives and bloggers can meet with publicists and company executives to discuss—what else—toys.
As Brooklyn sets the stage, get ready to rock out this weekend at the second annual Kindiefest. The three-day kiddie music conference, described by Time Out New York Kids as “a mini South by Southwest for the preschool set,” will feature a public music festival on Sunday.
After growing out of showcases in 2007 and 2008, last year marked Kindiefest’s innaugural year for the family music conference. The kid-centric music conference, which takes place April 30 through May 2, 2010 at Littlefield NYC in Brooklyn, includes industry-oriented events including the first-night party, keynote, two days of panels and a public festival on Sunday.
Though I try to cover music as much as I can on Monday here on NKT for “Music Monday,” admittedly, I’m such a novice, and am always trying to learn as much as possible about the family music genre. The conference segment of Kindiefest, geared to artists, producers, labels, and publicists, includes panels such as Old School Meets New School and Gigs and Venues: From Libraries to Festivals and Everywhere in Between. I’m kind of wishing I could sit in on the conference and panels, to learn more about the behind the scenes of the family music industry, and to see what makes these kid music influencers tick.
Nevertheless, I’ll be on the lookout for tweets and updates from some of my blogger friends who, I’m sure, will be reporting from the frontlines. However, I’m most excited about Kindiefest’s festival, which is geared to anyone and everyone that loves music. The festival will showcase the ecclectic sounds of Bill Harley, Recess Monkey, Secret Agent 23 Skidoo, Clementown, The Royal Order of Chords and Keys and Ralph Covert. Tickets cost $15 for an entire family, which is quite a bargain considering that many concerts in the area cost more than that for just one ticket!
If you’re in the NYC area this weekend, be sure to help support the family music industry by checking out the Kindiefest public festival. If you’re heading to the Kindiefest festival on Sunday, let me know!
Earth Day has come and gone, but hopefully, the important lessons from the day continue to linger in your home, as I hope it will in ours, too.
There are so many fun and fabulous green toys on the market, especially now that the eco-friendly segment continues to grow as parents become increasingly more aware. But one concept of green toys I hope to see more of, are upcycled toys such as Makedo.
Makedo, a concept that I learned about at Toy Fair, is a connector system that enables materials including cardboard, plastic and fabric to easily join together to form new objects or structures.
Last year, Michelle Obama visited Sesame Street to tout the importance of fresh fruits and vegetables. Later in the year, the First Lady cultivated her own organic garden at the White House to further emphasize the value of healthy eating and gardening.
Since then, announcing her Let’s Move campaign, which focuses on combatting childhood obesity, Mrs. Obama has made it her mission to educate families and kids about making healthy choices, including cultivating your own seeds—figuratively and literally.
So, when Sesame Street, together with Ferry Morse, introduced their new line of gardening products geared to kids, the marketplace area at the Annual Easter Egg Roll was an impeccably-timed venue to help even more kids learn about gardening first hand. The kid and I had a fun time learning how to plant watermelon seeds, or um, excuse me—wataaaahmelons.
The Muppets of Sesame Street can be seen on packets of watermelon, pepper, sunflower, pumpkin, garden beans and tomato seeds, for parents and children to plant together. The new product line also features Sesame Street-themed gardening totes complete with an activity booklet, seeds, tools, labeling stakes and stickers, a mini garden kit and a mini greenhouse with recipe card.
Sesame Street’s new gardening line is a perfect way to encourage kids to be green while going green. As part of Sesame Street’s My World is Green and Growing initiative designed to support children’s innate curiosity about nature, each product includes educational materials that teach children how fruits and vegetables begin with seeds and grow to become food for the table. Additionally, it compliments Sesame Street’s ongoing Healthy Habits for Life initiative, helping children develop healthy lifestyles they can practice forever through fun and simple every day activities. Materials include a booklet with activities for children, planting tips for parents and healthy recipes parents and children can make and enjoy together. The following items are available now:
“Research shows that introducing young children to the natural world is the first step towards helping them develop a caring attitude towards the environment,” said Maura Regan, Sesame Workshop’s Senior Vice President and General Manager of Global Licensing states.
Be sure to head to Lowe’s to grab a few gardening items for the kids. I found them at the back of the store, close to the garden center. Though I wasn’t too impressed with the plastic Sesame Street gardening tools (though, they’d be perfect for the littlest gardeners), the kits do look cool. Even if you don’t pick up the tote or kits, the seed packets are reasonably priced at $1.99. We’ve got some peppers, sunflowers and green beans to plant! Let’s hope they fare better than our watermelon seeds which didn’t make it back from DC in tact!
The Big City Moms Biggest Baby Shower Spring edition is set to take place tomorrow, April 14 at the Park East Ballroom in NYC. I’m such a fan of the BCM events, I couldn’t not cover the shower once again for NKT. Even though there are a few of the same companies at the shower that have been at others that I’ve attended recently, it’s still such a fantastic venue to interact with vendors and new moms. I love that this show continues to grow each year, that they’ve recently changed up locations to accommodate all the amount of attendees.
Retailers such as Buy Buy Baby and giggle will be on hand. Companies such as Zoli, Mam, Boon, Quinny, iCandy, Britax and Earth’s Best, just to name a few will be showcasing their latest offerings for new and expectant moms. Join me on Twitter and Facebook to get the latest updates from the event! If you’re an expectant or new mom in the NYC area, you won’t want to miss this!
Want to see my pix from the last Biggest Baby Shower? Check them out here.
In honor of NKT rounding up on one year, I thought I’d celebrate by throwing a baby shower of sorts. Since it’s Spring and my site is still very much a baby, I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate NKT’s first year than highlighting some of the coolest baby gear, gadgets and goodies.
I’ll profile the latest gear that I’ve been sent, stuff I’ve researched, baby goodies I’ve seen at shows and much, much more. Some brands I plan on featuring include Bright Starts, Little Giraffe, Mam, Nuk, Tommee Tippee, Da Bib, Born Free, Beaba, Aprica, Fisher-Price, Plum Organics, Happy Baby, Earth’s Best, Skip Hop, Dapple Baby, Stokke, just to name a few.
So, join me next week for Baby Week!
Hi everyone! I’m Jen and this is my kid product blog, The Next Kid Thing. I cover new and notable kid gear, ranging from babies to big kids. So, yeah, pretty much everything kid-related.
My wonderful husband and I have been married a little over 6 years, and we have one little guy who is 2. We live right outside of NYC in Hoboken, NJ—yup, the same Hoboken, NJ that’s home to Carlo’s Bakery aka as The Cake Boss. In a few weeks, we’ll be transitioning to the suburbs of NJ, which is bittersweet transition since I moved to NYC to be a magazine journalist.
About a year and a half ago, I left my job as a magazine editor to pursue freelance writing and blogging fulltime. I’ve done way more blogging than freelance writing, but I’m hoping to find an equal balance sometime soon. (either add more hours to the day or sleep even less?) My blogging adventures have taken me to various events, but most importantly, I’ve made some fabulous friends along the way.
NKT has been my “baby” since I left my office job. Because it’s my blogaversary next week, I have a big announcement later today, which may or may not involve some fun giveaways!
Thanks for checking out my site and I can’t wait to visit all of yours!